Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Chin Ups: Can you?

Just curious. These days I go by the Planet Fitness in town several days a week, as it is cheap, convenient, and actually has everything I need at my age (mid-40's). One thing I notice there is how few people perform chin ups versus what I saw while growing up in more traditional gyms. Rarely will I see somebody grab the bar and knock out a set to failure. Not many folks even use the assisted chin up station. Perhaps they are less glamourous than they used to be, but they are still a dang tough movement and I think they are still a fair indicator of strength vs. weight. Can't recall ever seeing a person that could do double-digit chins while still looking unhealthy/heavy.

I used to be able to knock out 10-15 with no problem but after a botched shoulder surgery I doubt I could do even one anymore.

February is 'pull-up' month for us at work (January was 8k flutter kicks, December was 3k pushups).
We only count the reps done at the gym at work ........shooting for 1500 pull-ups mixed in with normal workouts.

I had to give up the wide-grip Pull Ups I used to do as a teenager due to shoulder issues. Was just too tough on them in later years. An underhand grip or neutral grip helped me there, along with a lot of shoulder and elbow warmups beforehand. I don't just grab any tough exercise and fall into it like I once did. Joints/tendons/ligaments will talk back for sure.

I do chin-ups and pull-ups twice a week as part of my normal workout. I'm 61.

I think pull-ups are the more useful of the two.

Wide grip pull ups are one of the most humbling things in the gym.

Try them from a hangboard...

Several years ago I worked up to 18 straight hang pull-ups ,, no kip/kipping [swinging], age 50+. I didn't do any for 10-12 days preparing to do 20 then >. Injured in a fall, compound fractured right arm, 11 broken ribs, collar bone, back broke L1/t12, ++.
Can't do a single pull up now.

Saw a guy GM tech@ Chevy dealership at Golds he could do 40 dead hang pull-ups, you'd never think he could do 5 to look at him. Not overweight he just didn't show any muscle.
He said he used to be able to do 50 dead hangs.

I've noticed the squat rack is was always vacant starting in the mid 90's.

edit;
Read an interesting article years ago , weightlifting coach picked two 'even' teams among his students to prove a point. Flipped a coin to see which side would do only bench-press/triceps/shoulders , other side squats/dead-lifts for a while. I forget the amount of time.
Then they'd have a bench-press competition, everybody of course thought the bench-press side would win, they didn't. The squatter's won by a good margin.

When I got older and smarter I realized I was hugely overworking myself in my 20-30's.

I bet Alex Honnold can do em’ until you get tired of watchin’ him…!

Up until my shoulder injury in April I could do 6 (@52) down from 20 (@25). Now I can't do any. Can't even hang. Can't do a pushup either. Still hopeful but after 10 months it's looking more and more like I will need another surgery.

This getting old thing really sucks on a body that was rough, tough and abused. Will be 53 in October and I feel like I'm in worse condition than most people in their mid 60's.

That sounds like a hell of a fall.....

I consider 20 strict chin/pull ups to be rather good for a middle-aged man that's not a high-level athlete or a rock climber. I was really close just a couple years ago, then got lazy during Covid, and am working my way back toward it. Hope to get there sometime this summer.

Yes, if the bar is low enough that I can keep my feet on the ground.

Don’t know, but I’m pretty sure I can fall down with the best of them…..

A good friend of mine was drinking beers one day several years back at a local bar/grill. The other guys at the bar got to bragging about who could do the most chin ups. So my buddy walked them all across the parking lot to his 24hr gym next door and they all did late-night chin ups in their street clothes. He was asked into the gym office a few days later to watch the footage of the contest with the gym owner. She basically played it, looked at him, and said "Dude.....seriously?"

I still do them and I'm 63. If I'm feeling froggy I'll do weighted pullups. I can knock out 10 reps of unweighted pullups as part of my back workout, but I find it a little more challenging when I do max reps for a specified time. I found this workout on the internet and I do it every once in a while. It starts with max reps of pullups in 5 minutes and a 15-20 second rest between sets.

Used to do them, don't now. I suppose I could manage 20 or so, really don't know. I was a bench specialist, and they didn't seem to add anything to my bench, so I switched to stuff that did.

20 dead-hangs > you're easily a 1%r in the world.

Do half of your max twice per week for 2-3 weeks then no pull-ups for two weeks only some light-weight [half your body weight] machine pull down front and behind head. < Just to move your muscles.
You'll get ''that feeling'' you can tear some pull-ups up, then see how many you can do after a stretch/warm-up.
Rest up after max, then start over with 'half your max' for 2-3 weeks routine. The rest period is the most important part, it kind of drives you crazy.

I was doing chin ups from age 12 to age 48, but now in my 70s, I can only do one chin up.

My father installed a chin up bar in 1961.
I installed chin up bars in 1988, 2000, 2022, and 2022 [last one at my son's house]

https://www.amazon.com/ONETWOFIT-Mounted-Stable-Outdoor-Maximum/dp/B07SH6796G



how I mount them



how amazon bolts them to the wall

WHY is the real question. Edk