The Health & Fitness Center's Blog

Here’s How Chin-ups Measure Your Relative Strength

By: WCC Health & Fitness Center Staff

June 9, 2018, 7:04 am - Categories: Fit Facts

Relative strength is the amount of strength a person has when compared to their body weight.

The number of chin-ups one can do is a commonly-used rough measure of relative strength of the upper body. If you have greater relative strength, you will be able to perform more pull-ups. If you are getting stronger in other exercises but your pull-ups don’t improve, there’s a good chance you are adding bad body weight.

Older adults benefit from relative strength to maintain independence in everyday tasks, such as rising from a chair and climbing stairs. As you age, you tend to lose muscle mass and gain fat mass. Losing muscle mass will contribute to lower relative strength since fat mass does not contribute to movement. Step-ups or lunges to mimic stair-climbing are great resistance training methods that can help an older adult maintain a functional level of relative strength (Battaglia 2017).

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Reference

Battaglia, Gina. 2017. Why Is the Body’s Relative Strength Important? September 11. Accessed May 30, 2018. https://www.livestrong.com/article/404825-what-is-the-best-workout-to-improve-leg-strength/.