Just curious. These days I go by the Planet Fitness in town several days a week, as it is cheap, convenient, and actually has everything I need at my age (mid-40's). One thing I notice there is how few people perform chin ups versus what I saw while growing up in more traditional gyms. Rarely will I see somebody grab the bar and knock out a set to failure. Not many folks even use the assisted chin up station. Perhaps they are less glamourous than they used to be, but they are still a dang tough movement and I think they are still a fair indicator of strength vs. weight. Can't recall ever seeing a person that could do double-digit chins while still looking unhealthy/heavy.

I used to be able to knock out 10-15 with no problem but after a botched shoulder surgery I doubt I could do even one anymore.

February is 'pull-up' month for us at work (January was 8k flutter kicks, December was 3k pushups).
We only count the reps done at the gym at work ........shooting for 1500 pull-ups mixed in with normal workouts.

I had to give up the wide-grip Pull Ups I used to do as a teenager due to shoulder issues. Was just too tough on them in later years. An underhand grip or neutral grip helped me there, along with a lot of shoulder and elbow warmups beforehand. I don't just grab any tough exercise and fall into it like I once did. Joints/tendons/ligaments will talk back for sure.

I do chin-ups and pull-ups twice a week as part of my normal workout. I'm 61.

I think pull-ups are the more useful of the two.

Wide grip pull ups are one of the most humbling things in the gym.

Try them from a hangboard...

Several years ago I worked up to 18 straight hang pull-ups ,, no kip/kipping [swinging], age 50+. I didn't do any for 10-12 days preparing to do 20 then >. Injured in a fall, compound fractured right arm, 11 broken ribs, collar bone, back broke L1/t12, ++.
Can't do a single pull up now.

Saw a guy GM tech@ Chevy dealership at Golds he could do 40 dead hang pull-ups, you'd never think he could do 5 to look at him. Not overweight he just didn't show any muscle.
He said he used to be able to do 50 dead hangs.

I've noticed the squat rack is was always vacant starting in the mid 90's.

edit;
Read an interesting article years ago , weightlifting coach picked two 'even' teams among his students to prove a point. Flipped a coin to see which side would do only bench-press/triceps/shoulders , other side squats/dead-lifts for a while. I forget the amount of time.
Then they'd have a bench-press competition, everybody of course thought the bench-press side would win, they didn't. The squatter's won by a good margin.

When I got older and smarter I realized I was hugely overworking myself in my 20-30's.

I bet Alex Honnold can do em’ until you get tired of watchin’ him…!

Up until my shoulder injury in April I could do 6 (@52) down from 20 (@25). Now I can't do any. Can't even hang. Can't do a pushup either. Still hopeful but after 10 months it's looking more and more like I will need another surgery.

This getting old thing really sucks on a body that was rough, tough and abused. Will be 53 in October and I feel like I'm in worse condition than most people in their mid 60's.

That sounds like a hell of a fall.....

I consider 20 strict chin/pull ups to be rather good for a middle-aged man that's not a high-level athlete or a rock climber. I was really close just a couple years ago, then got lazy during Covid, and am working my way back toward it. Hope to get there sometime this summer.

Yes, if the bar is low enough that I can keep my feet on the ground.

Don’t know, but I’m pretty sure I can fall down with the best of them…..

A good friend of mine was drinking beers one day several years back at a local bar/grill. The other guys at the bar got to bragging about who could do the most chin ups. So my buddy walked them all across the parking lot to his 24hr gym next door and they all did late-night chin ups in their street clothes. He was asked into the gym office a few days later to watch the footage of the contest with the gym owner. She basically played it, looked at him, and said "Dude.....seriously?"

I still do them and I'm 63. If I'm feeling froggy I'll do weighted pullups. I can knock out 10 reps of unweighted pullups as part of my back workout, but I find it a little more challenging when I do max reps for a specified time. I found this workout on the internet and I do it every once in a while. It starts with max reps of pullups in 5 minutes and a 15-20 second rest between sets.

Used to do them, don't now. I suppose I could manage 20 or so, really don't know. I was a bench specialist, and they didn't seem to add anything to my bench, so I switched to stuff that did.

20 dead-hangs > you're easily a 1%r in the world.

Do half of your max twice per week for 2-3 weeks then no pull-ups for two weeks only some light-weight [half your body weight] machine pull down front and behind head. < Just to move your muscles.
You'll get ''that feeling'' you can tear some pull-ups up, then see how many you can do after a stretch/warm-up.
Rest up after max, then start over with 'half your max' for 2-3 weeks routine. The rest period is the most important part, it kind of drives you crazy.

I was doing chin ups from age 12 to age 48, but now in my 70s, I can only do one chin up.

My father installed a chin up bar in 1961.
I installed chin up bars in 1988, 2000, 2022, and 2022 [last one at my son's house]

https://www.amazon.com/ONETWOFIT-Mounted-Stable-Outdoor-Maximum/dp/B07SH6796G



how I mount them



how amazon bolts them to the wall

WHY is the real question. Edk

How many can you do ??????

I would be curious how many the rock climbers can do, they seem to have incredible hand and arm strength.

I'm doing pull-ups every other day right now as part of my regular training. Pull-up/chin bars and squat racks are the least used items in most commercial gyms. That's because they are the most difficult and, surprise!, most effective things a body can do. Chins, press, squat, bench, deads cover it.

Fortunately, I have a home gym with all the Rogue equipment I need. This is one of the greatest luxuries in my life.

RS

Even when I was really fit and playing sports all the time I struggled with pull-ups. Just don't have the upper body strength, I was a skinny kid.

The problem I had with them is that every time I worked up to where I could do a few and start getting on a roll (I mostly maxed out around 8 or 10) my elbows would get wrecked with tendonitis. I saw that movie about three times which forced me to quit.

Waiting until your mid thirties to decide to get in shape was a bad thing I guess.

But yeah, they are crazy effective. You go to the typical gym you will see a bunch of fatasses that can bench or squat a ton but they damn sure won't be knocking out many pullups...probably none and don't even try.

Yep, they used to be a regular part of my routine, along with pushups, but the shoulder doesn't permit them anymore.

I was disappointed neither my wife nor my son could calculate the safety margin in chin up bar mounted to the wall.

That is just college freshman statics.

Remember compression and tension force vectors in a truss bridge?

Calculate the cross sectional area of a steel wood screw into the wall?

Then calculate the stress in that steel?

I ran into that in my 30's with weighted chin ups, which made you even better at regular chins, but they were sure tough on the elbows if you went heavy for lower reps. Tendonitis sucks and wants to linger. Several other guys in the gym had the same problem with weighted chins and said "never again".

I learned something new last year, as I didn't know you could develop tennis elbow from overworking an arm with chainsaw and brushcutter work. I worked several days in a row last fall on clearing some property and would often go until my arms could barely hold the saw (dangerous, I know). About 10 days later, my right forearm/elbow went nuts. Could barely hold a cup of coffee to my mouth. I'm just now at maybe 75% grip strength in that arm. It's apparently very common with the chainsaw carving guys too. You are supposed to take lots of breaks and flex/move your hands/forearms to prevent it.

I have a bar in my garage and do a couple sets most evenings before bed. Whenever I tried to work up to double digits my elbows would burn like crazy so I just dialed it back a hair and the problem went away.

In high school, 30 wasn’t cshit, at 70, was getting 6 before I had surgery, gonna get back on it, in another 3 weeks.

Shot shoulder but can do 4 of either still at 69. If doc saw me he'd just shake his head like the wife just did. Can't just dead hang there , no long bicep destroyed rotator and labrum. Next shoulder surgery will be a replacement so its all about protecting that bad boy.

Should remove the bar from the doorway but the wife uses it when doing laundry.

Went to high school with a guy who could do one armed pull ups. He wasn’t overly muscular just really fit.

I problably can’t do one. I also don’t care. When young I was stout and of course abused myself. The local bike shop when I was younger did have a little contest just for giggles. They took a complete big block Chrysler engine with torque converter and all. Threw a chin on it and everybody tried to lift and were timed how long you could hold it. I held it the longest at 32 seconds. May not sound tough but a log chain isn’t exactly easy on the hands. It weighed 525 pounds. Edk

Speaking of tendonitis I had a bout with it in my left arm. I had heard others talk of what a pain it was but didn't pay much attention until I got it. When it first started I mentioned it and a friend warned me to chill out on the heavy 70lb. dumbell curls. I didn't listen, I couldn't even sleep at night It was so bad.
Went to the doctor and I'm not a go to the doctor kind of guy. Their drugs didn't help whatsoever, just the usual take this and come back and see me in 2 weeks- bring me another $100 bill.

Another friend told me to go to the Golden Almond, some offbeat herbs and concoctions place etc. and ask the lady what you need.
She gave me some Pineapple Extract powder, I mentally laughed and left there with it. 2 days later there was no pain whatsoever, laf.

Mike, are you really serious about the pineapple extract powder? It really did help? Do you have to take it daily? How long have you been a pineapple extract powder junkie?
I ask because I have right elbow issues.

My daughter and sil are rock climbers. They can both do quite a few one handed pull ups

In 1973 we had to go through a physical agility test as part of the application process for the PD. Four of us were taking the test which consisted of various running, jumping and strength events and was being administered by the Training Lt. When it came to the pull up bar we were told to do 5. Three of us did 5 but the fourth guy did 3 and only made it part way up for the 4th. We went on to something else but came back to the pull up bar where the guy did 2 and part way up for the 3rd. The Lt. gave him 3 1/2 for his first attempt, 2 1/2 for his second attempt and added them together to give him 6!

My wife, a nurse in her younger days, helped a friend recover from an upper/lower face lift. The plastic surgeon (brilliant) who did the work gave her a page of information about eating fresh pineapple to minimize bruising and swelling and to speed healing. He also verbally recommended the same repeatedly. My wife has helped several other women recover from cosmetic surgery and she thinks it was an important aid in the recovery process. She whips up a fresh juice drink most afternoons and has been putting fresh pineapple in it ever since.

RS

Yes, serious, Golden Almond on Racetrack Road Fort Walton Beach, FL.. 850-863-5811
I took it maybe a week and didn't do curls for a month < her advice. This was ?8? years ago, but they've been in business for many years.
Mentioned it to a friend while just talking and he said he went there and got something ?? for his skin and it worked great. He knew of several people who went there for all kinds of remedies.

At 240 pounds I do sets of 7 these days, though trying to work up to 10. When I drop down to 230 it is amazing how much easier it is to get 10. An exercise I like a lot and can knock out in my basement a few times a week.

In my 30s I got up to sets of 20 for a while. Much older now. Using a straight bar at this time and wish I had one with either palms facing or curved down on the ends.

I must check into this. Thanks

When I was in the Marines stationed in AK, our parachute rigger had a finger holds mounted above his office door. Rule was you had to do atleast 1 pull up by finger tips to enter.....I emailed or called him. He was a mtn/ rock climber.

Used to be good at pull ups and when the Marine Corps allowed kipping, I could do them for a while.

Now....no thanks.

A guy who used to work in Dynamic health club, Rick, an Air Force guy would see me curling 135lbs. on a straight bar at the sqaut rack. He'd hustle over grab onto the bar push it down onto the safety crossbars that caught the bar if someone could make the squat. And school me on how dangerous curling that much weight was. He had seen a guy doing exactly what I was doing and completely tore one of his biceps . Horrible sight according to him and a long road to recovery.
To add more to my BS, in my 30's I could do 3 single arm rows with 180lbs.,, 150lbs. when I was early 50's, although the third wasn't pretty. Might have been a factor in the tendonitis, 130's were a good balance for me.

I've been accused of being on steroids and never-ever once did I ever use them.
Lads that worked with me would laugh that I could pick up a 32' extension ladder curl it and press it over my head with one arm < with ease.

I'm 50 and can crank out an honest 25 at any given time. Last year I did 5435 of them along with 21,570 pushups. A normal gym workout includes three sets of 20 pull-ups. The third set I sometimes I have to break into a 15 and 5. I've broken 30 and think that PR won't be beat anymore. It's harder each day to do 25.

Dang that is impressive. I need to work harder.

Either that or get younger.

Me, I'm like the old grey mare.

I don’t weigh a lot. I do chin ups, pull ups, and dips. I use to lift heavy but don’t anymore. Nevertheless being light and strong still. Dips I can strap a 45lb on a leather belt chain.

Pardon me for saying so, but that picture flatters you!
Not sure what you mean by mounting them. TMI, perhaps?

I did pull-ups up until a couple years ago when one of my shoulders said ENOUGH! I had been doing 100 per day since my 20s, and had to switch to chin-ups. I'm now 61.

Back in my USMC heyday, I could knock out 3 sets of 20 pull-ups, no problem.

Nowadays, I'm doing 60 chin-ups every morning to start the day, and warm up for the rest of my morning workout. Some days I'll push it to 70 or 80, but max set is 10 reps.

I believe it. I used to curl like that when I was lifting. I was skinny too. Less than 145.

I had the Jr High record for pullups for 1 day. I did 36 without any prior training. Some nig athlete took the pullup test in the next day's gym class and did 37.

Now I'm old and my shoulders are shot, so I don't do pullups.

I looked up world record curl guy did 255lbs. w/a angled curl bar. Dumbells ? didn't see any records only some ole goof ''wrist curling' 256lbs. ?

A real test would be using a preachers bench with no butt off the seat , no swinging, strict hand on dumbell and curl it.
The Arm-Blaster doodad that goes across your chest isolates the arms well.

Maybe rcamuglia is a small guy who uses the little aerob-a-cise dumbells - the purple & pink ones with the foam grip. lol

Nice fantasies

Post a video of you curling 70 pound dumbbells for reps with good form. It’ll be interesting


I was curling 135 on an Olympic bar 30 years ago. I’m doing seated dumbbell curls now with 40’s for 10 with good form.

We all know there’s a few factors here; form and cheating. Oh, and if you’re on gear

Are you claiming 70 is your workout weight for reps with decent form?

Most probably can't do as many as you might think. Climbing is largely upper back, forearms, hands and unless a guy is speed climbing there is a good bit of recovery time between "reps". A trained up climber can raise himself up with one hand, or hang from a finger or two for a while but that is a bit different from banging out one rep after another on a chin bar with form that uses mostly lats and biceps.

We also train more of a chest up than a chin up. Getting your chin above a hold or some other rock problem doesn't help much, to get over it you have to get your chest above it.

Maybe you missed this or commented without reading.

[quote=ol_mike]Several years ago I worked up to 18 straight hang pull-ups ,, no kip/kipping [swinging], age 50+. I didn't do any for 10-12 days preparing to do 20 then >.

""""" Injured in a fall, compound fractured right arm, 11 broken ribs, collar bone, back broke L1/t12, ++.
Can't do a single pull up now."""""

I have titanium rods holding my right arm together, nerve damage that causes big hand tremors and can only turn my palm upward to 'shaking hand' position. Can't use normal rifle stocks anymore, thumbholes/pistol grip now.
1 foot long surgery scar.
Worked up to 45lbs. dumbells, wrist crackling and snapping, pretty painful and stays constantly sore when doing it.

Amazing at the level of knowledge you have gleaned about someone by reading an internet post. lol

Sorry to hear it. Sucks

I work out at a gym full of powerlifting steroids users. Some hold powerlifting records. Many compete.

I’ve never seen anyone curling 70’s for reps

Maybe the fall effected your memory?

Hahaha! Sounds like a good gym! Never took steroids, but a lot of my powerlifting friends did.

It is. 60,000 square feet.

One of my friends power lifted and completed 30 years ago. Never cycled. He had super-human strength, literally

At 165 pounds, he had a 650 pound squat and deadlift

About 5 reps each arm for a couple/three of sets.

I turn 60 in May. I never did chin ups which is the underhand grip and uses the biceps, I did pull ups which uses the overhand grip and works the shoulders, lats and triceps. I can still do a dozen anytime I need to. I am still bound by military grooming and fitness standards as an NJROTC instructor so I have never let my physical conditioning lapse

If I'm standing on a stepladder.

Been farm strong all my life, but never good at pull ups. <10, lol.

Recovering from an injury and losing weight they've been sort of a challenge lately. I've gone from being able to do 3 at Thanksgiving last year to 6 last night.

Pretty awesome numbers! I was a bench specialist, primarily geared, double ply, open back shirt. Competed as a masters lifter for 10 years or so. Best competition lift was a 177 bodyweight weigh in, and a 530 bench. That is still a masters 55-59 AND open drug free RPS 181 bench. In fact, all my records still stand. Even the raw ones. Best ever gym lift was at 190 bodyweight and 50 years old. 700 bench. That was a lot. 190 was too heavy for me. I'm only 5'3 1/2".

When I was in my late 20’s early 30’s…..20 pull-ups came pretty easy. 40 years later, and not having done any (until recently) 6 or 7 (underhand), 5 (overhand) is about it! But, I’m gonna improve…..though it will be slow and painful! memtb

I’ve always been a pull up/push up fan. I follow a guy on Instagram who did 70k pull ups last year. So, I decided to add even more pull ups and push ups into my weightlifting routine this year by doing 200 push ups and 100 pull ups per day 5 days a week. If I stay on track that’ll be upwards of 25-26k pull ups and 50k plus in push ups. I’m 51 & I can still do 20 true dead hang pull ups. Being a former jarhead, I believe that’s a perfect pull up score on the Marine Corps PFT pull up portion. I’ll take it!