How many pull-ups should you be able to do?

How many pull-ups can the average man or woman do?

Nobody has counted strict pull-ups in a representative sample of all adults, so any "average man" figure you see online is a guess or comes from a narrow group such as soldiers or students. What is safe to say: many adults who do not train cannot do a single strict rep, and that is normal rather than a failing.

Among regular gym-goers, Gripp's model gives a clearer picture. A typical man of about 80 kg (175 lb) lands around 5 reps, a man who does 10 has passed roughly four out of five people who lift, and the top 5 % do sets of 5 with a 25 kg (55 lb) plate hanging from a belt. A typical woman of 60 kg (130 lb) needs about 10 kg (20 lb) of help to get one rep, and a woman who does a strict bodyweight pull-up has reached Advanced.

How Gripp rates a pull-up

A pull-up lifts your whole body, so counting reps alone would punish heavy lifters and ignore weighted or band-assisted sets. Gripp instead looks at the total load you moved: your bodyweight, plus any weight on a belt, minus any assistance. It turns that load and your reps into an estimated one rep max with the Epley formula, then divides by bodyweight.

• One strict rep at bodyweight equals 1.0 times bodyweight.
• 5 strict reps is about 1.17 times bodyweight, the median for men in the model.
• 10 strict reps is about 1.33 times bodyweight. Above 10 reps the estimate gets unreliable, so to score higher you add weight instead.
• Assisted reps count too: Gripp subtracts the help. Its defaults are 15 kg for a light band, 25 kg for a medium band and 35 kg for a heavy band, or use the number on an assisted pull-up machine.

Chin-ups use the same standard. People often manage a rep or two more with palms facing them, so if you mix the two, log them as separate exercises. The chin-up guide explains the difference.

How many pull-ups is good for men?

Find your bodyweight and read the reps or load where each level starts, for strict reps from a dead hang to chin over the bar, at age 18 to 35. Loads are rounded to 2.5 kg (5 lb).

The model expects lighter men to be a little stronger per kilo of bodyweight, which is why the 70 kg row asks for slightly more than the 60 and 80 kg rows. Heavy men get more credit for each rep: 5 strict pull-ups at 110 kg (245 lb) rate as Advanced, while the same 5 at 80 kg (175 lb) are Intermediate.

Pull-ups for women

Women usually have less upper body muscle relative to bodyweight, so the pull-up is one of the hardest lifts to get, much like the press in the overhead press standards. In the model, the median woman who trains cannot yet do a strict rep, which means a first unassisted pull-up is a real achievement and a sensible long-term goal.

Assistance is shown for a single rep to keep the table readable. In practice you would train sets of 5 to 8 with more help, and Gripp converts those sets to the same scale.

Average pull-ups by age chart

The model eases each level after 35, following the age curve it uses for its other lifts. The rep counts fall quickly with age even though the strength change is modest, because a small loss of relative strength costs several reps when you lift your whole body.

So a 55 year old man who does 3 strict reps is comfortably above the median for his age, even though the same set would be Novice at 25.

Weighted pull-up strength standards

Once you can do 10 clean reps, adding reps tells you less and less, so the model switches to added weight. Hang a plate or dumbbell from a dip belt and use sets of 3 to 8. A useful rule from the Epley formula: at bodyweight B and added weight W for 5 reps, your total load is (B + W) × 1.17. The Elite line for an 80 kg (175 lb) man is reached with about 25 kg (55 lb) for 5 reps.

Weighted sets also make it easier to compare with lat work. If your weighted pull-up climbs, your lat pulldown usually follows.

How to do more pull-ups

1. From zero to oneUse band-assisted or machine-assisted sets of 5 to 8, slow negatives (jump to the top, lower over 3 to 5 seconds) and inverted rows. Reduce the help a step at a time.
2. From one to fiveDo several short sets well before failure, for example 5 sets of 2, two or three times a week. Practice beats a single max set.
3. From five to tenPick a target such as 3 sets of 5 to 8. When every set reaches 8, add a rep to the bottom of the range or start adding a little weight. That is double progression, the core of progressive overload.
4. Ten and beyondTrain weighted sets of 3 to 6 and keep one bodyweight set for reps. Rows and curls from the back exercises hub fill in the rest.

Losing body fat also adds reps without any strength change, because there is less of you to pull. Technique details such as grip width and the dead hang start are in the pull-up guide.

Elbow or shoulder pain that comes back every time you hang or pull is worth showing to a physiotherapist before you push the volume.

About the numbers: the pull-up model is Gripp's own estimate. Its age and bodyweight adjustments follow normative powerlifting data from van den Hoek et al. (2024), "Normative data for the squat, bench press and deadlift exercises in powerlifting", J Sci Med Sport 27(10):734-742 (CC BY 4.0), and reps are converted with the Epley formula. Expect the levels to change as real training data comes in.

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