Couple of quick noob questions about chinups

[Weatherby]

Hi,

I've recently obtained one of those chin-up bars that you plug into your doorframe. Been wanting a place to do pull-ups/chin-ups for years, but was concerned that one of these things might damage the doorway. Then I saw one for $12 and had to give it a try...

Anyway, I'm quite pleased with it, but as a mildly chubby nerd, I can presently only do about 1 chin up. I've been doing my mighty one chin-up, three times with breaks between, every two days, as I read that for muscle growth you want to wait 48 hours. But the problem is, since I can only do one at a time, I suspect I'm not getting a whole lot of benefit out of it. I read that one solution is to get "assistance" when you're beginning, such as having someone lift your legs. I can't do this, but since I'm tall and the bar is fairly low, what I can do is simply keep my feet on the ground for most of the lift.

So my question is, for maximum improvement, would it be better to take a little bit of the weight on my feet so that I can do more reps? And if so, how many reps should I be aiming for?

And though it more properly belongs in another section perhaps, since I'm here, how much does getting extra protein make a difference? I know that once you're into serious body-building you need to consume a lot for muscle growth, but I'm kind of thinking that at this low-level it's probably not much of an issue, and I don't want to start eating more protein for the purpose of muscle-growth and end up just making myself fatter... So should I be bothering to make an effort to consume protein at all, and if so, how much?

Thanks heaps guys

 

[CrazyOldMan]

Chins and other training wise ideal reps and weight depends what you see as improvement. In fairness I would say singles alone with nothing else is unlikely to generate much in any area so definitely do some assisted. What is your current aim?
One method of assistance is to have a chair behind you, bend your legs so the top of your feet are on the chair and give assistance that way. This tends to be easier when wanting to give less assistance than having feet on floor.

The high protein myth is covered in http://training.fitness.com/articles-research/mythbusting-fitness-files-55308.html to a basic degree but I feel it's time to add to it with more details, and will do after this comment.
You do need more protein when building up but you need more energy to fuel the training too so the balance hardly changes at all.

 

[kickboxingathome]

I agree with CrazyOldMan: the "chair behind you" method is ideal. It really lets you control just how much of the weight you're "assisting" yourself with.

Another thing you can do is give yourself tons of assistance getting up, but then try to do it all yourself on the way down (these are called "negative reps", or the "eccentric" portion of the movement).

I would say that your other questions are premature, as you really just need to experiment with your chin up routine for a while and see if you can start building yourself into a good "3 sets of 10", or whatever.
Then, as you supplement this with other exercise, depending on how much, at what intensity, and at what frequency, you can investigate whether or not you need more protein.

Chins are a HARD exercise. You said you are "mildly chubby", and at that chins are the hardest exercise you could possibly choose to do, so you've bitten off a lot with this exercise. Realize that going in, and don't get discouraged. Don't base your self-worth or esteem on how many of these chins you can do, because again, it is a really tough exercise, and it takes a long time to build up.

About rest: nah, you don't really need days between sets since your overall volume of work isn't very much. If you start doing, with assistance, 2 or more sets of 10 for example, then yeah, you'll probably want a day of rest in between, sometimes two.

Good luck with your chins, man! Again, don't get discouraged, you may even find out they're not a good exercise for you, and if so, don't feel bad. (I don't like 'em either!)

 

[CrazyOldMan]

The other thing with chins is the confidence and technique. I know chins are hard because of the number of people who struggle with them, but as someone who was always really tiny and comparatively strong for my size I always found them and most body weight work easy.
The part that makes me think of this as confidence and technique is that I am not the tiny little thing I once was and still find these quite easy now, while others my size and strength who weren't scrawny little weeds but more on the chubby side still find them hard work now.
There are various methods of improving chins, a lot of it comes down to where you struggle. There are some who can't get moving at all, others who stick part way up and others that can get to forehead no problem but can't complete the final pull without a jerk. Find what your weakness is and work that hardest of all, while still focusing on the rest to ensure you don't create a new weakness.
If it's take off start at the top, come down a way then back up, increasing the distance as you go. Add this to assisted from the bottom, doing lower half partials etc. with less assistance all the time.
If it's at the top do assisted partials at the top, even try doing chins with foot on a chair not assisting until you need then assisting when you do and repeating the part that needed assistance before going all the way back down.
Sticking points are a pain. For those of us used to climbing etc. the chances are we have found ways to cheat through these, which is not great. To improve this you want to vary the type and position of the chins to build the strength through that point and of course some assisted partials. The problem with those of us who got used to cheating through is that it tends to take someone telling us to notice. I had the strength to do a good number of chins but when I tired there was just one point I jerked past or shifted my weight to get around, strictly speaking this is still a chin because chin got to bar, but it isn't a good one.

Key to any of it as with a lot of training is go in knowing you can do it. It is annoying when you go in feeling like this then fail but better than failing before you start at all. On confidence training arrogance can be your friend if used wisely.