Great going Mike.Originally Posted by Mike T
One (of the many!) frustrating things I find about chin-ups, is that unlike press-ups, where you can momentarily 'hover', when nearing failure, before that extra effort to complete the rep, with chin-ups I have to put my feet on the ground as locking my arms at the bottom, is too strength sapping. Once my feet hit the ground I feel it nullifies (cheats) the attempt on the next rep, as it makes it relatively too easy.
Am Yisrael Chai
So if you are doing 2 chin-ups, do you rest your feet on the ground in-between them? Or do you only do this towards failure, so a brief rest but within the allowed time?
When doing press-ups I do rest with my chest on the floor, and those rests get longer and longer as time passes. Chin-ups - I do not put my feet down until I have done all that I am going to do in that set.
EMOM press-ups routine. 12 reps (floor to lock to floor) press-ups, every minute, for 10 minutes.
Secs remaining for each of the 10X 1 min sets.
45 - 43 - 45 - 45 - 38 - 39 - 33 - 38 - 19 - 4!!!
Sooooo hard. Just made it this time.
Am Yisrael Chai
No. I can usually do multiple chin-ups with feet off the floor throughout, but when I've tried EMOM chin-ups of sets of 3 reps, once I begin to get tired towards the later sets I find I can't manage 3 reps without having to put my feet on the ground for the third rep. To my mind that's not really doing the EMOM exercise properly. Even though it's still having a training effect. Somehow, standing and releasing the bar, shaking my arms out, grabbing the bar again and hanging momentarily before pulling up, makes it obviously easier, for me. I appreciate that if I complete the 3 reps within the minute, then that's Ok, but it's not comparable to hovering/pausing when doing press-ups.
When doing press-ups, on the sets where I'm nearing failure in the set, I might 'hover'/pause momentarily (2 secs max?) either with my chest on the floor, or with arms locked at the top of the movement. If I'm unable to then complete the press-up it's obviously a failure. For me, if I linger longer than momentarily on the floor or locked, it's too much of a rest. However, if doing EMOM press-ups, that's different as I can use the full minute, in theory. In practise, if I use too much of the minute, it makes the subsequent set near impossible to complete. If that makes sense!
I say it feels like I'm cheating on the chin-ups, but there's no cheating really as doing exercise, is doing exercise, is doing exercise. It's just my OCD/perfectionist mind when I'm, as always, completing against my past and future self, and I want the progress (or lack of it) to be comparable!
Am Yisrael Chai
Again, impressive!
EMOM for 12 minutes: 6 chest to floor press-ups. So a total of 72.
I don't have any equipment for doing chin-ups, so I will have to find a local park with such equipment. When I was a kid it seemed every kids park had a horizontal ladder 1.8m of the ground.
I've been away on holiday for a few days, so I'm out of the press-ups routine but will get back to it.
I'm not interested in being competitive, it's just that I'm getting close to zero in arm exercise on the bike (I tend to sit on the saddle all the time and spin lowish gears). I also ride 'flat palm', that is with my palms flat on the tops of the 'bars with my fingers and thumbs not touching them. This stops you pulling on the 'bars, and is a good training tool for pedalling smoothly - although it does absolutely nothing for your arms!
One of the problems with chin-ups is that if you do not do them regularly - or a very similar resistance exercise - then you will not be able to do any. The other problem is having the equipment. Luckily my long suffering partner accepts a gym frame in our front room that I can do them on. Decades ago, when taking our daughter to the local park, I was able to use a climbing frame to build up from simply holding in the up position before very slowly lowering, to eventually being able to do a chin-up. It took several weeks.
Good luck with it Marco. It is worthwhile.
Mike...Hardcore! Respect!
Marco. Yes that is the problem with chin-ups or pull ups, that equipment is needed usually, unless you have a handy beam or similar. I ended up buying one of those door-frame expandable bars that fit across a doorway, which I use in an old-building (my partner is less accommodating than Mike's!). The angle of the doorway does mean I can't do pull-ups, only chin-ups, and I have to put the worry aside that the compression holding it there might suddenly 'fail' too.
Re resistance exercises, I was listening to Simon Evan, the comedian, on the Triggernometry podcast this week. He related how there had been a period when he had been feeling very low in his mood, and couldn't make even simple choice decisions, prevaricating extensively, etc. It became so problematic that he eventually sought medical help and was found to have very low testosterone levels. Medication has since helped. I believe that there is some evidence that older guys can help to maintain, or at least stem the rapid decline of their T-levels by engaging in resistance exercises. True or not, it helps to motivate me anyway!
Am Yisrael Chai
I have just seen some photos of Poels - no upper body muscle development whatsoever. I can see that this would make him lighter and therefore faster, particularly on hills, but in any other context I would be worried about his health.
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