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Is it harder to do a pull up from a greater height? Gravity increase with altitude???

I find doing body weight exercises harder from a higher position than a lower position??

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Reply 1
just do more reps
Do you mean lifting yourself higher, or doing pull ups at a higher altitude? :tongue:
Yeah, all that gravity up in space.
Original post by Viva Emptiness
Yeah, all that gravity up in space.


Cheeky 1 u arrrrgh aye?????


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Nice idea man! But isn't it the other way round? There is less gravitational pull the further you get from Earth so it is "easier". And I used quotation marks because well you'd have to be really, really high up for you to actually notice a difference...
Reply 6
Original post by SocialSmocial94
I find doing body weight exercises harder from a higher position than a lower position??


If anything a higher position makes the force of gravity weaker.... but unless you plan on doing pull ups on a mountain it will make little difference
Original post by SocialSmocial94
I find doing body weight exercises harder from a higher position than a lower position??


The energy your body consumes when doing physical activity is measured in Joules and is known as work.

Work = Force multiplied by the distance the force is applied over.

When doing a pull up at a constant speed the force you are applying is opposing the force of gravity, which is given by F = GMm/r^2, where G is the gravitational constant, M is the mass of the Earth, m is your mass, and r^2 is the squared distance between you and the center of the Earth.

Since the radius of the Earth, r = 6 371 kilometers, an extra 5 or 10 meters isn't going to change the value of r^2 enough to have any noticeable influence on the force of gravity and thus the work you apply. But technically the closer you are to the Earth's surface, the stronger the force of gravity (things are a bit different when you actually go below the Earth's surface the equation has to be modified).

Close to the Earth's surface, the force of gravity can be approximated by the equation F = 9.8m, where m is the mass of your body in this situation.

The position of your limbs however will influence the effective force your muscles must produce. If your limbs are far from your body during your movement, your muscles will have to contract with greater force than if your limbs are closer to your body for the same movement.

Also if you are talking about lifting your whole body up by 2 meters, then you are consuming more energy than if you were to lift up your body by only 1 meter but I don't think this is what you were asking.
(edited 9 years ago)
Original post by aka r
just do more reps


That would be working muscular endurance rather than pure strength
Original post by Doctor_Einstein
The energy your body consumes when doing physical activity is measured in Joules and is known as work.

Work = Force multiplied by the distance the force is applied over.

When doing a pull up at a constant speed the force you are applying is opposing the force of gravity, which is given by F = GMm/r^2, where G is the gravitational constant, M is the mass of the Earth, m is your mass, and r^2 is the squared distance between you and the center of the Earth.

Since the radius of the Earth, r = 6 371 kilometers, an extra 5 or 10 meters isn't going to change the value of r^2 enough to have any noticeable influence on the force of gravity and thus the work you apply. But technically the closer you are to the Earth's surface, the stronger the force of gravity (things are a bit different when you actually go below the Earth's surface the equation has to be modified).

Close to the Earth's surface, the force of gravity can be approximated by the equation F = 9.8m, where m is the mass of your body in this situation.

The position of your limbs however will influence the effective force your muscles must produce. If your limbs are far from your body during your movement, your muscles will have to contract with greater force than if your limbs are closer to your body for the same movement.

Also if you are talking about lifting your whole body up by 2 meters, then you are consuming more energy than if you were to lift up your body by only 1 meter but I don't think this is what you were asking.


Great answer, thank you! The exercise that I had in mind is called a 'muscle up'. You do a pull up then extend so that your arms are fully extended and your upper body is higher than your hands.
Original post by Viva Emptiness
Yeah, all that gravity up in space.


Lol I obviously meant within our atmosphere I mean C'mon smart ass, you think I'm gonna go to space everytime I want to do pull-ups??
Original post by PythianLegume
Do you mean lifting yourself higher, or doing pull ups at a higher altitude? :tongue:


Pull-ups at higher altitude :-)

I don't know why but try for yourselves, it feels fairly harder from a higher position which is baffling. Maybe it's in my head lol.
Original post by SocialSmocial94
Pull-ups at higher altitude :-)

I don't know why but try for yourselves, it feels fairly harder from a higher position which is baffling. Maybe it's in my head lol.


at what altitudes have you tried?

I've done at my home about ~600m above sea level, then I've tried at lower than that ~20m above sea level and significantly higher than that at ~1200m above sea level. Felt absolutely no difference.

You have to be atleast several hundred kilometers above the surface. And doing that is not possible or feasible.
Exercising becomes harder at higher altitudes, not because of gravity, but because of less oxygen. I've been above 4,000 metres and it is really noticeable. Altitudes above 8,000 metres are known as the death zone for a reason.
Reply 14
Original post by Quantex
Exercising becomes harder at higher altitudes, not because of gravity, but because of less oxygen. I've been above 4,000 metres and it is really noticeable. Altitudes above 8,000 metres are known as the death zone for a reason.


This is the correct answer. The rate at which gravity changes over 4000m is insignificant compared to the rate at which the amount of oxygen in the air changes. Doing chin-ups at the peak of Everest would be more difficult than doing them at home, even though the gravity at home will be stronger.
Its because your feet are off the ground
Gravity decreases with increasing altitude.
Original post by cole-slaw
Its because your feet are off the ground


My feet is always off the ground. Both positions are high. I have to jump to reach one and I'm 5.9. The other I can just about reach
Original post by SocialSmocial94
I find doing body weight exercises harder from a higher position than a lower position??


Gravitational force is an inverse square law. The force of attraction between two objects (Earth and you) gets exponentially weaker the further apart you get. So up on a mountain the attracitve force you feel due to earth's gravitational field is slightly weaker compared to what you would feel at sea level.

:fyi:
Reply 19
Original post by ChaoticButterfly
Gravitational force is an inverse square law. The force of attraction between two objects (Earth and you) gets exponentially weaker the further apart you get. So up on a mountain the attracitve force you feel due to earth's gravitational field is slightly weaker compared to what you would feel at sea level.

:fyi:

Mr a level schooling the youngsters :tongue:

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