Quest for the One Arm/Hand Chin-up

It sure wasn’t pretty but here is my fifth one arm chin up overall and first one caught on video. It’s funny how oblivious I was to my legs flopping all around. Oh well, the goal was to get the chin over the bar. I’ll be cutting back my training because of the toll on my elbows that has resulted. It was a fun ride but I’ll be moving on to other goals. Not sure if doing one left handed is all that important to me.

btw, current weight is 183.2 lbs.

If you decide to embark on training for the one arm chin-up, I would strongly recommended icing your elbows after each training session. Limit your training to once a week. I’ve recently started icing my elbows every night to reduce the tightness that I’ve been experiencing in them lately. I may cut my training back significantly as a result.

photo credit: DarthAbraham

Last week’s workout: warm up with 2 sets of neutral grip chins Gravitron 2000 today 55 lbs – 8 each arm 40 lbs – 6 each arm 25 lbs – 4 right and 2 left 10 lbs – 2 right and .75 left 2 sets of wide grip pull ups to finish

I tried a one hander midway through the workout and got 3/4 of the way up.

four days later I went back and warmed up and got my 3rd one hand chinup. I tried for another after some rest and got 3/4 of the way up. Almost 2 in one workout, not bad!

photo credit: exzombie The blood, sweat and tears, brother! That’s what it’s all about!

Well, it took almost another six months but I got my second one arm chinup on May 1, 2008. As I was grabbing the bar with two hands, I could feel the metal bend so I went for it with one arm. I pulled myself up with considerably more ease than my first one months ago. After a short break, I tried another one arm chin. I got close to 3/4 of the way up and then had to bail. I’ll try again next week. Hopefully, I’ve gotten past the barrier and can do these on a weekly basis. If so, I need to work on getting a video.

Rest of work out:

10 alternating one arm comedowns (5 each arm)
10 more
8 more

2 sets of 10 wide grip pull ups

photo credit: red5standingby

I forgot to post my workout last week. I did alternating one arm come downs (basically negative chins with one arm). warm up – couple sets of two handed neutral grip chins of 8 each

1st set – 12 reps (6 each arm)

2nd set – 10 reps (5 each arm)

3rd set – 8 reps (4 each)

finished with a couple sets of 2 handed neutral grip chins

Latest workout – warmed up with a couple sets of neutral grip chin ups. I decided to try a one arm chin up and got almost 3/4’s of the way up. I followed that with some Gravitron 2000 work.

55 lbs – 8 each arm
40 lbs – 6 each arm
25 lbs – 4 reps (right arm) 2 (left arm)
10 lbs – 2 reps (right arm) 1/2 rep (left)

My prior week’s workout:

2 sets neutral grip chins – warm up
alternating one arm come downs -

10 reps total
8 reps total
6 reps total

2 sets of frenchies

photo credit: zukker

As promised, I tried some weighted chins. It’s been over a year since I last did them. I strained my lower back the last time I tried these. Turns out, I may have not had the dip belt on right. Anyhow, I figured it out this time. I decided to back off the 135 weighted chin and only added 125 lbs to the dip belt. Add that to my current body weight and we’re looking at 310 lbs of chin up goodness. I can’t even bench that much. Least I don’t think so. I did one with 125 lbs extra. The hardest part was near the top. Overall it was much easier than my attempt at 110 lbs a year earlier. I ended up doing another after some rest with 125 lbs again.

Here’s the workout for tonight.
Warmup 2 sets of 10 wide grip pull ups.
2 sets of 1 weighted chin ups with 125 lbs.
alternate one arm come downs – 3 sets of 10 total then 8 total then 6 total
3 sets of 8 of neutral grip chinups

photo credit: El Profe

I’m a somewhat frequent follower of the beastskills.com website. I was checking out the author’s goals and came across the 150lb weighted chin as one of them. I tried weighted chins on March 10, 2007 (that’s the nice thing about having a blog with your workouts listed, you can go back and see what you did). I remember doing a 110 lb weighted chin. Add my bodyweight into that and we’re talking about a 290 lb or so chin up. I remember pulling like hell to get that one.

My concerns with weighted chins are safety and injury. I’d like to try it again with maybe 135 pounds strapped around my waist (dip belt). That much weight brings about some safety concerns. You don’t want to slip and fall with 135 extra pounds swinging around. Last time I tried this, I hurt my lower back. I assume it was from the weight strapped around it. I looked into getting a weight vest but those things cost a fortune the heavier they get. On thinking about it some more, even a 60-80 lb weight vest would remove a lot of the weight from a dip belt. In other words, you could use a weight vest and dip belt in combination. I’ll look into it. Until then, I may give it another try and see if I can do a 135 lb weighted chin.

photo credit: yotambientengosuperpoderes Words?! Hulk has no time for words! Hulk here to fight!

When I started this blog, I wasn’t familiar with the vernacular of the one arm chinning throngs, and I mistakenly named the blog, onehandchinup.com. Apparently there is a distinction between a one hand chinup and a one arm chin. A one hand chinup refers to a chinup done with one hand on the bar and the other hand holding the wrist of the hand holding the bar. Of course, as you are still using two hands, this is not really a one hand chin nor is it a one arm chin. It is still a two hand chin up.

A one arm chinup refers to a chinup done with one hand on the bar and the other dangling free (not providing any assistance).

I guess if we want to get into semantics – a one hand chin and a one arm chin are really the same thing. You are only using one hand/arm to accomplish the feat.

Nuff said.

photo credit: RedRaspus Puny human! Hulk do one finger chin up.

It’s been a while since I posted here but I wanted to give an update on my one hand chinning progress. My buddy, Mike, inspired me with his dedication to his blog personaltrainerssuck.com so I thought I would post my workouts on the one arm chinning. I got my one and only one arm chin on November 11. The holidays kind of sidetracked me since then but I’m back in serious training and feel pretty strong right now. I will make another attempt on April 18 if the tax man hasn’t beaten me down too badly. Here’s my workout of March 18 - warmup – two sets of ten reps – wide grip pullups

alternating one arm come downs – 3 sets
set 1 – 10 total reps (5 each arm)
set 2 – 8 total reps
set 3 – 6 total reps

Graviton 2000
set 1 – 50 lbs on machine 8 reps
set 2 – 50 lbs on machine 8 reps

I was feeling pretty spent at this point so I did a little cardio on the stair stepper and called it a night. I’ll mix in some more chinup training on Friday when I do my chest/shoulders/legs workout.