T H E P U P P Y S I D E O F T H E E Q U A T I O N
I’ve never had a pet dog. Unless you consider my Auntie’s Border Collie named Scampie who was my best friend for the first 6 years of my life. If not, then perhaps there is the soft toy that my now husband bought me two Christmases ago in an attempt to fill the dog shaped void in my life. No. Thought not either.
I long for a family dog though. I’ve seen, from experiencing them within other families I’ve been close to, just how much of a fantastic addition they are. They are a constant companion and teach children many important lessons growing up. Chances are if you’re reading this, you are a dog fan. I don’t need to explain them to you.
So why don’t I just get one I hear you ask? Well. My aforementioned now husband (his name is James by the way) doesn’t like animals. I know, don’t get me started. He doesn’t dislike them, just doesn’t get the fuss. He never had pets growing up and therefore doesn’t see how the positives of being a dog owner, could possibly outweigh the negatives (the mess, the noise, the commitment etc.)
I understand how the time currently isn’t right for us – we both work long hours in London and are frequently away at the weekend. But we plan on having babies in the next year, that will all change.
I am desperate to add a dog to our family unit. He is hard fast not.
T H E P U L L U P S I D E O F T H E E Q U A T I O N
James is massively into fitness, and since we’ve been together (5 and a half years and counting) I have realised my inner sports person.
He succeeded in getting me running a half marathon, I cycled London to Brighton, we play tennis most Tuesdays, he taught me the benefits of weightlifting for the female physique long before it was in the mainstream. I love it all and feel (and look) pretty great for it.
Whilst my lower body strength was making gains (I was so happy when my body weight became my squat 1RM) by upper body strength was as pitiful as ever. I decided that being able to do a pull up would be the upper equivalent to my lower body weight squat. So that became my focus.
I read somewhere once (a source not necessarily to be believed) that only 1% of females in the world can do pull ups. And this percentage is primarily reserved for professional athletes, gymnasts and handfuls of serious gym-goers. I certainly didn’t, and still don’t, fall into any of those camps. But James, not undeterred, promised me a focused personal training session each Sunday to deliver me my goal.
The plan we followed was a Charles Poliquin which he used to get the Canadian Ladies Hockey team (note professional athletes) to do 12 pull ups in 12 weeks. And when first telling me about the programme, James promised me, with his hand on his heart, that if I could ever do 12 pull ups in one set, that I would be allowed a puppy.
N E X T T I M E…
My progress to date and my attitude towards training.
PULL UPS FOR PUPPIES 