CrossFit Open 21.3 and 21.4

I was not physically, mentally or spiritually prepared for this year's CrossFit Open. My fitness was doing much better back in October, which was when we should have been doing this Open. I was struggling to keep up my fitness through the pandemic, but I was doing pretty well until November. After my mom passed, I got quite a bit off track. 

And right now, I'm working through some diet changes. I want to feel better, and that means I need to find a baseline and then start experimenting. I'm still working on the baseline, which means I've limited my diet to simple foods - things with ingredients I can read through easily, and not very much variation. 

I haven't been counting calories, but maybe I should be. After my performance for 21.3 and 21.4, I suspect that I am not eating sufficient fuel for doing CrossFit. I'll be looking into trying to eat a bit more, but I've cut out the things that I most want to eat. I guess I'm a bit of a junk food addict, and the withdrawal from chips and Cheetos and candy makes other food seem less appetizing. 

Even though I made a mental note of it, I still forgot that the Open announcement was taking place in the afternoon instead of the evening as usual. So I missed the whole thing live, but I did go back and rewatch it. But the first I learned of the workout was via email. 

I was expecting something with the pull up bar. Toes to bar, or chest to bar pull ups. I thought bar muscle ups would be out, because not everyone has the room to do those at a home pull up bar. In that, I was wrong. We got all three of those in the Rx version of 21.3. Then a complex for 21.4, to give us all that heavy barbell we'd been missing from our lives: deadlift, clean, hang clean, jerk. 

Oh, but I forgot about the rest of 21.3 - so, 15 front squats, 30 toes to bar, 15 thrusters, one minute rest, then 15 front squats, 30 chest to bar pull ups, 15 thrusters, one minute rest, then 15 front squats, 30 bar muscle ups, 15 thrusters. 15 minute time cap, Rx weight 65 pounds for women (95 for men). 

Yeah, I didn't do that. I scaled, which replaces the toes to bar with hanging knee raises, the chest to bars with chin over bar pull ups, and the muscle ups with chest to bar pull ups. Plus the weight went down to 45 for women (65 for men). 

And I didn't even finish that in the time allowed. I've done 65 pound thrusters before for an Open workout. It was, in fact, my first Rx Open workout, the one with 10 rounds of 9 thrusters and 35 double unders. But this year, 45 pound thrusters were almost more than I could handle. The only easy part of that workout was the 30 hanging knee raises. I can hanging knee raise all day! But my pull ups have suffered from the pandemic. I have no pull up bar at home, and I know I've lost some strength. 

I did a few for warm up, and they were hard. I even tried a few chest to bar, which I can kind of do, as long as I do a chin up grip and pull really, really hard. 

But when it came to the workout itself, I was not ready. 

Part of this was because I was feeling pretty emotional. I cried before I got there. Part was because, for the first time ever, I puked at CrossFit. 

It did NOT go down how I imagined it. 

I figured I would one day puke at CrossFit. It's almost a rite of passage. But I figured it would be because I worked so hard, or worked out while hungover. Mid-workout! Or just after. Hard core!

Nope. 

My mask is a lint trap. It sucks in dryer lint, and positions it so that my lungs will attempt to suck that lint right down my trachea. Usually, I catch it in my mouth and that's gross, but merely inconvenient. On Friday, I sucked a piece of lint straight down. A coughing fit ensued, and I headed to my car where I had a bottle of water. 

The coughing was not helping to clear the lint, and neither was the water, so, in desperation, I swiped a finger into my throat to try and clear it. 

As an overweight adolescent, I had considered about a bulimia lifestyle at least one or twice, but I never did it, because I had a hard time making myself puke. 

Not on this day. Part of my dinner made a precipitate reappearance. (I really should chew more thoroughly.) I poured some water over it, but I didn't have enough to rinse it off the blacktop, so I went in and got the coach to help me get the mop bucket out and then I rinsed it off the ground well enough. 

And about 5 minutes later, I was attempting 21.3. 

The first 15 front squats weren't bad, and the hanging knee raises were easy. But the 15 thrusters were slow and painful. My body just didn't want to do the work. The one minute rest went by super fast, and the second set of front squats was harder than the first. 

It took me most of the remaining time to get through 30 pull ups. Mostly singles, because I felt just absolutely drained after dropping off the bar. each time I got a couple sets in, 2s and 3s, even one set of 4. But for the most part, it was just a long trip on the struggle bus to finish those 30 under the time cap. I had time left for 2 thrusters, and then it was time for 21.4.

I had no plans to lift heavy on this. I had already felt my body going weak on the pull ups; I wasn't going to risk it going weak with heavy weights over my head. I got in a set at 45 pounds, just in case. Then went to 65, then 77, then 82 for the last set. I could have lifted a bit heavier, I think, but I was glad to stop where I was. 

I know this is not my best performance. But that will make getting the strength back that much sweeter. And it's quite possible that once I figure my tummy issues out, that I'll be able to build back better and faster. If for no other reason than that I'll not be expending energy on those issues. 

This was a weird CrossFit Open, to be sure, but it was also a good test. A new benchmark after a strange year. 

No Real Equipment? No Problem!

Well, I've been working out from home for a while now, and I've mostly settled on my workarounds. I do not have any dumbbells or kettlebells, and certainly not a barbell and plates. I don't even have room inside my apartment to jump rope, so I've been doing a lot of hopping and jumping instead. It's been tricky, but I've been getting my sweat on almost every day.

This is the workout space. Where the "magic" happens. 

Of course, no magic can happen with that rolling chair in the way. It gets moved to a different location and the blanket is put on the carpet to prevent rug burn - yes, I have gotten rug burn from working out on carpet before, no fun!

This classic folding chair could be used for chair dips, but I haven't actually used it yet. But the moment I need it, boom, a place to do chair dips, elevated push ups, and, if I'm feeling daring, even step ups (I am not that daring). 

This step stool, I will use for step ups. Not box jumps though, there's just not enough space for my feet. It's 18 inches, so a shorter step than I'd be using at CrossFit, but more than the alternative (the alternative is 0 inches). 

I'm the kind of person who would love to have her own personal fan at CrossFit. Well, now, with working out from home, I can finally realize that dream. This fan is dedicated to blowing directly at me, at whichever speed I want it to blow. It is the best part. 

Many year ago, before I was at my current job or my current apartment, I wanted to lift more weights, but I didn't want to pay to join a gym. So what did I do? I bought some concrete and filled various size cans with the mixture, along withe some chains so the links could stick out. Technically, I can use these like dumbbells or kettlebells. I mean, kind of. They only weigh about 4 pounds each though so I don't really like using them. Too light. But they look heavy. 

These are twenty 1 pound sandbags. I got them when I bought a weighted vest. The vest itself was pretty shitty, and I ended up getting rid of it. But I kept these little babies. They are useful for loading up a backpack for a training hike, and now they are also useful for working out from home, but not by themselves. 

They're better with a container, like this Nalgene bottle, which holds 7 of them. It's still a pretty light weight for a dumbbell, but it has the added difficultly level of having a very large grip. 

At first, I thought I could only fit 6 of them, but after I did a workout, the motions had cleared more space inside the bottle, revealing room for one more. 

Of course, this little backpack can hold all twenty - or any number of them, if I want less than 20 pounds. I can pretty much treat this like a sandbag and do cleans and overhead presses, or I can put it on as a weight vest. This backpack usually has more straps, but I took them off so they would stop thwapping me in the face while I worked out. I'm debating removing the shoulders straps, but they've come in handy for some movements, so they stay for now. You'd think that being away from the gym would mean that I wouldn't be getting any hand tears, and I'm not - on my palms. I did manage to wear the skin off of the last knuckle of my middle finger using this backpack for ground to overhead movements. I'm skilled like that ;)

Now, I don't have a barbell. But I do have this thingy. It's a bar, kind of heavy, and it has some rings on the ends that allow me to attach my homemade weights (or any weights that I can get a caribiner on). 

It's not a lot of weight, maybe 15 pound total between the bar and the cans, but the instability of the setup adds a level of challenge to movements. Especially lunges. I almost lost my balance a couple of times doing 100 walking lunges with this across my shoulders.

One of my greatest laments about my current living situation is the lack of a pull up bar. We can't exactly hang one in a secure fashion when we're renting, and Ambrose is convinced that the door frame ones will either break the door frame or break me by falling at an inconvenient time. But I did figure out a way to get some pull ups in. 

Scaling Back

Well. I didn't go on a hike last weekend, because despite the perfect weather, I was stricken with yet another cold. Or something. It was an unpleasant day that I spent mostly in bed. And now the rain is coming again.

But the illness also helped me remember to scale back my intensity a bit. I was having quite a bit of soreness and tightness in my chest and so I took some advice to ease back on the pull up training for a bit to let that sort itself out. I reduced the number of CrossFit classes that I went to and took some time off doing pull ups so that I could come back to training hard without that soreness and pain.

I think it worked. I'm not feeling the same kind of tightness in my chest that I had been. I'm still tired and sore this week now that I'm ramping back up on my exercise intensity, but I'm looking at changing the way I'm doing pull up training. Right now I've got a three day a week training plan, and that plan got me to doing strict pull ups, but I'm signed up for a Spartan Race in June. I need to work on running.

So I'm going to try and figure out a two day a week pull up focused training plan, because I believe that having good grip strength and body weight lifting capabilities will be important for Spartan. And reducing my dedicated pull up workouts from three to two frees up one of those time slots for a 30 minute run.

Now, yes, I could add the run elsewhere, but I know myself. I get myself to Crossfit at 5 in the morning before I realize I'm awake. I go and workout twice a week during the day because my job allows me to take exercise release time at the Rec Center. I try to get to yoga in the evenings. And I'll try to add running on the weekends. But trying is not the same as doing. I need to carve out one of those workday workouts for running.

And maybe I'll lose some of my pull up strength. Or maybe I'll lose some weight from the increased cardio and end up with net pull up gains. Either way, I think it's the right thing to do to reach my goal. And I've been enjoying getting back into running again.

Eyeing the Bar

A while ago, I was at the gym, getting ready to do a few pull ups before ending my workout and heading out. My favorite pull up bar was occupied. Well, not really occupied, but the space around it was occupied. My favorite bar is at a cable cross machine, between two lifting set ups that people often use in such a way that the bar can't be used.

And that's fine. There are other bars. They're thicker, which make it harder for me to grasp them, but I can handle them. So I walked on and came to the other bars - also around cable cross set ups, but there were a lot more bars to choose from. Since people were using some of the cable cross set ups, I chose the one closest to the mirror. I put down my gym bag and started to move a few free weights that someone had left lying around when a man walked up to me.

This was an older guy who I often see around the gym. He lifted, mostly, but also had a pair of metal ankle thingies that he used to hang upside down from the pull up bars. I had been at a point of friendly nodding with him until this very day.

"I'm eyeing the bar," he said. Then he proceeded to edge me out of the space and blatantly steal the bar I had been intending to use. He acted so benignly, as if he had every right to take the bar I had arrived at and claimed first.

There was another bar available, between two people using cable cross stations. I did my pull ups and went on my way, but I didn't forget that strange assumption of primacy. Since that encounter, I stopped smiling or nodding at this guy at the gym. I might not have had the ability in the moment to respond appropriately and tell him I had already "eyed" the bar, but I wasn't going to reward that kind of behavior.

Who Can Do 5 Strict Pull Ups?

I can!

On Sunday, February 19th, I went to the open hour at crossfit so that I could do my pull up day 2 workout without going all the way to the gym. I wanted to let my body get some rest this long weekend and so I didn't plan to do the WOD. I went a little light on my farmer carry, 35# rather than 53#, when I normally do 45# at the gym. I got the workout done, including my abs, and then waited for about 5 minutes, chatting and resting my arms up from the max time hangs I'd done at the end of the workout.

And then I decided it was time to try. I'd been stuck at 4 strict pull ups for nearly three weeks. I could smell the breakthrough, especially after taking Saturday completely off.

I seriously considered asking someone to record my try, but in the end I was too shy and too nervous. I thought I wouldn't be able to do it if I drew too much attention to myself. So I hopped up and got to pulling. By the third rep, I knew I was going to get it. The fourth rep was only as hard as the third usually was. And the fifth happened.

At least, I'm pretty sure it did. I hadn't had a full breakfast before going to workout, and, to be honest, I was feeling a bit muzzy headed. I wasn't entirely sure, so I didn't ring the bell and I didn't post about reaching the goal I had recorded on the goal board.

But on Monday, February 20th, I went in with a plan. The WOD consisted of a choice of overhead squats or back squats, then a short metcon of one of those movements plus jump ropes. My original plan was to work on back squats, so as to save my arms for the post-workout pull up goal attempt. But when I was there, I decided to work on the overheads - mostly because I really like them.

We were to do 8 sets of 8, working up to a heavy set of 8. I knew my one rep wasn't that heavy, so I started really light and went up very slowly. I'm pretty sure my pull up training helps with the overhead squat technique, in that my shoulders are much more developed than they would be if I weren't working on those pull ups. I got a personal record on my last set of 8, hitting 70 pounds.

And then I did more overhead squats in the metcon - 7 minutes of 10 reps overhead squats and 10 jump ropes. I did it at 45# and with single unders. At 10 reps, I probably could have done double unders, but I'm approaching the Open with the mindset that if there is jumping involved, I'm more likely to be doing scaled singles so I should practice them.

We stretched and cooled down. I got my phone and asked the coach to record for me, which he was happy to do.

He also cheered me along as I pulled my chin over the bar, once, twice, thrice, four times... five times.

And then six times.

I got 6 strict pull ups and crushed my goal. Then I ran around the box whooping, rang the bell with a running jump and I swear the glow still hasn't faded. Now I get to start working seriously on kipping pull ups. And chest to bar pull ups. And maybe someday... dare I suggest... muscle ups?

What's in a Goal?

Why have I gotten so focused on the goal of 5 pull ups? For that matter, why did I ever get obsessed with one pull up?

The other day in the lunch room at work, I mentioned my goal of 5 strict pull ups. I try not to talk too much about Crossfit at work, because there are whole memes dedicated to how obnoxious that can be. But I mention with moderation, especially since I convinced one co-worker to try it out - once. One of the responses I got was a kind of bewilderment. Why would anyone want to do a pull up?

I said that after starting Crossfit, it seemed logical. Pull ups are used in so many workouts. It's a way to increase overall fitness.

I casually justified and the conversation moved on.

But why did I want to do a pull up?

An image from my memory floats up. I'm in seventh or eighth grade, and it's time for the Presidential Fitness Test. I always dreaded the testing, because I've never been athletic. The only thing I ever did well at was sit ups - but that's beside the point. We were standing near the inside entrance to the gym where two pull up bars had been mounted on the wall for the test. Boys were supposed to do pull ups, but girls were only expected to do a flex arm hang. None of the girls in my class could even do that - except one. Gina McEvoy seemed to hang up there forever. But she never even tried a pull up.

Pull ups are a great overall demonstration of fitness. They're badass. And I want to do them because I was never athletic. Because I was never even expected to do anything more than a flex arm hang. And probably a little bit because doing a pull up makes me feel like I belong at Crossfit. Not that I ever feel excluded at my box, but it's like I've shown a certain measure of commitment by working so hard to get this goal. The only person I need to convince is myself and 5 pull ups is the way I've picked to do it.

Plateau?

My husband thinks I've reached a plateau on my pull ups. I don't think he's wrong, but I'm not sure what to do about it. As soon as I could do a pull up, that was awesome, but I wanted to be able to do more than 1, and to keep being able to do them.

I kept doing the workout that led me to being able to do 1, but backpacking season reduced my opportunities to workout at a gym. I ended up with a very sporadic rate of working out, completely unlike the serious, focused effort that led to number 1.

Between coming down with colds, school work and other challenges, I haven't been able to regain that focused effort on my pull up workouts until the last two weeks or so. I'm hoping that if I can get back into the swing of things, I'll be able to start seeing some improvement again, but I might not.

From the research I've done, the best way to train to do more pull ups is to do pull ups, but I don't have a pull up bar handy at home or at work. I do them when I go to the gym (3 days a week if I keep up with my workout schedule), when I go to Crossfit (4 days a week, after the workout if that day's WOD doesn't include them), and when I go grocery shopping at Winco (their cart returns are a little short, but completely workable for pull ups). 2 of the gym days overlap with the Crossfit days and I only go shopping once every 2 weeks, so that's really not enough.

I'm hoping that if I refocus on the pull up workout, and get consistent again, that my reps will increase, but I have to face the possibility that I might be reaching a plateau with that method. If I have another opportunity to attend a workshop on pull ups, then I will; I might even look outside of my normal sources to find one. But I have a hard time believing that any program will tell me much that I don't already know.

Do more pull ups!

Or lose weight... The weight loss from the nutrition challenge did seem to make the movement easier, but it also left me extra exhausted so it was hard to figure out if I had actually gotten a net benefit when it came to pull ups.

I really want to be able to do 5 pull ups in a row without dropping from the bar. And I want to be able to do more kipping pull ups without dropping. And world peace. That's not so much to ask, is it?

Just Keep Pulling

I got to do a crossfit workout focusing on pull ups last week. The good news is that I managed to do two strict pull ups in a row. The bad news is that I hadn't done a pull up workout at crossfit before with a successful single strict pull up, so it didn't count as a personal record on the Wodify app.

I'm continuing to work on my pull up workout, but I'm trying to increase the intensity so I can increase the number of pull ups I can do in a row. For example, in my day 1 workout, I'm trying to do strict pull ups for the first set of 4 negatives, and then progressively starting from a higher point. I reset between each negative, so it isn't a set of 4 strict but it forces me to build the strength I'll need to link them.

I'm not doing much different on my day 2 workout, because it doesn't involve as much pulling. I do try to complete a strict pull up after completing that workout, which burns out my forearms pretty well every time.

For the bar assisted pull up that I do on days 1 and 3, I'm trying to touch my chest on the reps instead of just getting my chin over the bar. Having gotten my chin over the bar, I can't help but think that it might be possible for me to do more - more reps of the strict pull up and, one day, a chest to bar pull up. Maybe even a muscle up, if I work hard at it.

I can feel how easy it would be to lose the strict pull up. I know I have to keep working on it and keep pushing myself to get stronger if I want to keep it. I had this kind of feeling that once I got the strict pull up I would be done, but I'm not. I have to work to keep it, and I have to work to get more. No, I want to. I want to see how fit I can get.

Achievement Unlocked: Strict Pull Up

Last March I made a commitment to myself. I was going to stop whining about wanting to do pull ups and start working towards doing them. Even when I was younger, in grade school, high school, college, I had never been able to do a pull up. It was a rare time in my life when I could do monkey bars. But doing Crossfit had infected me with a desire to prove to myself that I could perform an athletic feat that I had never before considered within my reach.

On April 26, 2015, I took a pull up workshop through Arbor Crossfit that gave me a plan for getting my chin over the bar. I put the exercises into an Excel spreadsheet and printed out 5 weeks of the 3 days a week plan. I started going to the gym at work 3 days a week, after work or during lunch. I got myself really sore and started to see results in other areas when I went to Crossfit.

I thought I could get a pull up before July.

July came and went, months of work. I took a bit of a break for my hike on the Wild Coast. I took more of a break when I had some health issues that culminated in a diagnosis of irritable bowel syndrome. But once I figured out that the pain I was experiencing from that wasn't something that I could make worse with exercise, I jumped back into the pull up plan.

I put my head down and I worked. 3 days a week. Every week. For the last 28 weeks. I have been focused on this goal.

I got closer. I started being able to do "un-strict" pull ups. Every chance I had to work pull ups at Crossfit, I took. After almost every class, I'd jump on the bar and try.

On Friday, after an exhausting WOD, I tried again. I got a few with minimal movement, but no one was looking. So I called over one of the coaches to watch. What I was doing wasn't quite strict. So I tried again and got within 2 inches of my chin over the bar. I just didn't have the energy to finish the movement.

On Saturday, I went to the gym with my husband to do my day 3 workout. I finished the superset of curls and strict band-assisted pull ups, and then the barbell assisted pull ups. I ran for 30 minutes on the treadmill, a hill workout. Then I had a snack, used a foam roller and did the core exercises that are a part of my pull up workout.

And then I took my husband downstairs to the pull up bar to witness my attempt at a strict pull up.

I had been having trouble with the transition from a reverse shrug to bending my elbows. But somehow, this time, my muscles all worked together. A tight core, hollow body positioning, feet together and pointed... from a dead hang I raised my body until my chin was over the bar.

I dropped from the bar in excitement and gave my husband a leaping hug to celebrate.

Then I went back to the bar and tried again. I got in two more reps, with rests in between. The fourth attempt was a failure and we adjourned to the hot tub.

Now, I didn't have my phone with me, so I wasn't really sure if this counted for my official Arbor Crossfit goal - not without proof. And, to be honest, I didn't really believe I could do it again. So, after the hot tub, dressed in my street clothes, I had Ambrose take a video of strict pull up number 4:

I've done it. I can do a strict pull up. And now I want to do more. It's not going to be my official goal. I promised myself I'd work on double unders after getting my strict. But I don't want to stop at 1. I've got my eyes set on at least 5.

And I was able to do more reps on Monday, despite my fear that perhaps Saturday was just a fluke. It wasn't a fluke. I have put in the work, and I'm continuing to put in the work, because I like my 3 day a week exercise plan.The work has become a habit, and now that I'm seeing results I see no reason to stop.

Pull Update

I still haven't gotten a strict pull up.

But I'm at the point where I am doing pull ups without assistance when the movement comes up on the workout of the day. I actually did a fair number of jumping chest to bar pull ups as part of participating in the Crossfit Open (16.3, scaled).

I'm still working on my three times a week pull up workout, with the addition of 3 to 5 "unstrict" pull ups when I complete it on workdays (usually days 1 and 2) and 10+ unstrict when I complete it on a weekend (usually day 3).

My grip strength is improving, and I can feel a new soreness in my back muscles. I don't think I've reached a plateau, but I still haven't figured out how to bridge the gap between the top of a reverse shrug and the 90 degree arms.

In May it will be officially a year that I've been hammering away at this pull up goal. I've come so far, and I'm still not there. But there's progress, and, in that, I take pride.

Hanging: The Search for the Strict Pull Up Continues

When I started getting serious about doing a strict pull up last spring, I read a lot of different articles online about how to get your first pull up. One of the ones that I read more than once was by a woman who recommended hanging from the bar as a way to build grip strength. I can't find it now, or I'd link to it. It was written by a dark haired woman and included pictures of her demonstrating the exercises she recommended. She especially recommended hanging from the bar by one hand.

And I tried hanging by the bar with one hand. And I couldn't. Not even for a full second, not even for a half second. My hands didn't have the strength to grip the bar together for more than a few seconds at first. Each one alone was hopeless.

But last weekend, for the first time in the new year, I tried hanging by a single hand.

I hung for 10 seconds from my right hand and 5 seconds from my left.

I haven't gotten the strict pull up yet, but I'm getting over the bar without assistance. It's the bottom half of the movement that's my main problem right now. If I swing up half way, I can lever myself over the bar. I can pack my shoulders with a scapular pull up. But I can't bridge between those two positions yet.

I've been working on doing my pull up workouts with a wider grip for the last couple weeks, because one of the cross fit coaches recommended a wider grip to engage my lats more. It seems to be a good tactic so far. I've also tried switching my segment and negative pull up method. I had been using a lifting rack, standing on the floor and lifting myself up for the segment before bending my knees to lower. Now, in order to keep good strict pull up form through the movement, I'm standing on a box to reach a high pull up bar and trying to keep my body in the hollow position through the whole motion. It's making my abs more sore, which I'll take as a good sign.

I'm signed up for the Cross Fit Open that starts on Thursday, and I can't help but hope that I can make my first strict pull up before then.

Or at least before the Open ends five weeks later :)

Pull Up So Close!

I'm so close to doing a strict pull up, I can almost taste it. Last weekend, I managed to do an assisted pull up with only 10lbs of assistance. And, for the first time in my life, I can get my chin over the bar with control. I'm excited at the progress and I'm hungry for the culmination. Can I get it before the new year? Before I visit family at the end of January? 

Time will tell. But until I get it, I'm focused. I even dreamed about pull ups last night. 

Closer to the Pull

Right now, most of my workout goals are centered around getting a strict pull up. And having that solid goal, and a routine to go along with it, have helped me keep going, even as the weather lingers in the sub-freezing range. I'm running for weight loss, and I'm doing strength work three times a week for pulling.

And, even though I'm lifting lighter than I was this summer, I'm making more progress. After taking a break in September, I reduced my weights for bicep curls and farmer carries. But I've also increased the reps for my bicep curls and added a segment of stairs to my farmer carries. I don't know why, but it seems like this routine is better at strengthening my back than pushing myself to higher weights at lower reps.

My body is also lighter than it was last summer. The illness in September resulted in some weight loss, and continued dietary changes combined with increased running added to that total. I didn't want to lose weight for pull ups, but I have lost weight.

And I'm getting closer.

Where before I could try for a kipping pull up and maybe, just maybe break the plane of the bar with the peach fuzz hairs on my chinny-chin-chin, last weekend, I swung up and held my body below the bar with bent arms. For the first time that I can recall, I was supporting my body weight from the bar in a position other than dead hang or reverse shrug.

That first strict pull up is so close I can taste it.

Of course, making the first one will only whet my appetite for more, so I think I'll be having a good routine for a long time to come.