Speaking of those pesky pull ups, I found this very useful video on how to progress from ‘I can raise my arms above my head, but that’s it’ to ‘I can grab hold of a horizontal bar and lift my full bodyweight up over it, whilst delivering a piece to camera (and wearing Vibrams!)’.
So far I can do 3 chin ups in a row, on a good day (a ‘Xena day’).
One problem exists in Mark’s example: he frequently reaches with his chin. The chin should be in a neutral position for better spinal alignment, leading to more efficient movement.
Kelly Starrett had a blog post recently that explains this really well.
http://www.mobilitywod.com/2011/10/episode-325365-stop-the-pull-up-chicken-necking-people.html
Thanks for the heads-up, Keith – I will definitely take this into account when perfecting my lifting!