Pullup.

This is coolbert:

As you are aware, the pullup is one of the events used to evaluate the physical fitness of American youth. I have also blogged that this is an event, as is the pushup, is an exercise that one NEEDS to work on. You need to do specific exercises to strengthen yourself for these two events, pullups and pushups.

How effective is the pullup as an event? Is it a valid measurement of fitness [arm strength]??

Evidently, it is a VERY VALID measurement.

It seems that the Soviets considered both the standing long jump and the pullup to be valid measures of physical fitness. The former for the legs, the latter for the arms.

The Soviet Spetsnaz soldier was required to do a standard number of pullups to be qualified as a spetsnaz trooper. How many pullups was the standard for the Soviet spetsnaz troop? Sixteen [16] with a 8 kilogram weight [about 18 pounds for you that are metrically challenged] strapped to the chest!! That 8 kilogram weight corresponds to the weight of a Soviet era bullet proof vest.

Sixteen pullups with an eighteen pound weight strapped to your chest IS an achievement. Of course, keep in mind that all spetsnaz troops of the old Soviet Army were CHOSEN FOR PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES FROM THE START. These were persons gifted physically to begin with.

[the photo accompanying this blog entry is of a Russian who now lives in the U.S. and purports to have been a trainer for spetsnaz. He is lifting a kettlebell, a distinctive Russian training apparatus.]

coolbert.