pull upsI am currently in week 8 of the 13 week P90X series.  I haven’t done everything I’m supposed to.  Heck, I haven’t even done most of what the program calls for.  I have neglected the cardiovascular portions of the program, as well as the yoga and the stretching stuff.  I have been pretty faithful to the strength training portions, though.  I could give you a scientific reason for why, but it all comes down to the fact that it’s tough to do the plyometrics video without either (1) waking my family up from all of the jumping or (2) looking like a complete idiot at the gym because of all of the jumping.  (I prefer to look like an idiot at the gym for other reasons.)

At any rate, the first day that I did the program, there were pull-ups involved.  Lots and lots of pull-ups.  Well, there is supposed to be a lot of pull-ups.  I did 2.  I ended up having to use the weight machine in place of the pull-ups so that I could do the same exercise, but with lighter weight.

This week is a “recovery week” in the program, so I’ve used it to get speeding tickets and have a floor installed in the kitchen.  But, I did go by the gym today for a light workout.  I decided to grab the pull-up bar and see if I could squeak out 3 or 4.  I managed to get a set of 9.  I followed that later in the workout with a set of 8.  How’s that for improvement?!

Of course, I’m still nowhere near the guys on the workout video.  They’re cranking out 2 sets of 4 different pull-up styles with 20+ in each set.  (I’ll do the math for you.  For one workout, that’s roughly a bazillion pull-ups.)  There’s only one way that I’ll ever get that many pull-ups at once:

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