Illustration: Maria Chimishkyan

Test Gym

Your Inability to Do Pullups Is All in Your Head

Anyone can do pullups — and here’s why you should

Elemental
Published in
7 min readJan 22, 2020

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Test Gym is a new Elemental column about the science of exercise.

I’I’ve always loved pullups. They require nothing more than an overhead bar and some dig-deep grit. They’re a primal yet elegant way to test your might and strength-to-weight ratio while building core and upper-body strength.

Pullups are also a show of power. Mark Wahlberg did 22 pullups in 30 seconds as a charity fundraiser on the Ellen DeGeneres Show. Former FBI boss James Comey told the New York Times he was spending the “unemployed celebrity” chapter of his life working toward a goal of doing 10 consecutive pullups.

There’s a popular notion that certain bodies just aren’t capable of executing a proper pullup —the New York Times once tried to explain why women can’t do them — but there’s ample evidence to the contrary. Megan Rapinoe does pullups, because of course she does. And Eva Clarke, an Australian mother of three, set a world…

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Elemental
Elemental

Published in Elemental

Elemental is a former publication from Medium for science-backed health and wellness coverage. Currently inactive and not taking submissions.

Christie Aschwanden
Christie Aschwanden

Written by Christie Aschwanden

Author of GOOD TO GO: What the Athlete in All of Us Can Learn from the Strange Science of Recovery (Norton, 2019). Twitter: @CragCrest christieaschwanden.com