Ladies who do pullups...

Options
245

Replies

  • crisanderson27
    crisanderson27 Posts: 5,343 Member
    Options
    Will have to see about those Craigslist listings. Thanks for saving me $ on the doorframe options.

    *Swoon* SOoO wish I could manage the one-handed push-ups! Hubs was trying to show me how the other day for sh!ts & giggles (not that he can do them either, just tried to illustrate the mechanics), but I have the hardest time with the changed range of motion with the elbow going more back than out...

    LOL! I don't do one handed pushups, yet. What I do (I do the same thing on my horizontal rows too) is use a wide stance, and shift as much of my weight as possible to my left arm first...using my right arm on the other stand just for stability. I then do a pushup, keeping my left elbow tucked, right arm wide as I can. Once I'm up, I shift to the right arm, and repeat. 10 sets (5 each arm), and I break till my heart rate drops to about 145. By the time I hit 25, I'm struggling a bit to keep good form...so I'm about to add a 20lb weighted vest. As I mentioned, same with the horizontal rows...all my weight to whichever arm I'm pulling with.

    I think 1 arm pushups are sort of silly...but it's probably just because I don't do them. I used to think hand stand pushups were silly too...now I love them lol.
  • crisanderson27
    crisanderson27 Posts: 5,343 Member
    Options
    You can also buy a chin-up bar for home. I read on one site you if you can't do one, jump catch the bar and use the momentum to help pull yourself up. Do that until you can to multiple good chin-ups.

    Exactly, I call these 'ballistic assisted pullups lol'. It's what I end up doing on my last couple reps of my 5x5 set usually.
  • foodfight247
    foodfight247 Posts: 767 Member
    Options
    :laugh:
    Any advice would be greatly appreciated! :happy:

    From one chick to another: pushups DEFINITELY helped me get ready to try pull-ups again! If you're still doing them on your knees, try 'em on your toes with a wide stance... then get those toes closer and closer so you use more of your core for balance. Weights, weights & more weights! I like to do splitsets of "21s" with a 20-25lb barbell (curl halfway up 7x, then start from halfway and curl up to your chin 7x, then curl all the way from the bottom to the top 7x) with skullcrushers (French press? YouTube) with a 30lb dumbbell (started at 20lbs maybe?). Also, splitset bench presses (started with just the bar, up to bar + 15lbs) with dumbbell (started at 8lb, up to 15lbs) chainsaw pulls (stand, dumbbell in one hand, hands just below navel. Rotate dumbbell out in front of you and up back to ear level keeping arm at 90 degrees, return to start, repeat.) But yeah, pushups & 21s I think helped the most! Best of luck & thanks for answering :D

    Edited: just caught the no gym part. Dumbbells are pretty cheap at places like WalMart, you can substitute dumbbells for the barbells. A gallon of milk weighs about 8.5-8.8lbs. Get higher weight by adding sand.


    Yer gonna laugh!! I'm sat here reading what you said and thinking....what!, what's that mean? Don't worry, I've cut n pasted your post so i can refer to it along wth cris's workouts....I've got 2 & 3lb dumbells already, so that's a start. I have to say, and it will make you laugh....I can only just get a good 20 reps in a set of 2lb dumbells! I soooo need to
    get the weight on and do some of these exercises/workouts to give me some tone and curve!

    I'm laughing - I'll get there - just a complete newbie! Thank you sooo much for answering my post tho... Really appreciated.
  • foodfight247
    foodfight247 Posts: 767 Member
    Options
    Oh geez - I'm looking really dumb here, cos I'm sat reading your posts and I don't know or even heard of half of the terminology and excercise names! :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

    I'll get there! :happy: slightly embarrassed.
  • foodfight247
    foodfight247 Posts: 767 Member
    Options
    Oh geez - I'm looking really dumb here, cos I'm sat reading your posts and I don't know or even heard of half of the terminology and excercise names! :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

    I'll get there! :happy: slightly embarrassed.
  • crisanderson27
    crisanderson27 Posts: 5,343 Member
    Options
    :laugh:
    Any advice would be greatly appreciated! :happy:

    From one chick to another: pushups DEFINITELY helped me get ready to try pull-ups again! If you're still doing them on your knees, try 'em on your toes with a wide stance... then get those toes closer and closer so you use more of your core for balance. Weights, weights & more weights! I like to do splitsets of "21s" with a 20-25lb barbell (curl halfway up 7x, then start from halfway and curl up to your chin 7x, then curl all the way from the bottom to the top 7x) with skullcrushers (French press? YouTube) with a 30lb dumbbell (started at 20lbs maybe?). Also, splitset bench presses (started with just the bar, up to bar + 15lbs) with dumbbell (started at 8lb, up to 15lbs) chainsaw pulls (stand, dumbbell in one hand, hands just below navel. Rotate dumbbell out in front of you and up back to ear level keeping arm at 90 degrees, return to start, repeat.) But yeah, pushups & 21s I think helped the most! Best of luck & thanks for answering :D

    Edited: just caught the no gym part. Dumbbells are pretty cheap at places like WalMart, you can substitute dumbbells for the barbells. A gallon of milk weighs about 8.5-8.8lbs. Get higher weight by adding sand.


    Yer gonna laugh!! I'm sat here reading what you said and thinking....what!, what's that mean? Don't worry, I've cut n pasted your post so i can refer to it along wth cris's workouts....I've got 2 & 3lb dumbells already, so that's a start. I have to say, and it will make you laugh....I can only just get a good 20 reps in a set of 2lb dumbells! I soooo need to
    get the weight on and do some of these exercises/workouts to give me some tone and curve!

    I'm laughing - I'll get there - just a complete newbie! Thank you sooo much for answering my post tho... Really appreciated.

    You should definitely start with the bodyweight stuff, just to get some basic conditioning in first. If you do it the way I do it...it'll be all you really need for awhile. If you want to push harder (like I do), weights are always an option. They're $1/lb or so where I am...so it gets a bit expensive when you have to have 55lb+ weights to be seriously effective like I do lol.

    As for reps...you don't need or want to be doing 20 reps of anything in a row. If you can get 5-8 solid reps, then the weight is just a bit light for you. You should feel its a struggle to maintain good form in that rep range for best gains.
  • JNick77
    JNick77 Posts: 3,783 Member
    Options
    You can also buy a chin-up bar for home. I read on one site you if you can't do one, jump catch the bar and use the momentum to help pull yourself up. Do that until you can to multiple good chin-ups.

    Exactly, I call these 'ballistic assisted pullups lol'. It's what I end up doing on my last couple reps of my 5x5 set usually.

    That's cool. It's funny because I know this but I never apply it... I really need to remember this for next Wednesday. Right now I'm trying to hit 4 sets of a solid 10 reps and I end up only getting 9 on the 3rd and 10 on the 4th. I do a 5th set where I just hold it at the top for as long as I can, seems to be helping too. Then I do sets of heavy lat pulldowns supersetted with straight arm pulldowns.
  • foodfight247
    foodfight247 Posts: 767 Member
    Options
    Cris
    You should definitely start with the bodyweight stuff, just to get some basic conditioning in first. If you do it the way I do it...it'll be all you really need for awhile. If you want to push harder (like I do), weights are always an option. They're $1/lb or so where I am...so it gets a bit expensive when you have to have 55lb+ weights to be seriously effective like I do lol.

    As for reps...you don't need or want to be doing 20 reps of anything in a row. If you can get 5-8 solid reps, then the weight is just a bit light for you. You should feel its a struggle to maintain good form in that rep range for best gains

    *********
    Right, I'll do that. Being completely backwards n all, what are you referring to as Reps? (Repitition of the same movement?) If thats the case then, when you log your excercise as say 10 reps in however many sets, then how many sets would you say. Just the one set?

    Slightly embarrassing but really interested. No point doing this unless I know exactly what I'm doing.:happy:
  • Cbandelier
    Cbandelier Posts: 217 Member
    Options
    What is kipping?
  • crisanderson27
    crisanderson27 Posts: 5,343 Member
    Options
    You should definitely start with the bodyweight stuff, just to get some basic conditioning in first. If you do it the way I do it...it'll be all you really need for awhile. If you want to push harder (like I do), weights are always an option. They're $1/lb or so where I am...so it gets a bit expensive when you have to have 55lb+ weights to be seriously effective like I do lol.

    As for reps...you don't need or want to be doing 20 reps of anything in a row. If you can get 5-8 solid reps, then the weight is just a bit light for you. You should feel its a struggle to maintain good form in that rep range for best gains

    *********
    Right, I'll do that. Being completely backwards n all, what are you referring to as Reps? (Repitition of the same movement?) If thats the case then, when you log your excercise as say 10 reps in however many sets, then how many sets would you say. Just the one set?

    Slightly embarrassing but really interested. No point doing this unless I know exactly what I'm doing.:happy:

    Yes, a rep is one movement in an exercise. If I say 10x5, or 5x5...that means 10 reps, 5 sets, for 50 total movements (I only do 10 reps when it's a split exercise, separate for each leg etc). Or 5 reps, 5 sets, for 25 total movements.

    So, if you were to do pushups...you'd do 5x5, which means you'd do 5 pushups, rest a short bit, 5 more, rest...etc, repeat 5x total. Then you'd break for a minute or so, and start on your next exercise...which in my case would be horizontal rows.
  • crisanderson27
    crisanderson27 Posts: 5,343 Member
    Options
    What is kipping?

    Kipping is where you kind of kick your body to get some momentum, taking the weight off your arms sort of, allowing you to lift slightly easier. Imagine if you were trying to climb up onto the bar like a fence...the motion you'd use is kipping.

    Bet you could youtube it lol.
  • Swimgoddess
    Swimgoddess Posts: 711 Member
    Options
    What is kipping?

    It's using your legs in a kick motion to give you momentum upward. Kinda like a vertical breakdancing inchworm.
  • efokken
    efokken Posts: 138 Member
    Options
    I do the assisted pull up machine....but a friend of mine dared each other to try pull ups on our own. I did 4 on the first set, 3 on second set and 2-3 on third set..... I was satisfied! Lol
  • crisanderson27
    crisanderson27 Posts: 5,343 Member
    Options
    I do the assisted pull up machine....but a friend of mine dared each other to try pull ups on our own. I did 4 on the first set, 3 on second set and 2-3 on third set..... I was satisfied! Lol

    That's pretty good work!!
  • lanamilo
    lanamilo Posts: 15
    Options
    I can do 2-3 of the chin up style ones on my door frame pull up bar. Took me a long time to get there. I still practice a few times a week to get my form better and better.

    I was so happy the first time I did one all by myself!!
  • Swimgoddess
    Swimgoddess Posts: 711 Member
    Options
    Wow! I leave for a little bit and the ovaries show up in force... YAY! Sounds like I'm right on track :D

    Foodfight247: Don't ever ever be self-conscious of strength training questions. Most guys assume we know nothing, so the fact you know enough to ask a question impresses the hell outta them. When you do ever get around to joining a gym, you'll get mad respect just for even venturing over to the weights section (aka The Dark Side for chicks). But Cris is right, bodyweight exercises will do just fine! I had my weights regimen for several months and couldn't do a pullup before I started into pushups and I would have NEVER gotten to pullups without pushups. No fancy schmancy gym required. He's also right about the number of reps (he explained quite well earlier). I do as much weight as I can handle for 6-10 reps. In fact, when I can do 3 sets of 10 fairly easily, it's time to increase the weight. I like my post-workout glass of water to shake as I lift it to my lips, lol.
  • crisanderson27
    crisanderson27 Posts: 5,343 Member
    Options
    I like my post-workout glass of water to shake as I lift it to my lips, lol.

    Amen lol...if this doesn't happen, you did it wrong =D.
  • foodfight247
    foodfight247 Posts: 767 Member
    Options
    Cool! Got every bit of all that advice... Brilliant!

    :smile:
  • NotGoddess
    NotGoddess Posts: 1,198 Member
    Options
    I haven't read the entire thread yet but I wanted to thank everyone for the tips so far. Perfect timing on the post. We've got 10 pullups in our weekly challenge and I haven't done them since high school. I tried one at the local playground and pretty much just hung there for about 10 seconds. No audience, thankfully. :) I found a cheap pullup bar-it has the horizontal bar and grips that come toward you. I'm going to follow the articles at TNation (thanks for those!) but what grip position would it be easiest/best for me to start out with?

    It'll probably be months before I can even do one real pullup but I will get there.
  • crisanderson27
    crisanderson27 Posts: 5,343 Member
    Options
    I haven't read the entire thread yet but I wanted to thank everyone for the tips so far. Perfect timing on the post. We've got 10 pullups in our weekly challenge and I haven't done them since high school. I tried one at the local playground and pretty much just hung there for about 10 seconds. No audience, thankfully. :) I found a cheap pullup bar-it has the horizontal bar and grips that come toward you. I'm going to follow the articles at TNation (thanks for those!) but what grip position would it be easiest/best for me to start out with?

    It'll probably be months before I can even do one real pullup but I will get there.

    Probably a parallel grip with your thumbs pointed towards you. But I will say this, don't be discouraged..!!...you will likely be better off doing the negatives like we discussed above. I am strong, and even when I was overweight, I was still strong...and I could only do two to three pullups then...with crappy form. The negatives will build your strength and help you when you're ready to step up to the full version.

Categories