Women can you do pull ups? (Page 3)

so today did one wide grip pull up, then could not get my chin over the bar on the second - so held for 10....then the trainer let me use the big rubberband.  Did 3 sets with rubberband assist - 15,12,10 with long hold at the end of each.....

love the rubberband..... 

I asked my coach what the typical progression for women to do pull ups is. He said most women can do 3-5 with full body weight after 12-18 months expect some genetic freaks that can do more than men easily. I'm sure I'm not in that category. So my goal is by my 47th birthday I can do 3.

Since I'm 6 months post seperated shoulder, his suggestion is I try gripe with palms facing each other to be kinder to my shoulders. Tomorrow I start my journey to 3 pull ups 

I'm not sure I understand. Do most women do 3-5 after 12-18 months? Or do some genetic freaks develop after that long?  

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Some genetic freaks (in a good way) can do them easily faster.

His point is that is hard to work up to do pull ups for women and even men.  His experience is that normal women take 12 to 18 months of working towards doing pull ups via different methods like assisted machine or modified on smith machine to do 3 to 5.  So I'm setting the goal of being able to do 3 a year from now.

It took me from fall until May the following year to be able to do regular full pull ups. First knee ones, then bench, then smith machine lower and lower to floor. I worked at it for a good 30+ weeks until I built strength to do them. 

Wow! I've never been called a genetic freak before! (Well, in a good way, my allergists tell me I'm a freak all the time.) After a long hiatus from trying (I was close before, so I probably had some residual strength/neuromuscular pathways), I got one in about 3 months. I will admit, though, that if I have any athletic talents at all, it's strength.

Michelle that is so cool you can do them...Will must be proud!

Summer is about racing and many of us don't do strength training as regular training takes enough hours. To get to my goal by next November I'll need to be persistent but IM training takes lots of time.

I guess I didn't realize the difference in hand position made them called something different. I'll have to see how the Y equipment works for me and then go from there. Your PowerTower and bands seem like a great way to do it at home.

Thanks for the detailed info how you progressed. 

where can you get these rubber bands?  i googled rubber band pullup assist but didn't really see anything.

my husband has a pullup bar somewhere in his parents basement - to anyone who knows, what do you think would be better/more effective/less expensive - a bunch of rubber bands plus his pullup bar, or getting a monkey bar jungle gym?

thanks! 

I can't answer your second question because I've only used the bar and myself, but you can get the bands here http://www.ironwoodyfitness.com/fitness-bands.php  

I will ask my trainer.

He only lets me put one knee in

tried to put 2 in on set 3 yesterday - he looked at me and said: 'very funny' 

Kim's link doesn't work for some reason even though the URL is correct. Just go here and then clikc on "Woody Bands." 

http://www.ironwoodyfitness.com/

Whoops! Thanks Mike! I've had a terrible time posting links lately for some reason...

Monday is V-bar pull up day. Dang they are hard.

Up to 3,2,2 with 1 minute rest between sets. That must be where my arms are getting their workout.....

I find strength training so amazing how my body adapts quickly and gets stronger.

Last week I could only do 3 pull ups at the harder assistance machine amount and today did 6...just from doing them once. Need to keep pushing the weight down so it is harder. I figured I have about 100 sessions to my goal date which means I need to drop 5 pounds of weight every 5 sessions. How math geeky is that for me to figure that out?

Most women at my Y don't do add weights as they are afraid of adding to much muscle..not really going to happen. I'm good with adding lean body mass much better than fat.