Ladies who can do unassisted pullups

What's even odder about the article is it states the taller you are and the longer your limbs, the harder time you will have.

I'm on the tall side (5'9") and my arms are pretty long and skinny.

As a kid, I was always one of those who could also climb the gym rope all the way up to the top, while I watched other kids my same age struggle.

Whatever. I can do them. That's all I care about...

I just got strong enough to do one unassisted pull-up myself; now I can do 2 on a good day - getting stronger and looking forward to doing at least 5 I'm 5'5", around 147 lbs, it's fun to see the strength gains and it feels great to be able to hoist my own body weight.

But my SO and my son can do 3-4 just like that and they don't work out at all. I guess it's all down to the difference between the male muscle and the female muscle. We just aren't that strong naturally; we have to work harder for it.

That doesn't mean it's impossible though :devil:

I could do about 3 overhand grip pull ups in a row when I was at my usual weight (I'm 5'6" and like to weigh 140-150 lbs). I'm about 30-40 lbs overweight, so I can't even do one unassisted at the moment, but I am working on assisted pull ups and negatives anyway. I wouldn't think pull ups will be troublesome once I get back to my usual self.

I read that article back when it came out as it made quite a stir amongst the community of women fitness professionals! Pretty shocking and weird....so behind the times!

I am working towards doing unassisted pull ups now!!! It is my goal!!! I can push out 1 now after a month of doing tons of assisted ones!! My goal is 10!!

As a female Marine I can tell you that not all female Marines can do pull-ups. It will be a requirement in 2014 though. To get better at pull-ups you simply have to do pull-ups.

Things that helped me:

Negatives
Jump pull-ups
Kipping
&overall improving my back strength via weight lifting.

(let's not forget shedding the excess body fat. I gained 3 pull-ups just from losing 10lbs)

What are negatives and kipping?

Kipping means cheating and negatives are when you start from the top and resist going down for as long/hard as you can (in the case of pull-ups).

I get a little tiffed when people call kipping cheating... Is it a strict pull-up? No. Will it help strength? Yes. Youtube has different kipping methods to try out if you're new to it

I haven't tested myself for maximum in awhile, but last I did test I could do 11 chin-ups & 9 pull-ups, unassisted. I'm pretty sure I can do a bunch more now.

I do the following most days to help me with upper body:
5 pull-ups
20 push-ups
Repeat 5 times for a total of 25 pull-ups & 100 push-ups.
I do every way possible, overhand, underhand, wide & close grips.

It took me awhile to work up to this, but you'd be amazed if you hang a bar up in your house, and do 1 everytime you walk by it, how fast you will improve. When you start being able to do 5 everytime you walk by, you start to get crazy strong.

When I started at Crossfit, I had to use the widest resistance band to do pullups. I have been at Crossfit for about 2 months and I have moved from that band to the thinner black band, and now I'm using an even thinner blue band. I can do multiple pullups with the band and I'm working on perfecting my kipping so I can do unassisted pullups. When I'm fresh, I can almost do one good one... I'm almost there!

Now, the other women at Crossfit are beasts. They're already way past regular pullups and working on their muscle-ups.

I personally don't feel weight is as much as a factor as people are making it out to be; it's more focused on upper body strength. I know guys who are 200lbs and can rock out 30, just as I know girls bigger than me that can do the same. Just as there are people of similar statures who cant even lift 10 lbs who are not going to be able to do a pullup. I also was the same weight in June and couldn't do more than 1 then. You can be as light as you want, that doesn't mean you'll have the strength or base to do them.

I think you'll find that's usually 200lbs of active muscle as opposed to excess fat - as in my case. If it's muscle it's assisting the pullup whereas if it's fat it's adding resistance.

Of course. My guy friend that does this is stacked. That kinda hits my point; you can be whatever weight you want to be however without the upper body strength it isn't happening. Does lower body fat improve the reps? Yes I agree with that as well as somebody previously mentioned. But simply dropping to a lower weight without working on strength or practicing does not guarantee the ability to do them. Not being harsh, just know what goes into doing them.

I can do 1, almost 2 pullups and 3 reverse grip chinups. I am 158 right now. When I was about 15 lbs heavier I couldn't do 1 either way. I have since began strength training regularly and I always add pullups to my upper body days, even if I can only squeeze out a couple.

The title is sensational and a bit misleading. The article itself goes on to explain that some fit women can do them, but others can't even though they are "fit". It then further explains what traits men and women who can do them tend to have in common (short stature, low body fat, strong upper body). The title doesn't do the subtlety in the article justice. I like the article actually.

To find out just how meaningful a fitness measure the pull-up really is, exercise researchers from the University of Dayton found 17 normal-weight women who could not do a single overhand pull-up. Three days a week for three months, the women focused on exercises that would strengthen the biceps and the latissimus dorsi — the large back muscle that is activated during the exercise. They lifted weights and used an incline to practice a modified pull-up, raising themselves up to a bar, over and over, in hopes of strengthening the muscles they would use to perform the real thing. They also focused on aerobic training to lower body fat.

By the end of the training program, the women had increased their upper-body strength by 36 percent and lowered their body fat by 2 percent. But on test day, the researchers were stunned when only 4 of the 17 women succeeded in performing a single pull-up.

“We honestly thought we could get everyone to do one,” said Paul Vanderburgh, a professor of exercise physiology and associate provost and dean at the University of Dayton, and an author of the study. But Vanderburgh said the study and other research has shown that performing a pull-up requires more than simple upper-body strength. Men and women who can do them tend to have a combination of strength, low body fat and shorter stature.

Maybe the remaining 13 women could do them if they trained longer, maybe not. Maybe this same test with a larger sample size or a difference training method would yield different results, maybe not.

As a short woman who has historically gained muscle easily, I see this as hope that one day when I'm in better shape and at a proper weight, I might be like one of the 4 who learned to do a pull up. I've never successfully done one before.

It's no use fussing about the journalist. It was probably an editor who gave it the title and he/she was probably trying to fit it into a small space on the page and yet still grab lots of attention. Hence why they went with a short, but misleading title. It happens a lot.

Likewise, it's pretty common for the last paragraph or two of a news article to get chopped by editors or layout because they only have some many inches per page and have to work around ads and other articles. We may never know if the end of the article was chopped on any article you see in a print news paper (or it's online cousin). That's why they teach journalists to write from most important to least important--so the ends can get chopped without cutting the important parts.

I was able to do 4 ( 2 sets of 2 last year but haven't been able to repeat the performance. But I'm working on it. I bought a pull up bar for our house.

I will one day prove that article wrong!

I can do them...

Thank you for the posting the article, which I found interesting. It isn't saying that women who do pullups don't exist, though! It says that in a small study of 17 women who trained in a particular way for 3 months, only 4 could do a pullup. That's almost a quarter of those women. What the article seems to be saying is that it's not all about strength either - there are other factors which make it more difficult for women.

I agree with Bambam25 - it might be a case of an editor putting in a title which is at odds with the article.

I have never been able to do a pull-up or chin-up and would love to one day! I've been working on it for months and I have got stronger, but still nowhere near doing one. Judging by this article I don't have much hope with my current high body fat, but at least I'm short!