3 Tips To Your First Chin Up:
The feeling when you perform your first chin up (especially for women) is comparable to the first time you bench press/squat/deadlift 100kg. Once you tick that off confidence increases and you achieve a sense of accomplishment. The video is Raveena getting her first chin up! (Wait for her reaction when she turns around)
How can you get there?
1) Extend the eccentric movement:
Use a box, bands or an assisted chin up machine to help you reach the top of the chin up bar and then lower yourself over an extended period. For example, with Ravs we started with 3 sets of 12 repetitions with a 5 second eccentric (rep’s dependant on program. Could easily be 3 sets of 3 reps with 5 second eccentric). This in combination with losing weight allowed her to get her first chin up. If you do try this ensure you keep good form throughout the exercise. This means keeping your shoulder blades down and back before pulling yourself up and keeping the tension in your back rather than shoulders and arms.
2) Lose body weight:
The less body weight you need to move the easier it will be to pull yourself up. This doesn’t mean you must lose a ton of weight but losing a few kilos can drastically make it easier to pull yourself up.
3) Add in accessory work and practice:
Accessory work will help your pulling strength increase. Adding in pull downs, core tension work, flexed hang positions and forearm/arm work will indirectly help you to achieve your first pull up.
If you’d like some more help with programming this into your own training feel free to send me a message.