| Jessica's First Pull Up |
 After 7 months of hard work, Jessica did her first few pull ups today! When she started back in May she had to either use a band for assistance, or perform jumping pull ups. The cool thing about our workouts is that they emphasize doing more work in less time (increased power) to get maximum results. Work is defined as moving a mass (i.e. Your body) a distance (i.e. a pull up - about 1.5 to 2 feet). So when Jessica does jumping pull ups not only does she get some engagement of the muscles used in a pull up, but she is also accomplishing the same amount of work! By scaling the pull ups down in the past she was able to generate more power by doing the same work faster, thus giving her more results! It was Jessica's hard work and consistent practice of pull ups that allowed her to ditch the band and do her first unassisted pull ups! Too often, people who use bands to assist their pull ups become reliant on them. It becomes the easy way out. If you have been using the same band for over 1 month then you should look at a few things: 1. Is it too easy? How many reps are you doing on them? If you are doing around 10 or more, you should use a harder band and do less at a time. To develop strength you should use a band that allows you to do 5 pull ups or less. 2. How often do you practice pull ups? Not in a workout, but practice. Start doing very small sets of pull ups 3-6 times per day and watch your numbers soar in a matter of days - not weeks. Take rest days as needed. You should not do more than 50% of your max when implementing this training method. 3. If your pull up development has stalled ask yourself 'what is my nutrition like?' Dropping a few pounds of bodyfat will make pull ups much easier! Don't make it harder than it has to be! Our gym record for pull ups is currently 47. If anyone is doing better we'd like to hear from you so we can do what you do. But if you are not crushing our records then you can come do what we do!       |