Training to Get The One-Armed Chin!

I think I may be able to wrangle a setup at home to do one eventually. I have the overhead pulley to do lat pulldowns, and I have the chinup bar. I may be able to thread a pulley down to get this done. I will try to get it done tonight and I'll take some pictures. If I can document it, then LOK will be able to once again learn from the master! :: :: ::

 

Worst Case Scenario: If I don't get it done, then my wife can take pictures of me "Benoiting" myself from the lat pulldown cable. ::

Best Case Scenario: I get one eventually! :bears:

 

awesome Buddy..

I have been training for them.. I started doing negatives.. I think by mid summer I'll have it!

 

used to be able to do them when i was 17 and heinously skinny.....weird how you get proportionally weaker on BW exercises as you bulk up but get proportionally stronger on weight lifts.

 

::

I remember hanging from monkeybars as a kid and thinking "This is EASY". Back then I was 70lbs. I now weigh 220lbs and it's not as easy as it looks!

 

I was going to start a new thread titled "Monkey bars are the BOMB"

I'm actually going to build a set in my backyard!

as a kid I could swing on them so easily.. it is fricken hard now ::

 

I guess that's why they have them in the army as part of their obstacle course. People's grip strength doesn't improve with age on its own. It has to be worked on.

 

yeah man..

I'm building a big ass playground thing for my kids in the backyard.. I'm going to put monkey bars on it for me !

 

Yeah, my kids are definitely going to be physically active. I'm loving the way I feel now that I'm always doing SOMETHING to work out. :clap:

 

Well, tonight I'll be doing this. I have a harness almost set up and I should be able to take a few pics. It looks like I'll be buying a digital videocamera soon to record my son being born, so perhaps I'll start making training vids.:clap:

 

awesome Buddy:bears:


I'll make a video once I master the hand walking,

my goal is at least the length of the football field on my hands

 

Well, I got it set up...sorta. I was able to do it, but the cord that I used was too long. I tried to hook a weight belt to it, but that just resulted in the weightbelt being torn through...but that gives me an idea actually. The leftover buckle could be put through a length of rope which can go either around my waist or under my backside. I have to experiment with it and I'll update this thread as I figure it out.

I found out that when you use one arm, you're not automatically going to be able to chin half your bodyweight.

All the stabilizer muscles that are usually braced by the other arm are thrown out of whack. Basically put, I had to have 150lbs on the counterweight to be able to do 8 one-arm chins with either hand, but then the belt tore through so I have to find a different loadbearing harness. My guess is that it'll be a piece of rope, but I don't know where I put it. ::

Still, this mighty problem is no match for my puny brain. I'll have it figured out in no time, and when it works, I'll take pictures. :clap:

 

Well, I am truly humbled by how hard it is. I am using 145lbs as the counterweight. It's gonna take a hell of a lot of work to get a one-handed chinup at my weight. I'm gonna lose weight as I start jogging more and more, but a one-handed chinup appears to be almost all arm.

On the plus side, I am doing 6-8 reps per arm with that counterweight, and yesterday it was a 150lb counterweight. I am going to decrease it slowly but surely. I am also still doing sets of 15 with my bodyweight, but that one-handed chin is gonna be hard as hell to nail.

 

I did 10 with the 145lb counterweight easily (both arms), so now I am moving to 140lbs as the counterweight. Eventually I will get this; it's just a question of when. It's not easy, but it sure is exciting. :clap: ::

Peace and chicken grease to all you guys! :bears:

 

Moving down to 130lbs counterweight. I did 10 with 135lbs counterweight just a few minutes ago. This quick progress is nice, but I have a feeling it won't always be so rapid. We'll see how it goes over the next little while, but the counterweight is good. I also wore gloves to do it today for the first time because my chinup bar is a bit on the thin side. The gloves provided a better grip, which meant an increased bicep and forearm pump.

The toughest part is the balance. :dunno:

 

as I got rid of my squat rack deal.. I am not just doing negatives..

I am on target for a OAC by Summer.. :bears: me and you Buddy boy!!!:bears:

 

Oh yeah, actually I decreased it to 125lbs. 130 was just too easy. I will get this; it's just a question of when. :clap: :clap: :clap:

 

8 reps with 125lbs counterweight is the hardest right now. I was having a hard time getting it going, but that's for a few reasons:
1. I tried to shorten the harness and couldn't get it on properly.
2. I decreased the weight 2 or 3 times over the past few days and I'm probably overenthusiastic.
3. I kept losing my balance, which means I have to settle down and go smoothly.

I'll do what I was doing before, going up to 12-15 reps with a weight before decreasing the counterweight by another 5lbs. So I have to get a minimum of 12 reps before I decrease the counterweight by 5 again.

I'd say I'm really starting to believe in this.:clap:

 

Well, I did my last set for today and I used 125lbs as the counterweight. 12 reps per side and my forearms was pretty jacked. Seeing as how 4 days ago I needed 150lbs as the counterweight, I have progressed decently. I could probably go down to 120lbs as the counterweight, but I wanna do 15 reps with 125 before I do it. I find that if I get higher reps on a weight, the next 3 or 4 incremental decreases come along rather quickly. :clap:

Who knows? In a few weeks I might be using 100lbs or less as the counterweight. All I know is that it has been a good first week's progress thus far. Plus I was able to do 17 chins today with two hands. I'll rest from it tomorrow and then get back into it the next day. Or maybe I'll do just one or two sets tomorrow.

All I know is my forearms feel like iron! :bears:

 

my forearms are the only thing that are super sore now a days..

I have been doing my chins daily.. once a week I do a 100 days

starting today I am doing GTG style for pushups as well.. at least 500 pushups a day.. 7 days a week.

I can do sets of 50 easy now.. so 10 sets throughout a day is not bad

 

Sweet! :clap:

 

Well, I got 15 reps with each arm at 125, so I moved down to 120lbs counterweight and got 10 reps there. So now I am moving down to 115lbs counterweight. I might give that a whirl before I go to bed, but I doubt it. I still wasn't totally recovered from my workout earlier today.

Slowly but surely, I'm getting down in terms of the counterweight. I bet if I were only trying for 1 rep, I could get down to 100 or less, but that wouldn't serve my progress very much at this point.

So progress is being made. I will get it eventually, LOKSTER!!!! :clap: :clap: :clap:

 

Well, I nailed 115 countweight for 10 reps with my left arm and 7.5 with my right. As soon as I get 15 with each, I'll move down again. This might take a week or so, but it is going to be SOOOOO worth it eventually.::

Good night, all. I am off to bed.

 

you are the man Buddy

 

The man has sore muscles in his arms today. ::

Well, I tried a couple of sets of regular chins today at the gym to maintain and perhaps even improve. I did 12 for a warmup set and then did 17 which is my new working set. If I do another set at work, then I can concentrate solely on the one-armed ones at home tonight.

 

Time to take a few days off. The pipes are feeling rather worn. The gains have been really good, and I have to make sure to keep the momentum up...which sometimes means taking my foot off the gas pedal.:clap:

 

I think it was Jim at Beastskills that said before training for one armed chins you should be able to do maybe 20-25 chins with half your bodyweight added

 

Damn, I didn't know that. Still, my way is going pretty good for now. I know I could do at least 15 chins with 50 added, but I've been having a good time with this contraption and I'm getting used to the feeling of pulling myself up with one arm (body mechanics and stabilizer muscles), so that's a good thing.

 

Here is a good interview that Jim does with Jack Arnow

http://beastskills.com/Arnow.htm

 

Jack says half your bodyweight for 3 to 6.. that's not bad

man.. these guys are F'in Strong!