I was fat and weak from kindergarten to early
college and most PE activities were hard for me.
Every semester, I had to try to meet several
standards (I don't remember enjoying any one of
them) and the pullup was high on the hated list.
Looking back, it is obvious that the pullup is
important enough for countries to make it
mandatory in PE.
College was better as The Powers That Be finally
sent weight-loss hormones and I got to enjoy some
physical exercises. At the time, I became good
(among my classmates) at running the 1500m. And,
kipping and twisting, I could crank out several
reps of pullups without too much suffering and
that got me a pass.
After college, there had been no motivation
whatsoever to do pullups. My life goal was to
become a scientist and not a masochist. I didn't
even try to do it for swimming which I loved and
trained at a masters club. Meanwhile, 20 years
passed in oblivion.
Monday, August 22, 2016, I felt strong and
surprised myself by doing 11 strict, dead-hung,
and no-kipping pullups. Kettlebell swinging must
have been responsible but that's another story.
Super-charged, I read some articles (e.g., this
and this) and decided that I should try the
following program for a month
Day 1: 10 9 8 7 6
Day 2: 10 9 8 7 7
Day 3: 10 9 8 8 7
Day 4: 10 9 9 8 7
Day 5: 10 10 9 8 7
Day 6: Off
Day 7: 11 10 9 8 7
Day 8: 11 10 9 8 8
Day 9: 11 10 9 9 8
Day 10: 11 10 10 9 8
Day 11: 11 11 10 9 8
Day 12: Off
Day 13: 12 11 10 9 8
Day 14: 12 11 10 9 9
Day 15: 12 11 10 10 9
Day 16: 12 11 11 10 9
Day 17: 12 12 11 10 9
Day 18: Off
Day 19: 13 12 11 10 9
Day 20: 13 12 11 10 10
Day 21: 13 12 11 11 10
Day 22: 13 12 12 11 10
Day 23: 13 13 12 11 10
Day 24: Off
Day 25: 14 13 12 11 10
Day 26: 14 13 12 11 11
Day 27: 14 13 12 12 11
Day 28: 14 13 13 12 11
Day 29: 14 14 13 12 11
Day 30: Off
Basically, almost every day, I did 5 sets of
pullups and each set consisted of a number of
reps. I did it grease-the-groove and rested as
much as I wanted between sets but usually finished
in two hours.
Most days were moderately challenging but a few
were tough. For example, on Day 19 I couldn't
finish the first two sets early although luckily I
was able to do them later in the day. Here's my
log for that day
- 11@8:00am -- at home, tough, left shoulder pain
- 11@8:30am -- at home, tough
- 13@10:00am -- not bad, at Fort Mason monkey bar
- 12@13:48pm -- not bad, at home
- 9@15:00pm -- OK, at home
But Day 19 was not the toughest. As in many other
endeavors, the last days were. (This was also the
time I realized quantitatively how important sleep
was.) Toward the end of the program, I keenly felt
the challenges on the grip. Besides muscle
fatigue, at one point, the callouses on the middle
and ring fingers hurt a lot. I also had to stretch
the extensors often. I had to stop my usual
strength training twice.
Of course the question after the program is now
what? I'll try to maintain the strength by doing a
couple of sets of pullups and maybe bar-hanging
for time. Meanwhile, onto the next project!
