Be able to do a chin-up

“The very first chin-up I ever did was caught on camera in the video below! It was D-Day and as I stepped up to the bar, with everyone watching and the camera rolling, I didn’t think I’d be able to do it. I had butterflies in my tummy. My heart was racing. I gripped the bar, feeling the familiar rough metal in my hands. I stepped off the step. It felt like stepping off a bridge. I pulled. My body rose. And kept rising. My colleagues gasped in anxious anticipation. Al-most-there…I kicked my legs. My nose crested the bar, then my chin. It was a childhood dream, come true. A moment of pure, unfiltered disbelief, relief and triumph all in one. Adrenaline definitely played a role in getting me above the bar, but so did that little kick. Your first chin-up doesn’t have to be pretty!”

“On Saturday morning before Christmas, I hadn't eaten yet and was feeling relatively light, so I decided to try doing a chin-up. To my amazement, I didn't have that issue where I felt I had to move my shoulders in a weird way, and I actually was able to complete a chin-up!!! I wondered if I had actually really just done one, or if I had done one from standing out of habit, so about 10 minutes later, I tried again and could still do one! (Albeit, it was pretty ugly and I'm sure my form was not great lol). I couldnt believe it! I have always had disproportionately big arms and have always been a bit self-conscious about them, but my big arms have served me well!”

“So today I was doing laundry. My boyfriend had just finished using our doorframe pull-up bar, which I use to hang clothes while they dry (we don’t have a backyard). I was transferring the wet clothes to the pull up bar, when i joked about (and then hilariously failed at) doing a one-armed pull up. Then I had the sudden urge to ask, “so what’s the easiest kind of pull-up, anyways?” My boyfriend told me, “a chin up: palms facing you, shoulder width apart.” I tried it, and other than kind of giving myself a “jump” at the beginning to start my elbows at about a 150° angle instead of fully straight, I did it. I yelled at my boyfriend to come and see; he believed me, but I didn’t. Then I did it again, and I realized: the whole time I was training a while back, I was much stronger than I am now. That means I could have done this all along. And that I’m probably much stronger than I give myself credit for; all I have to do is just give myself a little “jump” to get going sometimes.”