I Set A New Personal Chin Up Record Today With P90X

By Brad Gibala On October 8, 2008 Under P90X

I was doing the P90X Legs and Back DVD today. It was one of my favorite workouts when doing P90X. I think its because it is such a simple workout. The leg exercises are easy to do and for the most part all that you are doing with your back muscles is using them by doing chin ups. When I first started doing chin ups and pull ups I struggled to do just 1. I kept with it and started putting up some great P90X results.

I have been doing P90X for about a year now and still am showing gains when it comes to how many of something I can do or how much weight. Sure, I still take a couple days off when doing P90X here and there but I really need it. The rest is needed to be able to come back and "Bring It."

Anyways, my previous numbers from doing the P90X Legs and Back workout went something like this. I am not going to include the leg portion of the workouts. For the most part they are just a lot of lunges and very little if any weights are involved. I am only going to count the chin ups.

The four different chin ups/pull ups that are done during the P90X Legs and Back routine are "Reverse Grip Chin Ups," "Wide Front Pull Ups," "Closed Grip Overhand Pull-Ups," and "Switch Grip Pull Ups." You do each of these twice.

My previous workout I did

                                   First Time         Second Time

Reverse Grip Chin Up : 12                            12

Wide Front Pull Ups: 7                                  5

Closed Grip Overhand Pull Ups: 11               8

Switch Grip Pull-Ups: 8                                 8

                     Totals:   38              +             33 =   71 chin ups/pull ups

These numbers are very impressive for me. Some 5 weeks ago I did 59 total reps. Not bad for only doing this P90X workout once a week.

So today I stepped up to my P90X pull up bar and got busy. Here are numbers today.

                                            First Time          Second Time

Reverse Grip Chin Ups:               15                   12

Wide Front Pull Ups:                    8                     4

Closed Grip Overhand Pull-Ups: 12                  10

Switch Grip Pull Ups:                  8                       8

                             Totals:         43         +           34 =    77

You do not even know how excited I was when I got done. To see that I did 6 more pull ups than I did in a weeks time is a big gain. The one result that really stuck out the most was when I did 15 reverse grip chin ups. I do not know what got into me but as soon as I hit 12 I felt like I still had some more left in me and I cranked out 3 more.

Maybe it was all of the other workouts I have been doing like swimming and running that have helped me to get to this point. I can't say what it is besides some days I just dig down and bring it. My new goal with this P90X DVD is to get to where I can do 80 pull ups/chin ups during the workout. Now I am off to get a protein drink because I now I am going to be sore tomorrow.

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1 Trackback

  1. My P90X Results | P90X Workout Review
    October 17, 2008 7:00 PM
  2. New Workout Routine Is Working | P90X Workout Review
    December 19, 2008 1:52 AM


2 Comments Add yours

  1. avatar Derek
    October 14, 2008
    4:08 pm

    KEEP IT UP! THAT’S EXACTLY HOW I DID IT. STARTED AT 65 TOTAL CHIN-UPS (9 MAX) AND FINISHED AT 138 BY WEEK 12 (34 MAX). I REALLY REALLY PUSHED THE CHINUPS THOUGH, JUST BECAUSE THEY DO SO MUCH. STAY WITH IT AND YOU’LL SEE EM GROW AND KEEP GROWING. NOW I’M UP TO 20 ON EVERY SET = 160! EVERYTIME I’M DEAD, BUT IT’S GETTING EASIER. ABOUT TO START GOING HIGHER! JUST BEEN KINDA HOLDING OFF TO WORK THE LEGS ALIL MORE.

  2. avatar Brad G
    October 15, 2008
    5:37 pm

    @ Derek

    138 is amazing!! I know what your saying about how much the chin ups and pull ups do. If I would have known how much they workout all of the other body parts I would have started doing them in high school.

    160 total chin ups/pull ups is quite impressive. I now I can do more. Maybe I need to stop doing the workouts that do not use a chin up bar and just do those couple of P90X DVDs.

    Anyways, good job. It inspires me to keep on getting extreme.

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