physically impossible??

StrengthInPain
StrengthInPain Posts: 155 Member
edited September 20 in Fitness and Exercise
i'm trying to see how realistic some of my goals are... one being that i want to be able to do a set of pull-ups or chin-ups. But as i was at the gym today watching some of the guys do their chin ups, i am wondering if it will be possible, since i have never seen a woman do a chin up. any women out there that can do a chin up?? or any men know of women that can? The way i figure it, i have to be able to pull up my body weight..so even when i reach my goal of somewhere between 130 and 140 pounds, will it be possible considering right now when i use the machine to mimic the chin up motion, i max out at 50 lbs??

Replies

  • Aubreygrrl
    Aubreygrrl Posts: 13 Member
    What machine do you use to mimic a chin up, i've been wanting to - but i've seen those p90x videos and they have women on there that can do chinups but they are SUPER in shape. They way to practice to put a chair in front of your pull up bar attached to your door or whatever if you have one and use it less and less for support. i have NEVER been able to do one but have been wanting to try to gain the strength to
  • jmkolster
    jmkolster Posts: 1
    I've seen women on the P90X video do pull ups!
  • questionablemethods
    questionablemethods Posts: 2,174 Member
    Women can definitely do pullups and chinups, but yeah--you have to be in awesome shape.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGJ2BEoOipw&feature=fvw
  • Iceprincessk25
    Iceprincessk25 Posts: 1,888 Member
    I'm working on it. I used to not be able to do regular push ups AT ALL but now I can pump out quite a few in a row so I think it's quite possible to keep working at the pull up and be able to accomplish it.
  • anniemal
    anniemal Posts: 9
    i could do one in high school!
  • jclguru
    jclguru Posts: 123
    I can't remember where I read it...I think MSN Health and Fitness...they show how to use
    a resistance band to help you pull up when doing a chin up.

    I'd look, but since I'm at work, that part is blocked from me.

    Doug
  • abutterflyemerges
    abutterflyemerges Posts: 101 Member
    I can't do a chin up to save my life. I thought I be stealth and ordered the PX90. What a joke! What was I thinking??? I can do some of the exercises that involve jumping around but if it involves on the floor stuff or pulling myself up over a bar then forget it. So I decided that I needed to focus on just losing the weight first and hopefully as I get thinner I will be able to pull my fat *kitten* up. For now my cardio workouts and my treadmill seem to be my friend. :flowerforyou:
  • FabiolaEnvy♥
    FabiolaEnvy♥ Posts: 730
    of course there are girls and females that can do it. i have seen many many times in my life.
    in back in high school there were girls that could do it. and i remember a girl name Julie who can do it more than the guys at the time.
  • fozzy33
    fozzy33 Posts: 72
    I can do a pull up....it has taken me nearly 6 months of weights/resistance bands/strength training to do so and I can only do one or two....I couldnt believe it when i did it LOL. And I weigh 162...
  • pixietwilight
    pixietwilight Posts: 62 Member
    Don't lose faith. My sister-in-law is very thin but has never been a workout freak She started weight training about 3 months ago and did her first 2 chin ups last week. As I said she is very thin 120 and 5'6' she has always been thin but never ripped like the woman in the P90x videos. Where there is a will there is a way. keep up the good work and you will do it.


    It's never too late to be what you might have been.
    - George Eliot
  • Brucejoy
    Brucejoy Posts: 1
    I used to be able to knock out 10 pull ups. Of course that was when I was a college gymnast. Can't even do one now but would love to be able to do one again some day. I think it is possible. Have to lose weight and get a lot stronger.
  • DrBorkBork
    DrBorkBork Posts: 4,099 Member
    Of course girls can do chin ups & pull ups! Remember (teasing) we're tougher than guys. You don't see them pushing out watermelons through the opening the size of a lemon at the end of the day, do you? There. Point proven. (blows raspberry at silly boys)
  • ciaokelly
    ciaokelly Posts: 2
    Maybe this can help...check it out. http://www.levelthreefitness.com/main/page_level_1_pullups_for_the_beginner.html
  • CasperO
    CasperO Posts: 2,913 Member
    Lat pulldown machine in the weightroom is a pretty good mimic for pullups.

    Remember, when you do pullups you don't have to lift your arms, they're already up there. Now your arms probably weigh 10 pounds each,,, so for a 140lb woman to do a pullup, she has to 'pull-up' about 120 pounds. Ya sure, you can do it. Get the weight down and the strength up and you'll be able to do one before you know it. Then 2, then 3,,, stick with it, it'll come. At one time I couldn't do any, now I can knock out 5 or 6.
  • doughd2
    doughd2 Posts: 86 Member
    I can do them. I can do about 10 chin ups and maybe 5 or 6 pull ups. Never got close to the girls in p90x though.
  • OddSquid
    OddSquid Posts: 107 Member
    The only woman in P90X who can do unassisted pull-ups is Dreya Weber and she's not a typical woman with whom to compare. She's in athletic condition (and she's also the model pictured on all the P90X promo materials), just like I can't compare myself to Adam (from the Yoga, Core Synergistics, and Ab Ripper X discs) :smile:. They do this for a living. We probably do other things for a living than training and physical fitness! Even Maren, from the "Chest & Back" disc, uses chair-assist and she's tiny.

    Muscular strength can increase in anyone without increasing muscle mass. Remember back to high school science (which may be anything from last week for some of you to 20 years ago for the rest of us :wink: ) and the difference between volume and density. An object can have large volume but low mass and therefore look big but be really light (a balance ball, for example). Another object can have high mass, but low volume and therefore look small but be really heavy (a bowling ball in comparison).

    Same with muscles. A person can have small muscles but whose fibers are really compactly woven together, and that person might theoretically be stronger than someone bigger. The words to describe something like that might be "toned" for women and "wiry" for men.

    Lat-pulldowns, resistance bands, chair-assist pull-ups -- all of them help. You don't have to feel like you're required to do 20 pull-ups right out of the gate.
  • jquintinjr
    jquintinjr Posts: 191
    it just takes time and commitment. 2yrs ago i couldnt do one now i can do 22
  • KatWood
    KatWood Posts: 1,135 Member
    Ahh... this opens up an old wound.:laugh:
    When I was a child, we had a chin up bar in our basement. My dad would lift me up to it and I was like a machine - I could keep going forever. 18 years and at least 100lbs later I can't even do one. It is one of my goals though and I can get close, to like my eye level. Hopefully one of these days if I keep trying I will get there.
  • aippolito1
    aippolito1 Posts: 4,894 Member
    When I was a kid and were in PE, we had to do chin-ups and I could never get past like, 4... and that was strugggggling in between but there were girls who could crank them out like nobody's business. You just have to work on your body upper strength so you're able to pull your body weight up. I have great lower body strength but really need to work on my upper so that's why I can't do many chin ups! Just those pull-ups on that one machine, where you rest your elbows on the pads and bend your knees and use your abs to pull yourself up and down...God, it's murder.
  • Jamie_Moy
    Jamie_Moy Posts: 40
    I could do both pull ups and chin ups when I was in the army, but that was my job, to be physically fit, and I was very fit to begin with so that helped as well. It's so much easier when you are OBLIGATED to work out for your job. But then I began desk jobs after the army, and I can't do a pull up anymore, but I could probably do a chin up.

    I love your goal though, it is very attainable! Good luck with everything!
  • stylistchik
    stylistchik Posts: 1,436 Member
    the most I ever was able to do was 3. My gym now has a 'pull-up/ chin-up assist machine" which is awesome. It compensates for some of your weight so you can work your way up. I thought that was the greatest invention ever!!!
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