Day 80 - 84: Still pushing, further clarification and a new practice

By Dale L. Roberts (One Jacked Monkey, LLC
January 30, 2015

The days are starting to close in on my goal to complete 100 pull ups in 100 days.  Have I been successful so far?  Mmmm...yes.  However, have I met my goal?  Not by a long shot!  It has been tougher than I thought and I believe that I do need to take time and do a bit more research on how the successful people have achieved this goal.

It was quite funny that in my pursuit I found this video --->>> HILARIOUS

Okay, so I'm not shooting for the form that this gentleman shows in this video.  He's using quite a bit of kipping and I really cannot differentiate between one rep and the next.  His pull ups are closer to incomplete muscle ups (see this exercise here), almost as if he gets just about at the pressing point, but then drops back down.

No disrespect is intended toward the gentleman in the pull up video.  He is displaying great endurance, speed and strength.  My point is that his form is NOT what I'm shooting for and I believe that during my journey to 100 pull ups that I was starting to look a lot like this gentleman.  I do NOT want that in my end result.

I want 100 solid pull ups that are paced evenly with no momentum as in this video.  You may get a laugh out of the Stephen Hawking voice over in the video.  The form I am shooting for his called a "dead hang" (decent video with a great description)

Over the past 4 days, I have alternated days on and off for pulling up.  I'm sticking to performing 10-15 pull ups straight followed by a brief rest until I reach 50 reps.  Generally this takes me about 6-7 minutes to complete.

Last night, however, I did something completely different.  I loaded and unloaded with each repetition.  First, I reached up and grabbed the bar, pulled myself up off the ground, brought my chest to the bar, then slowly released myself back to the ground and let go of the bar.  I did 15 reps on my first attempt, 10 reps on my second attempt, 15 reps on my third attempt and 10 reps on my last attempt.  Whew!   This was a lot harder and I felt a bit more challenge in gripping this time.

Check back with me again soon as I close in on my 100 day mark.