Dufisthenics

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OIqh4gkBWY

So for the hell of it I went outside after work on Wednesday with the idea to try a maximum pull up reps attempt.  I had two weeks of strong pulling performance including doing one rep while holding an additional 85 pounds (half bodyweight) and also doing a 23 rep set indoors at the gym.  I had done some pull up / back work at the gym already during my lunch time workout so I was skeptical of how well I would do.

Generally speaking I have always seemed to get a couple less reps outside on my regular pull up bar.  I always attributed it to less leg momentum since I try to keep my legs as quiet as possible when I have a bar high enough to allow me to fully extend.  On indoor attempts my legs are always tucked to some degree and I seem to wind up with more swing than I would like.

So I chalked up my hands as well as the bar to make sure my grip was cemented in.  Once the grip starts to slide down your fingers it is very hard to get many more reps.

So I started pulling and felt surprisingly good.  I managed to get to 19 reps without any pause between reps which is the first time I had ever done that.  I knew I had a shot at 25 because I typically am able to squeeze out 5 or 6 reps one at a time once I hit the fatigue point.  When I pulled up after a long hang for my 25th rep I was quite excited.  For some reason my excitement came out as me blurting out “25 bitch!” as I turned off the camera. Bitch is a friendly term (believe it or not) that I use with a couple of my buddies.

I felt even better about the attempt when I watched it back and saw my form and ROM was very solid, something I am always trying to work on.

25 real pull up reps was something that I never imagined I could do a few years back.  Now that I have made that possible I don’t see why 30 should not be in my cross hairs next.