A rule of thumb for those thinking of setting a goal of performing a one arm chin is that if you can perform 20 strict narrow grip chins or one chin with 50% of your body weight attached you are ready to start training for a one arm chin.
From that point it can take 12-18 months to get it depending on the individual and training etc. So its a long haul!
Who is up for the challenge?
[quote]JamFly wrote:
A rule of thumb for those thinking of setting a goal of performing a one arm chin is that if you can perform 20 strict narrow grip chins or one chin with 50% of your body weight attached you are ready to start training for a one arm chin.
From that point it can take 12-18 months to get it depending on the individual and training etc. So its a long haul!
Who is up for the challenge?[/quote]
It may have only been one, but I could do a 1 arm chin way before I could get 20 reps.
A great post and thread! Thanks for the motivation. I agree - pull ups role. Love the idea of the one handed pullups/the bands. Let us know how it goes and i let you know how my progress goes. I’ll try them this week. Thanks again - Jack
ps We all must agree that the lat machine worthlesss.
[quote]Airtruth wrote:
JamFly wrote:
A rule of thumb for those thinking of setting a goal of performing a one arm chin is that if you can perform 20 strict narrow grip chins or one chin with 50% of your body weight attached you are ready to start training for a one arm chin.
From that point it can take 12-18 months to get it depending on the individual and training etc. So its a long haul!
Who is up for the challenge?
It may have only been one, but I could do a 1 arm chin way before I could get 20 reps.[/quote]
I can do 18 - 20 reps on a good (great)day but I am nowhere near a one armed chin.
I think the pull up is probably the best movement/lift there is. Way back in Jr High (early 70’s) I read a book about USMC boot camp. One line has stood out for over 35 years, something to the effect of “less than 50% of the population can do 1 pull up to save their life.” From that point on I have been able to do pull ups. Sometimes in life I have been able to more than other times.
Currently I do sets of 10 on Sunday morning in full (Police) patrol gear (Approx. 25#). Everyone else is usually still sitting around the station or IHOP drinking coffee trying to wake up.
After 5 or 6 sets, I am warmed up and ready for the domestic calls. If the Sgt. catches me I can always use the excuse I was checking the school for open doors, and well, you know, there just happened to be a playground with monkey bars…
For law enforcement folks, I feel the pull up is the best bet out there for upper body job applicable strength.
To the OP, thanks for your service to our country.
Watch your six!
Fred
[quote]Charlemagne wrote:
agr117 wrote:
when you say 4x’s a week changing reps and loads, can you explain that a little more
well I tried to follow the Heavy, Light, Medium principle in loading and training. In other words, say I did 120 reps of pullups ladder style with 50 lbs hanging off me as my heavy day.
The light day I might do 80 reps with just my bodyweight ladder style. The medium could be 20lbs hanging off me but only doing 100 reps. Then usually for my fourth workout of the week I would do another medium day.
[/quote]
Cool post. Can you explain ladder style for me?
I LOVE pullups and really want to improve my numbers.
[quote]Airtruth wrote:
JamFly wrote:
A rule of thumb for those thinking of setting a goal of performing a one arm chin is that if you can perform 20 strict narrow grip chins or one chin with 50% of your body weight attached you are ready to start training for a one arm chin.
From that point it can take 12-18 months to get it depending on the individual and training etc. So its a long haul!
Who is up for the challenge?
It may have only been one, but I could do a 1 arm chin way before I could get 20 reps.[/quote]
Do you have a bionic arm? I think anyone who knows anything about trying to get a 1 arm chin knows this is BS!
One way to do ladders is to have a partner or 2 or 3. You start out by doing a pull up then the next guy does a pull up, until everyone has done one pull up.
Then you do 2 pull ups, and everyone else takes their turn doing 2 pull ups. Then 3, 4 and so on until someone can’t complete the numbers for that round.
At that point everyone takes a few minutes rest and you can start again. Or if you are “Greasing the Groove” wait an hour and start agian. It is a good way of doing a lot of work in a short amount of time.
[quote]Irish Grip wrote:
One way to do ladders is to have a partner or 2 or 3. You start out by doing a pull up then the next guy does a pull up, until everyone has done one pull up.
Then you do 2 pull ups, and everyone else takes their turn doing 2 pull ups. Then 3, 4 and so on until someone can’t complete the numbers for that round.
At that point everyone takes a few minutes rest and you can start again. Or if you are “Greasing the Groove” wait an hour and start agian. It is a good way of doing a lot of work in a short amount of time.
[/quote]
i’ve personally never used the ladder style rep scheme…but i know people who once they get to the top(the most reps they can get…they come back down…
soo…1-2-3-4-5-6-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
This thread has gotten me excited. Since I am going to be at the beach next week with no real gym to speak of, I think my workouts are going to be pullups and pushing the golf cart around the island some…
[quote]JamFly wrote:
Airtruth wrote:
JamFly wrote:
A rule of thumb for those thinking of setting a goal of performing a one arm chin is that if you can perform 20 strict narrow grip chins or one chin with 50% of your body weight attached you are ready to start training for a one arm chin.
From that point it can take 12-18 months to get it depending on the individual and training etc. So its a long haul!
Who is up for the challenge?
It may have only been one, but I could do a 1 arm chin way before I could get 20 reps.
Do you have a bionic arm? I think anyone who knows anything about trying to get a 1 arm chin knows this is BS! [/quote]
Only those who are still “Trying” would think it is B.S. Maybe you should decide if your talking about a 1 arm pullup, or a 1 arm chin.
Because a chin is alot more bicep, and the biceps have alot tougher time with high rep ranges than heavier weight. Which is why chins and pullups are always the toughest exercises to get alot of reps with. Unless your 240 and above you can train your body to do at least 1 1 arm chin without doing 20 rep sets.
variations: wide grip, close grip, neutral grip. Kicking, not kicking, legs held at 90 degree angle, sternup chinups (lean away on your way up), behind the head pullups, one arm higher than the other, muscle ups, clap pull/chinups, fat man pullups, mixed grip. You can try to use a thicker pullup bar or put something around the normal bar to give your grip a challenge.
You can also change the range of motion by standing on a box and starting at a specific point. You can also use bands, reverse bands or chains to change the strength curve.
Personally the way I like to do ladders is resting 1 minute between each rung. At first when you are only doing 1,2,3 reps the minute rest may seem like a while, but once you start adding some serious weight/reps to the ladder that minute seems like a second!
A true ladder is doing something like 1,2,3,4,5,1,2,3,4,5 as your reps with a set rest in between each rung. If you pyramid down 1,2,3,4,5,4,3,2,1 the fatigue really begins to set in alot more.
The whole point of ladders is to be as fresh as possible for each set.(within the workout time periods) There would be no way that I could possibly do 150 reps in a workout without the ladder scheme. It is the best way to manage fatigue that I have come across.
Is a one arm chin with a neutral grip or palm facing you?
The neutral grip would be easier, I assume.
[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:
Is a one arm chin with a neutral grip or palm facing you?
The neutral grip would be easier, I assume.[/quote]
I’ve seen people do it with a supinated grip (palm facing you), neutral grip, and pronated grip (palm facing away).
There is a guy who trains at the gym I work at who used to be a professional rock climber. He can do a 1 arm while holding a 45 lb plate in his free hand!
I worked on 1 arms for a while, but haven’t been focusing on them lately. I really felt that 1 arm negatives and just actually trying the skill gave me the best results.
Good training,
Sentoguy
You know, I’ve concentrated on my rowing a whole bunch for the last year or so. I suck at pronated chins (8). I think I’m going to start working on this.
However, I do have to disagree with the lat pulldown being completely useless. I do all my serious back work free weights or bodyweight chins, except the day before ME lower day. I like to have my lats fresh for pulling and squatting. It sounds weird, but let me tell you it feels a lot better when your lats can properly pull and contract vs. a fatigued back. Especially for GMs and pulls.
Pulldowns are great for getting some work in without really limiting yourself for a max effort whole body movement. Or extra volume in general. But of course, I don’t have the chin strength yet, so I suppose it’s all individual.
[quote]pushharder wrote:
Zap Branigan wrote:
Airtruth wrote:
JamFly wrote:
A rule of thumb for those thinking of setting a goal of performing a one arm chin is that if you can perform 20 strict narrow grip chins or one chin with 50% of your body weight attached you are ready to start training for a one arm chin.
From that point it can take 12-18 months to get it depending on the individual and training etc. So its a long haul!
Who is up for the challenge?
It may have only been one, but I could do a 1 arm chin way before I could get 20 reps.
I can do 18 - 20 reps on a good (great)day but I am nowhere near a one armed chin.
Same here at a BW of 190.
I have done:
1 rep with a 90 lbs. db
Several sets (usually 8) of 2 - 3 reps with a 70.
But the one arm chin eludes me. I mean I can’t even find it with a spotting scope.[/quote]
I don’t think this character Airtruth is on the same page. More than likely he is talking about a one handed two arm chin (where you hold the bar with one hand and grip the wrist thats holding the bar with the other hand, effectively using two arms for the pull) which is a pretty useless (and easy) exercise int he first place.
Found this on Alwyn Cosgrove’s blog…The Chin-Up Master
http://alwyncosgrove.blogspot.com/2007/05/chin-up-master.html
Unreal…
I’m the strongest female at the gym I go to, and I give the credit to focusing on pull-ups and chin-ups last year. I’ve never seen another woman there doing pull-ups.
I started out with 70 pounds of assist on the Gravitron, and worked my way up to doing 50 bodyweight pull-ups within a 1-hour workout session. (NOT in a row.)
It’s no longer the focus of my workouts, but I never leave the gym without doing at least 10. I do at least 5 weighted; so far I’m up to 15-lb added weight.