I have the upper body strength of a ripe banana–as my kids are quick to point out. So my new goal is to get ripped like a rock climber…or to at least be able to do one pull-up by the end of the month.
To that end I installed a Metolius Slim Gym
First try: huge discouragement. I grabbed the two “jugs” on each side of the Slim Gym and struggled for 15 seconds before slipping off. I couldn’t budge myself one millimeter.
Fortunately I discovered a little cheat that Metolius shows in the contact strength conditioning tips on their site: use a chair to give yourself a boost. With one foot on a chair I still get plenty of resistance from my (massive whale-like) body weight, but I can complete a full repetition rather than simply hanging like a huge sack of lard.
During the past week I’ve gone from four minutes a day to two seven minute sessions daily. Who knows, maybe this time next year I’ll be ready for climbing in Patagonia [Via.]? Or even just able to open a jar lid would be nice.