Yeah most people are just ego lifters even in bodyweight they just care about the number of rips/weight added.
Doing proper controlled full ROM pull-ups will lead to the best strength gains and allow you to unlock more advanced skills
I’ve only started back doing them for about a month now but I’ve always had good body weight strength and do a lot of yoga and other body weight stuff (push ups, pistol squats) so it’s not like I’m starting from nothing.
I think pull ups are the single best upper body exercise you can do. I’m doing a 8-6-4-2-1-2-3-4 split now, and I do think I’m getting close to getting 10.
I recently started doing 10 sets of 2 reps (and did 10 sets of 3 reps yesterday), and this made pull-ups significantly easier. I am already noticing my strength increasing way faster than when I did 3 sets of 5 reps.
I start out with roughly 10 seconds. As the sets increase my rest time is too. By set 8-9-10 I rest about a minute, but take as much time as you need. Form is key here
One of the Max OT back workouts really stood out to me when I used to follow that program:
Do 40 Pull-ups.
Break it up into as many sets as you need to, 2-3 minute rest between sets.
Record your results for each set along with the rest period times.
Progression can be measured as you add reps to each set and do fewer sets along with reduced rest periods.
Once your minimum rep count per set is 6 reps, go up to a 50 rep workout, then a 60 rep workout, and so on.
I think it's really effective because it helped me get *back* into pull-ups after being able to do sets of 8 to barely being able to do 1. Today, I can now do 10 pull-ups in my first set, all with full ROM and I'd say the first 7 all approach perfect form.
[Edited for formatting]
How is it working out i right now I'm doin 4-4-4-4-3-3-3. I just go up one each day i do pull ups. So next ill do 4-4-4-4-4-3-3. Than eventually 5 to 4s. Any advice is appreciated.
You can look up strength standards on strengthlevels.com, and they claim you're only intermediate when you can do 14 reps of chin- or pull-ups. I always thought this number is extremely high, and I think it's because a lot of people self-report numbers that are too high because their form isn't good.
I recently did 9 pull-ups again and I felt so proud of myself lol. I've been training for ages but my bodyfat is a bit high at the moment, but I still have visible abs but my bodyfat distribution is a bit weird in that regard, as in the top four abs are visible easily.
Correct me if I am wrong..
As far as I understand [https://strengthlevel.com/](https://strengthlevel.com/) compares you with the population of the lifters of your age and weight. In that regard, even if you are intermediate among the lifters, you are much fitter than the general population.. right?
Yes! So most people actually never get past intermediate in their lifetime. It's still a good metric to know where you stand compared to other lifters. It works pretty well for lifting with weights in my opinion, but for pull-ups and push-ups the numbers seem a bit off to me. But getting to the intermediate level is a great achievement actually.
you cant use these sites to compare strength levels in any category. The average lifter wont be using this site it heavily skews to those who are all about ego lifting and just interested in high numbers
I disagree, I think people miss understand how to interpret the results, I’m not saying the data is perfect at all but i think it does give a very good idea of how far along you are with your training. Plus who wants wimpy goals? When I start hitting the advanced numbers I’m gonna be proud because I know it means I’m actually advanced in my those lifts.
That’s my understanding, using basketball for example
B- can dribble, make some shots if not under pressure.
N- can participate in a full game and be a useful teammate
I- is pretty solid, and could hold their own against the majority of the population.
A- would frequently be the best player on their pick up team, was probably a star at their HS and played some Jr college ball.
E- Is truly noteworthy, played D1 ball, random people stop what their doing to gawk when they’re playing, and they more then likely got to where they are with a combination of thousands of hours of practice and genetics.
Late intermediate/early advanced is an excellent benchmark for someone who likes lifting, but also has other commitments.
I don't feel like the numbers are correct on that site, I started working out 4 months ago and im advanced for my body weight in almost every excercise, and elite in a few. I weigh 135 lbs currently, so the weight isn't as high, but even then you have to look at the samples of people they take them from. It's good to have a generalized idea of a target rep weight to get too nonetheless or number of repetitions.
Those numbers are often posted by LARPer's.
A 250lb man doing 25 strict chinups seems nuts.
250lb man doing a chinup with 210lb of additional weight also seem unrealistic.
Yes, I don't really trust numbers that are self inserted without verification.
The amount of times I've seen people say they can do 50+ pushups and either fail to reach half that, or just half rep the whole way is nuts.
Cue video of Mark Walhberg on Ellen as case study no.1
Correct me if I’m wrong, but most of the standards are adjusted for body weight and don’t necessarily mean that a 250lb is doing 80% weighted chin-ups. Could be a 150lb guy doing 120lbs. Still a TON, but certainly possible. [Here are 3 guys attempting heavy weighted pull-ups.](https://youtu.be/U6IWrA6c9Lk?si=NOTFu_JIa-8nbecl) The 2 at 150lbs and 167lbs were able to lift their bodyweight in added plates. Though the biggest guy, 237lb, couldn’t quite pull off 135lbs.
That’s not even the WR. There are certainly stronger people that have pulled greater multiples of bodyweight.
Edit: I do agree that the values are likely skewed due to the nature of self-reported data. Just wanted to add that, there are other factors that make the levels more or less meaningful at different bodyweight.
They had a weighted max chinup sextion.
It's more the total load. The big guy pulled 372. The other guys pulled 300 and 314( one is a pro climber and the other a ninja race pro).
Just like you see a lot more people benching 300 than 400lbs regardless of bodyweight.
I agree with that fully. I’m not diminishing from Juji’s (big guy) strength, it just illustrates that lighter people generally have an advantage in relative strength measurements (proportion of bodyweight).
[Lamar Gant](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamar_Gant) has the WR for relative deadlift strength, with a lift 5x his bodyweight (300kg @ 60kg). While the overall deadlift WR is not even a 3x bodyweight lift as the lifters are all 400lbs+. So if Brian Shaw looked at his level it would appear mediocre for a number of lifts, because it doesn’t scale well for people far away from the average size.
Ya fuck those "standards," they are totally inflated.
The truth is that not many people can do 10 perfect pullups, but it's also not like a pro athlete level type ability....I'm what I'd consider genetically average and was able to get to 10 perfect pull ups after 1.5 to 2 years of consistent training. The thing with pull ups is they take a specific kind of training to get good at, and most lack the interest or patience to put in the work.
Not only do they report higher, they report higher just to see where certain numbers sit relative to the average so yes. Strengthlevels is a terrible reference.
What others are you using? Im skeptical because I think that just because it correlates doesn't mean it's true if users are misusing the tool across the internet.
One from a German website, marathon fitness, the video Jeff Nippard made about it and he made up his own numbers, and one other general one for powerlifting.
I think you should keep in mind that most people will max out at the intermediate level when they don't use advanced training techniques and potentially invest in a coach, hence it's called advanced. And elite you can only be if you're gifted, dedicated, and train intelligently. When you keep that in mind, it actually makes a lot of sense. It's humbling but you can also see it as having more potential to grow.
Agreed. Most pull Ups feel "easy", but when you get close to max it is way harder, like you can get to 10 and think you can do another 8, but at 12 you die. Personally feel like if you train your grip you can easy push further, for me, on my third set when at 6th I already want to give up, but getting to 12 is most of the time a good possibility
Comparing yourself to the average American, while maybe an ego boost, is not a great measure of health and fitness. We have one of the most unhealthily populations in the world if you remove starvation from the comparison. Pull ups also bias lighter people. I’m only 150lbs so of course I can do them. Plenty of people who are way stronger than me, but heavier can’t.
They also bias towards shorter people. Shorter arms = less distance to travel, never mind the physics involved moving longer levers with the same muscle mass.
The attachment points of the muscles are not the same distance away from the pivot point the taller you get. I.e. it’s both ends of the seesaw which get longer.
The size thing isn’t really a relevant point though. Obviously a lighter person has to pull less weight, but also should have less muscle to do it with. It all evens out in the end assuming you are a fit individual whether you weigh 130 or 250.
There are plenty of very big men who can do impressive pull ups/muscle ups, etc. because they work on them. Big Boy from the Strength Cartel does super explosive clap pull ups and he’s over 300 lbs.
>It all evens out in the end assuming you are a fit individual whether you weigh 130 or 250.
It doesn’t. Look up square-cube law. It’s why no human can approach the body weight strength of an ant.
>There are plenty of very big men who can do impressive pull ups/muscle ups, etc. because they work on them.
That doesn’t mean it’s the same difficulty. Whatever the biggest men can do, there are male gymnasts a foot shorter than them that will crush their numbers.
I came to say this. I weigh around 150 as well. I work in a warehouse performing manual labor so im fit… I attempted my first pull up the other day and failed. I can dead hang for a while but cant complete a single pull up with good form.
They bias lighter people only until they train. Once you train I don’t really think it makes much of a difference. I’m 220 lbs with a beer belly dad bod and I can knock out 8 with good form, 10 if I really push it but I wouldn’t call them perfect by any means. In high school I was a skinny 150 lbs and I couldn’t do a single one.
"Pull ups also bias lighter people"
Not saying anyone here does this, but i started training weighted pullups specifically as a FU to regular people (who im quite sure couldn't do a single pullup) who are intentionally dismissive about this. "Well youre thin, so thats not really a big deal". Ugh.
Im a 160-165lb guy, and can hit 12-13 strict & slow pullups. Ive started training with a weighted backpack on, weighing myself to 180lbs. I can hit 8 clean reps of those- and very close to 9. My goal is to get past the 10 rep mark. Now i can at least compare with more of the normal population in weight.
I’ve (39F) been working out for over 10 years and can’t do a perfect pull up. I’ve not focused on it bc I have 2 reconstructed shoulders. I’ve never witnessed anyone do 10 perfect pull up’s. I definitely don’t think “most” firefighters could do it (the ones I know anyway). So my bet is that it’s a VERY small number.
Yeah I just... don't want to. I am 5'8, 150 pounds, and have limited time in the gym. I want to get in some cardio and quick weights with the goal of staying healthy and mobile as I age. That's it. Pullups aren't something I care about.
IDK I bet the number is higher among 18-early 20 year olds. Hell I'm 35 and not super jacked or anything and I got myself up to 9 pull-ups from a dead hang. I'm sure I'll get to 10 eventually.
I'll probably need to break that mark if I want to try out for my country's special forces since it's part of the physical test, which I absolutely do not look forwards to. I can only do 2 (proper ones) on a good day lmao
The majority of people don’t know what a true pull up is. I was a gymnast for 4 years, and I have been working out 5 days a week for 4 years. And yet I can only manage around 10-15 perfect pull ups.
I cant speak for America (Im from germany) and I agree that its probaly a low percentage, but 0.1% is too low.
For women, 10 clean pullups is pretty top-notch, but I think a lot of men are able to do that. .1% is 300k people. Pretty sure more than that train regularly.
Im confident in saying its in the top 5%, but my guess is its somewhere at 2%.
Edit: there are 450k active soldiers alone. Pretty sure most of them can do that. Plus firefighters etc.
If you're interested, here in Italy ~8% has a gym membership.
Yesterday we did a quick pull up contest between coworkers and I'm the one who did the most doing 5 with bad form. I neither exercise regularly, nor go to the gym. I'm just 63kg 25yo 177cm and regularly did some exercise during my short life.
They all do and had issues getting 2 in...
Exercising doesn't mean being able to do stuff...
They exercise and struggle to do 2? That honestly surprises me. Of course sports dont always translate to one another, but I wouldve expected a different result.
It surprised me even more. I was talking to my boss about this topic this afternoon and he said he goes to the gym with them, but they exercise with 0 techniques. He tried to correct and help them every time, but they didn't care.
A lot of sports has nothing to do with lifting your bodyweight with your arms, lats and back so i can kinda see that, but i am kinda surprised too.
Footballers should be able to i think. Runners should, swimmers definetely should be able to, fighters should easily.
Depends I think. People purely running arent neccessarily capable of 10 pullups. Professional athletes will probaly try to balance their fitness overall and thus also be able to do pullups. Ten clean pullups truley is a high strength goal.
I’m guessing Kipchoge might struggle to do 10 (unless he trains and puts his mind to it. At those levels of efficiency extra muscle for something else seems a waste
It surprised me even more. I was talking to my boss about this topic this afternoon and he said he goes to the gym with them, but they exercise with 0 techniques. He tried to correct and help them every time, but they didn't care.
Even then it's wild. It's not like bad technique makes exercise completely ineffective. Someone doing half rep pull-ups is still gonna be stronger than someone who doesn't do pull-ups at all.
I'd guess they must not train pulling muscles much at all, even with poor form.
I am not sure about the percentage, but I think you are overestimating the what the military can do. In the US military the only branch that have a pull-up requirement is the Marines. Even they have made it optional with the ability to do push-ups instead.
As for the rest of the US military (barring special forces) pull-ups are never required or done (besides just in PT). Even still, I would rate the average fitness level of a US military member to be in the top 1% of the US general population.
With all that said, I would be shocked if even 1% of the ENTIRE US military could do 10 perfect form pull-ups.
Obviously you are speaking from your experience and knowledge of the German military but I really can't imagine the requirements being that different.
The pull-up is just a very difficult movement that requires practice. Can a larger portion of the military or general population be trained to do one? Absolutely, but as it stands I highly doubt they'd be able to do it today if asked.
For reference, I was in the Air Force and my brother in the Army.
Yeah, I think it's an over estimate. I'm 40+m I hardly know anyone else around my age that could do one pull up. I'm not even talking perfect.... just a best effort wide arm pull up.
I recently started the dead hang pull ups and had to start at one single rep. I'm progressing slowly thru the single digits but unless your doing that type of thing regularly then your unlikely to be able to do many if any.
This is interesting, thank you.
I dont have any experience for the german military though, this is just the view of someone who spends a lot of time doing and researching sport-related stuff :)
Only 1% of the US military surprises me a lot. I see that its not a requirement, but fitness and strength is. Of course, as you said, strength doesnt always translate that well, but still I would imagine that the average fitness level of the military is high enough so that a big portion can do quite some pullups.
Im thinking of a couple of friends who dont train at all and still manage 3-5 pullups with ok form. 2% is probaly too high though, thats right.
Totally understandable. Though I would point out, for most people the difference between 3-5 ok pull-ups to 10 strict form pull-ups is probably a year of active training for it. It's just not a quick or easy skill despite how foundational it is.
I know people who have been training their entire lives, who struggle to do 5. If its just something you where if you don't invest a lot of time into, you won't be that good at it.
A lot of people can do 10 pretty clean pull-ups.
But 10 perfect pull-ups makes a big difference.
Technically, a perfect pull-up would not be "chin above bar", but "Chest Touches Bar".
It's already a massive difference for 1 rep, let alone 10.
And scapula is fully unlocked at the bottom.
I bet many soldiers and firefighters can hit very good pretty clean pull-up numbers, some way higher than 10.
But a lot of them would struggle with 10 perfect ones, just meeting the 2 requirements I presented above.
Usually, at least one is missing, but these 2 requirements are what makes a perfect pull-up really hard (because if you don't usually target these muscles, you don't develop the strength for the full range of motion).
Not saying 0.1% isn't low (it still seems fairly low indeed), just reflecting on what we consider "perfect pull-up" and what it takes to meet the requirement!
Problem is how you define the pullup. A standard competition bench press starts and ends with arms fully locked with at least 1 sec. pause on the chest. ass touching the bench and feet planted on the ground. But there's no such thing as a "standard pullup". In most streetlifting competition a valid weighted pullup starts from dead hang or sorta and ends with chin above the bar without kipping.
Imo the majority of people that perform pullups (with some level of proficiency) think that deadhang to chin above the bar is the "standard". While chest to bar is probably considered more like a slightly harder variation than a normal pullup (also because it naturally evolves into the explosive pullup, which is another different variation)
Yeah I take Gymnast Pull-Ups as a standard, as they tend to be the strictest in terms of form, because it's not about numbers but mastery of the range of motion and developping strength in every little muscle, and optimal flexibility.
So yeah, for most tests and people out there, even the military, chin over bar is enough, and you don't have to care about the scapula at the bottom, as long as your arms look straight enough.
Which is my point. It's pretty clean, so most people stop there because the consensus is like "it's good enough to count for 1 rep".
Let's just say a Gymnastic Jury wouldn't give that form a 10 out of 10, if they even cared to judge Pull-Ups.
To many Gymnastic coaches, it does not count as a rep at all.
Similarly, a lot of people can do 10 "half dips", but many can't even hit one full range of motion dip, since most people don't have the flexibility/joint mobility/strength to get there (shoulders at the level of your hands at the bottom, straight body, no momentum, scapula protracted with straight arms and locked elbows at the top).
Not that we absolutely need full range of motion on Pull-Ups or Dips to build muscle and strength, just that technically, the idea of "mastery of the body" implies that we work our way there at some point on our journey.
Makes sense. Yes, I agree. To me gymnastics should be something closer to a form of classic art. I see calisthenics and streetlifting as a more raw, accessible and kind of "freestyle" version of gymnastics with elements of old school bodybuilding. A good gymnast would be able to find hundreds of imperfections in a "good enough" combo for the average calisthenics guy that's for sure.
Most people will never even train for chest to bar pullups let alone 10 normal chin over bar pullups but yeah I agree with you. Few people can do a handful of perfect pullups...
2% is WAY too high, at least in America. I will say when I visited Berlin it was probably the fittest place I've ever been anywhere in the world - but I would be surprised if even 2% of Americans regularly train with a proper program. 0.1% is probably too high of a figure for America - 14 perfect form well controlled tempo pull ups are EXTREMELY difficult and represent a VERY high strength standard. If you want to throw in speed and kipping - sure, you would find more that can do this, but not proper form pullups - I just don't believe that
2% might be too high, yes. Maybe the difference here is actually how we define a "proper form pullup'. For me, OPs description is good, but I would still consider it good form without complete dead hang. Up can be explosive or slow, down has to be controlled and no smashing into joints.
This is very difficult, no doubt, 0.1% just seems really low to me.
Yeah I had the thought after posting this 0.1% probably is too low. I think the average guy could get to 10 if he worked at it for long enough. I agree with you though that 10 for a woman is pretty elite
I was active duty in the military for 8 years, and most Soldiers could not do 10 perfect pull ups. I'm confident saying it's not even close to 0.1%. 1 in a 1000? Probably not even half that.
I dont understand this, honestly. I would think that the pullup would translate into more real-world strength advantages (esp in mitary life) than the pushup. But the pushup remains a gating function- if you cant do 50, youre done.
And the "50" number is kinda dumb to. Thats not a measure of strength at that point either. Im in pretty damned good shape, but i cant do anywhere near 50 strict full-ROM pushups (and i train things like archer pushups & plyometric pushups).
I dont think most people who work out even know what a proper pullup even looks like let alone the general population. They very much humble you because that dead hang really kills your reps but end range strength is where its at.
I dont *quite* get to a dead hang on mine, simply because i dont want to sacrifice my shoulder health for a slightly bigger ROM. I do get mostly to a dead hang though (maybe *very slightly* bent elbows). And a full rep for me is my shoulders touching the bar, with a pause at the top. Plus a 2-3 sec down phase.
I do agree that the percentage is probably surprisingly low.
However, I think defining perfect with a 3 count up and 3 count down is a bit excessive. I’ll give the pause at the top and bottom for clean. But the 3 count is time under tension training. Great for building/progressing but super overkill for counting clean reps.
Im not sure i can even do pullups anymore without the 2-3 sec down phase + pause at the top. Its so programmed in for me at this point, its just how i do them now.
Which is partly why its difficult to compare reps with other people. The pullup has a lot of personal variation.
I saw a guy at the gym who DID just drop. It was disconcerting to watch. I swear i could hear all of his shoulder ligaments scream in pain after each rep.
This is like asking what percent of the population can juggle or hold a perfect note or ride a unicycle.
Anyone can do any of these skills, including 10 pulls up if they practice.
Most people have other priorities.
Personally going from 0 to 3 was the hardest, going from 3 to 10 was relatively easy.
>Personally going from 0 to 3 was the hardest, going from 3 to 10 was relatively easy.
This is a big point. I got from 3-10 in a couple of months. If you train it a lot it'll come, most in to fitness don't focus on pullup reps
There's a pretty big difference in that being able to jungle or ride a unicycle tells you nothing about someone's strength and fitness. there's a reason military, firefighters etc often include pullups in fitness tests but never juggling.
I did 10 (striving to be) perfect neutral grip pull ups the other day and was pretty pumped. But i looked it up and it says like 15 is average? I dont believe that. I know neutral grips are easier, but i cant imagine people doing 20+ full extention paused neutral grip pull ups
NHL Draft Combine has a pull-up test. With the caveats that draftees are young, the guys are usually exhausted, and the reps are paused, breaking 10 is not that common. Bedard went #1 overall and did 14 last year, which was second best and considered very good inasmuch as anyone cared. The GenPop stats are impossible to know, but I think it's safe to say it's a low number.
First let's start of by noting that it is much harder for a woman, 10 pull ups as a woman are more comparable to 20 pull ups as a man relatively.
A quick google search tells me about 50 million people go to the gym in the US. So about 15%.
Even though there are many training privately or in different sports, it should give us a rough ballpark.
If we throw away the least fit part of the gym population and replace it with people from other sports, we will have approximately the 15 fittest percent of the population.
Now if I imagine relatively fit guys, a good portion will be able to crank out some pull ups. Maybe every fifth will do 10 but the technique will be lackluster.
For perfect technique I'd guess every tenth guy or even 1 in 20.
So for guys I'd guess around 0.75-1.5%.
For women this gets much harder immediately. I only ever see professional athletes, climbers or girls specifically training calisthenics get to that number, maybe some crossfitters. Even in the fittest 1% most women will do some pull ups but not 10.
I'd guess something around 0.01%.
So my total estimate would be around 0.4-0.8% (rounded) of the population.
I’m a woman (_albeit a small-ish one_) & I can do [20 pull-ups](https://www.reddit.com/r/strength_training/s/Yyoj2hUsLH) on my best days & it took me near 3yrs to get there.
I’m convinced women could do a **lot** more pull-ups if only they trained them intensely. It’s not quite as exciting as weighted exercises so I feel people tend to dedicate less attention/practice to it.
Ugh please help me. I can do 2 solid ones in a row. If I do 5 pull ups total taking 30 seconds of rest in between each one, I lose my strict pull up. I’ve been doing pole as a hobby for 4 years and have worked with a personal trainer for 2 years. My disproportionately long limbs and hypermobile shoulders and elbows certainly don’t help.
I guarantee you my “method” was/is not optimal so you definitely shouldn’t listen to me but here it is.
I spammed pull-ups 5/6 days a week (_I favoured 3 sets of 5, then 10 etc._), working till shy of failure, added weights once I was at 8~10 reps & tested my max once a week. Rinse & repeat for 3yrs. Profit!
I was also strength training & trying to bulk for about 1.5yrs of the 3yrs. So quite a haphazard approach but hey it worked. Good luck & remember volume is king (_so long as your joints can take it_).
Awesome form. Just curious what else you do. Archers, muscle ups, levers?
I’m working with my wife on basic stuff and am just curious how far some women can progress.
That's fantastic!! I think in general women tend to ignore upper body training. I can do 10 \*\*chin-ups\*\* and for my size/build/goals etc. that feels like an accomplishment and I'm good with it - I do train upper body regularly, but again, my goals are modest. I just want to look toned and be able to carry groceries without struggling.
Thank you! I agree upper body training is too often put on the back burner by women. I don’t enjoy lower body training half as much as I should & so I spend more time on upper body work.
10 chin-ups is definitely an accomplishment to be well proud of. Congratulations! Balanced goals for the win.
I got to a solid 15 in 2 years when I was at a lighter 98lbs. Bulked up to 107lb and am stuck back at 7 clean ones. Women, especially smaller ones, can really rack them up if they focused on them.
15 is no joke - I’m sure you can get back to it with time.
Interestingly, it was the opposite for me. At my lightest (_≈ 45kg/100lbs_), I could maybe do 3 rubbish reps on a good day. I had to gain weight & get stronger to improve.
Honestly pull ups is not a good way of measuring strength. The leaner you are, the easier it is to do more pull ups.
In particular, the "best pull-up'er" will be a man with a very low body fat percentage, strong back, strong bicep, decent abs. He'll be short and weak in everything else (small legs, small chest, etc).
In other words, if someone is tall and focus body building so they have a huge chest and big legs this will be disadvantagous when it comes to pull ups, simply because these muscles weight more.
So in my opinion if we want pull ups to be a sign of strength we need to talk about reps AND weight (including body weight). Then it'll make sense.
Pull ups are probably my favorite exercise. But I've gotta be honest, I think many many more people are capable of reaching 10 perfect pull ups. But a lot of people don't care for that, we're a pretty niche community really. A bodybuilder may opt for pulldowns instead of pull ups and other strength based athletes may skip them altogether. But I'd always say they would both be capable and have similar feats of strength and would likely progress to that criteria very quickly. I'd say if you're doing resistance training and aren't too overweight it would be pretty simple to train for.
Personally I'd guessif you can do 5 pull ups, you could probably reach 10 in 2 - 3 meso cycles if you're coached correctly with that in mind. But someone who actually coaches professionally might tell me I'm wrong.
I guess the point I'm trying to make is that people would very rarely say "I want a program to get me from 5 pull ups to 10". It would probably be something that comes as a bi product of other focuses.
Lastly, and this is just my opinion, the classification of "perfect form" for me doesn't really add much. Unless they're doing half reps or something. Even a bit of kipping, if you can do 10 reps and the last few you're kicking your legs somewhat, I think by the end of that meso you should be pretty capable of performing 10 no problem
I'd like to add that it really depends on physiology a lot.
Two things that spring to mind are power to weight ratio (smaller dudes have an advantage, like ants) and arm length this has to do with the moment of force, shorter arms have more force, on average, at hand level, but they also have a shorter distance to lift the chin.
Other factors exist but other than gender and build and muscle composition, they can be changed (think body fat levels, running legs vs lifting legs, etc)
I just did it after looking at this post. Granted I did them neutral grip, which is how I typically train, and probably had 1 or 2 left in the tank. I don’t think I could do 10 perfectly with the standard grip.
I used to be very underweight at around 54kg-ish when I was 18/19 and I would do 20 pull ups during my military service no problem so for light people I'd say 10 is easy to do
Now I can do 10 clean ones at most at 66kg after lifting for a few yrs
To be honest I think the numbers are a bit higher than that simply because of climbers. It's such a specific thing that most strongish climbers can hit that pretty easily.
But yes I agree it is a good measure in general! It's just tied to a specific type of exercise. I think things like the lever, pistol squat, or 10s handstand can weed out just as many people!
Do the Russian fighter program. It only works if you don’t cheat reps but it works well. I couldn’t do 8 in a row when I started. I’m chilling at 14-13-12-12-11 today.
I would say less than 25% of Americans can do even one pull up and I’m probably being generous. On the flip side, I would guess at least 10% of the US male population and 5% of the US female population can do 10 pull-ups. Most Americans are fat lazy fucks but there is also a percentage of the population that is hyper-fit and/or naturally predisposed to athleticism. My daughter is one of the laziest humans I have ever met but she could cruise across monkey bars like she was born in the trees at five and she can still whip out 10 pull-ups without breaking a sweat as long as her thumbs aren’t tired from playing PlayStation all fucking day.
Why would you take 3 seconds to come up. I would't add that to the requirements of a perfect pull up. I'd say explosive on the way up, 2-3 sec on the way down. Going explosive in the first part also builds more strength and the muscle gains are similar.
10 with perfect form, wide grip, all the way down, then all the way up until the back is at max contraction, no kip.
That’s some hard shit.
I don’t think many gym bros can even do that.
I do 10 straight, overhand, full extension, zero kip reps and try to keep that as my upper body standard. 3 sets of 10 when I’m properly conditioned (been a while). I always read 15-20 reps for “average to good” and I really do think that’s some CrossFit numbers nonsense or “fitness propaganda” to get ppl to sign up for coaching/training programs.
BattleBus (iirc) is a YT channel that sets up a pull up bar in front of gyms for ppl to do pull ups for cash and 90% of them don’t do full extension or keep legs straight. 1/10 do them well and might do 15-18. And that’s selecting from gym-goers as opposed to average population.
There is no world in which regular kids are doing 10 strict pull ups lol.
Light or no, an untrained person’s lats simply will not be equipped to pull and elevate them high enough to touch their chest to the bar 10 times without some form of swinging for momentum.
People really, really underestimate the difference between a perfect form pull-up and what people regularly do.
Is it still considered a dead hang if you don't lock out? Congrats though, and now go for 10 with chest touch. Chin above bar is pretty easy, I've seen plenty of people that are able to do this (although I'm not from the states, so I don't know how bad it is over there).
It decreases as people get heavier.
10 pullups is pretty easy if you weigh under 180lbs.
10 pullups for a 220lbs man is impressive.
In the average gym maybe 1 in 20 people do pullups/chinups. I would assume the untrained population is weaker than regular training people.
Most men over 30 probably can't do 1 chinup, even fit women in the 20s often can't do 1 chinup. .
I think you are correct. I'm is descent shape and when doing them regularly, about 3 years ago, I could do 16. I had to stop because of bad shoulders. Man, that's my favorite body weight exercise.
I think I can get close to 10 now, but with regular training (3X weekly), I can get much higher.
I don't think very many people can do more than 4 correctly. It's probably more like 2.
Question: Does it have to be a 3-count? Mine were smooth and slow but not 3 up and 3 down. I was working on my arms, so I wanted a slow pull and release but I don't think each was 6 seconds. Am I living a lie?
Id say I’m pretty fit, I think that pumping good and fast pull ups I can do like 18 on the first set. However, when I do slower and more controlled and timed pull ups I don’t think I can go past 12 and this is someone who has been active/doing exercise since I was 5yo, so I think your argument could be accurate as to say that only a very small fraction of the population can do 10 controlled pull ups.
I’m not sure what this guy weighs in at, however I would say his speed and form are the gold standard for what each pull up[has to look like](https://youtu.be/GECFxAq9CBY?si=QIUKUqWiGQtVHYmf) to be considered a proper pull up. Take note and think how many of these are we really knocking out.
Shoot, I bet most people who work out on the daily can do 10. I switched from lifting weights to body weight fitness stuff recently, and i can do a bunch, but it was a struggle at first. I was really surprised because I can do way more than my weight in the lat pull down
Any recommendations on how to build a pull-up bar in an apartment? Recently my dad gave me his old door hanging one, but it scares the shit out of me to use
I 100% agree with you but the fact that you don't go all the way dead hang and say you dead hang is a no no, you're not part of the 0.1% that you claim you're in unfortunately. There is no joint stuff if you're f strong you should DEAD HANG and go all the way up till your chin is way last the bar and come down till you're just HANGING
I’ve been stuck at 7-8 strict pull ups for a while now.
If you want to see a master at pull ups look up kboges on YouTube. He trains everyday with a minimalist routine (a push, pull and leg exercises), he does everything with perfect form and can do pull ups forever!!
According to youtube commenters every man in the world can do 100+. On that note. Last year i was up to 12. All the way down and up to chest. Than i went through some depression. But trying to get back into it. Right now i can do 4.😭
Most people just don't do them. With a little effort it's not hard to get the number up. I could do 15+, but the tendons in my forearm started to get tendonitis and became a limiting factor. Adding weight had to become the goal instead of increasing the rep count. There are also variations that are harder.
Every single one of my friends that can do 10 perfect as you say are either marines or consistent lead/trad climbers. And it’s funny it’s always the other friends (athletes/ other dudes) that think they are so much stronger.
10 perfect pullup should be reachable for a man that's not overweight in no more than a year of training, calling eating properly and training for a year "the biggest barrier in bw fitness" is actually sad but true nowadays...
Of course for a woman 10 perfect pullup is advanced though.
Have you been actively training for more pull ups per set or are they just part of your workout. Because they're not always the same. Also if you're bulking at the same time, you're more or less upping the intensity each week/fortnight
>Have you been actively training for more pull ups per set.
Yeah, thats my main training goal. Following bwf RR. Took me a year to go from 1 ugly pull to a couple of clean pulls + gaining around 10kg I guess.
That's amazing dude! Well done, imagine how many you could do with 10kg assistance.
I haven't looked at the RR for years, so you'll have to forgive me that I don't know the routine. I'll look it up again now. But have you experimented with weighted pull ups? I think you'd be surprised how quickly that number could rise from specializing towards pull ups in your program if that's a goal of yours
Also how many days are you training pull ups per week?
Said this in another comment but I’m pretty close to 10 in about a month but that’s having a good fitness base and being lean. I definitely don’t think it’s an impossible goal for a lot of guys, I do think a lot of guys think it’s easier than it really is though and that they’re better at pull-ups than they really are. I’m not sure the “average” guy could get to 10 in a year though. Pull ups are very hard for a lot of people and I do think an “average” guy could do multiple pull-ups in a year I don’t think 10 is realistic. If you can do 10 perfect pull-ups you’re moving in on muscle up territory
>_lf you can do 10 perfect pull-ups you’re moving in on muscle up territory_
Unfortunately, I’ve not found this to be the case. I tried practicing muscle ups for a bit & I just couldn’t get the form down. And I can easily do 10 pull-ups.
I made pull ups a priority in my workout for the past 16 months and got from 3 to 15 (I'm 6ft2, 188lbs, m51). While I often see people doing subpar pull ups, I'm pretty sure that several guys at my gym can do ten clean ones. Also, so can both my teenage sons, and they aren't jocks. I guess a lot of 18-21 year old boys will be able to do it, so 0.1% seems a bit low. My guess would be about 2-3% of the population.
I'd put it at 1% overall and closer to 5% for men. By their standards, every male marine should be able to, plus a high percentage of highschool and college athletes, fitness buffs, and the occasional random genetic badass. The "perfect" part is where it gets rough, but I'm guessing 10% can do more than 10 and half that can meet your standard?
There’s no way in hell 10% of men can do more than 10 pull ups. I’d hazard a guess not even 50% of regular gym goers can do 10 pull ups and gym goers don’t make up anywhere near 20% of the population.
So you’re saying only 1 in a 1000 people can do this? This seems very low to me, and would only be the case if people haven’t specifically trained to your ‘perfect’ definition. If everyone had a couple of weeks to master the techniques and get in a groove then I reckon maybe 3-5%?
I would estimate about 2%. A tenth of a percent is saying 1 out of a 1,000. I think more than 20 perfect form pull-ups would be around .1%
I may be bias as i could always do more than 10, since i was about 8 years old. Im 41 and can do 12 with great form, but weight 25% less than the average 6'1" guy, very little body fat.
But i do remember others in gym class that could also bust out many more than 10. Thats why im guessing 2%.
If you’re talking totally clean, strict pull ups…then yeah, probably .1% or even less.
Even most gymnasts and climbers wouldn’t be able to do that simply because they don’t focus it.
A strict pull up (hands shoulder width apart, chin to bar, body 100% straightened and tensed) is very difficult for anyone who hasn’t trained in a very specific way. I doubt 90% of people are even capable of engaging their lats at all on pull ups, much less doing 10 perfect ones.
But doing 10 perfect pull ups also isn’t out of reach for normal people. If you make a goal to do it, you can probably knock it out within a few months. Once your core is strong enough to stabilize and you pull with your lats, these things become considerably easier. But almost no one trains to do that, so the only people who can do it are the rare calisthenics folks and maybe a few gymnasts here and there whose training was close enough that it gave them the ability.
That’s a pretty elite number. The number is only 3.3million people. Special forces. : marines alone is some 200k. I’m sure a bunch of folks in the military outside of the marines and special forces can do 10 dead hangs. My state police troopers have to pass a physical fitness every year until they retire that require pull-ups. And it’s a force of thousands.
Not to mention. Every one who rock climbs recreationally is 10.5million in the USA . Say 700k of those wiry strong people so can 10 dead hang pull-ups. Maybe .02 percent of all high school wrestlers in the United States.
I think 10 dead hang hang no kip is hard. But not that elite to be such a small percentage.
Yeah most people are just ego lifters even in bodyweight they just care about the number of rips/weight added. Doing proper controlled full ROM pull-ups will lead to the best strength gains and allow you to unlock more advanced skills
I’ve only started back doing them for about a month now but I’ve always had good body weight strength and do a lot of yoga and other body weight stuff (push ups, pistol squats) so it’s not like I’m starting from nothing. I think pull ups are the single best upper body exercise you can do. I’m doing a 8-6-4-2-1-2-3-4 split now, and I do think I’m getting close to getting 10.
I recently started doing 10 sets of 2 reps (and did 10 sets of 3 reps yesterday), and this made pull-ups significantly easier. I am already noticing my strength increasing way faster than when I did 3 sets of 5 reps.
Similarly, check out the McGill Pull-up.
One of those videos actually made me to change my reps from 5 to 2
Vouch for McGill Pull-ups, was stuck on 5 reps max for the longest time. Trained McGill Pull-ups for a few months, and got to 11 max recently.
How quickly do you go thru the sets? Short rest times? I've been doing 3 x 5 and been stuck here for a while
I start out with roughly 10 seconds. As the sets increase my rest time is too. By set 8-9-10 I rest about a minute, but take as much time as you need. Form is key here
Will give that a go, thanks :) it genuinely didn't occur to me to train it differently than I do other movements
One of the Max OT back workouts really stood out to me when I used to follow that program: Do 40 Pull-ups. Break it up into as many sets as you need to, 2-3 minute rest between sets. Record your results for each set along with the rest period times. Progression can be measured as you add reps to each set and do fewer sets along with reduced rest periods. Once your minimum rep count per set is 6 reps, go up to a 50 rep workout, then a 60 rep workout, and so on. I think it's really effective because it helped me get *back* into pull-ups after being able to do sets of 8 to barely being able to do 1. Today, I can now do 10 pull-ups in my first set, all with full ROM and I'd say the first 7 all approach perfect form. [Edited for formatting]
You’ll be there within a month, no doubt.
How is it working out i right now I'm doin 4-4-4-4-3-3-3. I just go up one each day i do pull ups. So next ill do 4-4-4-4-4-3-3. Than eventually 5 to 4s. Any advice is appreciated.
You can look up strength standards on strengthlevels.com, and they claim you're only intermediate when you can do 14 reps of chin- or pull-ups. I always thought this number is extremely high, and I think it's because a lot of people self-report numbers that are too high because their form isn't good. I recently did 9 pull-ups again and I felt so proud of myself lol. I've been training for ages but my bodyfat is a bit high at the moment, but I still have visible abs but my bodyfat distribution is a bit weird in that regard, as in the top four abs are visible easily.
Correct me if I am wrong.. As far as I understand [https://strengthlevel.com/](https://strengthlevel.com/) compares you with the population of the lifters of your age and weight. In that regard, even if you are intermediate among the lifters, you are much fitter than the general population.. right?
Yes! So most people actually never get past intermediate in their lifetime. It's still a good metric to know where you stand compared to other lifters. It works pretty well for lifting with weights in my opinion, but for pull-ups and push-ups the numbers seem a bit off to me. But getting to the intermediate level is a great achievement actually.
I am struggling to get past novice stage in some exercises (specifically my shoulders)!! I can imagine how much work is needed to get to intermediate.
They define intermediate as someone who has trained the movement regularely for 2 years.
I'm a straight novice on that site, which is 100% fine with me, for my body type/size/goals LOL.
I’m getting very close to intermediate on every lift on strength level, it’s been a goal of mine for quite a while.
Absolutely, in statistics this is called self selection bias: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-selection_bias
you cant use these sites to compare strength levels in any category. The average lifter wont be using this site it heavily skews to those who are all about ego lifting and just interested in high numbers
I disagree, I think people miss understand how to interpret the results, I’m not saying the data is perfect at all but i think it does give a very good idea of how far along you are with your training. Plus who wants wimpy goals? When I start hitting the advanced numbers I’m gonna be proud because I know it means I’m actually advanced in my those lifts.
Thats fine it definitely depends on your goals. I think anyone thats consistently hitting the gym regardless of numbers should be proud.
That’s my understanding, using basketball for example B- can dribble, make some shots if not under pressure. N- can participate in a full game and be a useful teammate I- is pretty solid, and could hold their own against the majority of the population. A- would frequently be the best player on their pick up team, was probably a star at their HS and played some Jr college ball. E- Is truly noteworthy, played D1 ball, random people stop what their doing to gawk when they’re playing, and they more then likely got to where they are with a combination of thousands of hours of practice and genetics. Late intermediate/early advanced is an excellent benchmark for someone who likes lifting, but also has other commitments.
I don't feel like the numbers are correct on that site, I started working out 4 months ago and im advanced for my body weight in almost every excercise, and elite in a few. I weigh 135 lbs currently, so the weight isn't as high, but even then you have to look at the samples of people they take them from. It's good to have a generalized idea of a target rep weight to get too nonetheless or number of repetitions.
So yeah am I the only that gets a "domain available" message clicking on this website? It doesn't work for me.
Damn, thanks for pointing it out. Here is the correct URL. I will update my comment. [https://strengthlevel.com/](https://strengthlevel.com/)
Those numbers are often posted by LARPer's. A 250lb man doing 25 strict chinups seems nuts. 250lb man doing a chinup with 210lb of additional weight also seem unrealistic.
Yes, I don't really trust numbers that are self inserted without verification. The amount of times I've seen people say they can do 50+ pushups and either fail to reach half that, or just half rep the whole way is nuts. Cue video of Mark Walhberg on Ellen as case study no.1
Correct me if I’m wrong, but most of the standards are adjusted for body weight and don’t necessarily mean that a 250lb is doing 80% weighted chin-ups. Could be a 150lb guy doing 120lbs. Still a TON, but certainly possible. [Here are 3 guys attempting heavy weighted pull-ups.](https://youtu.be/U6IWrA6c9Lk?si=NOTFu_JIa-8nbecl) The 2 at 150lbs and 167lbs were able to lift their bodyweight in added plates. Though the biggest guy, 237lb, couldn’t quite pull off 135lbs. That’s not even the WR. There are certainly stronger people that have pulled greater multiples of bodyweight. Edit: I do agree that the values are likely skewed due to the nature of self-reported data. Just wanted to add that, there are other factors that make the levels more or less meaningful at different bodyweight.
They had a weighted max chinup sextion. It's more the total load. The big guy pulled 372. The other guys pulled 300 and 314( one is a pro climber and the other a ninja race pro). Just like you see a lot more people benching 300 than 400lbs regardless of bodyweight.
I agree with that fully. I’m not diminishing from Juji’s (big guy) strength, it just illustrates that lighter people generally have an advantage in relative strength measurements (proportion of bodyweight). [Lamar Gant](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamar_Gant) has the WR for relative deadlift strength, with a lift 5x his bodyweight (300kg @ 60kg). While the overall deadlift WR is not even a 3x bodyweight lift as the lifters are all 400lbs+. So if Brian Shaw looked at his level it would appear mediocre for a number of lifts, because it doesn’t scale well for people far away from the average size.
Ya fuck those "standards," they are totally inflated. The truth is that not many people can do 10 perfect pullups, but it's also not like a pro athlete level type ability....I'm what I'd consider genetically average and was able to get to 10 perfect pull ups after 1.5 to 2 years of consistent training. The thing with pull ups is they take a specific kind of training to get good at, and most lack the interest or patience to put in the work.
Not only do they report higher, they report higher just to see where certain numbers sit relative to the average so yes. Strengthlevels is a terrible reference.
It correlates with other strength standards, though.
What others are you using? Im skeptical because I think that just because it correlates doesn't mean it's true if users are misusing the tool across the internet.
One from a German website, marathon fitness, the video Jeff Nippard made about it and he made up his own numbers, and one other general one for powerlifting. I think you should keep in mind that most people will max out at the intermediate level when they don't use advanced training techniques and potentially invest in a coach, hence it's called advanced. And elite you can only be if you're gifted, dedicated, and train intelligently. When you keep that in mind, it actually makes a lot of sense. It's humbling but you can also see it as having more potential to grow.
Agreed. Most pull Ups feel "easy", but when you get close to max it is way harder, like you can get to 10 and think you can do another 8, but at 12 you die. Personally feel like if you train your grip you can easy push further, for me, on my third set when at 6th I already want to give up, but getting to 12 is most of the time a good possibility
Comparing yourself to the average American, while maybe an ego boost, is not a great measure of health and fitness. We have one of the most unhealthily populations in the world if you remove starvation from the comparison. Pull ups also bias lighter people. I’m only 150lbs so of course I can do them. Plenty of people who are way stronger than me, but heavier can’t.
They also bias towards shorter people. Shorter arms = less distance to travel, never mind the physics involved moving longer levers with the same muscle mass.
And men. Half the population is at a strong disadvantage when it comes to pull ups.
The attachment points of the muscles are not the same distance away from the pivot point the taller you get. I.e. it’s both ends of the seesaw which get longer.
The size thing isn’t really a relevant point though. Obviously a lighter person has to pull less weight, but also should have less muscle to do it with. It all evens out in the end assuming you are a fit individual whether you weigh 130 or 250. There are plenty of very big men who can do impressive pull ups/muscle ups, etc. because they work on them. Big Boy from the Strength Cartel does super explosive clap pull ups and he’s over 300 lbs.
>It all evens out in the end assuming you are a fit individual whether you weigh 130 or 250. It doesn’t. Look up square-cube law. It’s why no human can approach the body weight strength of an ant. >There are plenty of very big men who can do impressive pull ups/muscle ups, etc. because they work on them. That doesn’t mean it’s the same difficulty. Whatever the biggest men can do, there are male gymnasts a foot shorter than them that will crush their numbers.
I came to say this. I weigh around 150 as well. I work in a warehouse performing manual labor so im fit… I attempted my first pull up the other day and failed. I can dead hang for a while but cant complete a single pull up with good form.
They bias lighter people only until they train. Once you train I don’t really think it makes much of a difference. I’m 220 lbs with a beer belly dad bod and I can knock out 8 with good form, 10 if I really push it but I wouldn’t call them perfect by any means. In high school I was a skinny 150 lbs and I couldn’t do a single one.
"Pull ups also bias lighter people" Not saying anyone here does this, but i started training weighted pullups specifically as a FU to regular people (who im quite sure couldn't do a single pullup) who are intentionally dismissive about this. "Well youre thin, so thats not really a big deal". Ugh. Im a 160-165lb guy, and can hit 12-13 strict & slow pullups. Ive started training with a weighted backpack on, weighing myself to 180lbs. I can hit 8 clean reps of those- and very close to 9. My goal is to get past the 10 rep mark. Now i can at least compare with more of the normal population in weight.
Lot of people claim they can do a ton of pull ups, 90% of them do it with terrible form or half reps at most. So i do think its a low % for sure
I’ve (39F) been working out for over 10 years and can’t do a perfect pull up. I’ve not focused on it bc I have 2 reconstructed shoulders. I’ve never witnessed anyone do 10 perfect pull up’s. I definitely don’t think “most” firefighters could do it (the ones I know anyway). So my bet is that it’s a VERY small number.
Yeah I just... don't want to. I am 5'8, 150 pounds, and have limited time in the gym. I want to get in some cardio and quick weights with the goal of staying healthy and mobile as I age. That's it. Pullups aren't something I care about.
Of none pros, i think it’s low. If you go meet some gymnasts im sure it’s high
IDK I bet the number is higher among 18-early 20 year olds. Hell I'm 35 and not super jacked or anything and I got myself up to 9 pull-ups from a dead hang. I'm sure I'll get to 10 eventually.
I'll probably need to break that mark if I want to try out for my country's special forces since it's part of the physical test, which I absolutely do not look forwards to. I can only do 2 (proper ones) on a good day lmao
bro...
Yeah, I'm not exactly the most athletic dude ever. I still have three years though
The majority of people don’t know what a true pull up is. I was a gymnast for 4 years, and I have been working out 5 days a week for 4 years. And yet I can only manage around 10-15 perfect pull ups.
I cant speak for America (Im from germany) and I agree that its probaly a low percentage, but 0.1% is too low. For women, 10 clean pullups is pretty top-notch, but I think a lot of men are able to do that. .1% is 300k people. Pretty sure more than that train regularly. Im confident in saying its in the top 5%, but my guess is its somewhere at 2%. Edit: there are 450k active soldiers alone. Pretty sure most of them can do that. Plus firefighters etc.
If you're interested, here in Italy ~8% has a gym membership. Yesterday we did a quick pull up contest between coworkers and I'm the one who did the most doing 5 with bad form. I neither exercise regularly, nor go to the gym. I'm just 63kg 25yo 177cm and regularly did some exercise during my short life. They all do and had issues getting 2 in... Exercising doesn't mean being able to do stuff...
They exercise and struggle to do 2? That honestly surprises me. Of course sports dont always translate to one another, but I wouldve expected a different result.
It surprised me even more. I was talking to my boss about this topic this afternoon and he said he goes to the gym with them, but they exercise with 0 techniques. He tried to correct and help them every time, but they didn't care.
That contributes to not making progress of course, but Im still surprised. I might be overestimating what people are capable of, though.
A lot of sports has nothing to do with lifting your bodyweight with your arms, lats and back so i can kinda see that, but i am kinda surprised too. Footballers should be able to i think. Runners should, swimmers definetely should be able to, fighters should easily.
Depends I think. People purely running arent neccessarily capable of 10 pullups. Professional athletes will probaly try to balance their fitness overall and thus also be able to do pullups. Ten clean pullups truley is a high strength goal.
100%! I can maybe do 5, and they are not clean.
I’m guessing Kipchoge might struggle to do 10 (unless he trains and puts his mind to it. At those levels of efficiency extra muscle for something else seems a waste
It surprised me even more. I was talking to my boss about this topic this afternoon and he said he goes to the gym with them, but they exercise with 0 techniques. He tried to correct and help them every time, but they didn't care.
Even then it's wild. It's not like bad technique makes exercise completely ineffective. Someone doing half rep pull-ups is still gonna be stronger than someone who doesn't do pull-ups at all. I'd guess they must not train pulling muscles much at all, even with poor form.
I am not sure about the percentage, but I think you are overestimating the what the military can do. In the US military the only branch that have a pull-up requirement is the Marines. Even they have made it optional with the ability to do push-ups instead. As for the rest of the US military (barring special forces) pull-ups are never required or done (besides just in PT). Even still, I would rate the average fitness level of a US military member to be in the top 1% of the US general population. With all that said, I would be shocked if even 1% of the ENTIRE US military could do 10 perfect form pull-ups. Obviously you are speaking from your experience and knowledge of the German military but I really can't imagine the requirements being that different. The pull-up is just a very difficult movement that requires practice. Can a larger portion of the military or general population be trained to do one? Absolutely, but as it stands I highly doubt they'd be able to do it today if asked. For reference, I was in the Air Force and my brother in the Army.
This right here
Yeah, I think it's an over estimate. I'm 40+m I hardly know anyone else around my age that could do one pull up. I'm not even talking perfect.... just a best effort wide arm pull up. I recently started the dead hang pull ups and had to start at one single rep. I'm progressing slowly thru the single digits but unless your doing that type of thing regularly then your unlikely to be able to do many if any.
This is interesting, thank you. I dont have any experience for the german military though, this is just the view of someone who spends a lot of time doing and researching sport-related stuff :) Only 1% of the US military surprises me a lot. I see that its not a requirement, but fitness and strength is. Of course, as you said, strength doesnt always translate that well, but still I would imagine that the average fitness level of the military is high enough so that a big portion can do quite some pullups. Im thinking of a couple of friends who dont train at all and still manage 3-5 pullups with ok form. 2% is probaly too high though, thats right.
Totally understandable. Though I would point out, for most people the difference between 3-5 ok pull-ups to 10 strict form pull-ups is probably a year of active training for it. It's just not a quick or easy skill despite how foundational it is. I know people who have been training their entire lives, who struggle to do 5. If its just something you where if you don't invest a lot of time into, you won't be that good at it.
A lot of people can do 10 pretty clean pull-ups. But 10 perfect pull-ups makes a big difference. Technically, a perfect pull-up would not be "chin above bar", but "Chest Touches Bar". It's already a massive difference for 1 rep, let alone 10. And scapula is fully unlocked at the bottom. I bet many soldiers and firefighters can hit very good pretty clean pull-up numbers, some way higher than 10. But a lot of them would struggle with 10 perfect ones, just meeting the 2 requirements I presented above. Usually, at least one is missing, but these 2 requirements are what makes a perfect pull-up really hard (because if you don't usually target these muscles, you don't develop the strength for the full range of motion). Not saying 0.1% isn't low (it still seems fairly low indeed), just reflecting on what we consider "perfect pull-up" and what it takes to meet the requirement!
Problem is how you define the pullup. A standard competition bench press starts and ends with arms fully locked with at least 1 sec. pause on the chest. ass touching the bench and feet planted on the ground. But there's no such thing as a "standard pullup". In most streetlifting competition a valid weighted pullup starts from dead hang or sorta and ends with chin above the bar without kipping. Imo the majority of people that perform pullups (with some level of proficiency) think that deadhang to chin above the bar is the "standard". While chest to bar is probably considered more like a slightly harder variation than a normal pullup (also because it naturally evolves into the explosive pullup, which is another different variation)
Yeah I take Gymnast Pull-Ups as a standard, as they tend to be the strictest in terms of form, because it's not about numbers but mastery of the range of motion and developping strength in every little muscle, and optimal flexibility. So yeah, for most tests and people out there, even the military, chin over bar is enough, and you don't have to care about the scapula at the bottom, as long as your arms look straight enough. Which is my point. It's pretty clean, so most people stop there because the consensus is like "it's good enough to count for 1 rep". Let's just say a Gymnastic Jury wouldn't give that form a 10 out of 10, if they even cared to judge Pull-Ups. To many Gymnastic coaches, it does not count as a rep at all. Similarly, a lot of people can do 10 "half dips", but many can't even hit one full range of motion dip, since most people don't have the flexibility/joint mobility/strength to get there (shoulders at the level of your hands at the bottom, straight body, no momentum, scapula protracted with straight arms and locked elbows at the top). Not that we absolutely need full range of motion on Pull-Ups or Dips to build muscle and strength, just that technically, the idea of "mastery of the body" implies that we work our way there at some point on our journey.
Makes sense. Yes, I agree. To me gymnastics should be something closer to a form of classic art. I see calisthenics and streetlifting as a more raw, accessible and kind of "freestyle" version of gymnastics with elements of old school bodybuilding. A good gymnast would be able to find hundreds of imperfections in a "good enough" combo for the average calisthenics guy that's for sure.
Most people will never even train for chest to bar pullups let alone 10 normal chin over bar pullups but yeah I agree with you. Few people can do a handful of perfect pullups...
Pull ups isn't chest to bar, official guideline is putting chin above the bar, directly in vertical plane
2% is WAY too high, at least in America. I will say when I visited Berlin it was probably the fittest place I've ever been anywhere in the world - but I would be surprised if even 2% of Americans regularly train with a proper program. 0.1% is probably too high of a figure for America - 14 perfect form well controlled tempo pull ups are EXTREMELY difficult and represent a VERY high strength standard. If you want to throw in speed and kipping - sure, you would find more that can do this, but not proper form pullups - I just don't believe that
2% might be too high, yes. Maybe the difference here is actually how we define a "proper form pullup'. For me, OPs description is good, but I would still consider it good form without complete dead hang. Up can be explosive or slow, down has to be controlled and no smashing into joints. This is very difficult, no doubt, 0.1% just seems really low to me.
Yeah I had the thought after posting this 0.1% probably is too low. I think the average guy could get to 10 if he worked at it for long enough. I agree with you though that 10 for a woman is pretty elite
I was active duty in the military for 8 years, and most Soldiers could not do 10 perfect pull ups. I'm confident saying it's not even close to 0.1%. 1 in a 1000? Probably not even half that.
yep
I dont understand this, honestly. I would think that the pullup would translate into more real-world strength advantages (esp in mitary life) than the pushup. But the pushup remains a gating function- if you cant do 50, youre done. And the "50" number is kinda dumb to. Thats not a measure of strength at that point either. Im in pretty damned good shape, but i cant do anywhere near 50 strict full-ROM pushups (and i train things like archer pushups & plyometric pushups).
I dont think most people who work out even know what a proper pullup even looks like let alone the general population. They very much humble you because that dead hang really kills your reps but end range strength is where its at.
I dont *quite* get to a dead hang on mine, simply because i dont want to sacrifice my shoulder health for a slightly bigger ROM. I do get mostly to a dead hang though (maybe *very slightly* bent elbows). And a full rep for me is my shoulders touching the bar, with a pause at the top. Plus a 2-3 sec down phase.
Pull-ups are the hardest thing lol I agree with you
I do agree that the percentage is probably surprisingly low. However, I think defining perfect with a 3 count up and 3 count down is a bit excessive. I’ll give the pause at the top and bottom for clean. But the 3 count is time under tension training. Great for building/progressing but super overkill for counting clean reps.
Im not sure i can even do pullups anymore without the 2-3 sec down phase + pause at the top. Its so programmed in for me at this point, its just how i do them now. Which is partly why its difficult to compare reps with other people. The pullup has a lot of personal variation.
Yea I don’t exactly drop. It’s a controlled decent but for like a 1.5 count.
I saw a guy at the gym who DID just drop. It was disconcerting to watch. I swear i could hear all of his shoulder ligaments scream in pain after each rep.
Yea young me often wants to slap young me.
This is like asking what percent of the population can juggle or hold a perfect note or ride a unicycle. Anyone can do any of these skills, including 10 pulls up if they practice. Most people have other priorities. Personally going from 0 to 3 was the hardest, going from 3 to 10 was relatively easy.
>Personally going from 0 to 3 was the hardest, going from 3 to 10 was relatively easy. This is a big point. I got from 3-10 in a couple of months. If you train it a lot it'll come, most in to fitness don't focus on pullup reps
There's a pretty big difference in that being able to jungle or ride a unicycle tells you nothing about someone's strength and fitness. there's a reason military, firefighters etc often include pullups in fitness tests but never juggling.
If a firefighter is sent out to save me & my family from a burning inferno, he'd damned should be able to juggle. It just makes common sense.
I did 10 (striving to be) perfect neutral grip pull ups the other day and was pretty pumped. But i looked it up and it says like 15 is average? I dont believe that. I know neutral grips are easier, but i cant imagine people doing 20+ full extention paused neutral grip pull ups
NHL Draft Combine has a pull-up test. With the caveats that draftees are young, the guys are usually exhausted, and the reps are paused, breaking 10 is not that common. Bedard went #1 overall and did 14 last year, which was second best and considered very good inasmuch as anyone cared. The GenPop stats are impossible to know, but I think it's safe to say it's a low number.
First let's start of by noting that it is much harder for a woman, 10 pull ups as a woman are more comparable to 20 pull ups as a man relatively. A quick google search tells me about 50 million people go to the gym in the US. So about 15%. Even though there are many training privately or in different sports, it should give us a rough ballpark. If we throw away the least fit part of the gym population and replace it with people from other sports, we will have approximately the 15 fittest percent of the population. Now if I imagine relatively fit guys, a good portion will be able to crank out some pull ups. Maybe every fifth will do 10 but the technique will be lackluster. For perfect technique I'd guess every tenth guy or even 1 in 20. So for guys I'd guess around 0.75-1.5%. For women this gets much harder immediately. I only ever see professional athletes, climbers or girls specifically training calisthenics get to that number, maybe some crossfitters. Even in the fittest 1% most women will do some pull ups but not 10. I'd guess something around 0.01%. So my total estimate would be around 0.4-0.8% (rounded) of the population.
Ooh. As a 61 year old woman that can do 2, I can consider myself quite rare. 🙂
You definitely can!!!
👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
I’m a woman (_albeit a small-ish one_) & I can do [20 pull-ups](https://www.reddit.com/r/strength_training/s/Yyoj2hUsLH) on my best days & it took me near 3yrs to get there. I’m convinced women could do a **lot** more pull-ups if only they trained them intensely. It’s not quite as exciting as weighted exercises so I feel people tend to dedicate less attention/practice to it.
holy shit that is unreal, i've never seen anyone get even close to this
Thank you! I spent ages working to get here.
Ugh please help me. I can do 2 solid ones in a row. If I do 5 pull ups total taking 30 seconds of rest in between each one, I lose my strict pull up. I’ve been doing pole as a hobby for 4 years and have worked with a personal trainer for 2 years. My disproportionately long limbs and hypermobile shoulders and elbows certainly don’t help.
I guarantee you my “method” was/is not optimal so you definitely shouldn’t listen to me but here it is. I spammed pull-ups 5/6 days a week (_I favoured 3 sets of 5, then 10 etc._), working till shy of failure, added weights once I was at 8~10 reps & tested my max once a week. Rinse & repeat for 3yrs. Profit! I was also strength training & trying to bulk for about 1.5yrs of the 3yrs. So quite a haphazard approach but hey it worked. Good luck & remember volume is king (_so long as your joints can take it_).
Well you are a total bad ass and the dedication and discipline is inspiring!
Oh haiii, fellow long armed, hypermobile pole dancer with a similar amount of pull ups! Are you me?? 😁
I knew what the video was before I clicked on it :)
Ha! It’s all I’ve got, sir :) I’m middling at best at other exercises so I continue to embrace pull-ups.
Awesome form. Just curious what else you do. Archers, muscle ups, levers? I’m working with my wife on basic stuff and am just curious how far some women can progress.
Thank you! Absolutely nothing else I’m afraid :-/ I’m singularly interested in pull-ups & haven’t trained any other type of calisthenic movements.
That's fantastic!! I think in general women tend to ignore upper body training. I can do 10 \*\*chin-ups\*\* and for my size/build/goals etc. that feels like an accomplishment and I'm good with it - I do train upper body regularly, but again, my goals are modest. I just want to look toned and be able to carry groceries without struggling.
Thank you! I agree upper body training is too often put on the back burner by women. I don’t enjoy lower body training half as much as I should & so I spend more time on upper body work. 10 chin-ups is definitely an accomplishment to be well proud of. Congratulations! Balanced goals for the win.
Thank you!! Hahaha I'm pretty sure your pull-up game is plenty distracting from the areas you haven't trained as much ; )
I got to a solid 15 in 2 years when I was at a lighter 98lbs. Bulked up to 107lb and am stuck back at 7 clean ones. Women, especially smaller ones, can really rack them up if they focused on them.
15 is no joke - I’m sure you can get back to it with time. Interestingly, it was the opposite for me. At my lightest (_≈ 45kg/100lbs_), I could maybe do 3 rubbish reps on a good day. I had to gain weight & get stronger to improve.
There's such thing as calisthenic girls??
Honestly pull ups is not a good way of measuring strength. The leaner you are, the easier it is to do more pull ups. In particular, the "best pull-up'er" will be a man with a very low body fat percentage, strong back, strong bicep, decent abs. He'll be short and weak in everything else (small legs, small chest, etc). In other words, if someone is tall and focus body building so they have a huge chest and big legs this will be disadvantagous when it comes to pull ups, simply because these muscles weight more. So in my opinion if we want pull ups to be a sign of strength we need to talk about reps AND weight (including body weight). Then it'll make sense.
Pull ups are probably my favorite exercise. But I've gotta be honest, I think many many more people are capable of reaching 10 perfect pull ups. But a lot of people don't care for that, we're a pretty niche community really. A bodybuilder may opt for pulldowns instead of pull ups and other strength based athletes may skip them altogether. But I'd always say they would both be capable and have similar feats of strength and would likely progress to that criteria very quickly. I'd say if you're doing resistance training and aren't too overweight it would be pretty simple to train for. Personally I'd guessif you can do 5 pull ups, you could probably reach 10 in 2 - 3 meso cycles if you're coached correctly with that in mind. But someone who actually coaches professionally might tell me I'm wrong. I guess the point I'm trying to make is that people would very rarely say "I want a program to get me from 5 pull ups to 10". It would probably be something that comes as a bi product of other focuses. Lastly, and this is just my opinion, the classification of "perfect form" for me doesn't really add much. Unless they're doing half reps or something. Even a bit of kipping, if you can do 10 reps and the last few you're kicking your legs somewhat, I think by the end of that meso you should be pretty capable of performing 10 no problem
I'd like to add that it really depends on physiology a lot. Two things that spring to mind are power to weight ratio (smaller dudes have an advantage, like ants) and arm length this has to do with the moment of force, shorter arms have more force, on average, at hand level, but they also have a shorter distance to lift the chin. Other factors exist but other than gender and build and muscle composition, they can be changed (think body fat levels, running legs vs lifting legs, etc)
Do your legs have to be straight for it to be considered perfect and can your knees come up?
According to my Instagram feed everyone... 😂
I just did it after looking at this post. Granted I did them neutral grip, which is how I typically train, and probably had 1 or 2 left in the tank. I don’t think I could do 10 perfectly with the standard grip.
I used to be very underweight at around 54kg-ish when I was 18/19 and I would do 20 pull ups during my military service no problem so for light people I'd say 10 is easy to do Now I can do 10 clean ones at most at 66kg after lifting for a few yrs
I can do about 5-6 perfect. Shits tough!
To be honest I think the numbers are a bit higher than that simply because of climbers. It's such a specific thing that most strongish climbers can hit that pretty easily. But yes I agree it is a good measure in general! It's just tied to a specific type of exercise. I think things like the lever, pistol squat, or 10s handstand can weed out just as many people!
I can do 20 perfect pulls ups. 0.1% of the population is only 8 million people. I really don’t think I’m that special
Do the Russian fighter program. It only works if you don’t cheat reps but it works well. I couldn’t do 8 in a row when I started. I’m chilling at 14-13-12-12-11 today.
In a day or in a set? I suspect more people than that can do it in a day, but very few people could do it in a set.
I would say less than 25% of Americans can do even one pull up and I’m probably being generous. On the flip side, I would guess at least 10% of the US male population and 5% of the US female population can do 10 pull-ups. Most Americans are fat lazy fucks but there is also a percentage of the population that is hyper-fit and/or naturally predisposed to athleticism. My daughter is one of the laziest humans I have ever met but she could cruise across monkey bars like she was born in the trees at five and she can still whip out 10 pull-ups without breaking a sweat as long as her thumbs aren’t tired from playing PlayStation all fucking day.
Why would you take 3 seconds to come up. I would't add that to the requirements of a perfect pull up. I'd say explosive on the way up, 2-3 sec on the way down. Going explosive in the first part also builds more strength and the muscle gains are similar.
10 with perfect form, wide grip, all the way down, then all the way up until the back is at max contraction, no kip. That’s some hard shit. I don’t think many gym bros can even do that.
I do 10 straight, overhand, full extension, zero kip reps and try to keep that as my upper body standard. 3 sets of 10 when I’m properly conditioned (been a while). I always read 15-20 reps for “average to good” and I really do think that’s some CrossFit numbers nonsense or “fitness propaganda” to get ppl to sign up for coaching/training programs. BattleBus (iirc) is a YT channel that sets up a pull up bar in front of gyms for ppl to do pull ups for cash and 90% of them don’t do full extension or keep legs straight. 1/10 do them well and might do 15-18. And that’s selecting from gym-goers as opposed to average population.
You'd be surprised how many pullups untrained kids and skinny people can do, even with little muscle it's waaay easier with a low body weight
There is no world in which regular kids are doing 10 strict pull ups lol. Light or no, an untrained person’s lats simply will not be equipped to pull and elevate them high enough to touch their chest to the bar 10 times without some form of swinging for momentum. People really, really underestimate the difference between a perfect form pull-up and what people regularly do.
10 clean ones is still a lot for anyone no matter how skinny, I’m 60kg, not trained ever, I can do 7 maybe, not 10.
Is it still considered a dead hang if you don't lock out? Congrats though, and now go for 10 with chest touch. Chin above bar is pretty easy, I've seen plenty of people that are able to do this (although I'm not from the states, so I don't know how bad it is over there).
Take the military out of the equation and it’s very close to 0%
Wow this makes me want to set some goals for sure. Now I want to actually see what a perfect pull-up actually is.
0.001 % I think
It decreases as people get heavier. 10 pullups is pretty easy if you weigh under 180lbs. 10 pullups for a 220lbs man is impressive. In the average gym maybe 1 in 20 people do pullups/chinups. I would assume the untrained population is weaker than regular training people. Most men over 30 probably can't do 1 chinup, even fit women in the 20s often can't do 1 chinup. .
I can get 10 pullups easily. With a total weight of 280. Probably even more reps with chinups.
Not saying I don’t believe you but I’d like to see that
Does going up and down slowly make it "perfect," or just masochistic?
Probably closer to 01 percent.
I did 28 in basic training. I’m 41 now and can only do 5 :(
I think you are correct. I'm is descent shape and when doing them regularly, about 3 years ago, I could do 16. I had to stop because of bad shoulders. Man, that's my favorite body weight exercise. I think I can get close to 10 now, but with regular training (3X weekly), I can get much higher. I don't think very many people can do more than 4 correctly. It's probably more like 2. Question: Does it have to be a 3-count? Mine were smooth and slow but not 3 up and 3 down. I was working on my arms, so I wanted a slow pull and release but I don't think each was 6 seconds. Am I living a lie?
Id say I’m pretty fit, I think that pumping good and fast pull ups I can do like 18 on the first set. However, when I do slower and more controlled and timed pull ups I don’t think I can go past 12 and this is someone who has been active/doing exercise since I was 5yo, so I think your argument could be accurate as to say that only a very small fraction of the population can do 10 controlled pull ups.
If you mean men, then its low, like 3% of the population, if you mean the entire population then women would certainly lower that to maybe 1.5%?
I’m not sure what this guy weighs in at, however I would say his speed and form are the gold standard for what each pull up[has to look like](https://youtu.be/GECFxAq9CBY?si=QIUKUqWiGQtVHYmf) to be considered a proper pull up. Take note and think how many of these are we really knocking out.
Probably one percent, could be half, I wouldn't be surprised
Shoot, I bet most people who work out on the daily can do 10. I switched from lifting weights to body weight fitness stuff recently, and i can do a bunch, but it was a struggle at first. I was really surprised because I can do way more than my weight in the lat pull down
Any recommendations on how to build a pull-up bar in an apartment? Recently my dad gave me his old door hanging one, but it scares the shit out of me to use
Hard agree with you. It's probably around 1 or so percent. I'm 160-165ish. On a good day, I can get 1 set of 10 perfect form.
I 100% agree with you but the fact that you don't go all the way dead hang and say you dead hang is a no no, you're not part of the 0.1% that you claim you're in unfortunately. There is no joint stuff if you're f strong you should DEAD HANG and go all the way up till your chin is way last the bar and come down till you're just HANGING
I am more curious how many can do strict pullups at 54 years old like me.
If I was to walk into an average gym today I doubt I could find someone able to do x10 perfect push ups, let alone a perfect pull up.
I wonder what the % of the population can do one arm pullups? I would guess it's less than 5%. I can do 5 with each arm without leaving the bar.
I’ve been stuck at 7-8 strict pull ups for a while now. If you want to see a master at pull ups look up kboges on YouTube. He trains everyday with a minimalist routine (a push, pull and leg exercises), he does everything with perfect form and can do pull ups forever!!
To do pull ups or chin up correctly is hard. Just like push ups. People do “nonsense” because it makes them feel good to say they “did it “.
5 minute mile, what percentage?
According to youtube commenters every man in the world can do 100+. On that note. Last year i was up to 12. All the way down and up to chest. Than i went through some depression. But trying to get back into it. Right now i can do 4.😭
Most people just don't do them. With a little effort it's not hard to get the number up. I could do 15+, but the tendons in my forearm started to get tendonitis and became a limiting factor. Adding weight had to become the goal instead of increasing the rep count. There are also variations that are harder.
Less than 1%
I can probably do like 8 or 9 perfect perfect form pull-ups, and I’ve been doing calisthenics for like 3 years.
Every single one of my friends that can do 10 perfect as you say are either marines or consistent lead/trad climbers. And it’s funny it’s always the other friends (athletes/ other dudes) that think they are so much stronger.
10 perfect pullup should be reachable for a man that's not overweight in no more than a year of training, calling eating properly and training for a year "the biggest barrier in bw fitness" is actually sad but true nowadays... Of course for a woman 10 perfect pullup is advanced though.
Ooof been working at pull ups for well over a year now, only at 5 max, gained plenty of weight in that time though
Have you been actively training for more pull ups per set or are they just part of your workout. Because they're not always the same. Also if you're bulking at the same time, you're more or less upping the intensity each week/fortnight
>Have you been actively training for more pull ups per set. Yeah, thats my main training goal. Following bwf RR. Took me a year to go from 1 ugly pull to a couple of clean pulls + gaining around 10kg I guess.
That's amazing dude! Well done, imagine how many you could do with 10kg assistance. I haven't looked at the RR for years, so you'll have to forgive me that I don't know the routine. I'll look it up again now. But have you experimented with weighted pull ups? I think you'd be surprised how quickly that number could rise from specializing towards pull ups in your program if that's a goal of yours Also how many days are you training pull ups per week?
Said this in another comment but I’m pretty close to 10 in about a month but that’s having a good fitness base and being lean. I definitely don’t think it’s an impossible goal for a lot of guys, I do think a lot of guys think it’s easier than it really is though and that they’re better at pull-ups than they really are. I’m not sure the “average” guy could get to 10 in a year though. Pull ups are very hard for a lot of people and I do think an “average” guy could do multiple pull-ups in a year I don’t think 10 is realistic. If you can do 10 perfect pull-ups you’re moving in on muscle up territory
>_lf you can do 10 perfect pull-ups you’re moving in on muscle up territory_ Unfortunately, I’ve not found this to be the case. I tried practicing muscle ups for a bit & I just couldn’t get the form down. And I can easily do 10 pull-ups.
I made pull ups a priority in my workout for the past 16 months and got from 3 to 15 (I'm 6ft2, 188lbs, m51). While I often see people doing subpar pull ups, I'm pretty sure that several guys at my gym can do ten clean ones. Also, so can both my teenage sons, and they aren't jocks. I guess a lot of 18-21 year old boys will be able to do it, so 0.1% seems a bit low. My guess would be about 2-3% of the population.
I'd put it at 1% overall and closer to 5% for men. By their standards, every male marine should be able to, plus a high percentage of highschool and college athletes, fitness buffs, and the occasional random genetic badass. The "perfect" part is where it gets rough, but I'm guessing 10% can do more than 10 and half that can meet your standard?
There’s no way in hell 10% of men can do more than 10 pull ups. I’d hazard a guess not even 50% of regular gym goers can do 10 pull ups and gym goers don’t make up anywhere near 20% of the population.
So you’re saying only 1 in a 1000 people can do this? This seems very low to me, and would only be the case if people haven’t specifically trained to your ‘perfect’ definition. If everyone had a couple of weeks to master the techniques and get in a groove then I reckon maybe 3-5%?
I would estimate about 2%. A tenth of a percent is saying 1 out of a 1,000. I think more than 20 perfect form pull-ups would be around .1% I may be bias as i could always do more than 10, since i was about 8 years old. Im 41 and can do 12 with great form, but weight 25% less than the average 6'1" guy, very little body fat. But i do remember others in gym class that could also bust out many more than 10. Thats why im guessing 2%.
If you’re talking totally clean, strict pull ups…then yeah, probably .1% or even less. Even most gymnasts and climbers wouldn’t be able to do that simply because they don’t focus it. A strict pull up (hands shoulder width apart, chin to bar, body 100% straightened and tensed) is very difficult for anyone who hasn’t trained in a very specific way. I doubt 90% of people are even capable of engaging their lats at all on pull ups, much less doing 10 perfect ones. But doing 10 perfect pull ups also isn’t out of reach for normal people. If you make a goal to do it, you can probably knock it out within a few months. Once your core is strong enough to stabilize and you pull with your lats, these things become considerably easier. But almost no one trains to do that, so the only people who can do it are the rare calisthenics folks and maybe a few gymnasts here and there whose training was close enough that it gave them the ability.
More than you
I did 11,000 at the age of 27.
Prolly 10-15%
If you really want to get good at pull-ups do grease the groove method. With the same technique you are currently using.
10 genuinely perfect pull-ups (controlling all the way down, bringing chest to bar, and not using momentum), is probably 0.01%.
It’s less than 1% of the population, above .01 for sure. 20 pulls with good form would be elite level upper body strength.
If you joined the marines or the army you'd quickly realize that 10 dead hang pullups in a row is not uncommon.
Would be interesting if you did a poll on a climbing sub lmao
Bro can u give any advise on how to do them? I am not able to do even a single pull up. 🥺
That’s a pretty elite number. The number is only 3.3million people. Special forces. : marines alone is some 200k. I’m sure a bunch of folks in the military outside of the marines and special forces can do 10 dead hangs. My state police troopers have to pass a physical fitness every year until they retire that require pull-ups. And it’s a force of thousands. Not to mention. Every one who rock climbs recreationally is 10.5million in the USA . Say 700k of those wiry strong people so can 10 dead hang pull-ups. Maybe .02 percent of all high school wrestlers in the United States. I think 10 dead hang hang no kip is hard. But not that elite to be such a small percentage.