Alright gym rats, how many pull-ups (palms facing outward) on the chinning bar would you consider respectable for a 21 year old guy in reasonably good shape? That is, not a professional athlete, but somebody 'athletic'.
Marathon runners and competitive weight lifters are equally fit, but in different areas. Cardiovascular fitness is important, but so too is physical strength, stamina, flexibility and speed. Total fitness is an average of all these variables.
And let's get something straight about athletic body fat percentage. A person (especially men) can be too lean even if their body fat percentage falls in a safe range. Some men get to 8% body fat (a safe percentage for most age groups), but suddenly start to suffer from respiratory infections. Their immune system gets too weak, and they're catching colds and flu's way more easily than they would had they been at, say, 12%, which is regarded as safe for just about everybody. Others can handle the 8% body fat number very well.
Same goes for marathon runners. If you take an individual who has a naturally large musculature - big bones with naturally, well-developed muscles - and force them into a long distance running programme without weight training and with very little protein in their diets,they'll get lean, but not for long, and at a price. Their bodies are not designed for that lifestyle, and they'll get sick from an infectious respiratory ailment, that is if their knees, joints and bones were not damaged enough to sideline them first.
Overtraining syndrome (which i assume you're referring to when you say about increased incidence of URTIs) is way more complex than just body fat percentage. That's why some people can appear to handle lower body fat percentages better than others.
Would be interested if you have any evidence linking low BF% itself and immune function. The evidence is already well established regarding volume of exercise and immune function/frequency and duration of mild infections.
^Pretty good review article - goes over the topix pretty well. Its essentially a J curve in relation to dose an URTI/immune response. Likely due to elevated levels of cortisol and it's associates.
URTI frequency is used for part of the clinical picture of over training syndrome as well - including history, mood, sleep, lethargy, appetite etc.
10+ and even 30+ pull-ups???????......................Get serious!!!!........Please, be truthful..............You must be misinformed about the proper form for a legitimate pull-up, or you surround yourself with too many barroom blowhards. Only .01% of the male population under the age of 25 is able to do more than 12 pull-ups. So knocking out 30 pull-ups in one go would put you in something like the top .0001% of the young male population.
Pull-ups by their very nature are a difficult exercise to perform, particularly for taller guys with longer arms. Nevertheless, when performed correctly, they are one of the most beneficial resistance exercises a person can perform, since it hits nearly every single upper-body muscle with equal thrust and power.
More than 12 is that rare? I admit I'm pretty short, but even my brother who's much taller than me can do at least 20 at any given time, and he's only 14. They're with good form as well. This isn't so much an indication of his fitness as it is an indication of lots of the population being unfit.
Overtraining syndrome (which i assume you're referring to when you say about increased incidence of URTIs) is way more complex than just body fat percentage. That's why some people can appear to handle lower body fat percentages better than others.
Would be interested if you have any evidence linking low BF% itself and immune function. The evidence is already well established regarding volume of exercise and immune function/frequency and duration of mild infections.
Too thin - too little cortisol and other lipid based molcules = immune system dysregulation and deficiency. I will admit this in animals though I can't imagine we're any different though
As well as other effects like testosterone levels dropping, hence you feel ****, a common thing that people competing natty in bbing competitions
More than 12 is that rare? I admit I'm pretty short, but even my brother who's much taller than me can do at least 20 at any given time, and he's only 14. They're with good form as well. This isn't so much an indication of his fitness as it is an indication of lots of the population being unfit.
Unless your brother has been doing some strength sport like gymnastics (or pl, wl etc.) for a while I find this incredibly hard to believe.
Too thin - too little cortisol and other lipid based molcules = immune system dysregulation and deficiency. I will admit this in animals though I can't imagine we're any different though
As well as other effects like testosterone levels dropping, hence you feel ****, a common thing that people competing natty in bbing competitions
At like 4% yeah, but not at 8% as was originally suggested, or a 'safe range'. Sorry, I wasn't very clear what I was looking for - was expecting a dose response or something not that there is a dangerous cut off limit.