Toe touching, pull up.

Shall we join the circus now?  We are both amazed at our own physical tricks that we’ve been pulling off lately.  Jeremy is saving his pennies to buy a $3000 racing bike in about a year.  Did you know that bike people are really flexible?  They are racing in a tucked position and try to tuck in more to be more aerodynamic.  I never equated flexibility with biking, but in order for Jeremy to ride a race bike comfortably, he had to get more flexible.  I have never, ever seen Jeremy even close to touching his toes.  Prior to biking, I think he got only got just past his knees.

As for me, I managed to do my first pull up this past week.  I did a chin up awhile ago (which is easier and with your palms facing you) and I really started working on the pull up (palms away from you) a few weeks ago.  It was a little anticlimactic because I think I’ve been strong enough for a long time, I just couldn’t figure out which muscles to move.  It’s a little hard to explain, which is why it took me so long.  I read all these things: squeeze your lats together, pull through your elbows, imagine squeezing an orange in your armpits, pull back the shoulder blades, etc and I tried them all.  But I finally realized that a pull up is like a row.  It happened when I decided to look up at the bar instead of at the wall and as I was looking at the bar to bring my shoulders back and pull the bar towards my chest.  Boo ya.  Of course, I’ve always, always been able to touch my toes and Jeremy’s always, always been able to do a pull-up.

One thought on “Toe touching, pull up.”

  1. You guys are so macho! I can put my palms flat on the ground but only because of ballet and yoga. I've NEVER been able to do a chin up or pull up even in elementary school. Keep up the good work.

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