Your post makes a lot of sense, in high school I had the record for strict pull ups at 34, never did dips back then. Now I am 65 200# and can do 5 pull ups and 7 dips but I can’t go quite as low as a a strict dip but almost. I am not in shape but physically active.
I agree about the fact that amount of pullups is not an indicator of strength, but endurance.
I disagree with anyone saying that pullups are harder than chins. It just depends on how your body is composed. In fact the world record is held in pullups, not chins.
Also, I disagree with the idea that you must touch your sternum. Some people are physically limited by range of motion and unable to touch their chest to the bar. No amount of strength could ever change that.
10-12 pullups is a fair show of endurance, once past that start doing weighted. When you can consistently do 5 pullups with 50% of your body weight strapped on, then you are strong.
My stats: 25, 158lbs, 20 CHINups (I don’t do pullups, I do cleans) and 20 dips.
It’s funny that in my gym I hardly ever see anyone doing unassisted pullups or dips and when they do it’s usually only for a few reps, but on the internet everyone seems to be able to pull off 20+ pullups and dips. I’ve never seen that once in my gym.
I’ve been working out for about 7 years now and can do about 8 pullups as described and around 15-16 dips. I’m 33 yo and weigh 230 lbs.
I could never do a single pull-up, and I imagine zombies are pretty bad at it too.
ducks
Old thread but I’ll say I couldn’t disagree more with the comments that pull ups aren’t an indicator of strength but endurance. That may be true once you get up past 5 or so but those first 5 are strength indicators. If someone can’t do one or two that’s not an indication they don’t have endurance. It’d an indication they don’t have the strength. Just like any any weight lifting exercise such as bench or curls.
Totally true.
When I was in my prime in college and working out a lot, my partner and me both got up to around 22 pull ups, and that was with a lot of work over a lot of time and we still weren’t extending our arms completely when down, there was always tension and a little bit of corner to the elbow, not much, but enough to get past that initial movement from straight to bent.
Shodan’s 20 at 54 is impressive whether his form is perfect or not.
Today I can do about 10, I don’t do them very often
Dips, I can’t tell you how many today, but on my body, my triceps were always a unique muscle, disproportionately strong and dips was by far my best excercise. I could do double what most people that were much stronger than me could do (stronger in bench, military, etc.). I have a picture from college and I’m kind of thin but my triceps are bulging out the back of my arms, looked kind of funny actually.
Right now, probably about 15-20. Male, 27. 5’4. 145 pounds.
5 years ago:
35 max. I did about 500 a day and I weighed about 130. Best shape of my life. I plan to get back there, soon.
Quick question, does anyone know how to set up a pull-up bar in your house without fucking up the walls? I’ve used the Iron Gym on the door frames before but it destroys them after only a few uses.
Very few. It’s not from being out of shape, it comes from having a shoulder injury that never properly healed (thank you, high school football). After about two or so, the shoulder starts sending messages to the brain that are not pleasant.
Uh huh.
I can’t do any yet. Female, 195 lbs (down from 260!). I spent years as a bicycle commuter, but never did much for my upper body, so I am built like a T. Rex. I do assisted pull-ups, chin-ups, and dips.
I did a pull-up once when I was a kid. My dad said he would give me a quarter if I could do one. I tried and tried, but didn’t manage it until after he had gone inside. No witness, no quarter. 
I’ve never done a dip, didn’t know what they were until this thread. Female, 36, 120 lbs. I can do forehand chin ups all day long. I can do 5 right handed one hand chin ups and 4 left handed ones.
That’s probably because I spent 7 years moving boxes of paper by hand and handtruck. 40 lb boxes don’t sound like that much but when you move a ton an hour, upper body strength improves a lot.
Unassisted? None. Assisted? None.
I tried this today.
i don’t do pullups very often, so I got 7 (I could have maybe done 10 with a gun to my head).
I do weighted dips as one of my standard exercise, but I don’t go for high reps, so I only got 25 bodyweight dips.
I’m 53, Male, 165lbs.
Didn’t realize this was a zombie until I ran across my own post from 3 yrs ago! 
Opened the thread, because I actually tried to do a pull-up yesterday as we walked through a park that had an exercise station. Absolutely ZERO chance of coming close to a single pull- OR chin-up. Hell, it was pretty uncomfortable just hanging from the damned bar.
Of course I never was good at pull-ups. Max of 6 when in my best shape - and I use to be in pretty good shpae 10-15 yrs ago. My thinking was that arm length and such had an effect on the amount of strength needed to pull up a given weight. I’m not a physicist, but it always struck me as tho I had to move weights a further distance than someone with shorter limbs. And I’ve always had better core/leg than upper body strength.
I’m 52, 6’3", 200#. After a couple of knee and foot surgeries my exercise is limited to long brisk walks, biking, swimming, push-ups, and sit-ups. I’m nowhere as fit as Shodan, but I’d say I’m definitely in the top 10-20% of 50+ guys I see. But - MAN - from yesterday’s experience, I’d say its a pretty safe bet that I’ll never do a pull-up again.
I suck at pullups. I can do about 7.
Dips I can do all day long. I decided to see how many today, 27. I suspect if I had done them before pushups, flys, and bench presses, I could have added a dozen more to that number. They just seem easy to me. And I go wayyyy down.
Male. 46.
Don’t believe.
.
In one set? Also don’t believe.
Yep. Don’t believe.
15 decent form pull ups and 23 dips shaking quite a bit on the last one. Towel pull ups seem easier for me for some reason and after 15 of those I can still do a set of 12 regular overhand pull ups. But, having just checked, not more than 15 overhand ones, even straight out. Towel pull up and regular overhand ones must use different sections of the muscles.
53, 5f6i, 155 I think.
World record for consecutive pull ups is 232 but in 36 minutes (had to hang by at least on hand the whole time, 100 in 3 minutes, and 59 in one minute.
Dips is 85 in 5 minutes although the resting in extension seems cheap. I think it should be straight out with no pauses.
Ambi, if recall correctly you can do some absurd number of pull ups … 
Male, 36 years old. I can do about 11 or 12 pullups and maybe 15 to 18 dips. This has been pretty consistent since I was in high school. I don’t have a whole lot of upper body strength, but I don’t weigh a whole lot, so that helps.
Ehh, absurd maybe among mere mortals. But when compared to the Beasts of the Dope here, I got nuttin’. 
That’s fine. You don’t have to believe. Doesn’t change a thing.