One armed chin-up challenge

topic posted Mon, August 21, 2006 - 5:43 PM by  offlineJustin
I need a new challenge and was wondering if anyone else was interested in giving this a go.
My reading online has suggested that not everyone has the physical makeup that will allow them to a one armed chin-up. I consider that a challenge.
I can do one armed pushups and dive bombers but never thought of trying the chin-up.
this link: www.beastskills.com/OneArmPull.htm has some great progressions and advice to achieve this.
posted by:
Justin
  • Re: One armed chin-up challenge

    Mon, August 21, 2006 - 5:47 PM
    I tried some of these just today. Not only do I not have the explosive strength in one arm (at the moment) but grip strength and stabilising the rest of my body was a real issue.
    One arm and one finger is ok. One arm negatives - bit to quick, not really controlled.
    I think this is going to take some time.

    Come on fellow fitness nerds - rise to the challenge.

    anyone else working on 'one armed divebombers'?
    Mine are a bit dodgey and would like to be able to them controlled and smooth
  • Re: One armed chin-up challenge

    Tue, October 3, 2006 - 4:14 PM
    I am still training for the OA Chin-up and I just thought I would let others know that elbow tendonitus is something you really need to watch out for. This puts a lot of strain and tension through the tendons and you really have to be clever about taking your time and not overtraining.
    I am now doing two-handed chins with 26kgs (about 57 lbs) strapped to me which is a walk in the park compared to one armed negatives. I have never come across a strength challenge like this before.

    Is anyone out there doing any interesting strength training stuff? I am going to have to start a new post to see if anyone is out there.
    • Re: One armed chin-up challenge

      Fri, June 29, 2007 - 1:33 PM
      As it has been stated, One armed chins are Impossible for MOST people simply because of the way humans are constructed. I have seen one person do a on armed chin, but he was 4 foot something and had no leg mass. I weigh somewhere around 195, I can do a max of 80 lb one armed curl. maybe im just weak, but if I were to be able to do a one armed pull up that would be the equivalent of doing something like a 180 lb curl. Bah! Who knows. Good luck man! Be sure to post a vid on youtube when you get there!
      • Re: One armed chin-up challenge

        Fri, June 29, 2007 - 7:33 PM
        I was doing them assisted for a while. Pretty good exercise. Much harder than ordinary chins. Could probably work that into a viable "difficulty progression" for the one armed pull up. I think that's going to work better than negatives, at least for the beginning of the road.

        IMO, you'll feel it in your back/lats, rather than your arm.

        Most chins I ever did was 20 for a contest for the marines. Oddly enough, I was mostly olympic lifting at the time, though I was 35lbs lighter then.


        • AJ
          AJ
          offline 20

          Re: One armed chin-up challenge

          Fri, June 29, 2007 - 11:37 PM
          You ever mess with one arm pushups, butcher?
          • Re: One armed chin-up challenge

            Sat, June 30, 2007 - 1:31 PM
            I've dabbled in them; not real interesting to me. I did run across some gymnast looney who was trying to do one-hand handstand pushups and was impressed though:
            www.beastskills.com/training...hives.htm
            • AJ
              AJ
              offline 20

              Re: One armed chin-up challenge

              Sat, June 30, 2007 - 6:32 PM
              Rafter pullups never fail to impress me.
              • Re: One armed chin-up challenge

                Mon, July 2, 2007 - 7:47 PM
                Har, if I ever catch you over beer, let me bend your ear about my last scrimmage. I don't think I can do a rafter chin though.

                Hows your deads?
                • AJ
                  AJ
                  offline 20

                  Re: One armed chin-up challenge

                  Tue, July 3, 2007 - 5:49 PM
                  Rugby now, is it?

                  Deads are 'recovering'. Had to narrow my stance due to hip problems and the movement still feels weird. I've lost some strength due to laziness, but its coming back fast (375x5, was 425x5). Even as i shrink for the summer.

                  I also experimented with less lifting frequency and more per session volume and have nothing to show for it. :[

                  Must go kick people now.
                  • This is the maximum depth. Additional responses will not be threaded.

                    Re: One armed chin-up challenge

                    Wed, January 23, 2008 - 10:48 AM
                    A one-armed pullup is pretty much essential if you want to climb a rope without using your legs, yeah?

                    I would cheat and work out on some standard gym exercises for about six weeks before trying the progressions - sort of pre-progressions, lol: Wrist curls and biceps curls of course, but possibly rigging a rope to the lat pulldown machine and pull the rope down with one arm, working up to singles.
                    • Re: One armed chin-up challenge

                      Tue, January 29, 2008 - 10:09 AM
                      I'm still as far as ever from one armed chins. I can do 3 pullups with 70 lbs around my waist, but that is not even close to enough strength.

                      I think the rope climbing is a bit different because your wrist and wands can adopt easier angles and you don't need to fully extend your arms each "rep" making it slightly easier. I need to get back to the rope climbing too.

                      I was disturbed to discover that I can hardly even do a decent one armed push-up. I have been doing them with a rubber band assist until I'm stronger. Its an absolutely amazing exercise for your obliques and related core muscles

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