Pull ups, chin ups, you name it, I couldn't do them. I've taken many martial arts, but the ability to pull oneself up was never really called upon. As such I never actually did any pull ups or chin ups. So when my Capoeira instructor brought in a chin up bar, I expected to have a poor showing. Well, worse than that, I couldn't do a single chin up, much less a pull up. I felt appropriately shamed. Though Capoeira is lotsa legs, having appropriate upper body strength is also important, so resolved to start training towards pull ups. I suppose it's worth mentioning that if I cheat, that is I don't start and end at a dead hang, I can muddle out a few chin ups, but do it right or don't do it at all, so my goal was a full pull: from a dead hang all the way up and all the way back down to a dead hang.
After a few weeks of being a cheap bastard and not buying the really expensive bars you hang in a doorway, I eventually found one for a reasonable price and started trying to do what I call L ups because the part of the bar I'm holding are parallel bits that stick out, a nice in between setting of chin up and pull up. Since I couldn't even do one up I decided the best was was to start with dead drops, that is to hop up into position and then very slowly lower all the way down to a dead hang. I found out the next day, with screamingly painful arms, that this kind of workout, while effective, is the most painful way to start. OUCH. So I looked at the other options for people who can't do any ups and found that if I put my feet behind me on a box or something that I could do slightly assisted L ups, so there I started.
It's been a few weeks and I was showing small amounts of improvement but I still couldn't do a single anything up. I had been concentrating on chin ups as my unassisted attempts as they are the easiest to do, but no luck. It was like I was pulling, and could get my shoulders to move a bit, but nothing after that. I was missing an entire muscle group or something. It was depressing, but I soldiered on as I usually do. Then, yesterday, before my full workout, I successfully struggled through a single chin up! I was totally psyched. I tried for a second one, failed, and went back to my normal workout, but I managed it!
With one down now it's just a matter of time before I get to my goal. It may be a long time, but patience is a virtue I have when it comes to strength training. My goal is going to be hard to get to but it is as follows: ten chin ups, ten L ups, and then twenty pull ups alternating pulling up to chest and up to back. From one chin up to forty assorted ups. This ain't gonna be easy, but it will definitely be worth it.
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