How many pull ups can you do?
Maecenas 21 Jan 2014
I think pull ups is the best strength exercise ever. I do a minimum of 300 pull ups per training. 35 in one set.
mustardseed41 21 Jan 2014
Edited by mustardseed41, 21 January 2014 - 02:35 PM.
sponsored ad
mikeinnaples 21 Jan 2014
Body weight is a factor too regarding actual strength. Pullups is not an indicator of overall fitness....
Edited by mikeinnaples, 21 January 2014 - 02:47 PM.
maxwatt 21 Jan 2014
My legs are very heavy, according to my massage therapist.
nowayout 21 Jan 2014
Maecenas 21 Jan 2014
Maecenas 21 Jan 2014
Edited by Maecenas, 21 January 2014 - 04:10 PM.
niner 22 Jan 2014
Maecenas 22 Jan 2014
I think body weight is all you need if you have no psychological problems. If you want to be maximally attractive you'll not want to have huge muscles unless you have a distorted self image. If you want to be maximally strong - your way is powerlifting. If you want to have ideal muscles and strength balance you should choose calisthenics.I could do a lot more before I fried my biceps tendons. I think pullups are not a very good exercise because you're stuck with whatever your body weight is. It's better to work the weight that's right for your muscles.
Being on a high protein diet and doing bodyweight workouts you can achieve very big muscle gains, in fact, much bigger than you'll need for any practical or aesthetical reasons.
Edited by Maecenas, 22 January 2014 - 06:23 AM.
Maecenas 22 Jan 2014
Dead hang.Dead hang or kip ?
Body weight is a factor too regarding actual strength. Pullups is not an indicator of overall fitness....
Pull ups and running are the best indicators of overall fitness. That's the main reason why they are used for training in the army.
Also these are the most natural kinds of physical activity. Our ancestors were very good at pull ups and later at running
Edited by Maecenas, 22 January 2014 - 06:57 PM.
mikeinnaples 22 Jan 2014
Dead hang.Dead hang or kip ?
Body weight is a factor too regarding actual strength. Pullups is not an indicator of overall fitness....
Pull ups and running are the best indicators of overall fitness. That's the main reason why they are used for training in the army.
Also these are the most natural kinds of physical activity. Our ancestors were very good at pull ups and later at running
The US Army is pushup, situps, and a 2 mile run for their fitness tests.
Speaking from personal experience, the USMC is pullups, situps, and a 3 mile run. When I was in, the pullups were dead hang only but it was switched at some point to allow kipping to better simulate the movement that may need to be performed on the battle field. And no ....pullups is not the best indicator for physical fitness. Hell, the USMC minimum requirement is only 3 pullups.
Maecenas 22 Jan 2014
I do only bodyweight workouts, pullups, dips and different freestyle elements. When during one very cold winter I visited a gym for the first time, I could bench press 120 kg in my first try. I could do all kinds of exercises with dumbbells on the same level that most of gym guys did. But those guys couldn't do even half of my reps on the bar. I think pull ups is a superior kind of exercise. It requires minimum of time and gives maximum results.
Hebbeh 23 Jan 2014
xEva 23 Jan 2014
JohnD60 24 Jan 2014
I have never been in the military, and the information I have is second hand, but weren't the military requirements for pullups 'dumbed down' considerably because few women could meet the old requirement?The US Army is pushup, situps, and a 2 mile run for their fitness tests.
Speaking from personal experience, the USMC is pullups, situps, and a 3 mile run. When I was in, the pullups were dead hang only but it was switched at some point to allow kipping to better simulate the movement that may need to be performed on the battle field. And no ....pullups is not the best indicator for physical fitness. Hell, the USMC minimum requirement is only 3 pullups.
Edited by JohnD60, 24 January 2014 - 09:31 AM.
mikeinnaples 24 Jan 2014
I have never been in the military, and the information I have is second hand, but weren't the military requirements for pullups 'dumbed down' considerably because few women could meet the old requirement?The US Army is pushup, situps, and a 2 mile run for their fitness tests.
Speaking from personal experience, the USMC is pullups, situps, and a 3 mile run. When I was in, the pullups were dead hang only but it was switched at some point to allow kipping to better simulate the movement that may need to be performed on the battle field. And no ....pullups is not the best indicator for physical fitness. Hell, the USMC minimum requirement is only 3 pullups.
When I was in, women had different requirements than the men. If I recall correctly, they did hangs from the pullup bar. I never really saw that first hand because I was infantry and there were no women in my company... or hell, even my battalion. There may have been a couple doing staff work at the regimental level though.... but they would have been desk jockeys.
The Army was always a different beast though than the Corps. My company did a lot of work with the Army between deployments acting as OP4 for the 82nd and other units at Bragg. They had a mix of men and women it seemed everywhere and that was a completely foreign concept to us at the time.... among other differences.
mikeinnaples 24 Jan 2014
Then, what is the best indicator for physical fitness?
Endurance, speed, flexibility, balance, and strength.
Pullups are indeed a superior exercise, I agree with you there. In fact, if I had a very limited time in which to get a work out in, they would make my short list of must do exercises. They absolutely are not, however, an indicator of overall physical fitness. They aren't even a complete measure of overall strength.
nowayout 24 Jan 2014
You are cheating there, though. How many strict pullups can you do without kipping? (Not that it is not impressive anyway.)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BYf7PTNZd0 That's a video of me doing 31 pull ups. I'm not in a very good shape here.
Maecenas 24 Jan 2014
I am not cheating there.You can't cheat in such slow tempo. These are strict pull ups. This video shows what cheating and skipping are:You are cheating there, though. How many strict pullups can you do without kipping? (Not that it is not impressive anyway.)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BYf7PTNZd0 That's a video of me doing 31 pull ups. I'm not in a very good shape here.
https://www.youtube....h?v=tAZaHzd6qAY
My personal record is 37 pull ups, I can also do up to 70 dips, 15 muscle ups in one set on a regular training.
Edited by Maecenas, 24 January 2014 - 04:49 PM.
nowayout 24 Jan 2014
I am not cheating there.You can't cheat in such slow tempo. These are strict pull ups. This video shows what cheating and skipping are:You are cheating there, though. How many strict pullups can you do without kipping? (Not that it is not impressive anyway.)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BYf7PTNZd0 That's a video of me doing 31 pull ups. I'm not in a very good shape here.
https://www.youtube....h?v=tAZaHzd6qAY
My personal record is 37 pull ups, I can also do up to 70 dips, 15 muscle ups in one set on a regular training.
I see some kipping. They are definitely not all strict pullups, but whatever, dude. I am not saying you're doing badly, just that it doesn't count as 31 strict pullups.
Edited by nowayout, 24 January 2014 - 05:57 PM.
mikeinnaples 24 Jan 2014
nowayout 24 Jan 2014
Yeah those are kips and not dead hangs.... but I think pullups with kips is way more of a test of functional strength than dead hangs.
Maybe. It's the crossfit philosophy. But if the function is rock-climbing kipping might just be functional into getting you into a 50 foot fall. In any case kipping is easier, so you cannot compare the number of reps with a strict pullup sequence.
Edited by nowayout, 24 January 2014 - 06:07 PM.
JohnD60 24 Jan 2014
There is probably an absolute answer to that involving a decathalon of individual exercises. I think the 'cross fit' events come close to something like that. The problem with such an actual test is that, if you create it, people will train to the test and it will cease to become an effective measure. Of more interest to me is the psychology of different opinions that different types of people have when asked that question. "Marathon guy" will think running is the best indicator. "weight lifter guy" will think bench press is the best indicator, "yoga guy", flexibility and balance, "basket ball guy", jumping ability, so on and so forth.Then, what is the best indicator for physical fitness?
Edited by JohnD60, 24 January 2014 - 07:44 PM.
blood 26 Jan 2014
I see you're located in the Ukraine. What's your take on what's happening there, now?
Maecenas 26 Jan 2014
Hi Maecenas,
I see you're located in the Ukraine. What's your take on what's happening there, now?
I strongly dislike russian orcs.
Edited by Maecenas, 26 January 2014 - 04:23 PM.
chemicalambrosia 26 Jan 2014
I am not cheating there.You can't cheat in such slow tempo. These are strict pull ups. This video shows what cheating and skipping are:You are cheating there, though. How many strict pullups can you do without kipping? (Not that it is not impressive anyway.)
https://www.youtube....h?v=tAZaHzd6qAY
My personal record is 37 pull ups, I can also do up to 70 dips, 15 muscle ups in one set on a regular training.
I see some kipping. They are definitely not all strict pullups, but whatever, dude. I am not saying you're doing badly, just that it doesn't count as 31 strict pullups.
Most of those are pretty strict, but he does have a little bit of body english at the end. If he was doing kipping style crossfit pull ups and practiced them a little I bet he could easily do twice as many...
Anyways, impressive pull ups, but how much can you deadlift? Many people seem to think that their favorite type of exercise is ideal and/or a great benchmark for overall fitness. There are so many types of fitness and different goals that one or two benchmarks alone will miss the mark. Pullups are a great exercise for all around fitness, but calisthenics generally aren't very good for lower body strength. I'd say you need a couple dozen or so tests to get a fairly good idea of overall fitness level.
chemicalambrosia 26 Jan 2014
I could do a lot more before I fried my biceps tendons. I think pullups are not a very good exercise because you're stuck with whatever your body weight is. It's better to work the weight that's right for your muscles.
How long ago did you hurt your tendon, and did you ever get it sorted out? I've had some tendon problems. Quite a pain in the ass.
nowayout 26 Jan 2014
I am not cheating there.You can't cheat in such slow tempo. These are strict pull ups. This video shows what cheating and skipping are:You are cheating there, though. How many strict pullups can you do without kipping? (Not that it is not impressive anyway.)
https://www.youtube....h?v=tAZaHzd6qAY
My personal record is 37 pull ups, I can also do up to 70 dips, 15 muscle ups in one set on a regular training.
I see some kipping. They are definitely not all strict pullups, but whatever, dude. I am not saying you're doing badly, just that it doesn't count as 31 strict pullups.
Most of those are pretty strict, but he does have a little bit of body english at the end. If he was doing kipping style crossfit pull ups and practiced them a little I bet he could easily do twice as many...
Anyways, impressive pull ups, but how much can you deadlift? Many people seem to think that their favorite type of exercise is ideal and/or a great benchmark for overall fitness. There are so many types of fitness and different goals that one or two benchmarks alone will miss the mark. Pullups are a great exercise for all around fitness, but calisthenics generally aren't very good for lower body strength. I'd say you need a couple dozen or so tests to get a fairly good idea of overall fitness level.
I don't think pullups are a good absolute gauge even of just comparative upper body strength, since lower body build plays a big role in how difficult they are. For example, the OP has short legs relative to his upper body and will have an easier time with pullups compared to a guy with comparatively longer and thicker legs. Someone more big-boned will also have a more difficult time reaching the same numbers.
Also, ironically, someone neglecting their leg training may actually have an easier time with pullups as a result.
Edited by nowayout, 26 January 2014 - 07:03 PM.
sponsored ad
DukeNukem 26 Jan 2014
Half of the pull-ups in that video were with a rest in between each one, making them far far easier. Non-stop I can do about 13-15 pull-ups, with a palm facing me grip. (I never do them palm out.)
Another tremendous fitness indicator is 10-seconds of sustained powered (measured in watts by most machines). I like to shoot for 850 watts sustained for 10 seconds.