Setting The Bar

I'm not too good at pull ups.

It’s not a motivational thing, it’s a gravitational thing.

At 205 pounds, gravity pulls harder than my arms and back are able to.

There is nothing quite as disheartening as looking up at a pull up bar and knowing exactly how this is going to go. I’m going to jump up, hang on for dear life and pull… pull… pull… and if I’m lucky, I’ll get to where my chin juuuust touches the top of the bar before my old buddy gravity begins to win his battle of tug-of war. Then I’ll drop back to the ground, catch my breath, wait for Flux Pavillion to drop the bass (it happens at 0:34), and jump up to start the process over again.

But just like Nick, I couldn’t beat a 10 minute mile a just few years ago. And after a few short months of sticking to it, I’m able to run several miles in a row at a better than 10 minute pace. If you’re not reading The Art of ManlinessThe Art of Manliness may I suggest you start? You’ll be seeing a lot of references to them in my posts. Specifically this article. I utilize a lot of these techniques when doing pull-ups now to strengthen my arms and back so that soon I will be able to crank them out.

had to change it up a bit tonight and work out on the soccer field
burpees in the dirt and pull ups on the goal

As a guy who can’t do more than 2 pullups in a row, I can think of a few choice words to describe today’s workout:

3 Rounds

10 burpees

5 burpee pull-ups

3 burpee pull-ups with knee raises

15 crunches

10 laying leg raises

5 hanging knee raises

I took my sweet time, but I got it done.

Fitness is all about goal setting. One of my many goals is to be able to do at least 10 pull ups before my child is due to be born on February 14th, 2014. I have a lot of work to do. But gravity isn't getting any stronger and all these miles we will be running ought to weaken his grip a little. With continued cross training, I ought to be there with no problems.