This is my fitness goal for next year. Any advice is much appreciated. I remember reading somewhere in this forum about pull-ups but I'm not sure how to search for it.

My hubby bought me a pull-up bar for christmas & I'm determined to be able do a pull-up by my 40th birthday in August. One of my personal trainer friends suggested I need to gain more upper body strength first by holding a plank for at least 60 seconds (I'm up to 45). She also mentioned I need to improve my push-up form because my chest should almost touch the ground (I'm stepping back & doing modified push-ups for the time being to gain strength).

I started working with a trainer and told him thats one of my goals. He said the same thing start with general upper body strength.

I have been working on chest presses, push ups, back and shoulder strength.

He also has me doing half chin ups, and he helps me on some. With your palms facing you is easier, just working on holding your self in a chin up position and going halfway down slowly, then eventually add going up halfway.

After my first day trying to do them I was soooo sore! But its getting easier.

I can!

I have one of those pull up bars that fit under the door frame. I started by using a chair to get up and lowering myself. I started doing that every other day for as many as my body would let me. Last I tried, I could do 2-3 pull ups.

The body is amazingly adaptive.

What a fun gift!

The most efficient way to train for pullups is to, well, do pullups. General upper body strength will help, as will losing body fat (after all, the less extra fat you are carrying around, the less extra weight you need to haul up), but, as with most lifts, there's no substitute for practicing the movement itself. Google "pullup progressions" and you'll find a lot of info about how to build up to unassisted pullups without a Gravitron: negatives, hangs, jumping pullups, assisted pullups (with a chair, a spotter, or a resistance band), partial pullups, etc. Many people find chinups (palms facing you, hands about a foot apart) to be easier than pullups, and a good place to start.

Have fun! It's a good goal, and very satisfying when you meet it.

b. strong,
Kim

(because you asked: yes, i do pullups. I'm up to 9 dead-hand, wide-grip pullups per set, although less in later sets.)

Yes, in my dreams...lol

i can do neutral grip chinups and underhand grip as well

I just ordered myself a door-mount pull-up bar, since I have the same goal for this year. I'm planning to do the Warrior Dash in October, and know that it'll involve some climbing up rope ladders and wall-scaling, so I figured that this was a good way to practice using those muscles.

Ha! This was my #1 non-weight goal for 2010. I started working at it in May 2010, and was finally, finally able to do 2 in a row in December (I'm up to 3 in a row now, but still with somewhat sloppy form on the 3rd. It's a process). In between, I worked my way through the first 4 sections of the "New Rules of Lifting for Women" book that a lot of people on this forum recommend. Not that the book focuses excessively on doing pullups, but it steadily helps you build the upper body strength you need in order to lift your entire body weight straight against gravity using only your arms. And I agree with kaw- the more you do the "negative" ones (where you use a chair to get up, then lower yourself as slowly as you can), and the less you weigh, the easier it gets.

I think I can do 1! How intriguing! I think I will add that to the fitness goals I have. For me, the warrior dash is in April, and I am going to try to get ready for it.

Iv'e always wanted to, but wouldn't I need to be able to lat pulldown my own weight?

Because isn't a pull up almost the same thing, but pulling my own weight UP in the other direction?

I can tell you right now, I have to work it from both ends -- gain strength and lose body weight before I can get to the pull up place. But I'd love to!

A.

I haven't tried without the machine to assist, but I'm proud to be down to only a 60 pound assist! I'll have to try unassisted just to see if I can knock one out.

I'm looking forward to less poundage to haul up there!

Thank you for all of your advice...I really appreciate it. This fitness goal is much harder than I thought & is going to take me longer than I thought and because of that I'm determined to do it. The first time I tried locking my chin above the bar & holding it I swear I could barely hold it for more than 10 seconds. However, the more I practice the more I can feel my muscles ever so very slowly adapting. Also I'm not as sore as I was the first time I tried it.

In addition, I've been working on developing upper body strength (chest presses, pull downs, push-ups, overhead presses, etc.)

It also helps I've been getting encouragement from my male coworkers as they keep asking me how I'm doing & giving me advice on how to progress so now I'm accountable.

Workingmom

Sounds like you are doing great. If you are not already doing them, pulldowns on a machine are the quickest route to doing a pullup, as it allows you to add weight progressively. Also, make sure you do bicep curls... if you have weak bi's it will hurt your pullup.

I can do 1 or 2 pullups, and then I have to go lie down for a bit... they are tough to do at 325.

"I can do 1 or 2 pullups, and then I have to go lie down for a bit..."
That's too funny radar2011; I usually feel the same way, and I only weigh 125. Guess that goes to show you that it's more about strength than body weight. I'm very impressed.

As for the lat bar/pullup equivalency, I"m pretty sure it's harder to do a pulldown than a pullup, because I can only do ~90 pounds on the lat bar, but can move my body weight for several reps now the other way. Not sure why.

Pre P90X- No, I couldn't. Post P90X- yes I can. Only one for now, but I think that's an accomplishment. lol