how many pull-ups can you do???

Lee Smith wrote: Diana Hunter couldn't do a single pullup, but she was climbing some cutting edge routes in the '70s. It ain't all about brute force.

Absolutely true... I've had guys (better climbers than me) watch me campus a gym 5.11 on lead and laugh: "Dude, you can only climb 12a?"

That's right... my footwork is about the same no matter if I am dragging them or just letting them hang. maybe that's why 5.11a is my max on slabs. Using my feet only adds a number grade, I guess...

For the record, I just went to the gym at work and tried harder to reach a max number. I can do 14 pullups, max.

Tomorrow I will pull up my socks and pants and hopefully onight/red/pink point 5.10.

I had a pullup bar in my livingroom a few years ago. I could do 15 but not from a dead hang. It didn't help my climbing any.

when Joseffa and I regularly went to the gym we'd do pull-ups after the workout to "finish the job." before going home. She could do 6-10 after a workout then, if memory serves me correctly. It seemed that it made a difference for her in the gym, but not on real rock. In Eldo, she could climb 5.11, but would get spit off on roof-moves with small holds at 5.10b.
IE- She flashed Point Break on lead for the 10d gear pitch, followed the 11a bolted section, but then got spit off on the "steep" 5.9 move.

Strength isn't everything. I used to think if I had her SKILL, I'd climb a lot harder.

3 (dead-hang style) off the couch.
5 (same style) if I've been working on pull-ups.

In climbing, technique is so much more than brute strength.

In regards to technique, I really like the Masterclass I climbing video.

Back in the day, at least 40 (with hanging rests). This was also right out of the 82nd Airborne. Nowadays, maybe 15-20. Keep in mind, pull-ups are horrible for your elbows. At least for mine.

Lauren D. Hollingsworth wrote:In climbing, technique is so much more than brute strength.

An old friend of mine had notoriously weak pull-up strength. I saw him get beat by a 5th grade girl at a pull-up competition at Lander's Climbers Festival. He could only do 3 or 4 pullups but he was regularly climbing in the 12s and up to 13a. He had great technique.

Back in the day I could do 50 in one set and even a one arm. Nowadays, I can do 10 on a good day, but 7 or 8 is a more realistic estimate.

BTW, who needs to do them with a pack when you've got middle-aged spread strapped to your body?

How many one-arm pullups? And how many one finger? Gullich could do one finger pullups, and he apparently had skill too.

I've never been able to do a one-arm. This had always held me back. Either that or it is the skill part.

Harold Lampasso wrote:Sal... Only if you drank the beer while doing the bat hang and the sit ups!! Real pull ups.. All the way down all the way up... No "kipping" Marine Corps style!

That was actually my suggestion for comp regulations. I train that way at home all the time. They veto'd that idea for fear of people drowing and not enough life jackets to go around.

At my best,34 in a go and 200 weighted in a workout. Never a one-arm.

When I was about 20 years old I could manage ~40 with hanging rests. I was training with Tim Fairfield at the time. His best effort for single go was over 100 with hanging rests and a few one arms on each side thrown in every twenty or so. He had what I regarded as World Class strength and the skills to match.

erikwellborn wrote:Maybe 3.... On a good day.

E to the Dub is lying. He is a closet Mark Twight. He doesn't have a pullout bar at his house because he does his pullups on door frame crimpers with cement bags in his pack.
That, and he's a mutant.

To amplify the point already made by several...

Have you ever failed on a climb where your grip was solid, but you just couldn't do another pull-up? No. Often you fail on a climb because you simply can't hang on to the holds any longer. I.e. even regarding the brute force part, it's forearm flex endurance, not bicep/lat contraction endurance.

Lauren D. Hollingsworth wrote:3 (dead-hang style) off the couch. 5 (same style) if I've been working on pull-ups. In climbing, technique is so much more than brute strength. In regards to technique, I really like the Masterclass I climbing video.

So right you are. In the ole days technique was so important as the gear was so lacking. Finesse and technique look so much better than grunting up a climb. Although I admit there are times where I was thankful for it! Sometimes my big pecs get in the way of redpointing .14s regularly. (LOL on the .14!!!)

Pull-ups by themselves on a bar don't seem to help me much past the 8-10 mark. Once you reach that level, the key is contact strength and one-arm strength. Doing pull-ups on a finger-edge has always been helpful for me and careful adding of some weight on top of that can build power. The need to pull your entire bodyweight on a pair of good holds is virtually non-existent outside Sylvester Stallone movies. My average on a good day is about 20 on a 1/2 inch edge, 10 on 1/4 inch.

A couple of hundred at least. Oh wait... you mean in a single go? Sorry... I thought you meant in a lifetime.

At least one. One and a half if I get a bit of a jump after the 1st one.

About 5 years ago I used to go to the climbing gym everyday after work from about 5pm to 10pm and eventually got to the point where I could do a one arm pull-up. I never did reps though as I'd rather climb than workout...even if it was in a gym. I could pull about half a natural route at 13b or something and send the 12c crack in the gym, but never proved myself on real rock. My elbows also gave out and ended me for awhile. Moving, marriage, kids and a few years later and I'm just now getting back into climbing. Not sure I'll ever climb at that level again, but I can't wait til my kids do!
Edited to ad: I always wanted to see someone do a pull-up off of a 2x4 or some other purely vertical surface. Anyone ever heard of that being done?

what do you mean "a pullup on a vertical surface like a 2x4?" If you mean by pinching the bottom and pulling up, then I've got a photo of a front lever being done on a pinch (not by me) and that would be much, much harder. I'd say many strong climbers can do simply a pullup on a pinch like that.

what about 5k or distance running times?

at the end of the fall I ran a 9:34 mile and a half

I agree with Peter on the pull-ups, once I got to be able more than 10 the returns on climbing grades started diminishing fast, unless it's an insanely overhung route

Two.
Then my elbows swell.
I did 51 once, and thats why I can now only do two.