SURPRISE! You can do pull-ups too!

SURPRISE You can do pull-ups too! 

 I was surprised to get an email from my ROCKIN awesome Cousin, Mallory Peveto yesterday on her recent pull-up accomplishemnts!

She scored a whopping 50 consectutively in a recent workout!! What a huge feat!



Nice Job Girl!!

This reminded me of my own struggles with pull-ups and how I eventually conquered my pull-up predicament! I mean... who doesn't want "I can do X- amount of pull-ups" on their resume?! If you don't want that on your resume maybe you aren't at the right site ;). I worked with a strenght coach a few years back that was adament about getting me pull-up worthy, and I must say he did it! The great part of how he taught me was that I only did eccentric pull-ups or "negatives" for 4 weeks... after 4 weeks of HARD work he said, ok, now do a pull up. SURPRISE--I jumped up to the pull-up bar and cranked out 3 in a row!! That's 3 in a row from maybe one on a good day! Pretty proud  moment for this girl! Let me show you how...and a surprise pull-up may be in your furture!

Here are a few tricks of the trade to get you to your first proper pull-up!

You wan to be sure that you are fairly warm before jumping straight into a pull-up. Doing a full pull-up uses some large muscle groups as well as some smaller muscles for assistance. You'll want to properly warm up your shoulders and back before starting. I like doing some light rows as well as 

bent over raises, and fully extended planks at the least before beginning.  

The first thing to master is the isometric hang. The hang takes some grip strength and will also help you to turn on your back muscles that my have been snoozing! Be sure to squeeze your shoulder blades together and try to hang at the top of your pull up for 5-10 seconds at at time. You can have a friend or trainer push up until your chin is above the bar,(check out the picture below) then squeeze tight and hold. Try this exercise 2x a week (for 2 sets of 5-8 repetitions of 5-10 seconds) until you feel comfortable moving to the next progression.

Next progression is an eccentric pull-up. What is an eccentric you may ask? Eccentric is the action of muscle lengthening. It is the opposite of concentric muscular contraction. For example, in a barbell curl, when you pull the weight towards your body your bicep is contracting, this is called a concentric muscle action or contraction phase. When you lower the bar back towards the floor, you are experiencing the eccentric phase of the muscle action. WARNING!! Eccentric causes the most muscle damage, and will make you VERY sore! However, it's gonna get you strong...fast in regard to the pull up! Here's how you crank it!

1. start with your chin above the bar, this is where a training partner or trainer comes in nicely as you will see with my lovely assistant Kyle. If you don't have a partner, you can use a plyo box to get above the bar.

2. Once above the bar, ever-so-slooowly(while squeezing your back and tucking your elbows) lower yourself to the bottom of the pull up position.

beginning of the movement

Middle of the movement



Almost to the finish! Get to the very bottom of the pull-up before re-starting!

3. Once at the bottom of the pull up position, re-start the movement by either using your partner to help push you to the top of the movement or your plyo-box for assistance getting to the top.

-It's important to take your time on the movement and try to take as long as possible to get to the bottom of your pull-up position.(try to take 5 seconds to get to the bottom) try to start at 3 sets of 5 repetitions once a week and see how your strength does.

-Don't be surprised if you are REALLY sore the next day! The eccentric phase causes a lot of muscle damage, but will also cause you to have very quick results on your strength increases!

-Lastly, if you would like to make this movement harder, simply add weight. I normally use a weight belt and hang a 25 lb plate to make the movement even harder. You can also have someone place a dumbbell between your ankles as pictured for extra weight.

Place a dumbbell between you ankles if needed for extra weight.



My last tip for getting pull-up savvy is to try a kipping pull-up. It's a pendulum-type movement used in gymnastics and may help to get you some strength. Although the kipping pull up actually uses momentum to get through the tough parts of the pull-up, it can increase your pulling strength! There are tons of resources on the web to check out kipping pull ups

5 Things you can learn from a Bodybuilder and Figure Athlete

5 Things you can learn from a Bodybuilder and Figure Athlete

 

 

 

 

The 2012 Olympia was held this weekend in Las Vegas, and in honor of all the hard work and sculpted bodies in attendance, I thought I would dedicate my first post to the sport. Let's face it, there's a lot to learn about health and fitness. There are articles, blogs, magazines, your friends and that infamous guy at the gym with 12-inch biceps that always wants to tell you "what he does". When it comes down to it, there is a lot of bad advice out there, and a lot of extreme behaviors in the body building community. Bodybuilding, however does take a lot of planning, discipline, grit, and motivation that I think we could all use! Here are a few notes that we could all take from bodybuilders in creating our own masterpiece!

 

1. Have a plan- What's your plan? No seriously, write it down. Put it somewhere, make is specific, make it realistic, and put a time goal with it. Bodybuilders are always ___ many weeks out from something. Make a goal for yourself and give yourself a set amount of time to do it. This way you have something that you are working towards every day. Not a distant grasp at "I want to lose 5 lbs" how about "I want to lose 5lbs in 30 days" there! Now there is a specific time goal, so you've given yourself direction and intention. Next, write down the how. How are you going to make that happen? Increase your cardio? Decrease your calories? Start resistance training on a regular basis? Whatever it is figure it out and plan out how you'll do accomplish this... now you have a destination AND a vehicle! Psh you're practically there already!

 

2. Habitual- Bodybuilders are creatures of habit to the core. They eat the same things day in and day out and they plan every meal. Ok ok...before you lose your mind completely, I'm not going to tell you that you should eat chicken and rice every day. However, I will say that taking a little time each week to plan your meals will go a long way in helping you to stay on track with your goals. I like to cook all of my food for the week on Sunday afternoons. I portion it all out and put it in containers so that I can have lunch at work or on the go and don't have to rely on fast food or... anybody else, for my nutrient intake. I like to know that I'm in control of my food if nothing else for the day. I've got that on lock!

 

3. Make an exercise plan. Research and find a progressive plan to meet your needs. If you need help with that you can contact me at mandywray@rocketmail.com and I can help you come up with a plan to reach your goals. Whether you research online or find something in social media...whatever you decide, make sure it is progressive and purposeful. Don't just show up and do whatever comes to mind. You have a goal. you have a purpose. Be intentional!

 

4. Hit the gym daily! Have you seen the sweat daily video yet? I posted it on the Iron Lily Fit facebook page, go check it out and get some free motivation. Give yourself a reason to get to the gym every day and don't make excuses. John Berrardi, of Precision Nutrition recommends to schedule a photo shoot or buy youself a new pair of jeans to fit into. Give yourself a visual goal with your date so that you are now looking at something bigger than just your own mental drive. Which brings me to my last point.

 

5. Build a community- Bodybuilders are notorious for building a core community that can rally around them. Dieting is hard! And building a group of people who you trust to help you when you are feeling weak or when you feel like giving up will go a long way in helping your to shoot for success in your weight loss or performance goals.

 

So there are the top 5 tips that you can take from the bodybuilding community and apply to your training.

 

 That takes a lot more than just showing up!!