Begin to be now what you will be hereafter.” William James

 Rant and Tip for March 20, 2012

Quote: “Begin to be now what you will be hereafter.”  William James 

                Many people will make the statement that they want to start tomorrow, or next week, or after this holiday. In all honesty though there is no time like the present to get started. Begin now to be what you will be hereafter. You can do this and you will be successful. Stop putting off what can be started today. Everyone procrastinates from time to time, however, how much longer do you want to be in the condition you are in. No more cheating my friends and no more excuses. It is time to change your diet and start your exercise program.

                My son had a scout meeting and the new tenderfoot scouts needed to set a baseline for some physical activities. They had to do pushups, sit-ups, pull-ups a broad jump and run a quarter mile. They gave me the push-up station. I had to make sure the boys had proper form and do as many as they could. In a month from now they need to show improvement in all events. Now most of the events will be easy for the boys to increase. However the pull-up is a more difficult exercise to master. As a baby before we learn to walk we are masters at the pull-up. We develop this strength early on. However as we continue to grow and become more adept at walking we stop using our upper body strength. This is when we start to lose our upper body strength. I have to give my father credit here as when I was a child he would lift me up and let me hang from the door-jam from my finger tips.  I really think this helped build my upper body strength. My father without realizing it helped me maintain a strong body throughout my childhood. We hauled wood to heat the house and we carried bales of hay to help feed the horses. This is the way it was not too many years ago. Now times have changed and kids do not have the opportunities to maintain a healthy strong bodies the way we did as kids. Now they have all these electronics and other outside stimulations that catches their attention. Life is basically easier on them physically. So now we are to a point where we need to find ways to help our children maintain a strong healthy body. There is one way that I can help you can get stronger in the pull-up. All you need is a pull-up bar and an elastic band. Here is the link to my exercise video page. You will find a video there that shows you how to use the band to assist you doing a pull-up. The key here is to use a band strong enough for you to do a few pull-ups in a row. Use the band 3 days a week and you will get stronger to the point of being able to do an unassisted pull-up.

                I assisted my workout partner through an intense chest workout. I fully expect him to have a serious case of delayed onset muscle soreness, commonly known as DOMS. Tomorrow will be squat day, and I did this deliberately because I wanted him to have to reach back for the bar. Stretching the chest muscles as he reaches back, this will increase the blood flow in the muscle and increase the speed of recovery.

Have a great workout!

Tip:

          Another way you can improve your pull up is to try "negatives". Negatives are half pull-ups. All you have to do is get your chin over the bar by standing on something or having spotter push you over the bar. Then, you slowly lower yourself all the way down - let your arms hang grasping the bar fully stretched. Keep your feet up and fight gravity for a count of 5 seconds. This will get your arms used to supporting your weight.