Saturday, February 9, 2013

An idea to steal

The other day, as I was skimming through the bajillion blogs I follow, a mention of pull-ups caught my eye. This guy wrote about how he had installed a pull-up bar at the top of his staircase, and every time he went downstairs he'd take a minute and do as many pull-ups as he could (he was up to six).

The post went on to explain how you could use "triggers" like that to maintain good habits, but I really didn't read on, since I was planning to steal the example outright.

We actually already owned a pull-up bar, the kind that you can slip into a doorframe. It's Dex's, but he hadn't been using it, so I installed it just outside my office. I figured I would just try to do a chin-up every time I walked by, and that would be better than nothing.

Turns out I'm not as far from being able to do a chin-up as I thought! (Note: "Chin-up" means your palms are facing toward you, and they're a lot easier than true pull-ups, which are with your palms facing away.) If I start with my feet flat on the floor, my elbows are already bent, and I found that I can—with some struggle—pull myself the rest of the way up. I guess I'll work toward being able to do a chin-up from a hang, and then work on pull-ups.

As a bonus, having the pull-up bar more visible has gotten the whole family interested in using it. It's fun for them to show me up.

P.S. Seven push-ups.

3 comments:

  1. and for those who can't quite do that ... you can also use a chair to START in the pull up position and lower yourself down.

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  2. That's an awesome idea!! You could make the whole house an exercise obstacle course!

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    Replies
    1. Next I'll put a barbell by the teakettle so I can do squats while the water is boiling. :)

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