Am I weaker than a 5 year old?

[Trick]

This isn't the place to brag, but I suppose I should preface this with the simple statement that even by military standards, I believe my fitness level is quite high. Anyways, if I don't go to the gym on a given day (or run out of time there) I often run to the local park and do my pull-ups on the monkey bars (ha, at night so as not to be seen as a maniac...). So the other night I figured, hey, for old time's sake, why not just cross the monkey bars!

I could barely cross one gap... It felt as though my weight was ripping my arms right out. Going back yesterday the result wasn't much better. I suppose it's worth noting that this is after doing pull-ups and leg-lifts to exhaustion, but still, it doesn't even feel really like an issue of muscle fatigue, more that my shoulders just can't sustain it. This has actually really been troubling me as I currently have an application in the works and my ability to exempt the Express-Test won't mean anything if I can't even cross the monkey bars at Basic...

Anyone out there ever have similar problems? Ha, and I can't believe I'm asking this: but does anyone have any advice for the monkey bars?

 

[Hammer Sandwich]

....does anyone have any advice for the monkey bars?

Bring lots of bananas....and pick the lice of the first chimp-ette you see.

(rimshot)




Sorry....
If you're not used to them monkeybars, the muscles performing the activity aren't going to be used to it either.
just keep trying, and be consistent, and you'll be a monkey-man in no time.

(Or a damn dirty ape)

 

[kawa11]

I could barely cross one gap... It felt as though my weight was ripping my arms right out.

Any previous injuries or underlying medical condition?

As for technique, I prefer the hand-over-hand method but if you're having trouble with that...  ???

I'd suggest calling a sports therapist [or something related] and ask them for information on the muscle groups and what might actually be causing difficulty as well as methods to overcome these obstacles without causing injury.

 

[AERO2012]

I thought the following website will help you regain your self confidence. If not, I will give you other tricks.

-------------

How to Climb Monkey Bars

http://www.ehow.com/how_6575386_climb-monkey-bars.html

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Increase your momentum to get across faster by swinging the bottom half of your body, especially your hips, toward the direction that you want to go. Using the force of your whole body will help move you across, without necessarily forcing your arms to do all the work. Continue moving from rung to rung until you reach the opposite side of the monkey bars. If you feel comfortable enough and the height isn't too far from the ground, you can dismount by just letting go of the bars and dropping to the ground. Otherwise, when you get to the last rung, land your feet on the ladder of rungs perpendicular to the ground and, one hand at a time, grab the two vertical support poles on either side of the ladder. Climb down

Read more: How to Climb Monkey Bars | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_6575386_climb-monkey-bars.html#ixzz1TELXyf9j

 

[lethalLemon]

Why worry about monkey bars when it's not a compulsory piece in order to maintain your service status? If you fail the EXPRES or the Battle Fitness Test, you can be released... among other things that can get you recoursed or cut from BMQ are more your worry - crossing monkey bars on the challenge course at BMQ - is not.

 

[darkskye]

Why worry about monkey bars when it's not a compulsory piece in order to maintain your service status? If you fail the EXPRES or the Battle Fitness Test, you can be released... among other things that can get you recoursed or cut from BMQ are more your worry - crossing monkey bars on the challenge course at BMQ - is not.

I would still recommend you work on your upper body strength, it never hurts. 

 

[lethalLemon]

I would still recommend you work on your upper body strength, it never hurts. 

True

 

[aesop081]

Why worry about monkey bars when it's not a compulsory piece in order to maintain your service status?

You haven't done too many obstacle courses i see............. :

There's more to being fit than the EXPRES test and it is not because you have to do X Y Z to keep your job that you shouldn't do W as well.

 

[Sigger]

I would suggest you do rotator cuff exercises to strengthen your shoulders and prevent your arms from falling off. I highly suggest it.

 

[Trick]

Well, at this point I can cross them well enough (ha, the hand-by-hand way...). The feeling that my arms are getting ripped out by a gorilla seems to be going away as well. I suppose with a little more practice it will be more natural. Still, you can imagine how demoralizing it can be for a man who can do 20+ pullups, 100+ pushups and all that to be defeated by the monkey bars! Even if doing them isn't mandatory, I'm applying as an Infantry Officer- the thought of an Infantry Officer not being able to do a children's exercise isn't all too impressive.

Sigger, any recommendations on those rotator cuff exercises? Those would probably be quite useful.

 

[lethalLemon]

You haven't done too many obstacle courses i see............. :

There's more to being fit than the EXPRES test and it is not because you have to do X Y Z to keep your job that you shouldn't do W as well.

No but I had the opportunity to run the RMC Course one year through some friends and family there and several times at one up at CFB Edmonton. I'm not your strongest kid on the block, I'm short and scrawny but I can clear a course no problem (and I have trouble lifting 24kg boxes full of liquor when I go to work every night).

 

[aesop081]

No but I had the opportunity to run the RMC Course one year through some friends and family there and several times at one up at CFB Edmonton. I'm not your strongest kid on the block, I'm short and scrawny but I can clear a course no problem (and I have trouble lifting 24kg boxes full of liquor when I go to work every night).

This has nothing to do with your comment. For reference, here is what you said :

Why worry about monkey bars when it's not a compulsory piece in order to maintain your service status?

What is compulsory is what is tested. An individual should very much work other areas of fitness in order to be fit for the job. Doing the minimum ( what is compulsory) gets you exactly that in return, the minimum. "Minimum soldiers" don't get anywhere.

Not too long ago, in a land, far, far away, called CFB Chilliwack, there was an outdoor concrete gym. This gym had a set of monkey bars that, while not required to "maintain your service status", would attract you enough staff attention if you were unsuccessful, to make you request to have your "service status" terminated.

 

[lethalLemon]

This has nothing to do with your comment. For reference, here is what you said :

What is compulsory is what is tested. An individual should very much work other areas of fitness in order to be fit for the job. Doing the minimum ( what is compulsory) gets you exactly that in return, the minimum. "Minimum soldiers" don't get anywhere.

Not too long ago, in a land, far, far away, called CFB Chilliwack, there was an outdoor concrete gym. This gym had a set of monkey bars that, while not required to "maintain your service status", would attract you enough staff attention if you were unsuccessful, to make you request to have your "service status" terminated.

Okay, but that was then. It has everything to do with it as you replied with:

You haven't done too many obstacle courses i see............. :

There's more to being fit than the EXPRES test and it is not because you have to do X Y Z to keep your job that you shouldn't do W as well.

I have done a few in my relatively short life so far

 

[aesop081]

Okay, but that was then.

Don't worry kid, reality is going to hit you in the face soon enough.

 

[lethalLemon]

Don't worry kid, reality is going to hit you in the face soon enough.

Good, I hope it does, I love learning and expanding my mind.

 

[AERO2012]

Good, I hope it does, I love learning and expanding my mind.

My knowledge in Neuroscience is somewhat limited but I can say, with complete confidence, that your brain is functioning according to the Garbage In, Garbage Out principle.

 

[Sigger]

Sigger, any recommendations on those rotator cuff exercises? Those would probably be quite useful.

I was given these same exercises from Base physio: http://www.aafp.org/afp/980215ap/980215a.html

Before I went to basic trg I trained for pushups chin-ups and running. However I did not strengthen my rotator cuff muscles, so I hurt my shoulders with all the pushups I was doing during my stay at the Mega. Ironically I injured them navigating monkey bars at the obstacle confidence course in Borden.

That is why I suggest these exercises.

 

[Canadianflesh]

I was given these same exercises from Base physio: http://www.aafp.org/afp/980215ap/980215a.html

Before I went to basic trg I trained for pushups chin-ups and running. However I did not strengthen my rotator cuff muscles, so I hurt my shoulders with all the pushups I was doing during my stay at the Mega. Ironically I injured them navigating monkey bars at the obstacle confidence course in Borden.

That is why I suggest these exercises.

Thank-you for the rotator cups exercises. I noticed that I have gotten some weird sharp pains in my shoulders after doing my push-up and pull-up workouts. I always wondered what I was getting the pains from, even though it does not affect my ability to do my workouts.

 

[Nemo888]

We have these offset 30° horizontal free spinning wheel monkey bars at our neighborhood park. They are painful to the point of cruelty and I climb like a monkey. I can grab a rope in each hand and climb to the top.

 

[Sigger]

I noticed that I have gotten some weird sharp pains in my shoulders after doing my push-up and pull-up workouts.

Take note that my suggestion does not take the place of a specialist. If you have pain in your shoulders after a work out, it would be a good idea to have them looked at before it gets worse.