Here’s a thread on my chin-up/pull-up journey & on things I wish I’d known and/or listened to in the early days.

Maybe this will help someone achieve their goals faster and in a less circuitous way than I did.

The video speaks for itself: June 2016 (https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🙈" title="Nichts sehen-Affe" aria-label="Emoji: Nichts sehen-Affe">) vs. Sep 2020

1/

Feb 2015: I did some half-assed research on how to start. Didn’t even watch YouTube videos.

Began with dead hangs and scapular retraction.

I was hanging off the bar for a few seconds and could not bend my elbows even a tiny bit.

So far so good

2/

Eventually, over the course of 2015, I discovered the magic of negatives.

They definitely were crucial for my journey!

But this is where I started to derail. I wanted too much too soon, reps reps reps, screw form.

I sacrificed form and quality for quantity.

3/

Lots of 1 step forward/2 steps back (2016 till early 2019) b/c I didn’t fix my form & couldn’t check the ego at the door.

Around Feb 2019, I discovered fitness Twitter and @jerryteixeira

Light bulb moment! I had to admit to myself that I’d gone about it the wrong way

4/

So I went back to the drawing board. Forgot about the number of reps and worked on quality.

This in combination with progressive overload, time under tension, constant form tweaks, and grease the groove (later on) finally led to progress!

5/

Lessons I’ve learned:

- Learn proper form first

- Utilize negatives + isometrics

- Follow the progression tree and savor each step

- Quality over quantity

- Trust the process of progressive overload

- Adequate recovery is crucial

- Patience

- Be kind to yourself

6/6