Pull ups

[Benn Griffin]

So Benn, if you are the ref can I kick? 

It depends how well the ref is paid I don't know about that one. Our gym teacher always threw a fit if someone kicked and didn't count them but never told them they weren't counting them until after the person was done. One of my buds did 22 or 23 pullups a school record only to find out 15 of them didn't count because he kicked. In my opinion kick as much as you want. As long as you're not kicking off of something and besides looking rediculous it doesn't affect how many pullups you can do If anything, it's wasted energy!

[Jose Jimenez]

I can do 3 and a half true pullups (are we counting halfs?!) .  Trust me that half pull-up is ugly.  However, I can do 100 push ups (true "Army" push ups, under 2 minutes).  So there, I can say I am MACHO at something.  Never mind that it has no practical value whatsoever but I can at least push in the upward (or is it downward?) direction very efficiently!

We ought to have a pull-up and push up competion at one of the marathon's next year!  Now as for sit-ups...let's not go there.

[Craig Lloyd]

I can do about 25.


But i'm a rock climber and that's what i do.

[Fredrick Teichert]

Actually, runners should be at least a little concerned with upper body strength. My son who is way into fitness recently cancelled his gym membership telling me he can almost get a complete upper body workout with pull-ups, push ups and dips-- and he can do them all at home for free. He's right, push-ups are probably better than bench press, pull ups are better than lat pull downs and dips are better than extensions. Those three exercises cover most of your major upper body muscle groups and if you did as many as you could every day you run, you'd probably get just what a runner needs in minutes. I think Michelle's onto something here.

BTW, I can do seven pull ups, 32 push ups, and 0 dips (bad shoulder), but I'm a Clyde. That's my excuse, but I'll get better. Check back in 30 days!

[Jeffrey Lindy]

I'm good for 25 pullups (proper style, with the palms facing away). Having a history of rowing training helps enormously... I can't think of any other sport aside from swimming that develops the lats and rear delts like that.