| *THIS IS A GUEST POST FROM NICK NILSSON Performing your very first bodyweight chin-up is a GREAT goal to have. But it’s a goal that not many know exactly how to achieve. Learn how to build the strength to do your first chin-up here! By Nick Nilsson www.FitStep.com |
 If you’ve never done a full bodyweight chin-up before, don’t worry! With the right training, just about anybody can work themselves up to performing one or more full range chin-ups. In this article, you’ll learn all the steps and progressions you need in order get from zero to one!
And it’s NOT going to require pull-downs OR self-spotting machines like the Gravitron (I’m not going to take ANY resistance away from you!).
The first consideration to look at when it comes to chinning is your overall bodyweight. If you’re carrying a lot of extra weight, it’s going to make it that much harder to perform a chin-up because obviously, you’re going to have to lift that extra bodyweight up, too! Dropping extra weight is definitely going to help you achieve your goal of that first chin-up, though it’s not 100% necessary…it just means you’ll have to build up that much more strength in order to perform the exercise. When it comes to building up strength for that first chin-up, I prefer to do it over the long-term rather than trying to get there all at once. The only thing I ask is that you NOT try and perform a full chin-up until I tell you to. That’s it. I don’t want you trying and failing and getting discouraged. So take it step-by-step, build the foundations…I’ll let you know when you’re ready. PHASE 1
So at the beginning of every single workout and at the end of every single workout you do (NOT just back workouts but EVERY workout), you’ll stand under the chin-up bar, reach up and grab it with a close, underhand grip, then just hang at arms-length for as long as you can until your grip gives out. This is going to help you get used to supporting your entire bodyweight on the chin-up bar and it’s going to build up that very specific grip strength we’re looking for. Repeat this drill until you’re able to hang from the chin-up bar for at least 30 seconds before your grip gives out. Once you can do that, you’re ready for Phase 2. ** One tip I find very useful is to cross your feet when doing any chin or pull-up related exercise. For some reason, this locks your body into the position more and gives you more pulling strength. PHASE 2 The second phase of training is going to be partial reps in the bottom range of motion of the chin-up. Now that your grip strength is built up enough that you can support yourself on the bar for a good length of time, we’re going to start adding in movement. Assume your hanging position. Now pull yourself up 2 or 3 inches and hold for several seconds. Lower yourself back to the hanging position then immediately pull back up a few inches again and hold for several seconds. Repeat this until either your grip gives out or you can no longer pull yourself up those few inches. Remember, it’s a VERY short range of motion but we want to hold that position for at least a few seconds to get target stress on the muscles. You’ll do one set at the beginning of every workout and one set at the end of every workout you do. I’ve found this high-frequency approach to work extremely well because it allows your body to gradually adapt over time. You don’t set giant goals that you get spooked about and don’t think you’ll ever achieve – you set small, achievable, repeatable goals that build on each other to get you to the end result. Once you can do at least 10 reps of this partial-range and pause training, then it’s on to Phase 3… PHASE 3 Now we move on to Negative Training. You may have heard of this before…now you’re going to put it to use! We’ve built up a foundation of grip strength (which is HUGE) and a foundation of pulling power in the strongest range of motion of the exercise (the bottom few inches). It’s time to test yourself against gravity. Set a chair, bench or box in front of the chin-up bar. Ideally, it should be a height where you can stand on it and put yourself into the top position of the chin-up (chin just above the bar) while still standing on it. Because what you’ll be doing next is gripping the bar, getting into position then lowering yourself down slowly. This is called a “negative rep.” But here’s the key that a lot of people miss when it comes to Negative Training… The idea is to not just passively lower yourself down…the idea is to ACTIVELY FIGHT GRAVITY all the way down! So when you take your grip on the bar and take your feet off the bench, I want you to try your darndest to pull yourself UP, even though gravity is pulling you DOWN. This generally will result in a slow downward rep, with you fighting it all the way. When you get to the bottom, let go of the bar, climb back onto the bench and repeat. In your negative set, perform reps in this fashion until one of two things happens… 1. You grab the bar, take your feet off the bench and can’t slow your descent at all, dropping right into the position within a second or two. 2. You get to 6 reps of this negative training in your set. What do those guidelines mean? In the first one, it means your muscles aren’t actually doing any more work and there’s no reason to continue. In the second, when we hit 6 reps, that’s plenty when it comes to negative training. If, on that sixth rep, you can still control your descent, you’re doing well! So here’s the deal…in your workouts (again one set at the beginning and one set at the end of every single workout you do), do this negative training. This will probably amount to 3 to 5 times per week, depending how frequently you’re in the gym. Keep going in this fashion until you are able to do 6 negative reps and on the SIXTH rep, you can still pretty well control your descent and don’t just crash down. Now, for one calendar week, NO chin-up training. You’re going to give your muscles a break from the specific training and allow them to recover. PHASE 4
Now FIGHT that all the way down until you’re hanging at arms-length on the bar. That’s it! Just one set and one rep, done ONLY at the beginning of each workout (when you’re strongest), not at the end. Repeat this procedure (one set of hanging at the start of each workout) until you can hang for at least 30 seconds before you start to lower down. Once you can do that, it’s SHOW TIME! YOUR FIRST CHIN-UP Give yourself a few days off from the Flexed Arm Hang phase before doing your first chin. You want to be fully recovered and feeling strong! Grab the bar (at this point, you will be so used to grabbing the chin-up bar that there will be NO fear associated with it, as there may have been before). You’ll KNOW you can do this. Tighten your grip, tighten your muscles, then PULL! Because of all the background work you’ve done, I have a feeling you’re going FLY right up! Heck, when you get the first one, if you feel good, try a second one! Nick Nilsson is Vice-President of the online personal training company BetterU, Inc. He has a degree in Physical Education and Psychology and has been inventing new training techniques for more than 18 years. Nick is the author of a number of bodybuilding eBooks including “Metabolic Surge – Rapid Fat Loss,” “Muscle Explosion – 28 Days to Maximum Mass”, “The Best Exercises You’ve Never Heard Of,” “Gluteus to the Maximus – Build a Bigger Butt NOW!” and “The Best Abdominal Exercises You’ve Never Heard Of” all available at (www.FitStep.com). He can be contacted at betteru@fitstep.com. |
Things were a bit chaotic here at our house as we are renovating our bedroom with new flooring and a new paint job, so we have been staying at my in-laws down the street.
The Lazy Man’s Workout
Workout during commercials with just your bodyweight!
A 1 hour show has 4 commercial breaks of about 4 minutes each.
Don’t count reps!
Don’t count sets!
No gym, No equipment!
1st Commercial – Warmup with Burpees
2nd Commercial- Prisoner Squat Off Couch
3rd Commercial – Decline Pushup Off Couch
4th Commercial – Mountain Climbers with hands on couch
For more quick workouts for busy dads try the
Sean Barker, CPT
Learn the “The Truth On Fat Loss, How To Finally Lose Your Beer Belly” in this FREE report from Sean Barker at www.dadfitness.com
5 Exercises You SHOULDN’T Be Doing
1. Leg extensions- Unfortunately this exercise seems to be the extent of most guys leg training. Probably because sitting down and pumping out reps of leg extensions are a lot easier than squatting down with hundreds of pounds on your back.
2. Behind the neck pulldowns- This is another exercise that I still see people doing in the gym. I cringe every time I see someone take a wide grip on the angled ends of the pulldown bar and start pulling it down behind their neck.
3. Behind the neck shoulder press- Similar to the behind the neck pulldown, the behind the neck barbell shoulder press places your shoulder in a delicate position. It is basically the same movement but by adding additional weight to the bar and pushing up in the vertical plane you are putting your rotator cuffs at an even greater risk of injury.
4. Concentration Curls- Probably the most popular bicep exercise for beginners wanting to “get the pump” and get Arnold-like biceps. It’s too bad a lot of experienced trainers still waste their time on this exercise.
5. Crunches- It would be nice if all you had to do to get that ripped six pack would be to lie on the floor and pump out hundreds of reps of back breaking crunches. Despite what the infomercials want you to believe, this is NOT true!
…OK quiz time. Do you see a trend with these 5 exercises?
They all involve sitting or lying down, (which we are all experts at already) and they work only a small section of muscle, allowing you to pump out endless reps without much effort.
For you busy guys who want to get the most out of your short fat loss workouts, stop wasting your valuable time on these old school exercises that break your body down instead of building it up…
Sean Barker, CPT
Learn the “The Truth On Fat Loss, How To Finally Lose Your Beer Belly” in this FREE report from Sean Barker at www.dadfitness.com
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Listen to Maintainers, Not to Losers: 5 secrets to keeping the weight off for good
No workouts for me today so here is a special Guest Blog from my good friend in fitness, Tom Venuto. Enjoy!
By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS
www.BurnTheFat.com
I have very little interest these days in all the media-hyped stories of dramatic, rapid losses of body weight. “Big losers” don’t impress me, for numerous reasons. For example, weight is not fat. “Weight” could be composed of mostly lean tissue, or it could be mostly water weight. In fact, I would go a step further and point out that rapid loss of bodyweight correlates very highly with a greater chance of relapse, weight re-gain and long term failure.
So what does impress me? What gets my attention?
I pay attention to what the “long term maintainers” have to say – those are the people who have maintained an ideal weight for over a year… preferably even 2-5 years or more.
The difference between losers and maintainers
As I was researching the subject of long term weight maintenance recently, I was surprised at the huge amount of research that’s already been done in this area.
One paper that caught my interest was published by Judy Kruger and colleagues in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, titled,
“Dietary and physical activity behaviors among adults successful at weight loss maintenance.”
This was not an experimental study, but a compilation of data from the “Styles Survey” which was representative of the U.S. population and asked respondants questions about strategies to aid with maintaining an ideal weight.
In this particular survey, only one-third (30.96%) of the respondents said they were successful at keeping their weight off. The researchers wanted to know the difference between the small group that was successful and the majority that were not.
Both groups reduced the amount of food they consumed, they ate smaller portions, more fruits and vegetables, fewer fatty foods and fewer sweetened beverages.
Not really any surprises there, but what we want to know most is not what losers and maintainers have in common, but what the maintainers did that the losers didn’t.
Some major differences emerged between losers and maintainers:
First, a significantly higher proportion of successful maintainers reported exercising 30 minutes or more daily, and they also reported adding other physical activity to their daily schedules (recreation, sports, physical work, etc). In addition, more of the successful maintainers included weight training in their exercise regimens than did the losers.
Reducing sedentary activities (TV watching, etc) was also a significant difference between those who successfully maintained and those who did not.
The next big difference that separated the successful maintainers from the unsuccessful was in their “self-monitoring behaviors” including:
- tracking calories
- tracking body weight
- planning meals
- tracking fat
- measuring the amount of food on their plate
Unfortunately, these types of self-monitoring behaviors, especially weighing and measuring food and counting calories, are among the most avoided and even criticized weight control techniques. Some weight loss “experts” even claim that it’s detrimental to count calories, weigh yourself or measure and weigh your food.
However, these self monitoring behaviors are being identified more and more frequently in the research as part of “the difference that makes the difference.” I agree, and they have always played a major role in my own Burn The Fat program.
A final difference was that people who reported self-perceived “barriers” to their success were 48-76% less likely to be a successful maintainer.
For example, they said they had no time to exercise, they were too tired to exercise or it was too hard to maintain an exercise routine. I interpret this as: the unsuccessful losers were excuse makers!
THE TOP 5 STRATEGIES TO BE A SUCCESSFUL MAINTAINER
So let’s recap and turn these research findings into some practical action steps you can apply today.
1. Increase your total daily activity level, including formal exercise as well as sports, physical work or recreational activity. Exercise improves weight loss, but more importantly, it is critical for weight maintenance.
2. Decrease sedentary recreational activities by cutting back on TV watching, computer games and web surfing. Take up physical recreation such as sports, boating, biking, walking, hiking, gardening, physical hobbies and playing with your kids, if you have them.
3. Include weight training as part of your formal exercise program, throughout the fat loss phase and even more seriously during maintenance.
4. Track and monitor everything! Count calories and nutrients, measure your portion sizes, weigh your food, plan your menus in writing and monitor your body weight and body fat percentage.
5. Avoid excuses and maintain positive beliefs and attitudes towards your environment and what you perceive as “barriers.” For example, say, “I can always make time for what is most important to me” instead of, “I don’t have time to exercise.”
If you’re currently on a fat loss journey, and you want to know how good your odds are for being a successful maintainer, it’s pretty easy to predict using these 5 strategies. If you’re not using all 5 of them yet, then when would be a good time to start today?
There are limitations to survey results such as these, including the fact that they are cross sectional, and therefore cannot prove causality. However, I believe these findings are important and significant.
Not only do they confirm previous similar studies and agree with the findings of other groups of successful maintainers (such as the National Weight Control Registry), I found that these results match precisely what I’ve seen among my most successful “Burn The Fat” clients.
Your friend and coach,
Tom Venuto
Fat Loss Coach
www.BurnTheFat.com
P.S. There was one more “difference that made the difference,” in this study, and this one may surprise you (although it didn’t surprise me). Successful maintainers were LESS likely to take over the counter diet products (pills, etc).
Sean Barker, CPT
Learn the “The Truth On Fat Loss, How To Finally Lose That Beer Belly” in this FREE report from Sean Barker at www.dadfitness.com
Q) What is Dad Fitness?
Answer:
Dad Fitness is my innovative exercise method of doing strength training and high intensity interval training in one workout. You workout only 3 days in an entire week! You can get your workout done in under an hour so you can spend time with your family and even have some time left to meet your buddies on the golf course.
The Dad Fitness workouts starts with a short bodyweight warm up (this should take no more than 5 mins) and then we do strength training for 30 minutes with full body movements using basic barbells and dumbbells or just your bodyweight – no
fancy equipment needed.
Then we finish with 16 minutes of interval training. We are using the most efficient and effective training methods, that is backed by science. The stuff that gets you the most results in the least amount of time. So we are not doing long, slow cardio sessions and we’re not doing 5 or 6 day per week bodybuilding magazine programs.
It’s focused on giving you the most efficient and effective workout in the shortest amount of time. Your a busy dad, you don’t have time to be spending your whole workout curling dumbbells in front of the mirror.
Do only what you need to do and then get out of the gym.
Dad Fitness was specifically designed FOR busy dads BY a busy dad.
Q: Do I have to eat like a bird to finally lose this gut?
Answer:
Absolutely not!
Following the Dad Fitness nutrition guidelines you will be eating more than you are now. But, you will be eating fat burning foods, at the right times to send your metabolism into overdrive. I am a guy who is known for my huge appetite and I like to eat hearty great tasting food that keeps me full and satisfied. So you will not be a hungry man no more! Plus, I have even included a dessert book that gives you mouth watering sweet treats that can be whipped up in about 5 minutes.
With the Dad Fitness system you get 3 incredible nutrition resources with quick meal plans and recipes to burn off that belly blubber once and for all.
Q: I’m sick of doing the same ol’workout, how can I make my workouts fun?
ANSWER:
I hear ya. Everyone seems to be stuck in the exercise rut. Go to any gym on a Monday and you won’t be able to get near a bench press, cause Mondays seem to be chest day for all the bodybuilding crowd.
Some of the major reasons for quiting exercise include:
- Using the same workouts over and over and over again for extended periods of time with no results.( or as I like to call it, INSANITY)
- Not including the most effective exercise like high-intensity strength training and interval training.
- And choosing inefficient isolation, machine-based exercises instead of standing, multi-muscle exercises.
The best fat loss workouts are designed with variety, intensity, and efficiency in mind so that you get more results in less time.
That’s why the Dad Fitness workouts change every 4 weeks, and you’ll use only exercises that train multiple muscle groups at the same time – thus burning more fat with each repetition.
By changing the training intensity of your workouts, as well as using a variety of repetition ranges for your lifting, and including interval training, I guarantee that you will start having fun with your workouts and fat loss plateaus will be a thing of the
past.
PS. Remember, there’s no risk at all to at least TRY my Dad Fitness system because you have an 8 week guarantee.
That’s more than enough time to take these programs for a “test drive” and see for yourself just how much fat you can burn or how much lean muscle you can gain.
Make this the summer that you step up to the plate and become the best dad you can be for your family and yourself!
Sean Barker, CPT
Learn the “The Truth On Fat Loss, How To Finally Lose That Beer Belly” in this FREE report from Sean Barker at www.dadfitness.com
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