how many pull ups can you do?
 

my personal best is 17, and this is after months of practice

I do 22 before I start my workouts and 22 after. It's funny to see these big muscular guys in the gym bench 400 lbs but can't do 5 pull ups, haha.

In lamenting my present state of laziness and being out of shape, I had cuase to remember back to High School when I was able to do between 30 and 40 pull-ups. Now I doubt I could manage half that...

i can do around 5

thats without working out on a regular basis, maybe some pushups every other day or so

i used to be able to do more tho :[

I suppose you mean in a row, without stopping.
Right now, about 6.
At my best, 9-11.

Used to do 20, now 12. Put on some weight -- some muscle, some fat -- and that put a damper on things. Still got stronger in all my other exercises, though, including back pulldown.

15 tops for me... damn they're hard

I can do about 25. I also do them before i start anything at the gym.

Last time I tried I did 20 (about 6 months ago). But when I was in shape and required to do them for the Marine Corps, I could pump out 20 to 30 consistently, hop down, shake out my arms for a couple of minutes and do the same. When it came to the PFT for me it was 200 + the run. (300 points being max for the three "events" and always maxing the pull ups and sit ups)

I dunno, last time I tried I could just barely do 1. But that was like, 5 years ago. I guess if I ever see a pull up bar, I'll give it a shot :)

the best i ever did was 14. Its more an issue of endurance and weight.
i've seen positively skinny guys do like 40 over. Hmm....actually... i've only seen lean guys do 40-50 over.

About 35-40... and that's after benching 315, 3 sets of 5 to 8. Seriously. It was weird, in high school (9 years ago...) males were required to do 10 pullups to meet some stupid fitness requirement. I was able to keep going and did close to 50 to the instructor's and classmates amazement.

davidc209: So you do your back training after you do your chest training ? .. How stupid is that ?

Anyways, i think i can do about 20 .. or so .. gonna have a hard time though ..

What's wrong with working your push/pull muscles the same workout session? I've done it in my past with success. Don't go around commenting on others routines unless it was asked upon or in a positive manner.

15 wearing a 40 pound vest
30-40 with just my own weight

the questions should be "how many 1 armed pullups can you do?" regular ones just aren't a challenge after 1 arm

Ok, are people here talking about back pull-ups (what I thought what was being discussed) or chin-ups???
Sounds like some are one and some are for another.

i've never tried more than 5 chin-ups but i can probably do more. what do you mean by back pull-ups? With arms at the sides pulling up?

i think he means having your hands face the other way. i do them both. if i have to specify which im talking about then i call palms towards me "pullups" and palms away from me "chinups"

chinups used to be harder for me but i worked on them so both are about equal now

This is what I thought the thread was talking about (and I find them a lot harder than chin-ups :))
http://www.steelfitness.com/beta/tra...kchinstart.jpg http://www.steelfitness.com/beta/tra...chinfinish.jpg

If you are trying to get your muscles to grow, then its best to concentrate your workout on a big and a small muscle group each day you work out. Doing back and chest will only get your blood flowing in both places, and you wont get as much out of it.

First of all, there are more than one way to work out.
Second, not everyone works out to grow there muscles - the push/pull routine is a great way for developing power and strength ... besides, control and change equals muscle growth. Guess you have never heard of warming up the chest by doing a couple of light back exercises first. Once again, there's no reason to bad mouth another's choice of exercises.

anyone ever heard of super sets?

what's wrong with me. even when i was a kid i had a hard time doing pullups.

i could do 100 pushups, over 60 situps in a minute. at one point i could bench 250 while weighing 190 and yet i've never been able to do more than 3 or 4 pullups.

damn.

i always thought short guys had the advantage in lifting and pullups cause their arms don't have to travel as far.

Personal best is like 14 and I'm like 160

Definitely a small guy's sport. There was a guy in my PE class that could do 40+ pull-ups, but he also weighed 100 pounds less than I did at the time and although I was stronger than him, I could only do 4 or 5. Same is true for dips or any other exercise where you have to move your own weight, it's a lot easier for the little guys.

best ever chin-ups = 24.

best ever pullu-ups = somewhere between 10 - 14.

hehe that's funny as a girl I can do more pull-ups than most guys (15! yay). . .then again I'm thin for my height so you're right.

Dont forget when comparing the reps that you should correct for bodyweight. Which is why often smaller people with less to lift and less distance to move can often outshine the larger people.

Also the advantage is doing antagonist muscles ie opposites functions of movement. Example the biceps bends the elbow while the tricep straightens the elbow. The nerves that supply both work as a team. Obviously you cannot bend and straighten at the same time, you can but an equal force of both will result in no movemnet at all, I digress. When you do a bicep curl the nerve to the tricep FORCES it to relax and thus it gets an excellent rest. The same when the tricep extends, the bicep nerve makes the bicep relax. This is called reciprocal inhibition.

So when you have the CV fitness to be able to train the antagonist pairs with supersets and moderate rest i.e. 4 minutes for a superset of one set of each opposite muscle and a rest before you start again. You will have a challenging but very growth stimulating workout.

Bon appetite ...

yes, that is what i mainly do when working out. it takes alot of determination so i usually have a partner to motivate me. they are so satisfying when completed.

Yes, but how much do you weigh?

These same men are BIG,
their muscle weighs quite alot.

I've been working out for years, and can do quite a bit on everything,
including many different cardio & sports.

However, pull-ups are difficult.
Why? Because I'm 6.2 and weigh about 250.

Doesn't matter how in good shape you are,
when you doing pull-ups you're working your own mass.
And everyone is different.

exactly! it's like someone gloating that they can bench 75 lbs over 100 times.

it's cool and definitely requires strength and endurance. it's just different than the guy benching 315 five times.

i think they're overrated as a strength test, however they're a good indicator for realistic acting in the next Cliffhanger movie.

bench pressing doesn't do much as far as functionality. doesn't help you lift heavy things because lifting barely uses your chest. it is only good if you want tittties.

well obviously when you weigh 300 pounds it's tough to do a pull up ;)

also, I don't know what my best would be, I don't really do pullups. If I do, it's usually at the end of my work out, so my muscles are tired and I can probably only do 3 or 4 :(

I agree i was only using it as an example.
I can also see where at first it might seem funny or ironic that a buff guy could only do a few pull-ups. but it's just a matter of what type of muscles your after.

sprinting, deadlifts, overhead presses, heavy weight holds (where you grab two heavy dumbells and just stand there holding them or walk with them) and a heavy bag workout would probably be more useful in everyday life.

I also think you could get in pretty good shape just doing pull-ups, pushups, situps and running.

i've done 10 or so on my best days...now doing about 3 [just started doing them after a year]. I can row pretty well--bent over barbell rows at 225 for 8 reps...1-arm dumbbell rows 100 lbs. for 6 reps but never been strong on pull-ups or pulldowns for some reason....

No matter how much you weigh, if you consider yourself to be "in shape" you should atleast beable to pull your own body weight a few times, that's my opinion anyways.

Also keep in mind if you can do 22 pull ups and 60 situps easy..you should probably start adding some weight somehow. Like get a friend to gentle hold down your legs while doing the pullups, and put a 10 pound weight on top of your chest while doing situps...

I was only able to do about 8 chin ups in a row yesterday :\

I can do ~20... I only weigh 165 though ;)

I can do 10 I weigh 250lbs. My grip gives out first though.