You may recall from a recent post that my benchmark for complete recovery from distal biceps surgery was the ability to do chin-ups.

For my first workout, I did one set of five reps. I performed chin-ups twice a week, adding one set per session. I stuck with body weight throughout and kept plenty in reserve, doing only five reps per set—but each rep was strict, slow, and controlled.

For my final workout, I tapered by reducing the volume, not the intensity. It was still body weight only, which, by the way, is back up to my pre-surgery level of 200 pounds, but I dropped the number of sets dramatically from seven down to just one.

That taper set was done at a faster pace with more reps. I still kept a bit in reserve but managed ten reps with no discomfort. As you can tell in the video, I stop just shy of full extension at the bottom to slightly reduce stress on the tendon.

All in all, my first attempt back at supinated-grip chin-ups was a success. I should be able to use additional loading next time around.