chin ups for women page 2

[EmeraldRose]

Check out this article I did about pull-ups for women. It includes a video clip with a very strong and inspiring lady!

Al, I'll just mention here that you've been an inspiration for me! I've watched several of the videos on your website, and my husband and I intend to get your book when we have the cash.

I've actually found that pull ups are easier for me than chin ups. Not that I've managed to do one unassisted yet, but the form seems to be easier. I am able to hang at the top 7-8 seconds and then do some pretty good negatives.

[cori93437]

Women can for sure do pull/chin ups!

Back when I was in USAF Basic and it was time for the PFT I popped out 10 pullups instead of doing the 2 min arm-hang that was the requirement for what ever the "honors" for women at the time (10 pull-ups was a male requirement)... And I caught flack from a female TI for doing so.
(I was raised to believe that there shouldn't be separate rules for men and women doing the same job.)
**Caveat- My father was a gymnast in college, the kind who could do iron crosses on the rings and such, and I somehow inherited his tendency towards natural upper body muscle. Once in high school I wore a scoop neck blouse to school and a group of girls asked me if I had been in an "accident" (car accident?) because my neck was "all swollen"... Um, No! Those were Traps!

I was young and had basically ALWAYS done pull/chin-ups and other physical stuff though (there was a bar out in the barn that I could grab... I'd also throw my legs over it, and hang from it upside down and do crunches)... Good lord the things I thought were "fun" as a child on a farm with nothing else to do!
There was also a 20 ft rope in a tree that I could climb.
Stuff to do when we weren't loading feed or throwing hay, you know.

Meh... Maybe if I ever heal I'll do a pull-up again one day.

[seaweed]

thankyou for all the replies. when i said chin up i mean under hand grip. i can do negatives and i can hang for i think 10 - 12 secs. it is the first part on the way up i cant do. in terms of lat pull downs, i can do a few at about 90 on the machine which i think is lbs. the machines in that part of our gym vary as to what the numbers mean so i am picking it is lbs not kgs. i can do more at 75. if i do an underhand grip with my hands close together on the lat pull down machine, i can do 105 a few times. i am 5ft 5 and weigh about 62kgs. female and i am 47 lol i am teaching myself to pistol squat as well but that is another story.

[iniQuity]

Seaweed, instead of just hanging, slowly lower yourself and try to stop at the bottom while keeping your shoulders engaged, think about pulling your shoulder blades down and back, then release the bar and do it again. Eventually you will be able to slow it down a lot, that's how you know you're getting stronger.

[seaweed]

i am going to the gym tomorrow so i will give it a go. i have tried the "controlled" lowering but i have never thought about what my shoulders are doing. i feel it way more in my biceps.

[Al_Kavadlo]

Al, I'll just mention here that you've been an inspiration for me! I've watched several of the videos on your website, and my husband and I intend to get your book when we have the cash.

Thanks!

[EyeOfRound]

Took me about 6 months to do one chin-up, I can do 5 in a row now. I'm fairly heavy for my height, tho - 5'5" and 145 lbs. I just used bands and progressed to thinner and thinner bands. I do Crossfit, so there'd always be workouts that had high-volume pull-ups or chin-ups, as well as low-volume (for which I'd use as little assistance as possible to build up strength). Plus we do a lot of other strength stuff that helps develop all the muscles involved in doing a chin-up or a pull-up, so kind of like cross-training, I guess.
And yeah, the assisted pull-up machine is strange, it's not a natural movement, so I wouldn't recommend it for training. Get a circular resistance band instead.

[seaweed]

i will look for a resistance band at the gym. it doesnt have one of those assisted pull up machines. my last gym did and it was just wierd. how often, in terms of times per week , did you try to do a pull up over the 6 months? the only woman i have seen irl do one btw used wrist straps to strap her wrists to the bar so i was thinking about doing some grip improving exercises as well.

[Paleobird]

There is a company called Iron Woody's that makes something called, appropriately enough, Woody Bands which are very helpful. You can order them on the net. I'm working my way through the series. Not there yet but still at it.

[seaweed]

i'm not in the US so the postage would kill that. i will look them up to see what they are like and see if i can find an equivalent here.