how many pull-ups can you do???

just for fun and completely out of my own curiosity:

how many pull-ups can you do on a bar- just regular proper pull-ups? i'm just curious to see if it has some sort of relation to how hard one climbs. this isn't a pissing contest, just curious.

i'll start it off. the most pull-ups i've done in a single set is 38. i've never come close to hitting that number again. i average around 25.

i read or heard somewhere that fred nicole could bust out 30+ one-arm pull-ups, which is insane to me. though i also read that dave graham has trouble performing one one-arm pull-up. what are your thoughts? is there a minimum number that allows you to climb at a certain grade? i know it depends on many factors, like finger strength and what not, but lets try to dumb it down for no good reason at all.

again, just for fun. i know comparing numbers is whack and all, but lets hear it.

Well first you have to specify if we are talking dead hang, or kipping, which is like night and day. For the purpose of pure numbers I'm assuming were talking kipping and my best set is 27.

As far as my best redpoint, I havent ever really worked any route with the intention of redpointing. Some of my best onsights are 11c sport routes. I could probably redpoint a 12 with some time put into it. I started trad leading last year and my best trad route is a couple of 5.9's in Joshua tree. Although I know I am strong enough to lead 10's... just need to get a more technically inclined partner willing to second some 10's and 11's

Maybe 3.... On a good day.

I've done as many as 20 and onsighted easy .12's, done a few v6's and one v7. Nothing to brag about at all.

But mostly I wanted to tell you that dave grahm story is BS. The other night we were trying to do out hangboard workout. For me, that means I have to unload a bunch of weight with a pully system a'la Rockprodigy/bheller's workout. So there we were, with like 70 pounds of weights, trying to hook it onto the pulley and harness without dropping it onto myself... and Dave Grahm walks up and and kindly says, "Wow Man, that's a lot of weight".

Of course, I'm embarrassed at first because I'm weaksauce but apoplogize for hogging the hangboard. "Yeah, I kind of need a lot to unload my largon." But Dave just keeps standing there, waiting with kind of a grin. Now I'm even more self consciouis, holding this weight while we get the stupid rope through it all and safely attatched because he's polietely standing there, right by us. So I ask him, "Umm, do you need to get into the closet." (right behind our gym's hangboard box) And Dave politely says, "Oh, no. I just wanted to do some pullups..." Now I'm feeling like a total douchebag for hogging the whole area while superstar wants to just do a couple of pullups.

But then he said, "No worries, I'll just use the campusboard" and goes and whips out a bunch of pullups on the little rungs of the campusboard. Of course, my head is down doing that painful workout so I didn't really watch his pullups.

Long story short, Dave Grahm is a nice guy who can do a bunch of pullups. From what I saw, he can do a bunch of them on a small set of campus rungs and probably tons of one-armed pullups.

Oh, and what made me the most curious was my partner's observation that I was using more than half his body weight to unload. A more pertinant question for this kind of calculus might be, "How does strength to weight ratio + grip strength + core strength + psyche + god-given talent = overall climbing performance?"

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

And he still climbs 5.12.

But, I bet Erik could do at least ten pull-ups because he's a pretty bad-ass ice climber.

I'll do 4 - 5 sets of 10 about 2x's a week. Since it's ice season, I've changed over to towell pullups (drape a bath towell over a bar and go)till my hand give out, then switch over to regular pullups to max out. I don't (can't) do one arms, but I do hangs and negative one arms. I think they help you climb but it doesn't necessariliy make you a stronger climber. Maybe a stronger boulderer or ice climber, but on face or sport I think sometimes it might make me climb with my stregth and not with my technique. And honestly I've seen a lot of guys that had a build like a little girly man, and they crank. Steph Davis said that she thought that pullups were the answer to being a stronger climber until she started doing yoga.

I second the post regarding core. I mix core into EVERY work out I do. I try to "tighten" my core during all my exercises and really focus on stabilization. That's something I leaned in PT after getting a sweet disc bulge. Sooooo....pullups are cool, but yoga, weights, cardio and pilates mixed in... THAT will make you a strong climber. Oh and it helps too if you naturally rock.

BrettPierce wrote: And he still climbs 5.12. But, I bet Erik could do at least ten pull-ups because he's a pretty bad-ass ice climber.

Yep! Have never seen E doing a pullup but my butt has been spanked seconding some of his stuff.

I put a pull up bar in a doorway and try to do sets of 10 at least once a week, mixed in with other stuff.... usually 4 or 5 sets pretty much wipes out my arms/upper body. Never have really been a pull up monster. :)

tenesmus wrote:... For me, that means I have to unload a bunch of weight with a pully system a'la Rockprodigy/bheller's workout.

can i ask what you mean by "unloading" with weights? I'm not sure i'm familiar with this idea. thanks

Are we talking full extension pull ups or weenie pull ups with your arms still bent slightly?

I can do 20 real ones with a 25 pound pack on. I even do them with my old grivel ramb axes. I can do 30 without. That's fresh.

No one armers for me!!! I never climbed hard than .11. Most often I'm climbing below 10. That's when i get to climb which is very rare these days. that' why I started with the pull ups.

In my younger days I could hit maximum sets of 35-40 and 3 one arms with my left actually stronger than my right. I used to hang up to 75 lbs off a weight belt and do pull ups or just run the lat pull machine up to 270 or so. That was way back when doing lots of pull ups was the thing to do to train for climbing. I still do some heavy lat pulls, but in a pronated position, since I now have bone spurs in both elbows.

As far as how it all translates to climbing. I think that a lot of pull-ups helps crack climbing more than sport stuff. My max redpoint has been about 13 a or b. It is kind of fun being able to burn off the big body builder types on at least one machine in the gym though.

Harold Lampasso wrote:I can do 20 real ones with a 25 pound pack on. I even do them with my old grivel ramb axes. I can do 30 without. That's fresh.

That's what I am talking about - How many "Real" Pull ups can you do with a 25 lb pack on!

I can do 30 "real" without pack, 15 ice axe pull ups, and 20 with weighted pack (not sure how heavy)

My hardest sport red-point has been 12c. I can do about 35 pull ups, but I climb with two people doing 13s regularly who can't do more than 15. I think that type of strength is most useful for alpine routes with a heavyish pack where you are doing lots of moderate rock and long sections of two tool ice. At least its on those types of routes where the muscles seem to give me some advantage in endurance and comfort leading/moving with the pack.

Woe is me...

I decided to start working upper body again. My pre-surgery numbers were 30-50 pull-ups AFTER an exhaustion workout at the gym. Or 25 with "traverses." (suspend chin above bar, lock off and touch chin to left knuckles, then to right knuckles, then to center than go back down.

I could to do about 50 fresh, on rings, but rarely did. I was more worried about tendonitis than getting a real pump.

3 days ago I tried. #11 didn't count, I had to bend my knees and kick to get my chin above the bar... So much for staying in climbing shape after the injury. I've been lazy.

Last week at OR i did a bat hang for a minute and a half then did 18 sit ups in bat hang position then pounded a beer upon dismount.

Does that enter me in this ruler contest?

SAL wrote:Last week at OR i did a bat hang for a minute and a half then did 18 sit ups in bat hang position then pounded a beer upon dismount. Does that enter me in this ruler contest?

SAL, You are a bad ass - so no that doesn't get you in.

doug s wrote: SAL, You are a bad ass - so no that doesn't get you in.

damn...

well steve house and i both fell to some bad ass folks in that comp and we thought we were looking good. At least we had the fastest times for beer chug :)
The two guys that passed us on sit ups were spewing beer out the nose and falling over. Some funny stuff. Great idea for a comp :)

I really can't do pull ups.

Is it a problem if I don't train for climbing? My only training I do is go to the rock gym and climb like 2 times a month, during winter.

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!

Double rotator-cuff impingement = zero pullups. But I can on-sight 5.6 trad and at least 5.7 sport.

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.

Lee Smith wrote:Double rotator-cuff impingement = zero pullups. But I can on-sight 5.6 trad and at least 5.7 sport. 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.

Lee, I'm with you on this one.