I can't do a real pull-up. I started thinking about making myself something on which to stand so I can practice incrementally. A see-saw or a pulley-driven weight (like a trebuchet's counterweight) could offset my body weight, and I would have to remove weight periodically to progress toward free pull-ups.

Instead of normal weights that might be made of cast iron, I propose the use of barrels full of water. The water could be treated with algae-inhibiting chemicals and left as-is in the exercise area. As the water evaporates, the exercise would become harder.

This might work for any exercise in which a smaller weight yields greater resistance.
-- kevinthenerd, Jan 21 2013

a barrel-less solution http://ninja-fitnes...09/chin-assist1.jpg
[swimswim, Jan 21 2013]

Pull-ups are all-or-nothing, aren't they. Interesting idea, but would the water really evaporate fast enough?
-- phundug, Jan 21 2013


Or you could lose weight. That often helps.
-- UnaBubba, Jan 21 2013


Just walking up and down the driveway with the rubbish bins is exercise enough. It's 220m down to the street, with a 26m drop over that distance. Bloody murder with a poorly reconstructed knee.

I've no desire to wrestle, box or fight kangaroos. (There were 5 of them on my driveway when I left for work this morning. They hang around, looking like overmuscled thugs, staring down their noses at you as you drive past.)
-- UnaBubba, Jan 21 2013


For some reason, the phrase "I can't do a pull-up" reminded me of a time in high school when, in phys-ed class, they requested that I do a "pull-over" and I couldn't.

I'm not sure I had ever heard of such a thing before I saw it done, and had no idea of what muscle groups to use, in what order, to accomplish it (although I eventually succeeded).

Start with a "chin-up" or "pull-up" bar that has significant clearance above it. You start by lifting your arms to grasp the bar with your hands, and the goal is to make your legs move forward while you do a sort of jackknife, and your legs, still moving forward, also move upward and then backward over the top of the bar.

More, your motion continues until your torso is also over the bar, and now your arms are downward, with your hands near your waist, still holding onto the bar.

It's been a long time since last I did a pull-over. Have to find a decent pull-up bar sometime, and try it....
-- Vernon, Jan 21 2013


Just don't try it on a pull-up bar mounted in a doorway, OK?
-- UnaBubba, Jan 21 2013


You could stand in the barrel.
-- Kansan101, Jan 22 2013


Damnit, [21]. I told you NOT to tell people about that incident.
-- UnaBubba, Jan 22 2013


Seriously, we had a similar incident at home when I was about 15. The cat caught a rabbit one night and brought it into my parents' bedroom before letting it go.

Hilarity ensued, with Dad chasing the cat; the cat chasing the rabbit and Mum standing in the middle of the bed, shouting instructions.
-- UnaBubba, Jan 22 2013


I've done a few popovers. No pull-overs though. Perhaps it was the popovers that prevented me from doing a pullover.

At my gym they have a pull-up assist machine with counterbalance weights for a moving platform upon which you stand.
-- RayfordSteele, Jan 23 2013



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