Pulling My Weight

Me hanging onto a tree during a storm. Early 2000s.

These days I can hop up on a bar and crank out 20 pull-ups. Those would be kipping pull-ups, I can probably only muster between 8-10 dead-hang. The point is, I can do pull-ups, and have been able to for about twelve years. Before that, I could barely hang on the bar.

My brother-in-law RJ (who I have discussed in other blogs) offered to start training me back in 2007 or so, and told me he’d get me doing pull-ups. I was not confident he would be able to. I was always skinny with no muscle mass, no matter what I did.

I did martial arts for 10 years, played competitive ultimate, dabbled in rock climbing and generally stayed fit. But I could not put on weight or muscle, I stayed 140 pounds no matter what I did. In 2005 I had knee surgery and had to stop most activity for about a year. It was after my recovery that RJ offered to start training me. 

The road to pull-ups was actually fascinating in retrospect. First, he had me do jumping pull-ups. I did those for months, just to build the muscles and movement. Then we moved on to using a band to help lift. Finally, I was able to do several regular pull-ups, and then he showed me the kip. Kipping involved using your momentum to help swing you up, so you can do pull-ups faster and do more of them. It’s not as taxing on your arms as dead-hang pull-ups, and because you can do more you can get your heart rate up. They are quite fun once you get the hang of them. It’s a confusing movement at first, involving swinging your hips forward and your shoulders back at the same time, then swinging your shoulders forward and hips back as you pop over the bar. This is not a natural movement.

I will say that my martial arts training did help me when RJ first told me I’d be able to do a pull-up. The self-doubt and general incredulity toward the notion of being able to do something in the future that I couldn’t do was something I’d faced when training. The first time I saw someone do a 360 degree jump spin kick I didn’t think I’d ever be able to do it. But, with time and careful training, it was no problem. The instructor knew how to build the skills needed, and in the same way, RJ knows how to get someone from zero to pull-up through a series of steps. 

Now I use this same philosophy to tackle all sorts of problems and know I can get through it with patience and incremental improvements. It is extremely beneficial to look at a daunting task and know I will get through it simply by starting.