First off, I have to say I am SO excited that today is the start of week 2 of the #whatifjourney Intermittent Fasting Challenge!! It's my passion in life to help you feel GOOD, so to see the rush of positive experiences that so many of you are already having from just one week of the 21 Day Intermittent Fasting Program nearly brings me to tears. Check them out below!
If you haven't joined the Intermittent Fasting Challenge, it's not too late!! Head over HERE for the deets on how to get started! And make sure to join the Autumn Elle Nutrition Facebook group and share your experience with hundreds of people across the world who are participating in the Challenge too!
As part of the Intermittent Fasting Challenge, I also paired workouts that help your body take advantage of all of the benefits of intermittent fasting! One of the workouts ~ Upper Body Functional Training ~ includes a series on improving your pull-up strength! This "pulling motion" is really important for postural muscles and preventing injuries. And it looks pretty bad-ass to do a pull-up ;)
Let me start off by saying I never had natural upper body strength. I have always been very weak in my upper body and it was something that I was a little self-conscious about. So about 2 years ago I decided to really focus on building my upper body strength... and being able to do a pull-up was my goal!
I tried a lot of different exercises, but it wasn't until I implemented "negatives" (as well as the other exercises in the Upper Body Functional Training circuit) that I really saw improvements. Now I can do THREE full pulls... on a good day... but still!! ;)
Today, I'm sharing a (very sweaty) video of how to add negatives into your workout routine! These are super simple and effective!
Takeaways:
~ If you can only hold yourself at the top of the bar for a few seconds (or less!) that's totally fine! Hold it as long as you can and go through 4-5 reps of this. Eventually your body will gain strength and you can hold on longer.
~ Focus on slowly lowering yourself down to the ground with control. Remember, if you can only do this for a second or two, that's okay! You will eventually gain more strength and be able to lower down more slowly.
~ Don't have access to a pull up bar? Use this workout on the weekends after you've gone on a long walk! Make a local park your destination and do this workout on the monkey bars!
And make sure to share your pics and videos on Instagram of you doing negatives using the hashtag #whatifjourney! I can't wait to follow along! Happy Monday!
Your Nutritionist,
Autumn
Autumn Elle Nutrition