5 ms·

I think you need to define perfectly fit. Can you do 10 pullups?

mr_toad 8y ago
99% of the population can’t do 1 pull-up, let alone 10. Most of the people I go to the gym with would struggle with more than a few. Hell, even marines and rangers have lower fitness standards (3 and 6 dead hang chin ups respectively).
- graeme 8y ago
  That's a gtoss misrepresentation of the marines' standards. The tables are here: https://www.marines.mil/Portals/59/Publications/MCBUL%206100%20DTD%2015DEC16.pdf?ver=2016-12-27-125044-450 https://www.marines.mil/Portals/59/Publications/MCBUL%206100... 3 is for men over 51. And that's the bare minimum, not get kicked out of the marines threshold. To reach top rank scoring is more like 15-17 for most ages. Mid rank is about 11 or up. Maybe 99% of the population can't do a pullup, but I feel that's an overestimate. In any case, that says more about our overall societal weakness than anything else. What are your gym friends doing if they couldn't do more than a few? Are they strength training or just doing cardio? Serious question, I'm curious. With a few months training ar age 26 I was able to do 5 reps of my bodyweight + about 40 pounds IIRC. And now, even when I periodically stop strength training, I am rarely below 8-10 when I start again. Chin-ups are hard, but they're not that hard if you train them or do any activity that works those muscles.
paulcole 8y ago
I can’t do 10 pull ups but I run 50 miles a week.
nubbins 8y ago
Pullups are more of a gymnastic activity that just requires your nervous system is trained to recruit the right muscles very intensely at the right time. I can do maybe 12-15 and am borderline overweight, just because I do them habitually.
tacon 8y ago
If you check, you will find it is incredibly rare for health and fitness books and articles to define "health", "fitness" or "exercise". Body by Science[0][1] gets right to it on pages 2 and 3 to define all three: Health: A physiological state in which there is an absence of disease or pathology and that maintains the necessary biologic balance between the catabolic and anabolic states. Fitness: The bodily state of being physiologically capable of handling challenges that exist above a resting threshold of activity. Exercise: A specific activity that stimulates a positive physiological adaptation that serves to enhance fitness and health and does not undermine the latter in the process of enhancing the former. [0] https://www.amazon.com/Body-Science-Research-Strength-Training/dp/0071597174 https://www.amazon.com/Body-Science-Research-Strength-Traini... [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PdJFbjWHEU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PdJFbjWHEU
jholman 8y ago
Not the person you replied to, but I know well a person who * does zero exercise, other than a few short walks every workday * has done very little exercise at any time in the last 20+ years * is as sedentary as life allows him to be * can do 10 pullups no problem * has a "normal" BMI Is that fit? Who knows, I certainly don't. Also maybe he's not very healthy despite some favourable metrics, I dunno. Could be a lot worse, though. My point here was only to substantiate that exercise and fitness are not perfectly correlated, and thus support vladharbuz's top-level comment.

99% of the population can’t do 1 pull-up, let alone 10. Most of the people I go to the gym with would struggle with more than a few. Hell, even marines and rangers have lower fitness standards (3 and 6 dead hang chin ups respectively).

graeme 8y ago
That's a gtoss misrepresentation of the marines' standards. The tables are here: https://www.marines.mil/Portals/59/Publications/MCBUL%206100%20DTD%2015DEC16.pdf?ver=2016-12-27-125044-450 https://www.marines.mil/Portals/59/Publications/MCBUL%206100... 3 is for men over 51. And that's the bare minimum, not get kicked out of the marines threshold. To reach top rank scoring is more like 15-17 for most ages. Mid rank is about 11 or up. Maybe 99% of the population can't do a pullup, but I feel that's an overestimate. In any case, that says more about our overall societal weakness than anything else. What are your gym friends doing if they couldn't do more than a few? Are they strength training or just doing cardio? Serious question, I'm curious. With a few months training ar age 26 I was able to do 5 reps of my bodyweight + about 40 pounds IIRC. And now, even when I periodically stop strength training, I am rarely below 8-10 when I start again. Chin-ups are hard, but they're not that hard if you train them or do any activity that works those muscles.

paulcole 8y ago

I can’t do 10 pull ups but I run 50 miles a week.

nubbins 8y ago

Pullups are more of a gymnastic activity that just requires your nervous system is trained to recruit the right muscles very intensely at the right time. I can do maybe 12-15 and am borderline overweight, just because I do them habitually.

tacon 8y ago

If you check, you will find it is incredibly rare for health and fitness books and articles to define "health", "fitness" or "exercise". Body by Science[0][1] gets right to it on pages 2 and 3 to define all three: Health: A physiological state in which there is an absence of disease or pathology and that maintains the necessary biologic balance between the catabolic and anabolic states. Fitness: The bodily state of being physiologically capable of handling challenges that exist above a resting threshold of activity. Exercise: A specific activity that stimulates a positive physiological adaptation that serves to enhance fitness and health and does not undermine the latter in the process of enhancing the former. [0] https://www.amazon.com/Body-Science-Research-Strength-Training/dp/0071597174 https://www.amazon.com/Body-Science-Research-Strength-Traini... [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PdJFbjWHEU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PdJFbjWHEU

jholman 8y ago

Not the person you replied to, but I know well a person who * does zero exercise, other than a few short walks every workday * has done very little exercise at any time in the last 20+ years * is as sedentary as life allows him to be * can do 10 pullups no problem * has a "normal" BMI Is that fit? Who knows, I certainly don't. Also maybe he's not very healthy despite some favourable metrics, I dunno. Could be a lot worse, though. My point here was only to substantiate that exercise and fitness are not perfectly correlated, and thus support vladharbuz's top-level comment.