One Up, Two Down

It started probably a month ago, when one of my Sergeants told another unit on base that they could have our pull-up bar when we left. Unfortunately, they didn't hear the "when we left" part, or they thought we were leaving right away, because they took it right away. So that meant that the closest pull-up bar was with the supply section, about twenty feet away. No big deal, except you have to duck under a barbed wire fence to get to the bar. Really, no big deal.

Sometime thereafter, our Supply Chief, a Master Sergeant (MSgt), saw me ducking under the fence to do pull-ups. He asked me about it that night, and I told him that I've been trying to improve my pull-ups. So he invited me to come out with the Marines in Supply to work on their pull-ups--"One up, two down".

Basically, for every pull-up, you do two push-ups. We do pyramids--first set is one, second set is two, all the way up to six, repeat six, then back down to one. Since there are usually at least ten Marines out there doing it, you get plenty of rest time between sets. In the beginning the line is usually for the pull-up bar, after you get to the middle of the work-out, it shifts to the push-up handles (keeps our hands clean and easier to grip the bar).

I've been doing this for three days now, and just about everywhere on my back and arms is sore right now. MSgt helps me out with the pull-ups; I can usually do the first two or three sets without assistance, and were I to take a few days off, I could probably do the first four sets without assistance, but I still need a boost up. We do it twice a day, once in the morning and again before evening chow. I'm eager to train for a couple of weeks and see how much better I get.

The Battalion replacing us started arriving yesterday. The advance party to replace my company should get here today, and then the main body gets here next week. Our official change-over (Transfer of Authority) is either Thanksgiving or the day before. Can't wait!