Fitness Challenge Series: 1,000 pull-ups in one month

This “Fitness Challenge Series” is a compilation of “challenges” that I have either tried or have seen others try as fun ways to test current levels of fitness. It is NOT intended for use on a large scale with a team of athletes. Additionally I am NOT telling you that you NEED to try these. Some of these challenges will be easy and some will be quite difficult, but almost all will require some level of prior training (meaning if you don’t train frequently now and/or have never trained you should not attempt these challenges “just to try” or “just for fun” as they may lead to serious injury). However, if you are well-trained and want a fun way to test your current fitness and/or want to throw something new in to spice up your training, this series may be worthwhile for you to read.

With all that out of the way, let’s get into this challenge: 1,000 Pull-Ups in One Month. I have been dealing with some lower-back issues recently, which has limited me to zero climbing in the last 3-4 weeks. However, I have been able to do pull-ups and hanging. It’s obviously not the same as climbing/bouldering, but I want to do something to keep my hands and back in shape, and keep my general pulling levels high enough so that when I do return to the climbing gym, I haven’t completely lost everything. Because of this I have been doing pull-ups and hanging almost daily. It got me thinking about how much pulling volume I can actually handle. I’m currently doing 35 pull-ups per day, Monday through Friday (accumulating them over the course of the morning, not 35 straight). It seems like a moderate amount (basically 7 sets of 5 with varying grips). I spoke with someone about it, and they said they had done a month where they knocked out 1,000 pull-ups over the course of the month. This seems like a sweet spot challenge that combines technical skill, general upper-body strength, and appropriate load management over the course of a month. Depending on how my return to the climbing gym goes, this may become my next fitness challenge. This could be a fun one to try if you are efficient at pull-ups and are looking to change things up a bit for your upper-body pulling.