Last March I read a post somewhere on women training to do pull ups and decided to make pull ups a fitness goal. Today, for the first time since then, I did one, albeit underhand (aka “chin up”). And then I did another, and a third, with resting in between. So three sets, one rep. 🙂 But hey, a few days ago I couldn’t do even one, so this is a BIG deal for me.

From here, the goal is to increase the reps and work up to being able to do multiple pull ups with an overhand grip.

Funny side story: in my early twenties I did a lot of weight training (as I’m doing now) but I could never do chin ups. Then, after carrying babies on my hips for a few years, I remember that I knocked off three chin ups without much problem. Go, motherhood!

I think one reason it’s taken me almost nine months to get to this point is that my training has been inconsistent, with long lapses in my visits to the gym. Also, it took a while before I got serious enough to start piling on the weight when doing the critical exercises. I do a variety of upper body exercises, but for me, the most important one proved to be the lat pull down, with my grip adjusted on the horizontal bar to simulate the way I would hold a bar if I were doing pull ups. I’m presently lifting 130-lbs on the lat pull down when using an underhand grip, and 110 pounds with an overhand grip. (I weigh around 127 lbs.)

I’ve seen maybe three women do pull ups at our gym. I talked to one of them, and she said to work on exercises to strengthen the core, so I started pushing that too.

And today it paid off.

If you’re wondering, I’m fifty-three years old.

Onward.

Posted on: Tuesday, January 7th, 2014 at 5:01 pm
Categories: Fitness.
Tags: women doing pull ups