Monday, November 7, 2011

You've Got All Year

One of my New Year's resolution this year was to be able to do a pull-up. All by myself, unassisted, like the big boys. Anyone that knows me knows that I am ultra-organized. In school, if I had a project due in 2 weeks, I had it done in 2 days. I hate procrastinating, I hate having things hang over my head, I want to be able to check it off my list - quickly.

So, when I made this resolution, I was hopeful that I could have it done by March. I rarely pick resolutions that are ongoing, like "be nicer to people." I pick things that I can count and finish. I started the year in pretty good shape, so I thought with some specific training, this would be achievable fairly quickly. I got a few sessions with a personal trainer at the gym, to help me learn how to workout my upper body a little differently.

Every week or so, I'd mosey on up to the pull-up machine and see if I could do it. It's a machine that you can add supporting weight on, so that you aren't lifting your whole body weight up. I couldn't do it alone, I'd need 40lb of help, then 25lb of help, and finally 10lb of help. I couldn't budge from there. I was using the overhand grip, because it uses more of your back muscles, and I figured those were stronger than my puny biceps.

Well, this past weekend, I walked up to the pull-up bar we have at home. I tried the underhand grip this time, and I exhaled. And then I did a pull-up. All by myself, unassisted, like the big girls.

It took me over 10 months to achieve this resolution, and I realized that that's the point of a resolution. You have 12 months to reach that goal. So if anyone else out there is thinking it's too late to check that resolution off your list...Sister, you've got 2 more months to go.