I don't remember exactly which day I set this goal, but at least a month or two ago I set the goal of doing 10 full unassisted pull ups in a row by Dec. 31, 2011, 11:59pm. On November 23, I cranked out 10 full unassisted pull ups. I also have a witness, my son. I just kept going till I couldn't go anymore and then my son yelled out, "You did 10!". I tried to push for 11 but I couldn't do it. But We shouted and high-fived. It was a very happy moment for me! My wife and daugher, who were down stairs were like, "What's going on?" When they found out, everybody was happy for me. So, I send my thanks out to Tony, Chalene, Shaun-T, and Brett, who are my DVD trainers from Beachbody, and Billy Blanks who sparked my motivation almost 6 years ago, and kept it alive until I found Beachbody.
My history with Pull ups
I never even thought about doing a pull up until I got into high school. There, in gym class, we had to do fitness tests for school and we all also did those Presidential Fitness program tests. Guys had to do a bunch of moves which included pull ups, while girls did their moves. No pull ups, instead they had to do the flexed arm hang, or something like that.
Anyway, over the four years of high school, my max number of pull ups was 4. And those pull ups weren't full. I would bring my chin up to the bar, not over it, and would go down till there was about a 40-45 degree angle at my elbows. If I went all the way down on the first one, I never would have been able to get back up. But my limit was 4. Or should I say 3. The first one was always assisted because I sort of jumped up to the bar and my momentum sort of carried me up to the top.
After graduating from high school, I never even thought of doing another pull up again until I returned to P90X in 2010. I say returned because I had done P90X a few years earlier, but I didn't have a pull up bar then so I used the resistance bands. When I would go to the park with my kids, I would try to do a pull up on the hanging bar there, but I could barely do one after the initial jump up to the bar. But all through college, work a few years, graduate school and post graduate studies, pull ups never even entered my mind except when I saw someone doing them on TV. But never the thought or even desire to do one or even try one.
As I said, the first time I did P90X was around 2007 or 2008. I was full into TAEBO and loving it. I had purchased the newest programs from TAEBO but later realized that the moves were the same, just repackaged in newly titled programs. Then my sister, introduced me to P90X. Her and her husband had just ordered it and suggested I try it our. I tried a few of the programs and thought it was great, but I didn't have any heavy weights or a pull up bar, so I mainly cycled through the cardio workouts like PlyoX, CardioX, Core Syn, Ab ripperX, StretchX, and YogaX. I stayed away from the strength workouts after one time. I guess I was intimidated, because I had never done that type of workout before. Plus, I didn't want to bulk up and look like Arnold. LOL! Yeah, like that would ever happen.
Anyway, that is when my journey with beachbody started. I have the exact dates on record because I kept a workout journal so I know every workout I did, how long it was, and since I got a heartrate monitor, How many Kcals lost, time in the zone, etc. But I don't have those records on hand at the moment. I also dipped into Power90 for a while and I tried Turbo Jam for a short time. But I never liked those aerobics instructors with too much pep so I was kind of turned off my Turbo Jam. That is not to say the Chalene was not good. It just means that that particular program didn't appeal to me. Which is the great thing about beachbody. There are so many options that appeal to everyone! Then I tried Insanity, for Shaun-T's 60 day program. Great program. Then I tried RevAbs. In hind sight, I probably should have done RevAbs first, then Insanity. At the end of a few of the DVDs, there were ads for ChaLEAN Extreme. Again, the lady with too much pep, but the message she was preaching was powerful and really caught my interest: Muscle Burns Fat! I had a lot of fat and wanted to burn it off. The message made sense. I decided to give Chalene another try and I got the program. And LOVED it. Doing weights with Chalene motivated me to go back to P90X and do the strength workouts as well. So, in the summer of 2010, my family and I took a visit back to the US to see my parents, but I had an alterior motive which was to get a pull up bar for the door. I still wasn't 100% sure I would even want to do pull ups, but at least it would give me something high to anchor my resistance bands on. Oh, I forgot to mention that I got the resistance bands when I got the 10 minute trainer after I did the cardio workouts with P90X and before I did Insanity. I bought them from an infomercial in the US when I went back to visit my dad after he had a stroke. Sorry, my timeline is all messed up, but you get the idea.
So, in late September, early October of 2010, I set up my first ever pull up bar and tried a pull up. I couldn't get up. So I did half down, chair assisted pull ups. Around March of 2011, I was able to do full chair-assisted pull ups. In the early summer, I proped my legs up on the second level of my sons bed which is right in front of the door where set up the bar and did it that way for a few months. Then, around September of 2011, I thought, I wonder if I can do an unassited pull up. I did 2. From that point on, when I did a P90X workout that had pull ups in it, I would try it unassisted first, then finish the move assisted. In early October, I realed of 4 full unassisted pull ups. I believe that is when I set the goal of 10 by years end. I started doing pull ups in sets, So the most I did in a row was 5 or 6 at the time, but I did like 4-5 sets. The most pull ups I've done in one day is like 30. The number slowly crept up, 5 in a row, 6, 7, 8. Then, in early November I did 9 in a row at the school gym. I was stoked, I tried to push for 10 right there, but failed. Around the 16th of Nov. I hit a hiccup, I could only do 8. I was really disappointed. But not down. There was a reason I could only do 8. My kids were watching me do my pull ups and apparently, I have a funny face when I am working out. My daughter started laughing when I was at about 5 and her infectious laughter caught me and I couldn't continue past 8.
On November 23, 2011. I was doing P90X's Back and Biceps workout and the first move is Wide Front pull ups. BANG, with my son as witness, and with specific instructions NOT TO LAUGH, I reeled off 10 full unassisted pull ups in a row.
Now that I have reached my goal early, I'll have to set a new goal. I'm thinking 13 by new years. What do you think? Should I set it at 15?
