Added Weight
Weighted Pull Up Strength Standards
Pull-up standards work differently, because you are already lifting most of the load before you hang anything on a belt. Every number here is the weight you add. Enter your bodyweight to see the beginner to elite figures for your size and where your own best single sits.
Find Your Weighted Pull Up Level
Enter your bodyweight, pick your sex, and put in your best lift. Everything below updates as you type.
What a Weighted Pull Up Really Measures
Pulling strength relative to the body you have to pull.
A pull-up moves almost your whole bodyweight through a full vertical pull, from a dead hang with the arms straight to the chin clearing the bar. Hanging a plate from a dip belt adds to that, so the real load is your bodyweight plus whatever you added. This is why the exercise punishes and rewards bodyweight so sharply: two people with the same absolute pulling strength will produce very different pull-up numbers if one weighs 150 lb and the other 210 lb.
It is also why nobody should compare a bodyweight pull-up count against a barbell lift. The pull-up is a strength-to-weight test first and a pulling test second, and the added weight on the belt is the only part of it that behaves like a normal lift.
Where These Numbers Come From
Anchored straight to bodyweight, because a bodyweight lift does not scale like a barbell one.
Almost every other page on this site derives its standard as a share of the bench, squat, deadlift or press. This one does not, and the reason is worth stating plainly. When you add weight to a pull-up, the first hundred and fifty or two hundred pounds of the load is already fixed by your own body, so the added weight does not scale in proportion to any barbell lift. Deriving it from one produced numbers that were obviously wrong at the bottom of the table.
Instead the added weight is set directly as a share of bodyweight: nothing at beginner level, ten percent at novice, twenty-five percent at intermediate, forty-five percent at advanced and seventy percent at elite for men, with a lower scale for women. That puts an intermediate man's total load at about one and a quarter times his bodyweight, which sits in a sensible relationship to the intermediate lat pulldown on this site. Beginner means a clean bodyweight pull-up, which is a real achievement and the right place for the scale to start.
| Level | Men | Women |
|---|---|---|
| Beginner | no added weight | no added weight |
| Novice | 10 percent of bodyweight | no added weight |
| Intermediate | 25 percent of bodyweight | 8 percent of bodyweight |
| Advanced | 45 percent of bodyweight | 20 percent of bodyweight |
| Elite | 70 percent of bodyweight | 40 percent of bodyweight |
These standards are estimates derived from typical ratios to the main lifts, rounded to the nearest 5 lb. The bench, squat, deadlift and overhead press figures they are built on are the bodyweight-ratio approximations published on our strength standards page, which are aligned with widely used references in the strength and conditioning field including ExRx.net. Nothing here is measured lab data, and no table anywhere else has been copied. Treat every figure as a target to aim at, not a verdict on you.
Weighted Pull Up Standards for Men
Weight added on the belt for a 1-rep max, by bodyweight.
| Bodyweight | Beginner | Novice | Intermediate | Advanced | Elite |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 110 lb | Bodyweight only | 10 lb | 30 lb | 50 lb | 75 lb |
| 130 lb | Bodyweight only | 15 lb | 35 lb | 60 lb | 90 lb |
| 150 lb | Bodyweight only | 15 lb | 40 lb | 70 lb | 105 lb |
| 170 lb | Bodyweight only | 15 lb | 45 lb | 75 lb | 120 lb |
| 190 lb (your bodyweight) | Bodyweight only | 20 lb | 50 lb | 85 lb | 135 lb |
| 210 lb | Bodyweight only | 20 lb | 55 lb | 95 lb | 145 lb |
| 230 lb | Bodyweight only | 25 lb | 60 lb | 105 lb | 160 lb |
| 250 lb | Bodyweight only | 25 lb | 65 lb | 115 lb | 175 lb |
Weighted Pull Up Standards for Women
Weight added on the belt for a 1-rep max, by bodyweight.
| Bodyweight | Beginner | Novice | Intermediate | Advanced | Elite |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 110 lb | Bodyweight only | Bodyweight only | 10 lb | 20 lb | 45 lb |
| 130 lb | Bodyweight only | Bodyweight only | 10 lb | 25 lb | 50 lb |
| 150 lb | Bodyweight only | Bodyweight only | 10 lb | 30 lb | 60 lb |
| 170 lb | Bodyweight only | Bodyweight only | 15 lb | 35 lb | 70 lb |
| 190 lb | Bodyweight only | Bodyweight only | 15 lb | 40 lb | 75 lb |
| 210 lb | Bodyweight only | Bodyweight only | 15 lb | 40 lb | 85 lb |
| 230 lb | Bodyweight only | Bodyweight only | 20 lb | 45 lb | 90 lb |
| 250 lb | Bodyweight only | Bodyweight only | 20 lb | 50 lb | 100 lb |
A Worked Example
One belt, one plate, one honest single.
A 190 lb man at the intermediate standard adds 50 lb, which is a 45 lb plate on a dip belt and a total load of 240 lb. The advanced mark is 85 lb added, or 275 lb in total. If he can do three clean reps with a 25 lb plate, that is 215 lb of total load, and the estimate for a single works out at about 45 lb added, which puts him just under intermediate.
Notice what happens if he drops ten pounds of bodyweight without losing strength. His added weight for the same total goes up by ten pounds, and he moves up the table without getting any stronger in absolute terms. That is not a flaw in the standard, it is what strength to weight means, and it is why the pull-up is the lift where lighter athletes shine.
What These Standards Cannot Tell You
Range, kipping and bodyweight itself all move the answer.
These standards assume a strict pull-up: a dead hang with the elbows straight at the bottom, no kick or kip, and the chin fully clearing the bar at the top. A kipping pull-up is a different exercise and will let you hang far more weight on the belt, so it cannot be judged against this table.
The other honest caveat is that added weight and total load tell different stories. A 150 lb lifter adding 40 lb is pulling 190 lb in total. A 220 lb lifter adding 40 lb is pulling 260 lb. The table sorts them by the same row because it is measuring strength relative to bodyweight, which is the useful measure for this lift but not the only one worth knowing.
More Tools
Check the rest of your pulling, then estimate a max.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about these standards.
How much weight should I add to my pull-ups?
At 190 lb bodyweight the intermediate mark is 50 lb added and the advanced mark is 85 lb added. At 140 lb an intermediate woman adds about 10 lb. Enter your bodyweight at the top for your own figures.
What is a good weighted pull-up?
Adding a quarter of your bodyweight for a single is a solid intermediate result. Adding half your bodyweight is well into advanced territory, and adding seventy percent is the elite row on this scale.
Do these numbers include my bodyweight?
No. Every figure is the weight you add on a belt or in a vest. Add your own bodyweight to get the total load you are moving, which is the fairer comparison against a barbell lift.
Why do the beginner rows say bodyweight only?
Because a single clean pull-up with no added weight is the beginner standard for this lift. Until you can do that, adding weight is not the next step, building up to one is.
Are chin-ups and pull-ups scored the same here?
The table is written for a pronated pull-up. Most lifters can handle five to ten percent more on a supinated chin-up because the biceps contribute more, so shade your expectations up a little if you are testing chin-ups.
How are these weighted pull-up standards calculated?
The added weight is set as a share of bodyweight at each level, rounded to the nearest 5 lb, rather than derived from a barbell lift. The scale is cross-checked against our lat pulldown standards so the two pages agree about what intermediate pulling strength looks like.