Part 2 - How To Do a Chin-Up If You've NEVER Done One Before
By Nick Nilsson
(Here: Part 1 - How To Do a Chin-Up If You've NEVER Done One Before)
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
The last step before hitting chins on your own is the Flexed Arm Hang. Now that your muscles have recovered from the Negative Training, we're going to set that bench back up and get you into the top position of the chin.
Take your feet off the bench and HOLD that top chin position for as long as you can. Hold it until your arms start to straighten and your lats start to give.
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!
And finally, if you do go through this chin-up program and WHEN you do your first chin-up, send me an email and tell me your story! I want to hear from you!
Here: Part 1 - How To Do a Chin-Up If You've NEVER Done One Before
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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 17 years.
Nick is the author of a number of bodybuilding eBooks including
"Muscle Explosion! 28 Days To Maximum Mass",
"Metabolic Surge - Rapid Fat Loss," "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 HERE. He can be contacted at betteru@fitstep.com.
=====================================
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Feel free to send it to us.
If your article meets our needs we will be willing to publish it.
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Heidi
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P.P.S. Do you use Twitter? You can follow me at
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Part 1 - How To Do a Chin-Up If You've NEVER Done One Before
By 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!
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!).
So first off, we need to distinguish between a chin-up and a pull-up. A pull-up is generally done with a wider grip and an overhand grip on the bar. This is actually a HARDER exercise to perform than the chin-up.
The chin-up is done with a close grip on the bar (hands only a few inches apart) with an underhand grip.
The reasons the wide-grip pull-up is harder is that first, the biceps are not able to contribute as much to the movement because your arms are directly out to the sides. Second, the lats (the muscles of the back) don't have as good of leverage with the arms out in this position.
The chin-up places the lats in a better position to contract and allows the biceps to contribute more to the movement.
And this is what we want, because to do that first chin-up, you're going to need ALL the muscle power you can get!
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 the first step you're going to take is one that is very simple and straightforward...you're going to grab the bar and just HANG from it for as long as you can. That's it!
The reason? I find that a lot of people simply don't have the necessary GRIP strength to perform a full chin-up and building it up with a very specific drill like this helps tremendously.
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...
Part 2 - included Phase 3 and Phase 4...
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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 17 years. Nick is the author of a number of bodybuilding eBooks including "Muscle Explosion!
28 Days To Maximum Mass", "Metabolic Surge - Rapid Fat Loss," "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 HERE. He can be contacted at betteru@fitstep.com.=====================================
Discover Free and Helpful Information
Subscribe to the monthly KieFit Journal NOW!
CLICK HERE: http://www.kiefit.com
=====================================
Submit your Articles
Do you write articles about health, fitness, sports, nutrition etc?
Feel free to send it to us.
If your article meets our needs we will be willing to publish it.
Email: articles[at]kiefit.com
Enjoy your healthy life!
HeidiP.S. Tell your friends about http://www.kiefit.com
P.P.S. Do you use Twitter? You can follow me at
http://twitter.com/KieFitDotCom
The Real Way to Stop Eating Fast Food
By Tom Venuto www.BurnTheFat.com
“How could you eat that junk? It’s so bad for you!” (nag, nag).
“Don’t you know those fries will give you a heart attack?” (nag, nag).
“You have to stop eating all that fast food, it’s going to make you fat!” (nag nag). “You have to eat more healthy food like fruits and vegetables - they’re good for you!” (nag, nag).
Your friends nag you, your family nags you, your doctor nags you, the health newsletters,
websites and magazines - they all nag you, and of course,
your personal trainer nags the heck out of you, to stop eating all those
BAD FAST FOODS. But does all that nagging you and bad-mouthing the fast food industry really help anyone stop?
It doesn’t look that way. The fast food industry is thriving, even in the bad economy.
The Chicago Tribune recently said that McDonalds is “recession proof.”
As one of only two companies to turn a major profit over the last year (the other being Wal Mart), McDonald’s is laughing its way to the bank. In fact, McDonalds plans to open
1,000 new stores this year.
I was driving down Route 95 a few weeks ago and pulled over to use the rest room at Mcdonalds on a Saturday morning (there’s a McDonalds conveniently located immediately off almost every exit up and down the full length of Interstate 95).
The parking lot was full, it was standing-room only inside and the lines snaked around into the seating area! You’d think Brad and Angelina were there signing autographs or something.
Nope. Just a regular weekend at breakfast-time.
I was shopping in Wal Mart the same week and I almost passed out when
I saw (smelled, actually) a McDonalds… INSIDE THE WAL- MART! Also, with lines.
Yep. It looks like your friends and family’s nagging you to stop eating fast food,
and all the messages of the health and fitness industry to get people eating more
“health food” are not working!
So what does work?
The results of a new survey from the behavior and psychology section of the journal,
OBESITY (Feb 2009) provide some answers:
Researchers at the University of Minnesota School of Public health surveyed
530 adults about their attitudes towards fast foods.
They found that people already know fast food is unhealthy. (like, no kidding!)
The primary reasons they eat it anyway are because of the perceived convenience and a dislike for cooking! (I’d add another: they think fast food is always cheaper than healthy food).
So, said the authors of this research paper, nagging people to eat more healthy food and warning them that “fast food is going to make us fat and kill us” is not the best approach.
What’s the right approach?
Focus on teaching people how to make healthy eating fast, convenient and easy, because those are the reasons people are choosing fast food in the first place.
So what’s holding us back from implementing or taking this advice?
Well, I think that most people can’t get over the ideas that they “just cant cook” or that cooking is “too time consuming” or that healthy food “tastes like dirt” (as if McDonalds is gourmet food!)
That said, I’m not going to nag you, scold you or try to scare you out of eating fast food.
I’m not going to lecture you about health food (not today, anyway).
Nor am I going to bad-mouth the fast food restaurants. I’m going to lead the new charge by showing you just how easy and convenient it is to eat healthy and nutritious food and make it delicous.
Here’s a few meal ideas (for starters) to prove my point.
3-MINUTE APPLE CINNAMON OATMEAL* natural oatmeal (like Quaker old fashioned rolled oats)
* natural (unsweetened) applesauce
* cinnamon
* for protein, serve with scrambled eggs or egg whites on side or stir 1-2 scoops of vanilla protein powder into the oats
I eat this almost every morning. It’s faster, easier and cheaper than going to the donut place or getting sausage, cheese, bacon breakfast muffins at the fast food joint! (you don’t have to wait in line, either!)
10-MINUTE LAZY PERSON’S CHINESE STIR FRY
* Brown rice (I like basmati)
* frozen oriental vegetables * chicken breast, grilled (try foreman grill)
* bragg’s “liquid aminos” (or light/lo-sodium soy sauce)
This takes 30 minutes, however, if you get a rice cooker and make a giant batch, you can have your rice on standby for instant eats and this will take less than 10 minutes.
It doesn’t get much easier than that. (I like those chinese veggies that come with the little mini-corn-on-the-cobs… reminds me of that Tom Hanks Movie, BIG)
2-MINUTE BLACK BEANS AND SPICY SALSA
* black beans (15 oz can)
* Medium or hot salsa
* 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
* 2 cloves garlic or chopped garlic to taste
* salt and pepper to taste This one takes you all of 2 minutes to make.
No cooking required! And it’s good! It’s vegetarian as listed above, but if you’re a high-protein muscle-head like me, just add chicken breast or lean ground turkey.
Best part: this is all inexpensive food! Oats, rice, beans… doesn’t get much cheaper than that - buy your healthy staples in bulk and the cost per serving is probably less than mickey D’s! (yes, even the “Value” meals)
Every one of these recipes is compatible with my Burn The Fat program
This means that my way of eating makes you more muscular and leaner… so you can look hot wearing very little clothes this summer… and be healthier… and save money too.
Train Hard, Eat Right, and Expect Success!
Tom Venuto
www.BurnTheFat.com
About the Author:
Tom Venuto is a fat loss expert, lifetime natural (steroid-free) bodybuilder, independent nutrition researcher, freelance writer, and author of the #1 best selling diet e-book, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle: Fat-Burning Secrets of The World’s Best Bodybuilders & Fitness Models (e-book) which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using secrets of the world's best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase your metabolism by visiting: www.burnthefat.com
=====================================
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Subscribe to the monthly KieFit Journal NOW!
CLICK HERE: http://www.kiefit.com
=====================================
Submit your Articles
Do you write articles about health, fitness, sports, nutrition etc?
Feel free to send it to us. If your article meets our needs we will be willing to publish it.
Email: articles[at]kiefit.com
Enjoy your healthy life!
Heidi
P.S. Tell your friends about http://www.kiefit.com
P.P.S. Do you use Twitter? You can follow me at
http://twitter.com/KieFitDotCom 
Available Now! - Free KieFit Journal September Edition -
Lose Weight, Gain Muscle!
Here is the September 2009 issue of KieFit Journal.
The free online publication about fitness and health tips. Amongst others it includes helpful articles for you about muscle gain, nutrition and you can discover great exercise tips and watch valuable workout- videos.
Here is a little preview of the Kiefit Journal content:
Do you know the effects of junk food on your body and health arrange?
The question about “Does Hoodia Really Work For Fat Loss?” read from Author Vince DelMonte. He specializes in helping decipher the truths and myths about all the supplements.
An author tells you what can cause back pain and how to avoid it. A reason is the increasing problem of poor pc posture.
Read and enjoy!
Heidi
=====================================
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Subscribe to the monthly KieFit Journal NOW!
CLICK HERE: http://www.kiefit.com/
=====================================
Submit your Articles
Do you write articles about health, fitness, sports, nutrition etc?
Feel free to send it to us. If your article meets our needs we will be willing to publish it.
Email: articles[at]kiefit.com
Enjoy your healthy life!
Heidi
P.S. Tell your friends about http://www.kiefit.com
P.P.S. Do you use Twitter? You can follow me at
http://twitter.com/KieFitDotCom
Part 2 - How To Do a Chin-Up If You've NEVER Done One Before
