YOUR FIRST CHIN UP EVEN IF YOU HAVE NEVER DONE ONE BEFORE!

Even when I had achieved a fairly good level of fitness I thought doing chin ups was just a muscle head thing. However, I soon realized that it is a great indication of upper body strength. I started training to do one and was thrilled when I actually achieved not only one but 10. After a serious injury I am back at increasing my upper body strength and attempting my first chin up.

Nick Nilsson of "The Best Exercises You Never Heard Of" has provided this great chin up training guide.

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...

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!
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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 BetterU ). He can be contacted at betteru@fitstep.com.

MY MAY - DECEMBER ROMANCE STORY

'K' MY HANDSOME SOLDIER

My 28th wedding anniversary is coming up on Monday. It has been an amazing paring.

We still hold hands.

Our story.......

During a break up with my fiance in 1979, acquaintenances set up a blind date between K and me 'as a joke.' They thought it would be amusing to see a 'worldly' 31-year-old divorcee and a shy 18-year-old army reservist together.

I was shocked when I got to the dance and realized how young my date was. I went with the flow not wishing to hurt his feelings. I had a fantastic time with this handsome man but I did not plan on a follow up date. My fiance and I were patching up our broken relationship and were tentatively setting our wedding date for December. I never thought in a million years K would want a follow up date either.

A month or so after the 'date', K phoned me and asked if he could board with me. It would help me with the mortgage and he would be there at night for my daughter when I was working shift work at the hospital. He needed an address in my City to get a full time call out with the army.

My fiance and I discussed it and it seemed like a good solution. My husband-to-be "P" was attractive, self confident, conceited and had not one bit of jealousy toward K.

K became part of my immediate family, I met his friends and family. He was a great tennant.

As my wedding date approached K became more alarmed at my relationship with my fiance - P was a flirt and went off on frequent skiing vacations with the 'boys'; he was financially irresponsible, had unstable jobs and likely drank too much. We were attending pre-marriage counselling classes and week by week the counsellor and I were becoming similarly alarmed.

It was an easy decision to break up with this man really. I had two failed marriages from following my heart and not my head. Rather than string him along, I told him I could never marry him and broke off our engagement. K was wiser than his years. He was right, the marriage would never have survived the first year.

Over the next year, K professed his love for me. I was on the rebound and I adored him but the math sure scared me. When I am 50 he will be 37 -when I am 70 he will be 57 etc. After two years the barriers finally wore down. He is the most incredible man - devoted, kind, caring, gentle and loving. His only flaw is his age. I struggled with it. My parents disowned me for many years and would not speak to me for even contemplating a relationship. His parents were more worried about me than him. They stated they did not want me ending up having to support 'two kids' as their son had not yet decided on a post secondary education.

The other flaw in the potential marriage was that I could no longer have children - what a sacrifice for a 20-year-old. It would be doubtful that any adoption agency would help us with our age discrepancy problem. So he would have to accept a life with no children of his own. And he would be dealing with a daughter about to enter the 'terrible teen' years as well.

But, I did fall madly in love with him. Along with the love, I felt a healthy dose of guilt and worry about the 'what ifs' of our age difference. I did not want to be a 'mother figure.' Apparently I was never that. Due to my good genes and fairly clean lifestyle, I did not look my age. I am no "Demi Moore" but I have faired ok.

On a night shift when I was lamenting the torture of my decision a colleague said "Even if the marriage only lasts 10 years, that is more than you got out of your other marriages. Do you love him? My answer was " Yes." From a purely selfish perspective her statement was true. But what about him?

There was no talking him out of loving me. In the back of mind, I made it a promise that I would ask him every year on our anniversary if he wanted to change his mind - should he realize his terrible mistake and want someone his own age or should he want to have his own children. I am not asking this year. I realize I can no longer give him up without a fight.

He has stuck with me through all kinds of crises and vice versa. He loved me when I have been obese or sick or fit and healthy; when I was contributing to income and when I was not.

I came to love his family and friends as my own. My mother reluctantly accepted him to rekindle her relationship with me but was never warm and fuzzy toward him which he stocially endured. She has since passed away as have both his parents. My remaining parent, my step father adores him.

It is amusing that I put up with years of waiting for him and our friends to get through their party years - while they stayed up till 6 am I would pack it in before midnight and now it is often reversed - in their late 40s they want to go to bed fairly early and I generally want to stay up later. We old people don't need as much sleep.

The most recent challenge is retirement. I could feasibly retire in the near future, but I have enough health and energy for two people. I have always had a professional career. I concluded if I work longer he could retire earlier. All retirement would mean for me is quitting my current job and putting my energy into my own business. I doubt I would ever stop productive employment regardless of the age of my husband.

Has it been easy? Of course not. Every marriage has its ups and downs. I cannot lie that at times I want everything I have now but have wished that K was older. But each year the 'what ifs' lessened and eventually disappeared.

Here's to the sweetest, most considerate, loving and gorgeous man anywhere!

Happy Anniversary to the Love of My Life - My lover, my partner, my friend....

p.s. I REMEMBERED THE DATE :)

NO NONSENSE MUSCLE BUILDING - DO YOU WANT TO LOSE FAT AND GAIN MUSCLE????

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The program has something for everyone - there is a specific fat loss program, and as I mentioned an 'upside down training program' which you really should do at the onset - particularly if you have been training awhile and are stuck or at plateau, or have not been training for quite awhile. It completely shakes things up and turns things around and prepares you for the next phase.

There is a 26-week beginner for both men and women; a 26 week advanced training for men and women. Great online member site. And fantastic animated exercise demonstration tools which can also help you with selection of an alternate exercises should you not be able to do a particular exercise or if you have different tools and equipment.

It includes a stretching flexibility program which I do almost daily. The author encourages most to do the shoulder stability exercises with your upside down training/stretching regime. That is often the area most prone to injury particularly in older adults.

There is nutrition planning - it is all done for you.

The program is quite large - you will need to have your printer cartridge full and a good sheaf of paper - but trust me it is worth downloading and printing. He insists you should read as much as possible before beginning the training - it is worth the read.

You can get going and download the upside down training to get going with your training and prep yourself for the 26-week-training while you are reading all the material. This program is for you if you are absolutely serious about gaining lean muscle and losing fat.

VINCE DELMONTE'S NO NONSENSE MUSCLE BUILDING

Vince is a kinesiologist, author and personal trainer from Ontario Canada