On Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, was my attempt at 20 straight pull ups.

This was the 4th performance goal I set for myself and by far the hardest for me.

I’ve always been horrible at pull ups - as a kid, I could only do 1.

At the beginning of October, I could only do a mere 6.

But then I started training pull ups 3 days a week and got much stronger at them.

I didn’t quite reach full extension on my form and I didn’t quite reach my goal, but I did more pull ups than I had ever done before, so I was pretty pleased.

Check it out!

Scott

Happy Halloween!

Halloween week ends on the blog but it’s been a lot of fun putting these videos together.

The first part of the video doesn’t have anything to do with Halloween.

I revisit my pull-up progress as I’ve been practicing 3 days a week for the past 3 weeks.

Remember my goal is to be able to do 20 by Thanksgiving, but I just wanted to gauge my progress and see if I could do 10 today.

The pull-ups went well, but I need to work on my form as I didn’t extend my elbows all the way at the bottom of the pull-ups.

The second part of the video shows you 10 more great exercises that you can do with a pumpkin.

Most of these were leg and cardio exercises, and I think you’ll enjoy.

If you actually do get a pumpkin and try these out, and you do me a favor?

Can you leave a comment on the blog and let me know what you think?

Thanks!

Have a great and safe Halloween

Scott

So my buddy Jerry Hill of the Cross Fit Old Town TV Show watched my pull up videos and noticed a flaw in my pull up technique.

He said I was not standing underneath the bar enough when I was initially starting my pull ups.

In other words, the bar was out in front of me too much.

This caused my arms (the smaller muscles) to do a lot more of the work than my larger back muscles.

An inefficient and much harder way to do pull ups.  You need to get those larger back muscles more involved so you can crank out more reps.

I changed my technique as Jerry suggested and my pull up training is going much better.

I’ll keep you updated on my quest to 20 pull ups.

Scott

I didn’t really like the bar I used for my initial pull up test because it was thicker than I’m used to, and that pull up bar is not convenient to my home.

So I went to a park closer to my apartment and re-did my max on the pull up bars there. They are actually monkey-bars.

I may buy a pull up bar so I can have it for my home. The pull up training is coming along slowly but surely.

Scott

Folks, I have a potential disaster looming on my hands.

I’ve often preached focusing and putting all your energy on one goal. Going after it, until you accomplish it, and then moving on to your next goal.

Well now, I’ve chosen not to follow my own advice.

I’m going after 4 performance goals at the same time:

Run a 6-minute mile, Bear Crawl 100 yards, 100 consecutive push ups, 20 consecutive pull ups

I have to train hard to reach each goal by Thanksgiving.

I’m a little worried though.

In particular I’m worried about the push ups and pull ups.

Both of them are upper body exercises, and will be taxing to my upper body muscles to train for each of those goals the next 6 weeks.

Perhaps I would have been better off choosing either pull ups OR push ups, but not both.

Potential disaster may be looming.

On the other hand, push ups are a pushing exercise and pull ups are a pulling exercise.

The two exercises work completely different muscles.

So potential disaster may be averted.

What do you think?

Can I train for both or am I crazy for doing so?

Please leave your comments as I would love to hear your advice.

In the meantime, check out an oldie but a goodie - the Pull Up Mania Video

One more thing. There are a couple days left to get into the Master Your Motivation 7 Day Coaching Program.

We start on Monday.

Have an amazing day.

Scott

Hey all - on Sunday I tested my performance in 4 categories:

1-mile run

Bear Crawl

Pull Ups

Push Ups

If you remember, my goals by Thanksgiving are to do a 6 minute mile, bear crawl 100 yards (length of soccer field), 100 consecutive push ups and 20 consecutive pull ups.

I tested myself yesterday, Sunday October 5th.

I ran a mile in 6 minutes, 15 seconds, I bear crawled about 60 yards, I did 6 pull ups and 52 push ups. So I have a bit of work to do.

Check out the video: I filmed it all!

Have an amazing day.

Scott

Howdy,

I figured since I’ve shown you so many push up variations to do, that I should show you some different pull up variations as well. Pull ups are a great abs exercise because your abs are constantly working for the entire movement.

Now there are many different types of pull ups you can do.

I must admit though that pull ups are a weakness for me.

There are many more styles that I didn’t show you.

But I hope you enjoy the ones that I did show you.

There are some pull ups in the Bodyweight Four Minute Workout DVD. You can replace the ones in the DVDs with any of the ones that I show you on this video.

By the way, you’ll notice some modified pull ups at the end of the video that are easier to perform.

This is where you can start if you haven’t done pull ups before.

They were done using a piece of equipment called The Jungle Gym made by Lifeline USA.

Have fun and let me know what you think!

Scott