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How Many Pull-Ups Should You Be Able to Do?
Photo: U.S. Marine Corps, Staff Sgt. Lindsey Kibler, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
There is no reliable norm table for pull-ups the way there is for grip strength, because the load is your own body weight and that differs for everyone. In the best measured comparison, the average college man managed 1 rep at 116 percent of his body weight and the average woman at 73 percent, meaning she needed counterweight for a single rep.
Say where you stand. RepMaxing sets the target. coming soon Why is there no good answer to this question?
There is no good answer because nobody has measured it properly. Handgrip strength has international norms built from 2.4 million adults across 69 countries, published by Tomkinson et al. (2025). Pull-ups have nothing of the kind. What exists instead is a scattering of small samples drawn from selected groups: college athletes, soldiers, firefighters, cadets.
The second reason is more interesting. A pull-up’s load is your own body weight, so the exercise is not the same task for 2 different people. A grip dynamometer asks everyone to squeeze the same device. A bar asks a 65 kilogram person and a 95 kilogram person to lift completely different amounts.
What did the studies actually measure?
The most useful measurement turns the question around and asks how much weight people can pull, rather than how many times. Johnson et al. (2009) tested 35 college men and 23 college women, adding weight or counterweight until each could manage exactly 1 repetition.
| Group | 1 rep maximum, as a share of body mass | What that means |
|---|---|---|
| College men | 1.16 | 1 rep at body weight plus 16 percent |
| College women | 0.73 | 1 rep only with 27 percent taken off |
So in that group the average man could do a pull-up and a bit more; the average woman could not do one unassisted. The same study found women completed more repetitions at 80 percent of their maximum than men, 10.5 against 8.1, so this is a statement about load, not about endurance or effort.
Two cautions. These were college students, which is a young and fairly active group, so the numbers flatter the population. And 58 people is small.
Does body weight really decide it?
Body weight decides a large part of it, and the evidence is direct. Merrigan et al. (2020) measured 33 professional firefighters on bench press, push-ups and pull-ups to failure along with body composition, and found pull-up repetitions correlated with the endurance push-to-pull ratio at r = -0.62, while body fat percentage correlated with that ratio at r = 0.40. In plain terms: more body fat, fewer pull-ups relative to push-ups.
That is not a diet argument. It is the reason a norm table would be misleading even if someone built one. The number you can do reflects your back and your body weight together, and a table that reports only the first is reporting half the story.
What number should you actually aim for?
Aim at 1 step above where you are today, and test it the same way every time. The steps below are a rule of thumb, chosen for the same property as the ones in how many push-ups a beginner should aim for: each is reachable within weeks and each returns a yes or a no.
| Where you are | Next target |
|---|---|
| Cannot hang 20 seconds | A 30 second dead hang |
| Can hang, 0 pull-ups | 1 strict rep |
| 1 rep | 3 reps |
| 3 reps | 5 reps |
| 5 reps | 8 reps |
| 8 reps | 10 reps, then add weight |
The jump from 0 to 1 is the hardest one in this sport and the only one where the answer is a different exercise rather than more of the same. That is what the rungs are for: scapular pulls, inverted rows, negatives and band assisted reps, in the order set out in how to do your first pull-up.
What if you are nowhere near the table?
Then the honest answer is that the table is not for you yet, and neither is the question. Someone who cannot hang for 20 seconds is not failing at pull-ups, they are at the rung before pull-ups, and the number that matters is seconds rather than repetitions. Sepehri Rahnama et al. (2025) measured hang time as a separate outcome for exactly that reason, and their forearm group improved it by 55.3 percent over 8 weeks.
I built RepMaxing to accept 0 as an answer for the same reason. Most rep counters assume you can already do the thing, which makes the first screen a wall for the people who need the programme most. Entering 0 pull-ups is not an error state in the app, it is the ordinary starting point, and grip strength for pull-ups covers what to do while the number is still 0.
How fast do the numbers move?
They move faster than people expect, provided the training targets the actual limiter. Sepehri Rahnama et al. (2025) randomised 30 physically inactive men into 8 weeks of identical pull-up programmes with different supplements, and the group that added forearm work raised its repetitions by 222.5 percent and its hang time by 55.3 percent. The group that added intervals improved least.
Read that percentage carefully. When the starting number is 2, a 222 percent rise is 6 or 7 reps, not 40. Large percentages on small numbers are the normal shape of beginner progress, and they are still worth having.
At a bigger scale, Vantarakis et al. (2022) followed 185 Greek naval cadets through 10 weeks of basic training and measured improvements in 1 minute pull-ups alongside push-ups and the Cooper run. 10 to 12 weeks is the period over which published programmes show change, which makes it a reasonable planning horizon.
What counts as a rep?
A rep counts when it starts from a full dead hang with straight arms, finishes with the chin clear of the bar, and involves no kick or swing. That standard matters more here than anywhere else on this site, because the whole point of a number is comparing it with your own number from last month.
Youdas et al. (2010) recorded the lats at 117 to 130 percent of a maximal contraction during a strict pull-up. A kipped rep moves that work to the hips, which Dinunzio et al. (2019) measured as a 26.7 percent drop in biceps activation alongside a 28.7 percent rise in the abdominals. Two numbers counted differently are not comparable at all, and the full comparison is in pull-up variations.
That is the whole reason RepMaxing holds the definition still. You enter your rep count for pull-up, push-up and dip, 0 included, and a goal workout is 6 sessions ending in 1 attempt at a target computed from those numbers and frozen until you reach it. A target that moves is not a target, and a rep that means something different each month is not a number. The first goal workout, Foundation, is free.
Questions people actually ask
How many pull-ups should the average man be able to do?
Nobody has published a trustworthy figure. Johnson et al. (2009) tested 35 college men and found their 1 repetition maximum pull-up sat at 1.16 times body mass, so the average man there could do 1 rep with 16 percent added. That is a selected, young, active group, not the population.
How many pull-ups should a woman be able to do?
In the same study, 23 college women averaged a 1 repetition maximum of 0.73 times body mass, which means the average participant could not complete a single pull-up at her own weight and needed counterweight. That is a fact about load, not about capability, and it is why the rungs matter more than a target.
Is 1 pull-up good?
For someone starting from 0, 1 strict pull-up is the single hardest milestone in this whole sport, because the gap from 0 to 1 is the gap from not lifting your body weight to lifting it. Everything after that is adding repetitions to a movement you already own.
How many pull-ups is impressive?
10 strict reps puts you past almost every beginner and is the entry point for weighted work and the muscle-up. 20 is a genuinely rare number outside selected groups. Both figures are rules of thumb; there is no census.
Why is body weight so important for pull-ups?
Because it is the load. Merrigan et al. (2020) measured 33 firefighters and found body fat percentage correlated with a worse push-to-pull ratio (r = 0.40) and pull-up repetitions correlated at r = -0.62. Two people with identical backs will do different numbers if they weigh different amounts.
How fast can I improve my pull-up numbers?
Faster than most people expect if the training is specific. Sepehri Rahnama et al. (2025) ran 30 untrained men through 8 weeks and the group that added forearm work raised its repetitions by 222.5 percent. Starting numbers were small, so a large percentage is a small absolute gain.
What is a realistic first pull-up target?
Whatever is 1 step above where you are, tested the same way every time. From 0 reps the target is 1 strict rep. From 1 it is 3. From 3 it is 5, then 8, then 10. Those steps are a rule of thumb, chosen because each one is reachable within weeks.
References
- Relationship of lat-pull repetitions and pull-ups to maximal lat-pull and pull-up strength in men and women (Johnson et al., J Strength Cond Res, 2009)
- What factors predict upper body push to pull ratios in professional firefighters? (Merrigan et al., Int J Exerc Sci, 2020)
- Comparative effects of core versus forearm training on pull-up repetition performance in physically inactive males (Sepehri Rahnama et al., Sports, 2025)
- The effects of exercise during a 10-week basic military training program on the physical fitness and body composition of Greek naval cadets (Vantarakis et al., Mil Med, 2022)
- Surface electromyographic activation patterns and elbow joint motion during a pull-up, chin-up, or Perfect-Pullup rotational exercise (Youdas et al., J Strength Cond Res, 2010)
- International norms for adult handgrip strength: a systematic review of data on 2.4 million adults (Tomkinson et al., J Sport Health Sci, 2025)
- Alterations in kinematics and muscle activation patterns with the addition of a kipping action during a pull-up activity (Dinunzio et al., Sports Biomech, 2019)