Has anyone else gone crazy buying workout equipment?

[Sonja]

RE: Has anyone else gone crazy buying workout equipment...

Connie, if you can find something to put your barbell across, you can do pull ups with it. I have two doors in my house that open close together, and I just put my barbell (without weights of course) across the tops of the doors. I've also used my husbands two saw horses with my bar over them for seated pull ups. Just put a towel or something under the bar so that it doesn't roll. You can even put your bar over the seats of two chairs and do sort of a lying pull up from the floor.

 

[Connie1]

RE: Has anyone else gone crazy buying workout equipment...

That sounds so simple!

My workout space is open without doors but there is a beam I can reach. It's square so it would feel ouchy on my hands. Maybe after I get adept at pull-ups, I can use it for a few here and there.

My DH had made me one in the laundry room, semi-outdoors, but there was an eave right above it, in the way of my head, so I couldn't do hangs. Now there's a cabinet hanging on that wall so the bar had to be moved.

He says he is making me a new pull-up bar, but it'll be outside. Well, I'll use it all summer anyway! I want to start with 30-second hangs and slow negatives. Every "back" day.

What a handy man!!

 

[Sonja]

RE: Has anyone else gone crazy buying workout equipment...

You may surprise yourself and find that you can already do pull ups. I only recently decided to try to learn to do them and was surprised to find that I already could. I couldn't do any last summer(tried on some monkey bars) but, between Cathe's tapes and doing power yoga once a week, I guess I've strengthened my back quite a bit. Good luck!

 

[Connie1]

RE: Has anyone else gone crazy buying workout equipment...

Wow, Sonja, I would be very pleasantly surprised if that is the case! That must mean that there are other ways to strengthen the same muscles that pull-ups do.

I think my weak spots are biceps and triceps, so maybe I'll really heavy up and do some low reps to see if I can increase my strength there, before my DH gets the bar up!

I think my lats are pretty strong, but I won't let up on any back exercises.

Power yoga sounds powerful! I'm such a Cathe addict that I can hardly abide other tapes- but tell me, what power yoga moves or tapes (I don't know the moves) strengthened your back enough to make the pull-up difference? Or do you think it could be the Pyramids?

 

[Sonja]

RE: Has anyone else gone crazy buying workout equipment...

I have trouble doing non-Cathe videos too, but power yoga is very challenging in a different way. It always makes my upper back sore. Downward facing dog is sort of like the v-pikes on the stability ball except your feet are on the floor and your hands are closer together. You do a lot of those in power yoga and sometimes hold it for quite a while. I like Bryan Kest's videos but I wouldn't start with those. I actually started with a Buns of Steel Power Yoga tape and Kathy Smith's New Yoga and New Yoga Challenge. You can watch clips of yoga tapes at the Collage Video Website.

 

[Sonja]

RE: Has anyone else gone crazy buying workout equipment...

I just want to add that while you may think of Kathy Smith videos as being really easy, New Yoga Challenge is not. A yoga instrucor, Rod Stryker, does the video with her and I think it's a good introduction to power yoga and yoga in general.

 

[Connie1]

RE: Has anyone else gone crazy buying workout equipment...

Thanks, Sonja. I'll check the clips out.
-Connie