A while ago, I came into the possession of a Chin-Up bar. It’s one of those ones that fit in your door frame and have the ability to double as a support for push ups and sit ups (though I have only used it in my door frame for the purpose of chin-ups). Though I was told it would likely have more use as a clothes hanger, I have been trying to be very diligent in using it. If I’m not hanging from it, I’m attempting to use my minimal arm strength to pull myself upwards. My Chin-Up Bar (let’s just call him Chinny from now one) hangs in my bedroom door frame which just happens to be one of the most passed doorways in my hallway. The bathroom is on one side of it, kitchen is on the other, so I figured that it would be in plain sight at all times (thus not falling into the “out of sight, out of mind category”). Also, Chinny is highly visible from the front door of my apartment, so when I arrive home from the places I go, Chinny is pretty much the first thing I see.

My question is…. How long does it take for one to gain the ability to do a full pull-up/chin-up? My original goal was to be able to do one pull-up. No time frame, not more than one, nothing exceptional right? Well, I haven’t been fully successful yet… and it’s been a while with no success. I have done some research online and found some great articles about slowly building up strength, but I would have expected a greater degree of success by now. I can currently do a quarter pull-up. If I continue at this rate, I should be able to do one full pull up sometime within the next year.

Any tips would be grand.

In the meantime, D gets front row seats to my enthusiastic attempts to successfully lug myself upwards. Lucky.

Hanging in there,
J.