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Writer's pictureJesus Acuna

Camille’s First Chin Up

I’ve been Camille’s personal trainer for almost 3 years.  She’s been a joy to work with.  Her determination and commitment are two shining qualities that really stand out in my mind.

When we first starting working together, she had recently had her second baby.  Her goal was to get stronger while still managing a hectic schedule and growing family. We started off slow and rebuilt healthy movement patterns. From there, she really started to flourish

A couple of month’s ago we decided to focus on getting her first chin-up.

We worked on mobility, upper body strength, and of course, more pulling movements.  We started from the ground and built it all the way to hangs and banded-pulls.  Along the way we added tension drills and core engagement work.

This week she hit not one, but THREE chin-ups!  The one we got on film was her third and the expression on her face was priceless.


I asked Camille to share a little about her experience over the last couple years and here’s what she had to say:

“I’ve never been able to do a chin up in my life. I remember the strong sense of dread every time middle school skill testing would roll around. I have long convinced myself that I’m not strong perhaps based on that single parameter. I’ve worked with Jesus for over two years at Tucson Strength and my initial expectation was that I would just maintain the status quo of my fitness. I’ve had two sons and am nearing the twilight of my thirties, so I really just hoped to discourage body parts from falling off. What I’ve gotten from Jesus is so far beyond that. I’m in the best shape that I can ever remember being in and more than that I feel strong! I hope to be able to carry around my boys well into their teens when they really really don’t want me to pick them up. Jesus has an exceptional breadth of knowledge about training, but more than that he doesn’t have a cookie cutter approach. He has the capacity and willingness to try things from a multitude of holistic directions, but most importantly is deeply passionate about health. He is a seeker, he remains curious about teachings, movement and the more complex systems that lead to habituated negative patterns, whether that’s relationships to food, injury or in my case postpartum trauma. So today I did my first chin up. It is the culmination of focus on flexibility, strengthening the pelvic floor, fluidity of movement and a return to original strength. It’s smashed the old idea that I can’t be strong, it ignites my hopes to stick it out and perhaps explore the possibility that i can get even stronger and for that I’m incredibly grateful.” Camille

Getting your first pull-up, chin-up, etc is sort of a strength right-of-passage.  It represents your dedication and commitment to the skill of strength.

It means you are one tough dude or dudette.

Why?

Well, many people experience a lot of struggling with pull-ups and chin-ups.  It’s similar to the struggle of doing your first proper push-up. It requires tenacity and grit.  And once you get it, it feels so good.

Congrats Camille, you’ve earned it!

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