Today was pretty cool.

First, officially weighing in at 199 lb.. Hell yeah!

Second, pull-ups!

So the weight? That’s awesome. Big milestone to break 200 lb. Things are changing for the better.

The pull-ups was cool. Last session I decided to not do pulldowns and such and just hit pull-ups and chin-ups. Because I like doing them and want to keep getting better at them — I only stopped due to my shoulders. The protocol is to do shoulder-width grip pull-ups — from a dead hang to chin-above-the bar — controlled up and down, no swing, no kicking, no kipping, no none of that. All the way up, ALL the way down, hang, “relax”, then repeat. Do pull-ups (pronated/overhand grip; harder) until I can only do a set of 1; then switch to chin-ups (supinated/underhand grip; easier) until I can’t do any.

And I got 4 pull-ups, even after all that prior back work.

I don’t think I’ve ever done 4 PULL-ups in my life.

Awesome. 🙂

The other thing was that usually when I do reps I know the next rep isn’t going to happen, so I stop. Well, I do that with pull-/chin-ups and dips and such, but I shouldn’t — I should try for the rep and if I don’t get it, I at least got some work in. If I do get it, then I got it! It’s really a good way to keep pushing forward on bodyweight stuff, but I just keep forgetting to do it because my normal mode is to realize I’m unlikely to get the next rep so stop.

But I reminded myself of that today in the midst of things, and on those 1-rep set chin-ups I’d try, get half-way, lower back down. Then notice… I started getting more reps! I’ve heard about that with things like German Volume Training where the reps go down, but then around set 7 or 8 you get more because of the body’s response to things.

And I cranked out a lot of reps — sure many sets, but overall volume was good. Heck, I only stopped because I had to due to time constraints.

Anyways, a good day. 🙂

A complete write-up on the Defattening is forthcoming.

• Barbell Rows
  • bar x 10
  • 105 x 5
  • 125 x 4
  • 145 x 3
  • 165 x 2
  • 185 x 1
  • 145 x 10 (AMRAP)
  • 145 x 5 (50%)
• Cable Row
  • 100 x 10
  • 100 x 10
  • 100 x 10
  • 100 x 10
• Behind-the-back BB Shrugs (smith machine)
  • 135 x 20
  • 165 x 20
  • 185 x 20
  • 185 x 17
  • 155 x 20
• Pull-ups
  • 4/3/2/2/2/1
• Chin-ups
  • 3/3/2/2/2/2/2/1/1/1/1/1/2/2/1