Jes Reynolds…Your Fitness Coach

A few weeks ago I published this photo on Facebook of me in the process of doing a one-arm pull-up.  The truth is, what I am demonstrating is basically a 1 ½ arm chin-up.  In a true single arm chin up my right arm would be hanging down instead of putting the death grip on my left forearm.  But since this is my blog and I am all powerful when it comes to writing my own articles, I feel my 1 ½ arm chin up is challenging enough and looks cool enough to be labeled a single arm.  In this post I thought I would go over the basic progressions hows and how-to’s necessary for building up to being able to perform a 1 ½ (or a true 1 arm if your lucky) arm pull-up.

When it comes to exercises like this, it requires some talent, dedication, persistence, and strength in order to actually do it.  For most people, and especially women, body weight exercises can be extremely challenging.  So if you aren’t currently able to do a one-arm chin or pull-up, you should develop a plan that will lead you to building the strength and body control to do it properly.

The Basic How-To
The obvious first step in being able to do a single arm chin up is first mastering an actual chin-up.  If you have trouble with chin ups, you can use a band to assist you while doing them.  Using a band will make doing chin ups and pull ups more manageable because it ‘assists’ you with the movement by reducing the overall body weight you are pulling up.  If you feel hesitant about using a band on your own, most gyms also have a Gravitron/assisted pull up machine.  This machine allows you to adjust the amount of assistance to as much or as little as you want while letting you go through all the different motions of pull-ups, chin-ups, and dips.  A good intermediate goal would be to perform 5-10 unassisted chin ups.

So there I am doing one of the exercises I love, a one arm chin up.  It’s a fun goal to achieve, mostly because of the strength and confidence you build within yourself while training to do it.  Even if you never quite get there, the journey towards goals like this are always inspiring and fun.  You can really learn something about yourself too.  If you are interested in developing your own plan for achieving things like this, send jes@jesreynolds.com an email and I can help you get started on your own path to success!  In my next post, I will suggest one technique that can be used to work towards the one arm chin-up.  Of course this is a generic plan and there are many ways to achieve this goal.  Email me if or leave a comment if you are serious about it and we can talk.

Have you heard of the term functional fitness?  Maybe not, but perhaps you’ve seen me meticulously correcting the form and posture of my clients at the gym?  No?  While most onlookers probably consider me to be some kind of drill sergeant with a chip on her shoulder, the truth is that performing exercises that are ‘functional’ while using correct posture is a significant factors in achieving lasting, real-world fitness results.

The goal of this 2 part article is to define neutral posture and functional training and inform you on how it can make you a better athlete, a safer senior citizen, and a stronger home-maker.

What is neutral posture?
According to http://www.oehc.uchc.edu/ergo_neutralposture.asp, “Neutral Posture” refers to the resting position of each joint-the position in which there is the least tension or pressure on nerves, tendons, muscles and bones. It is also the position in which muscles are at their resting length-neither contracted nor stretched. Muscles at this length can develop maximum force most efficiently.

The neutral position requires you to keep shoulders under the ears, maintain the natural curve of the spine, and a neutral pelvis. Most often, people tend to round out their upper back or rotate their pelvis back as they fatigue.  Although being in this non-neutral position may help you complete the exercise, it can actually be detrimental to your body and can put you at risk for injury to either your back or shoulders. You’ll need a good eye when looking for yourself to “lose position”.

What does posture have to do with fitness results?
Understanding and utilizing the neutral posture during exercise and athletics gives you a lot of benefits.  You’ll notice your effort to train from the neutral position transferring into reduced knee pain, improved balance, improved core strength, and more.  The following is a brief list of additional benefits you’ll experience, especially when you use this method long-term.

-develop balanced musculature
-prevent undue stress on joints
-improve performance
-use appropriate muscles during movement
-protect spine by developing supporting muscles
-allow lungs to draw in full capacity of breath
-reduced risk of injury
-alleviate or reduce lower back and neck pain

This has been a brief summary of both neutral posture and why it matters in fitness results.  In part two of this series, I will define the term functional training and explain how it applies to real world fitness results.  If you are interested in learning more about functional fitness and understanding how to train with correct form and posture, email me at jes@jesreynolds.com and we can set up a personal training session.