Just shy of 40 years ago, my wife and I first met rock climbing, and climbing was our main activity. As part of that, we did a lot of training on the rock, in climbing gyms and on hang boards. Not surprisingly, we could both do a lot of pull ups. My wife was stronger than me, and could do five one arm pull ups. We stopped climbing 25 years ago when I injured a tendon in my finger, and stopped that kind of training.
When my wife had shoulder surgery four months ago, they cut her deltoid muscle. She has been progressing well since. In December she saw her physical therapist in Bozeman, and he said "send me a video" when you do your first pull up. We discussed that, and decided we should buy a pull up bar, and finally got that assembled just over a week ago.
I decided that I should start pull ups as well, after a friend sent me a video of him doing ten pull ups. Best as I can remember, it was 25 years since I did a pull up. My first time I hung from the bar, I felt like a helpless beached whale and couldn't do a single pull up from a dead hang. I was infuriated at the prospect of getting old and not being able to do pull ups!
The next day I grabbed the bar and did "one." Better than the day before, but barely better. The next day, I did two. The following day, I did three. Puzzled, I called a PT friend and he said this was normal and I was retraining my body how to do pull ups. He said to expect continued progress. The next day, I did four. Following day, I did five. Next day I did six from a dead hang. Next day I did seven, and thought this is getting better. Pretty excited, yesterday I tried again but could only do seven again.
I decided I am going to have to train smarter and alternate between pull ups one day, then a rest day, then pull ups again. My near term goal is ten, with a stretch goal of 15 pull ups.
I have really enjoyed this process so far and hope to make pull ups a regular part of my fitness regimen. My wife is making progress towards that first pull up, and as competitive as she is, I have no doubt she will be kicking my ass in no time.
Who out there is doing pull ups and what are your thoughts?