day 79: week 11 check in
Shit shit shit. This has been my worst week ever.
Gained: 2.8lb of fat this week.
Maybe I should try staying away from these little devils:
But how can I say no to little girls who come to my door selling me heaven in a box. I guess it should be a no problem to stay away now that the box is empty.
I`m not completely devastated by this news. It comes in light of the fact that this week I did my first ever unassisted pull-up! This has been a goal of mine for a long time.
I`m not talking about girl pull-ups (flexed arm hang) I`m talking about the real deal dead hang pull-ups. Because I am to short, I had to lower myself into a dead hang, but I pulled myself up from there. Although I must admit that I had to thrust my body a bit to get myself up. Step two: to do it without thrusting my body.
Here is a description of proper pull-up form from (from military.com):
Grab the pull-up bar with your hands placed about shoulder width apart and your palms facing away from you. Pull yourself upward until your chin is over the bar and complete the exercise by slowly moving to the hanging position.
Womens Health Magazine gives the following strategy for learning how to do pull-ups (which I never followed, but though you all might find interesting):
Start with step 1, do each exercise twice a week until you master it, and then move on to the next.
Step 1: Flexed-arm hang
Stand on a bench under a pullup bar. Grab the bar with an overhand grip and position yourself so your chin is right above the bar (A). Bend your knees and take your feet off the bench and hold for as long as you can (B), then come down and rest for 60 to 90 seconds. Repeat 3 times. When you’ve mastered 3 25-second holds, move to step 2.
Step 2: Negative pullups
From the flexed-arm hang position, lower yourself down as slowly as you can until your arms are fully extended. Place your feet back on the bench and let go of the bar. That’s 1 rep. When you can do 3 sets of 3 super-slow (around 20-second) reps, you’re ready to take on step 3.
Step 3: Mini pullups
Starting from the flexed-arm hang position, lower your chin to about 2 inches below the bar, then pull yourself back up. Lower yourself about an inch more with each rep until you can fully extend your arms and pull all the way back up. Aim for 3 sets of 2 reps each.
Step 4: Pullup
From a dead hang, have a friend slightly boost your legs as you start the pullup. Do one rep at a time with a minute of rest between pullups until you hit 3. When that becomes too easy, ditch the helpful boost and lose the rest between pullups. Keep challenging your now buff arms by adding reps as you’re able.
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Cheer up! Remember, it’s a long slow process, not a spring to the finish.
I am so impressed with your pullup ability! I can’t even do a regular, good form PUSH up! You go girl! Don’t worry too much about the weight, focus on these other goals and the weight will just fall off
I hope you are celebrating that pull-up!!!!
so jeolous you did your first pullup! i can’t do one but i am working on it! do not worry about the weight….you will get it off but the pullup now that is impressive
A pull-up!? I’m IMPRESSED! That’s really hard stuff! For that reason, I haven’t even considered trying P90X!
Better luck next week! You’re doing great
At least you’re getting stronger in the meantime! I know how frustrating the scale can be. stay motivated. Your pull-up success is phenomenal!
I’m impressed! great news on that pull up
Oh girl it’s ok!!! Just start fresh this week and hopefully those cookies are gone now so you wont have the chance to eat them!!!!
Thanks for the bday wish!!!!!! xoxo
It’s just one week, you’ll do better next week now that those cookies are gone
That’s really great you did a pull up. It’s been 20+ years since I’ve done one.
Woohoo pull-up! I think it’s very impressive. And I wouldn’t fret too much about the weight gain; you already look amazing.
Next time the little devils come to your door you can give them a donation and have them keep the cookies. The wee ones are thrilled to get money for nothing. I discovered that last year and got the same results again this year. Don’t know why I didn’t think of it before.
Sometimes they’ll also allow you to “buy” a box to donate elsewhere. A couple of years ago you could pay for cookies and they’d ship them to Canadian soldiers serving overseas. I’m sure they have no trouble working them off!
Thanks for the descriptions of pull-ups etc. Some of us who avoid the gym need reminding of such things from time to time.
Oops. You were referring to the cookies as the little devils, not the girls. Guess my slip tells you something about my behaviour when I was a Girl Guide.