new member

[nic]

hi..im new here..am 17, 5'9" and 115 lbs. my coach put us through a upperbody strength test and i could only do 0 pullups and 9 pushups. the pullups was really bad. given that im skinny, pple say i ought to be able to do them rather easily and bcos i could barely even move a quarter way up i they said i was very weak..wanted to find out how many pullups and pushups an average 17 year old boy should be able to do and if in other pple's opinion, whether im weak? please be frank. thanks

 

[abear]

welcome to the board

personally, i wouldnt say you're weak. i'd just say you cant do any pullups. as far a certain number, set some goals. do you have a plan in place to begin doing more?

 

[surreal]

Ditto the welcome.

Lightweights generally do have an easier time with body-weight exercises like pull-ups. Which means you have extra incentive to work hard.

You can try curling a little to increase arm strength or keep working on the push-ups. Of course once you're able to complete a couple pull ups practicing them would be your best option since the exercise involves other muscles which are pretty hard to isolate and work out without weight training equipment.

 

[keldorn]

pull ups are a hard exercise, you have to have the right muscles all over.
it takes a lot of chest tricept and bicept work to be able to do them really well.
ive always been able to bench my own weight and curl 35s and i still cant do more than 1-2 pull ups.

pushups are sorta the same.. tho i can do 50 before i even start to slow down.

at your weight and size you sound a bit skinny to me, but that depends on your sport... if youre a runner than it doesnt matter how much upper body strength at all really.

 

[NBS 4life]

um im 17 and 20 is bout my limit from a dead hang but last year i couldnt do any!

 

[MIR]

pull ups are a hard exercise, you have to have the right muscles all over.
it takes a lot of chest tricept and bicept work to be able to do them really well.

I'd say it's more about lats, forearms and biceps, then a bit of triceps, pec minor, traps, delts and abs.

Like I said in another thread, try to do some rowing and some weighted work also (meaning weighted pull-ups, chins, push-ups, dips, bench press, whatever).