Not Using The Term Good or Bad

The terms good or bad are not very good words to use when creating a standard. Being a beginner and not being able to perform a pull up is completely normal, it is neither good nor bad. When thinking about standardising exercise metrics think more about what the averages are, not in terms of good or bad.

Difference Between the Sexes and Age Effects

When it comes to resistance training, there is a huge difference in strength between males and females, especially in the upper body. This difference will remain throughout all levels of ability. A beginner male will typically be far stronger than a beginner female as an elite male will be stronger than an elite female. This is why we need both male and female standards. There will also be dramatic differences when it comes to age groups. For the sake of this article I have given the standards for 18-35 year olds, these figures will decrease with age.

Pull Up Standards Matter

People really struggle doing high quality strict pull ups. They find it hard to accelerate towards the bottom or use momentum to help swing themselves at the start of the movement. To know how many pull ups you can actually do, you need to standardise the movement and ensure you keep strict movement patterns whenever you test how many pull ups you can do.

Anecdotal Pull Up Standards

There are not scientific studies done on the standard number of pull ups individuals are able to perform. This means this response is completely anecdotal and non-scientific, but that doesn't mean that it wont be able to guide you when setting goals or trying understand where you compare to others.

Guidelines are just guidelines, there will always be exceptions to the rule, some people adapt slowly over time whereas others adapt rapidly to training, there are no strict rules around progression. So take these guidelines and a rough guide, not strict rules.

Levels

Beginner - 0-2 years of training

Intermediate - 2-5 years of training

Advanced - 5+ years of training

Elite - 5+ years of training and high adaptability.

Male

Beginner - 0

Intermediate - 1-5

Advanced - 5 -12

Elite - 12+

Female

Beginner - 0

Intermediate - 1-2

Advanced - 2-5

Elite - 5+