Synyster

Which is also known as swinging. The other important thing is to just keep your body under as much control as possible. Whether your legs are bent or not is a bit irrelevant in the beginning. The less you swing to create that momentum to get up, the better off you are. Some people (particularly really tall people) have to bend their legs just to keep from touching the floor.

Update from yesterday: Weigh in at 146 pounds 10 minute row machine warm up bench press: 35's x 5 sets squats: 2 45s x 5 sets up from 1 set of 45s incline dumbbell press 30 lbs, 3x10 pull ups 3x10 plus negatives to failure

Reposting from the post made yesterday. Alright, so I've changed to the warriors. I've learned a lot about me in the past 6 weeks. For instance, I am not a fan of running, nor doing as much parkour type stuff as I thought I would be. Body Weight is enjoyable, and I continue to do it, but I have also added in going to the gym at least 3 days a week, aiming for increasing weight every time I go. Here are my goals for this challenge: 1: Increase bench press to 140% of my body weight. I am right now at about 110 lbs, with my weight being 145. I will do this by increasing my max at least by 10 pounds by the end of each week. 2: Increase my squats to 220% of body weight. I am right now at 100% body weight. I will use the same method as above to reach this goal. 3: Increase pull ups from 3x10 to 3x20. I will add more weight to my pull ups. I find adding weight to be a very effective method in building the required muscle for pull ups quickly. Life Goal: Get a website running to sell my ebook on and start offering consultations, along with adding a weekly post for people to subscribe to. I've got my book finished, I am in the process of learning how to build a site that will fit my needs and already have plans/prices for consultations. Just a matter of getting it all put together now (: Any advice or help on that topic is greatly appreciated!

That would definitely make more sense

It serves it's purpose. Half pull up versus full pull up. Is it completely pointless to go down all the way with a push up? Most half push ups don't seem to qualify!

Whatever works best for you! When I started out I would just literally jump to the top of the bar and slowly lower myself for negatives. If you want more assistance than that, maybe having your feet rest on a chair if that makes sense? Anything to help take off the weight of your legs will make a huge difference until you can handle more than that.

Alright, so I've changed to the warriors. I've learned a lot about me in the past 6 weeks. For instance, I am not a fan of running, nor doing as much parkour type stuff as I thought I would be. Body Weight is enjoyable, and I continue to do it, but I have also added in going to the gym at least 3 days a week, aiming for increasing weight every time I go. Here are my goals for this challenge: 1: Increase bench press to 120% of my body weight. I am right now at about 110 lbs, with my weight being 145. I will do this by increasing my max at least by 10 pounds by the end of each week. 2: Increase my squats to 200% of body weight. I am right now at 100% body weight. I will use the same method as above to reach this goal. 3: Increase pull ups from 3x10 to 3x15. I will add more weight to my pull ups. I find adding weight to be a very effective method in building the required muscle for pull ups quickly. Life Goal: Get a website running to sell my ebook on and start offering consultations, along with adding a weekly post for people to subscribe to. I've got my book finished, I am in the process of learning how to build a site that will fit my needs and already have plans/prices for consultations. Just a matter of getting it all put together now (: Any advice or help on that topic is greatly appreciated!

One thing I would suggest is to add weight to your push ups. I found that after adding a 20 lb back pack to my push ups, taking it off you feel a major difference. Another thing is to do it as quickly as possible. The slower you go, the harder gravity is going to make it on you. Seeing as you're going for your AF PT, I'd recommend checking out the stuff on military.com as well. There's one particular guy on there, an ex navy seal that goes over exactly what you are asking for. Not just for push ups, but for improving your all around PT to excel above and beyond. Good luck! (P.S. I used both the back pack and quicker push up method, I get 70 push ups in 1 minute, this was achieved in a 6 weeks time frame!)

SIMPLIFY: NO MACHINE PARTNER OR BOX ASSISTED PULL UP PRACTICE JUMP TO TOP, SLOWLY LOWER SELF DOWN (KNOWN AS NEGATIVES) DO THE ACTUAL EXERCISE ANYTHING ELSE IS SUPPLEMENTAL (THOUGH VERY USEFUL) (:

Might also suggest using a partner. When needed, have some one lightly hold your legs. Makes a major difference on your pull up, with the added benefit that they can easily start to let go while you are in the process of pulling up. Generally you won't notice them letting go, which benefits you in that you are back to doing it on your own with no assistance, which means building that strength quicker! (:

Which is why I refuse to let anyone I work with use the machines Does nothing but teach laziness! Box/Chair/Person to help with the real deal so much better than a machine.

Well, as I had just explained in another topic in this area about doing pull ups, it goes a little like this: 1. Can you hold your weight, just hang on the bar for at least 30 seconds? If not...work on it! If so... 2. Negatives. Jump to the top of the bar and slowly lower yourself down. This servers a very good purpose. You will be building the muscles needed to do a pull up quickly and efficiently in this way, as it is only half the work out and it will not tire you out quickly. By the time you can do 3x5 negatives with ease, you're probably ready for your first pull up. 3. Do the pull up! If you can manage 1 full pull up, great! Throw in 5 to 8 negatives right after it. Repeat the process 2 more times. 4. By this step, and trust me this comes very quickly, you should have absolutely no issue doing 3 to 5 pull ups. This is where the pyramid sets come in! IE: 3/2/1 or 5/3/2/1. This is great, because you can increase by even 1 pull up and make a major difference. Try 6/4/3/2/1 and see how good of a work out that will give you. It's a very simple process, it works (A friend of mine taught me this years ago, it worked then, it worked with my last challenge, it worked with my mother, aged 42, over weight and has high blood pressure issues, and it worked with my sister's boyfriend, younger guy, athletic, but couldn't do one pull up to save his life.) It's quick, it's easy, it's self explanatory. Other people will have their doubts and that's fine, whatever. I have my proof and that's all I need. You don't need to do this or do that, you just need to DO THE EXERCISE!

I'm not quite sure how it all works myself either, but with the issues going on with my car, I have no doubt I'm about to be in the same boat. The good thing is it's possible to fix it in 18 months. I only know this from a coworker/my sister's boyfriend's brother-in-law and sister. His sister got her car repossessed and it fucked up her score. She got a credit card, and I guess the way she did things, within 18 months it was back to normal. Now I'm gonna have to get a little more info from them on how exactly they did it BUT it is possible to get it fixed quick!

To be honest, I haven't been practicing it so much since my new job schedule and new work out routines. But when I did, I just used the only running shoes I have which I must say are shit. They've got what I call "foam bubbles" on the bottom. They're awesome for being light weight and keeping your feet cool. They do grip decently, but they also provide shitty ankle support, which has resulted in many injuries to my ankles from simply running I've never honestly thought about shoe type, but I would like to believe that a shoe with a skateboarder's preferred grip would be good. They generally provide good support, and there are plenty out there that aren't big, fat, and hard to run in.

You can do it quicker! I would recommend just doing a good 20 to 30 second hold on the pull up bar at first just to get yourself used to holding up your own weight. Once this gets easy, you have a couple options: 1) Aim for pulling up, or doing a negative. 2) Go for a longer hold time, 40 seconds to 1 minute. The best thing you can do is...get to it! The more you put it off, the longer it's going to take you. I know there's people saying "No, do this first or do that." But the reality is, doing these things are going to do very little to getting you to a full on pull up. If you want to hit it fast, start working that pull up bar every time you work out! Even if it's a leg day, make your last workout pull ups! I say this works from personal experience. A friend of mine was obsessed with pull ups, so when I started working out with him, he pushed me to do pull ups every time. He had me start with hanging for 30 seconds. That went to doing negatives. I started with 3 negatives, 3 sets. That increased, once I hit 5 negatives I was pushing for a pull up. Once I got there, instead of just one, I was actually hitting 3. So he had me pyramid. 3/2/1. This increased to 5/3/2/1. Then 7/5/4/2/1 and so on. This all happened in a 2 week time period. Now, I had used this method with my mother and guess what? 2 1/2 weeks in, she can do 3x3 pull ups. Not bad right? Another, more recent example, my sister's boyfriend. I have recently started hitting the gym with him. 2 weeks ago he couldn't do ONE pull up! Just the other day though, using my method, no supports (other than when struggling to get the last one in at the end of the 3rd set, where I held his legs) he got in 3 sets of 5 pull ups. The first 2 sets were awesome and complete. The last set he crashed at 3, and I held his legs for the last two. Holding the legs, in my opinion, is much better than resistant bands and assistance machines for a couple reasons. When you hold the legs up, it simply takes the weight of the legs off them. The bonus is, while they are pulling up, you can slowly let go to push them to do it on their own. (You'd be surprised how much a person can do when they only THINK they are getting help!) A weighted assistance machine hinders you, giving you so many pounds of assistance, kinda making you lazy. For this reason, my good friend that got me into pull ups never allowed me to use them, and I have not allowed my mother or my sister's boyfriend to use them. The same goes for resistance bands. Great idea, but it's putting so many pounds of assistance that can not be easily adjusted. By easily adjusted, I do mean that it can not be changed so easily that it's done in the middle of the pull up. This teaches nothing but dependence and laziness, so by all means, avoid them! Now, these other back exercises are GREAT! Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying to avoid them all together. It's just simply that focusing on them to do something that has little to do with that is no good. It's a great supplement, but catch that there, it is ONLY a supplement. Practice makes perfect, and the only way you're going to get that is by practicing the actual exercise you want to succeed in doing. One way to put it (just an example, exaggeration if you will) you can do all the push ups you want, you can do 1000 push ups, but that doesn't mean you're going to be bench pressing your weight with ease. This isn't quite the exaggeration though you see, as I'm in that position currently. I can do 3 sets of 100 push ups like it's nothing, but I can't bench very well at all. A co-worker of mine can bench like a beast, but he can't do 10 push ups to save his life! This is why practicing exactly what it is that you want to do is much more important than practicing the exercises that supplement it. Now, long story I know, and you can either use it to your advantage, give it a shot and see how much it will help, or you can let everyone continue to tell you you can't do it until you've done this or that and that I'm just talking nonsense. I'm sure it sounds like nonsense, but when I've had results not only from myself, but from my mother (42 years old, over weight and high blood pressure) and my sister's boyfriend (athletic and decent shape, but can't handle the body weight routines) there's no doubt in my mind that the only way to improve a specific exercise is to practice exactly that exercise, and yes supplement it with other exercises that compliment the muscles it works. There's my little "lecture, mini-book, thoughts" about doing a pull up. Take it as it is, or ignore it all together, that's your choice! Good luck to you and keep those thoughts positive!

Awesome feeling isn't it?? I now work out with my sister's boyfriend, and he out does me on most upper body heavy weights, but legs, I kick his ass on, and body weight routines, I also kick his ass on I've been helping him get to do his first pull ups, and I am proud to say that within 2 weeks he has increased from 0 pull ups to 3x5 pull ups using the same method a good friend of mine taught me back in the day!

Upper body today kicked ass. Increased my bench from 25s to 35s, incline from 20 lb dumbells to 30 lbs. Of course, numerous other exercises, but those to were the best

What worked for me (2 weeks to get 5x3 down perfect) Was negatives + pyramids. I did negatives until I could do 1 pull up. After that I would do the 1 pull up and throw in 5 negatives. Next set 1 pull up and 3 negatives. Last set 1 pull up and 2 negatives. Within time I built up to 3, and continued the pull up/negative pyramid. Once I hit 5 I would do 3 sets of 5 and 1 set to failure. Within my first 6 week challenge I was doing 3x10 pull ups w/20lb backpack. Adding a back pack with weight once you get 5 is a great way. You will feel a major difference between weighted and body weight, and taking off the weight boosts you greatly. The best thing you can do though is simply this: Continue practicing, stay persistent and don't give up. Check out the Bar Brothers for some motivation!

I am definitely enjoying it much more! People at the gym have been pretty nice and helpful, as well my sister's boyfriend goes with me and helps out, so it's been awesome!