Resolution: Better than Yesterday

This past weekend I did a Resolution 5k Run.  At the end of the race, you got to write down a resolution and it will be mailled to you in July so you can access your progress. My resolution: Work towards doing an unassisted pull-up.  I would have loved to written: Do a pull-up but, according to the research, woman can’t do pull-ups. 

In a recent study, researchers at the University of Dayton put 17 women through a training program to increase strength in those magical pull-ups muscles.  After three months, only 4 of the woman could do a pull-up.    Researcher were very surprised, but came up with several reasons pull-ups elude woman:

*Lower testosterone means woman develop less muscle then men

*Woman typically have higher levels of body fat

*Also if you are taller or have long arms (this applies to men too), you are at a disadvantage

I have being trying to do a pull-up for over a year now, so reading this article should make me rejoice.  It’s not failure, it’s biology!  But the fact is, I see evidence that doesn’t support this every day at CrossFit. Most women, I know, can do pull-ups! And every trainer at my box fully believes that I can too.  Finally, this article gives me an out…but I don’t want an out, I want a pull-up. 

An unassisted pull-up was a 2012 goal that was not fulfilled (I even asked Santa for a pull-up).  Focusing on doing a pull-up brought me endless frustration and no real progress was ever made. So this year, I am changing tactics.  My goal isn’t a pull-up. It is to work towards being able to do a pull-up.  I am shifting the focus to the process rather than the result.

A trainer gave me two things to work on: doing strict pull-ups with bans to build my pull-up muscles and strengthen my wrists/grip with some dumbbell exercises.  I also found the tips in this video helpful :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eP9CemlbImQ

Will I get a pull-up in 2013? I honestly don’t know, but I am sure as hell going to reach my goal of trying!

“Why Woman Can’t Do Pull-ups” article link: 

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/25/why-women-cant-do-pull-ups/