Overcoming the dreaded monkey bars

For years I have been envious of those that can do monkey bars, especially when they make it look so easy.  I know its all in my head and thats what always let it get the better of me, but still it just seems to be an impossible task. The simple jump and hang is bad enough and then the thought that you are holding your own body weight with one arm is actually quite daunting.  Unfortunately for me i have never been able to do them, even as a child.  Which makes it even more sickening when you see kids just hanging and swinging so easily.

Ongoing problem

The problem is, that it is pretty much a guarantee that if you are planning on doing an obstacle run, there will be some sort of monkey bars involved.  Most training techniques are designed for Men - increase your grip strength by doing some chin ups (well thats just great - if you can do them) or do some lat pull downs or do this exercise or that exercise.  The thing is, I don't think kids do these exercises to help them with their monkey bars, and when you look at kids playgrounds they are pretty much like mini obstacle courses with net climbs, monkey bars, balance beams.  This is who I need to learn from.

The beginning

So I am starting from the beginning - remember that kids seem to be doing the monkey bars all the time without a care in the world.  As I said earlier, my biggest obstacle is my head, there is something inside of me telling me that I just can't do it.  I have been there, I have got to the monkey bars, jumped up to the monkey bars, moved about two bars and then fell.  Not so much falling but actually letting go (sounds stupid, I know, but as I said for some reason I can't seem to get my head around it).  Thats the one problem, the overall fear - the fear of failing, the fear of letting go and the fear of not being able to do it, also the fear of getting hurt (which is kinda silly since I love obstacle racing, and if you see the bruises I have then getting hurt shouldn't really be one of them), but its these fears and a can't do attitude that are holding me back.  Kids don't have that, they just get on and do it, they don't think about it, they don't think of the consequences or the how, they just do.  This is the attitude that I need to adopt and to stop being so afraid of these monkey bars.

Learning and conquering

I am trying to adopt a more positive attitude and to not to actually think about them, so to practice I have been heading down to the monkey bars on a weekly basis.  Beware the first time I wrapped my hands to shreds as the callus where removed from the swinging.  I am taking it one step at a time and there is no beating myself up if I don't do it, just wipe myself down and do it all over again.

Step 1: Find some monkey bars and start playing (the higher the better), if you have to jump up its works out a lot easier than having to lift your legs.

Step 2: Practice going across, basically I started taking it one bar at a time, moving one hand to the next bar and then the next.  Of course this isn't as smooth as I would like and my legs are swinging, it takes a little longer but at least I am doing it.  Plus it doesn't matter how long it take you to get across, as the bonus is that the longer it takes the more grip strength, upper body strength and overall holding your own body weight strength you build.  It took some time to build up my confidence and the ability and still just jumping up and hanging is still a mind game, but once I have done it I just try and do it.  I have been trying this for a few weeks now, and as soon as I felt confident enough I moved onto step 3.

Step 3: I have built up enough confidence now and have moved onto swinging from one bar to the next, this of course should make it a little quicker to get through.  My grip is still a little tight and I can feel it along the palms, but I am hoping that it will get easier, I just have to keep trying.  At the end of the day, the more I try the easier and more natural it will become.

There are few things about own technique that I need to build upon including how hard I grip, I still need to learn to relax a little more into it and also to stop thinking about it so much.  Somehow make it a little more natural, my legs still seem to spraying everywhere and of course making it a lot smoother.  If I keep practicing it can only get better, I then have to progress onto the rings and single side bar.  But one step at a time and eventually I will get there,

In the gym

I have been practicing my grip strength, I regularly do bar squats and deadliest as part of my routine as well as trying to to do a pull up (at the moment I am still using the bands, but I do practice these as much as I can), at the end of the day the more I can carry my own weight the easier the monkey bars will become.  I also hang from the bars and change up my grip (again with the bands - as I slowly build this up).  However I would 110% recommend just practicing on actual monkey bars as much as possible, kids don't do pull ups nor do they do lat pull downs, what they actually do, is play and thats what we need to adopt and do.  Just play, have fun and not think.