Any ladies on here that can use a chin up bar?

mkh858
mkh858 Posts: 93 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Any ladies start out not able to do any, but able to do some now?
Even at my lowest when I was younger I couldn't do them.
I'm just wondering how much effort does it take to get there.
Tia

Replies

  • AZnewbie00
    AZnewbie00 Posts: 70 Member
    Great question because I was just talking to my husband about trying to attempt this but I am way heavier then I was when I was younger. I could never do them when I was younger either.;/
  • Cahgetsfit
    Cahgetsfit Posts: 1,912 Member
    about a year's worth of effort for me. Started off doing assisted on teh machine, then doing negative chin ups. Now I can do a few alone by myself. Like 4. LOTS of effort.
  • aub6689
    aub6689 Posts: 351 Member
    Yep! Combined effort of weight loss and strength training (lat pulls, assisted pull-up and various back and biceps work) and then I bought a pull-up bar that hangs in my door frame and started doing negatives (lowering myself as slowly as I could), until I could pull myself up. It has taken a good deal of effort, but it is a goal I really didn't have until last year, before then I was just focusing on weight loss, cardiovascular endurance and strength training in general.
    I think it is a great goal for you to work towards!
  • Anniebotnen
    Anniebotnen Posts: 332 Member
    It takes a lot of consisten work. It took me about 6 months to get to the point of doing one full unassisted chinup. I followed Tony Gentilcore's progressions, which I'm sure you can find on line if you google it.
  • NaturalNancy
    NaturalNancy Posts: 1,093 Member
    I can only do 3 in a row but I hold the bar "underhanded". I can't do even one holding the bar "over handed."
  • Sumiblue
    Sumiblue Posts: 1,597 Member
    I'd always been able to do one but have worked up to 4 sets of 3-5 chin ups.I can do 2-3 pull-ups. I couldn't do one pull up when I started. Keep trying. I do chin/pull ups weekly.
  • lemmie177
    lemmie177 Posts: 479 Member
    Up until this past Sept, I hadn't done a single pullup in my entire life. I started with band-assisted pullups and inverted bodyweight rows for about 2 months, but didn't seem to be getting any closer to doing a real pullup. Once I started doing negatives (use a chair to get your chin over the bar, then slowly lower yourself under your own power), I started feeling like I was making progress. I was really determined, so I followed the plan at 50pullups.com to the letter. I was training negative pullups 6 days a week. After 2-3 weeks, I finally did my first pullup! It was awesome and super empowering. I'm still trying to up my numbers, but have been maxed out at 8 for the past 2 months.
  • ltworide
    ltworide Posts: 342 Member
    I don't do chin-ups due to an elbow injury that makes chins painful for me. However, I do parallel grip pull-ups (5-6 setsx5 reps) & shoulder width grip pull-ups (3-4 setsx2reps) regularly. I couldn't do any when I started but it's been a long 2-3 years to get this far.
  • ARGriffy
    ARGriffy Posts: 1,002 Member
    I started doing "inverted" ones about 2 months ago ontop of my normal workouts and last week I did one. Just. Pretty poorly. It's hard work!!
  • CarlydogsMom
    CarlydogsMom Posts: 645 Member
    Nope, not yet! Been at weightlifting for a little over a year, but it's one of my goals. I will keep working on negatives and assisteds, as well as accessories, but I probably won't get there until I cut about ten pounds that I put on over this winter. Admire all of you, I can't imagine doing more than a couple, let alone sets!
  • whmscll
    whmscll Posts: 2,254 Member
    aub6689 wrote: »
    Yep! Combined effort of weight loss and strength training (lat pulls, assisted pull-up and various back and biceps work) and then I bought a pull-up bar that hangs in my door frame and started doing negatives (lowering myself as slowly as I could), until I could pull myself up. It has taken a good deal of effort, but it is a goal I really didn't have until last year, before then I was just focusing on weight loss, cardiovascular endurance and strength training in general.
    I think it is a great goal for you to work towards!

    I keep picturing Linda Hamilton in Terminator II doing chin-ups (pull-ups?) in her cell in the looney bin before she escapes. I want arms like that.
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
    inverted ones and or negatives.

    you DEFINITELY can do it- but it takes time. lots of time and loads of repetition.

    Lat pull downs
    cable robs
    DB rows
    BB row
    Banded pull ups
    inverted
    negatives
  • Nikki10129
    Nikki10129 Posts: 292 Member
    I can't get one in yet, working on progressions from you are your own gym, I can barely do some of the progressions :lol:
  • DeadsAndDoritos
    DeadsAndDoritos Posts: 267 Member
    It's been on my goal list since November but still far off doing one. I do band-assisted twice a week and negatives once a week. Plus, lat pulldowns, face pulls, bicep curls, KB rows and TRX rows. It's really hard but not impossible. My gym is full of super fit women but I still rarely see women do unassisted chins or pull ups.

    I so badly want to be able to bang out a set of pull ups. That would be the most badass thing ever!
  • mkh858
    mkh858 Posts: 93 Member
    Thank you ladies, you have inspired me even more to be able to do this workout. My hubby does them one handed and I have to use a chair to lift my body. I know our bodies are built differently then me. I have weight to take off first, but it's something I've always wanted to do.
    I must live in an are where there are no women doing chin ups, cuz I've only seen women do it on tV or movies. <3
  • mkh858
    mkh858 Posts: 93 Member
    Cahgetsfit wrote: »
    about a year's worth of effort for me. Started off doing assisted on teh machine, then doing negative chin ups. Now I can do a few alone by myself. Like 4. LOTS of effort.

    Wow a year! That's awesome you stuck to it and are able to do that many.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    I spent a long while training to do chin ups / pull-ups - lots of negatives, lat pulldowns and other exercises including assisted pull ups

    I went for it - it took me probably 8 months to manage my first :bigsmile:

    (to be fair it took me around 4 months to manage my first ever push-up before that - I used to have very little upper body strength)

    Unfortunately I developed bilateral tendonitis and that has been another year in the fixing - so I haven't gone anywhere near anything pull-upy in forever .. I've only just recovered my ability to bench press and still haven't tried a deadlift

    I suppose I'm saying - yes train - but be careful - you may need to not just strengthen the obvious musculature but down to your wrists too
  • ukkiosan
    ukkiosan Posts: 62 Member
    I started out not being able to do any, but after around 3 months of dumbbell weight training and doing 1 rep sets on the bar (I have the bar over the entry to my kitchen so I attempted one every time I went in there) I could do 5 reps x 4 sets, and now I can do 8 reps x 5 sets (at 6 months). That's underhand, overhand, and parallel grip. I noticed that once I got up to 30lb in my bicep curls and bent over rows, that's when my pullup progress really took off. It also helps to think about driving your elbows down to the ground through the movement in order to achieve better form. And I'm sure it didn't hurt that women in my family tend to build muscle quickly and that I was cutting weight at the time. :smile:
  • Becca_250
    Becca_250 Posts: 188 Member
    I bought one of those pull-up bars for the door frame and would literally just try to do one when I walked passed. When I first started all I could do was hang there like a monkey and move a tiny bit. Now I can do at least one full one but did get up to about five. I did the same with pushups, just kept trying until one day I stopped landing on my face from not being able to go back up again. I think it's a lot to do with muscle memory aswell as increased strength. Since I stopped doing weights (long story) I can still do both, albeit less now than when I was strength training regularly. Just keep trying and you'll get there!
  • sistrsprkl
    sistrsprkl Posts: 1,010 Member
    Chinups didn't take too long, I would practice at the park with my kids, a couple months. Pullups have been much harder. I use a band to assit. I found a cheap used pullup bar that I have in a central location in my house and I just try to do as many as I can on lifting days.
  • FitGirl0123
    FitGirl0123 Posts: 1,273 Member
    I was only able to do 2-3 when I first tried. I can now do several sets of 10. You just have to keep at it.
  • julielh72
    julielh72 Posts: 92 Member
    I started with TRX or ring rows progressing to pullups assisted by a resistance band. Start with a thick band and reduce band resistance over time as you get stronger. Negatives also.
  • robininfl
    robininfl Posts: 1,137 Member
    Yes! I could not do a pull up until this year, didn't train specifically for them, but doing yoga made my arms stronger. The fiance had the chin-up bar up in the bathroom door and I grabbed it and whaddayaknow, did the smoothest most controlled pull up ever. Smooth and slow up, smooth and slow down. His jaw about dropped, but he was not as surprised as I was - I had never been able to do any sort of pull up or chin up, we had a bar for 10 years and I couldn't do it. Yoga worked, just because it has a lot of holding yourself up on your arms, I guess.

    I am 48.
  • tarabole
    tarabole Posts: 166 Member
    It took a year for me and I used bands and progressed to lighter and lighter bands and eventually no bands.
  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,439 Member
    My goal this year is one unassisted pull-up! I've been using the assist machine and doing negatives. Sounds like I need to work on them more often, but I'm on the right track. Cannot wait!
  • peleroja
    peleroja Posts: 3,979 Member
    quiksylver296 wrote: »
    My goal this year is one unassisted pull-up! I've been using the assist machine and doing negatives. Sounds like I need to work on them more often, but I'm on the right track. Cannot wait!

    This is me too - I can do 3x10 with 40lbs of assistance but I've yet to try one unassisted. I think it might happen soon though!
  • maranarasauce93
    maranarasauce93 Posts: 293 Member
    I love chinups :]! The most I ever did was 9 consecutively but now I average 5 or 6. As for wide grip pullups, the most I could ever do was 5 but now I'm down to 3 which is still pretty good I guess.
  • Larissa_NY
    Larissa_NY Posts: 495 Member
    I can do a couple, but man, even getting that far took a lot of work. Google "pull-up progressions," there are a lot of them out there. Practice makes perfect, though - keep training them, because for most people they detrain pretty easily when you blow them off for a while.
  • mommarnurse
    mommarnurse Posts: 515 Member
    Cahgetsfit wrote: »
    about a year's worth of effort for me. Started off doing assisted on teh machine, then doing negative chin ups. Now I can do a few alone by myself. Like 4. LOTS of effort.

    Pretty much same here. As a kid, I could do them - no problem. Won that Presidential Physical Fitness award thing in Elementary school - HA! Then became a woman and like all woman, a pull up is probably the most challenging fitness thing to he able to do. I can do 3 in a row now but that 3rd one is kinda sketchy. Took me about a year to work up to it. I got one that goes in the doorway from Aldi for $13 last month and I use it every day just to make sure I can still do it but it's in no way a part of my workout regimen.

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