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I recommend you see your doctor for a general physical before doing any exercise work.
If he ok's it, I'd recommend starting off with walking to lose weight and gradually building up your tolerance. Then if you are losing weight and have more endurance jogging or joinging a gym, for yoga, aerobics. Swimming is also great exercise at your age.
Simply showing up at a gym and expecting to perform as everyone else there is a recipe for disappointment. You must find your own pace.
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Do you know that even many men cannot do a single pullup?
A full pullup, especially with a grip where palms are facing out, is an ambitious target for a woman.
At my gym I see many slim and fit-looking women who use the assisted machine for pullups because they seem unable to do a single unassisted one.
I'd say realign your target somewhat. Instead of one pullup, make it to be , say, 10 real pushups, or 10 one-legged squats.
Strength-train your whole body for a while (say 6 to 8 months) and see how much closer you are to all your objectives.
Do you know that even many men cannot do a single pullup?
A full pullup, especially with a grip where palms are facing out, is an ambitious target for a woman.
At my gym I see many slim and fit-looking women who use the assisted machine for pullups because they seem unable to do a single unassisted one.
I'd say realign your target somewhat. Instead of one pullup, make it to be , say, 10 real pushups, or 10 one-legged squats.
Strength-train your whole body for a while (say 6 to 8 months) and see how much closer you are to all your objectives.
This is true. I have seen guys who regularly lift weights attempt a pull-up and fail. My daughter was a college multisport athlete, currently runs marathons, doesn't have an ounce of fat and does Crossfit including Olympic lifts. She can't do a pull-up without cheating, or kipping as they call it in Crossfit.
Some good advice here. In the genreal sense, power to weight is what you want to learn about and focus on.
I'll add that (although it may sound daunting) if you aim for 1 pullup you may get to 1/2, if you aim for 10 you may get to 5. You are capable of more than you think.
Best of luck.
I agree with this. We get on the right track by setting a goal, whether it is to dunk a basketball, run a marathon, or do a pull up. Don't give up until you meet your goal.
1. Get a chair and put in under the chin-up bar. Keep one foot on the chair as you pull yourself up.
2. Do a "negative routine". Get up to the top position (using the chair, if you like) and slowly lower yourself back down. All the work is on the "down" side of the chin-up.
Do pull-ups too (hands facing away from your body).
AND why, even when I was skinny could I NOT do a pull up? Do some people simply have 0 upper body strength?
As Skiffrace pointed out, there are men who can't do pull-ups. People aren't all built exactly the same. Still, the only way to find out what you can do is to go ahead and work toward this goal.
The activities you listed in the first post as those you were involved in as a teenager develop endurance more than pure strength. The best way to build strength for pull-ups is to work the pull-up muscles with pulling motions, and with relatively heavy weight that you can do for only a few reps at a time. Those low-rep workouts are the ones that build strength.
Also, as others have advised, all-around conditioning to lose weight would be good. Strength training for the entire body would be useful as well, so you don't develop a muscle imbalance from focusing exclusively on pull-ups.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Snort
1. Get a chair and put in under the chin-up bar. Keep one foot on the chair as you pull yourself up.
2. Do a "negative routine". Get up to the top position (using the chair, if you like) and slowly lower yourself back down. All the work is on the "down" side of the chin-up.
Do pull-ups too (hands facing away from your body).
I was about to suggest negatives until I saw that Snort's post had already covered that territory. I would also suggest doing regular positive-resistance movement at both the top and bottom of your range of motion. Start at the bottom of the movement and do several sets of reps where you pull yourself as high as you can, even if that's only an inch. Keep doing this and try to gradually increase the distance you can pull yourself up. Also do something like this at the top of the motion. Start in the up position, and lower yourself an inch or two. Then do several reps where you pull yourself back up to the top, lower yourself that inch or two, pull yourself up, etc.
Aim to gradually over time get so you can do these while going farther and farther down. Combined with the partial pull-ups at the bottom of the movement, the goal is to eventually pull yourself up higher from the bottom, lower yourself farther from the top while being able to pull back up, until these top and bottom movements meet in the middle. Do sets of both of these, and mix in the negative reps Snort suggested, so you work with resistance through the full range of motion.
Look into giving up wheat. Google Wheat Belly. I lost a lot of weight this way without a lot of exercise (I do walk daily though) and my diabetes numbers are now in normal range.
The reasons you can't do a pullup are because you're overweight and you're a woman. There, I said it.
The reality is, the vast majority of women, even younger, slimmer women, cannot do even 1 pullup. I remember back in high school PE class, they had fitness exams and boys were required to do 2 pullups and girls, 0. So basically, the people who came up with these tests realized it was unfair to ask the typical girl to do one pullup. And I remember 1/4 of the boys couldn't even do one.
You can improve your lat strength by doing lat pulldowns. Once you can do a lat pulldown of your body weight, you theoretically should be able to do 1 pullup.
It's a good goal to have, but you should realize it may be unrealistic. Just like it's unrealistic for me to ever benchpress 405 lbs.
BEst thing you can do for yourself is first get into cardio/aerobic exerice. The proper way to do it, with the proper frequency and duration. This means a minimum of five days a week, each session you achieve your target heart rate zone and maintain it for 30 minutes. Google "target heart rate"
Once you've got that as a steady thing for a couple months, then start working on your upper body strength. Any type of yoga-based, non-weights exercise routine will ultimately prove better for you in the long run, as it will improve your strength throughout your body, not just your biceps.
Since you are a "middle aged" woman, you will want to supplement your workouts with an amino-acid supplement for endurance and repair. Go to your local vitamin shoppe and they can help you choose the right one. This supplement will help your muscles and joints during the healing processes, ultimately giving you greater strength and quicker achievement of your goals.
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maybe it's just me lol 
