Pull Ups of Death

Recently I have been getting into mountain climbing in a big way, well more like hiking but in Chinese they just call all types of going up a mountain 'climbing'. Anyway, I often see an older Italian fella doing pull ups at the bottom of the mountain on a bar and the fella is ripped, big time ripped.

Therefore I decided, well if he is that ripped maybe I should give it a go. I didn't want to do it on the bar where all the other folk were because I assumed (correctly) i'd struggle to even do 1 pull up and I remembered seeing some rings in the trees at the top of the mountain where I go hiking. There's not many people linger about in that spot, so I thought to myself i'll start the ripped look there. After waddling slowly to the top of the mountain, I get to the rings and as usual there is no one there, or anyone using the pull up rings. That meant I had them all to myself for the struggle of lifting my body up with only the strength my arms occupy.

I head towards the rings like a man possessed, I mean business this is it; I will do 1 pull up successfully. I grab the rings, and pull...and pull....and pull. Oh my, lifting up my 100kg body mass was clearly going to be a lot more difficult than I had ever imagined. I was so determined that a pull up would be completed, so I pulled and pulled and pulled then completed a half of a pull up. A half! Unbelievable...I couldn't leave it at just one half pull up so I decided to have a rest, get some energy back and try again in a few minutes.

After sitting down and admiring the wonderful views for a whopping 5 minutes I was now adamant that I was refreshed and would have no problem completing 1 full pull up because I am proper mighty and all that. Off I toddle to the rings, stretched up and pull...yep you guessed it, the same thing happened again. My body mass is more than my arms can lift, therefore I again pulled and pulled and pulled to no avail. I did however manage another half pull up but I'm unsure if two half pull ups is better than 1 full pull up. Either way its a miserly amount and nothing to write home about.

I completed my mountain hiking and didn't think anymore about it until I woke up the next day, and the pain in my back, arms and shoulders was unreal. If I moved it ached, how could this be when I didn't even manage a full pull up but the pain was real, very bloody real indeed. The pain has lasted from Saturday until Wednesday and has even stopped my from sleeping well which never happens even when I am ill. I am a bloke who loves a good sleep. This got me thinking should I try the pull ups ever again because 4 days of intense pain and not sleeping is some kind of bollocks I don't want to deal with again, on the other hand that old fella I see doing the pull ups often is extremely ripped. It's a dilemma and I reckon I am unlikely to ever do the pull up rings of death ever again.