Before I start this blog post, I would like to give a shoutout to the youtuber, BaldOmniMan. He’s a solid fitness youtuber and am so grateful that he came up with this video of comparing his pullups and his rows. His video gave a solid first blog post idea as well as inspiration for the rows to pullups mathematical conversion that will be discussed later in this post. and am a proud subscriber to his Youtube channel. be Be sure to subscribe to him if you haven’t already.
While in undergrad, I’ve always thought to myself if there’s a way to get better in pullups without doing pullups. For the longest time, I’ve just accepted that you have to directly do pullups to get better at pullups and that rows won’t make that much of a difference even though they work very similar muscles. With pull-ups, your lats are stretched out when starting the exercise versus rows where your lats are midway. There’s also a difference in rhomboid recruitment in pullups (depression/downward) and rows(retraction/shoulder blades back). It wasn’t until this past year or so that I revisited the idea of wether there’s a strong correlation between pullups and rows based on two observations: myself and a solid fitness youtuber, BaldOmniMan.
Case 1: In early 2023 and prior, I was dealing with golfer’s elbow on my right elbow and was doing cable wrist flexors and cable pronation exercises before I felt ready for do neutral grip rows on December 2022. As I was able to acclimate to rows pain free, around late April was when I felt ready to test my elbow to see if it can handle doing pullups. I speculate that pullups are harder on the elbow than rows due to the lats being stretched out and therefore stretch the fascia the surrounds the elbow potential causing inflammation. Anyway on 4/15/23, I performed my last cable row before trying out neutral grip pullups for reps. The marks at the time was 142.5lb for 24 reps converting to a 1 RM max of 253.6 based on a 1RM max calculation website: https://21plusrepmax.com/. There are plenty of other sites to calculate 1RM. It’s just that this one allows you to input bodyweight and added weight instead of having to add both variables and sum it up as a weight with the reps. Four days later on 4/19/23, my rows were performed at 130lbs for 30 reps (1RM: 255.3 lbs) while I did 13 body weight pullups at estimate 167lbs (1RM: 238.6). I then decided to retest my pullups fresh, three days later on 4/22/23, and I did 40lbs for 6 reps (1RM: 240.7). Two days later, my cable row was 140lbs for 26 reps @ 256.4 1RM. Based on this data, there is a 16-17lb difference in 1RM between cable rows and pullups.
A random piece of information to point out was that my EZ curl 1RM was 142lbs indicating that my biceps wouldn’t be a weak point when doing pullups. I think pull-ups are slightly less 1RM or harder exercise because the pull-ups require more strength at a more stretch position while in rows, the lats never go above the shoulder. Assuming same thickness of the grip, my formula based on this case is:
Predicted 1 rep max of weighted pullups (bodyweight + added weight) (Case 1) = 1RM of seated cable rows – (16 or 17lbs).
Case 2: This past year, I came across a youtube video from BaldOmniMan called : How I Got a 4 Plated Weighted Pull-Up. In the beginning of the video, he said that did a rep of a 180lb weighted pullups “in the 170s”. Later on the video, he mentions that once he was able to do barbell rows 300lb for 8 reps that was the moment when he felt it was right to attempt a 4 plate weighted pullups. The website that I’m going to be using for calculate the 1RM is 21plusrepmax.com that I personally made. For barbell rows, the 1RM for his barbell rows is 370.4lbs. For the weighted pullups, I’m going to assume he weighs 175lbs. With that in mind, the 1RM for weight pullups at 175lb for 180lb is 355lbs.
Predicted 1 rep max of weighted pullups (bodyweight + added weight) (Case 2) = 1RM of seated cable rows – 15lbs.
Analyzing both formulas, Case 1 is 1-2 more added than Case 2 and the only reason for the subtle difference that I can think of is that he had been doing pull-up work. I’m glad that he mentioned in the video that he treated pullups as a supplementary exercise and didn’t feel the need to dedicate a block into pull-ups to get better at them.
Two takeways: 1) When training rows, be sure that the grip angle as well as having the same or thicker thickness when testing for the pull-up/chin-up of focus. 2) In theory, a person might be able to do their first pull-up once they can row their bodyweight minus (15-20 lbs). (ex. a 140lb person would have to row 160lbs for one rep OR 120lbs for 10 reps).
Hope you enjoyed this post