"How many pull-ups is good?" has a real answer. Calisthenics has published consensus standards for the basic strength movements, and for the skill positions — where nobody counts reps of a planche — the difficulty charts in Overcoming Gravity say which position sits at which level. This page puts both on one ladder: the ladder PlayThenics uses to measure a rank from the sets you log.
Two things to hold in mind before the tables. These are evidence-informed community standards, not physical laws; they exist to give you an honest, external yardstick instead of a number an app invented. And they assume strict, full-range reps — a kipped chin-over-bar or a half push-up does not count against them.
The ladder
The published tables give three tiers: beginner, intermediate and advanced. Three tiers are too coarse to train against — you can spend a year "intermediate" with nothing visibly moving — so the ladder here splits the middle three tiers into I, II and III, with Novice as the on-ramp below and Elite as the open top. Thirteen steps, per movement pattern.
The rank is tracked for six movement patterns: vertical push, vertical pull, horizontal push, horizontal pull, core and legs. Each pattern can be proven two ways, and the higher of the two counts.
Rep standards for the basic lifts
Reps in one strict set, bodyweight only. The three published anchors are the entry to each tier — 5 / 12 / 20 pull-ups, 20 / 30 / 40 push-ups — and the I–II–III steps interpolate between them.
Swipe sideways for all six lifts →
| Rank | Pull-ups (or chin-ups) | Push-ups | Dips | Inverted rows | Hanging leg raises | Bodyweight squats |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Novice | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Beginner I | 5 | 20 | 5 | 10 | 5 | 20 |
| Beginner II | 7 | 24 | 7 | 13 | 7 | 24 |
| Beginner III | 9 | 27 | 9 | 16 | 9 | 27 |
| Intermediate I | 12 | 30 | 12 | 20 | 12 | 30 |
| Intermediate II | 14 | 34 | 14 | 23 | 14 | 34 |
| Intermediate III | 17 | 37 | 17 | 26 | 17 | 37 |
| Advanced I | 20 | 40 | 20 | 30 | 20 | 40 |
| Advanced II | 24 | 45 | 24 | 35 | 24 | 45 |
| Advanced III | 28 | 50 | 28 | 40 | 28 | 50 |
| Elite | no rep standard | no rep standard | no rep standard | no rep standard | no rep standard | no rep standard |
The rep ladder stops at Advanced III on purpose. Nobody ranks Elite by counting push-ups; past that point only added load or a harder progression can prove anything, which is what the second ladder is for.
Position standards for the skills
For straight-arm and skill work the position is the rank. These are placed from the Overcoming Gravity difficulty charts (difficulty 1–15), calibrated so the landmark skills land where the published tiers say they should.
| Rank | Owning this position proves it |
|---|---|
| Novice | Wall push-up, incline push-up, scapular pulls, arch hang, plank, hollow hold |
| Beginner I | Push-up, negative pull-up |
| Beginner III | Pull-up, diamond push-up, wide rows |
| Intermediate I | Wide pull-up, pseudo planche push-up |
| Intermediate II | L-sit pull-up, tuck planche, tuck front lever |
| Advanced I | Archer pull-up, advanced tuck planche / front lever, L-sit |
| Advanced II | Handstand push-up, straddle front lever |
| Advanced III | Straddle planche, V-sit, sissy squat |
| Elite | One-arm pull-up, full front lever |
| Elite + | Full planche — and beyond it, maltese and victorian territory |
What counts as proof
- A minimum set. One sloppy rep does not prove you own a progression. A rep-measured set needs at least 3 reps; a static needs at least 5 seconds of hold.
- Freshness. Evidence stays current for 8 weeks — longer than a normal training block plus its deload, so an athlete who is training never sees this. After that a rank shows as stale and asks for a retest. It never goes down for absence.
- The overall rank is weakest-link weighted. The six pattern ranks are blended with the weakest pattern counted at half the total, so specialising in pull-ups while ignoring legs cannot game the overall figure — and the push:pull balance the training science asks for is rewarded.
Where to go from your number
If pull-ups are the pattern holding you back, the pull-up progression guide covers every step from the dead hang to the muscle-up, and the 8-week first-pull-up program is the on-ramp to Beginner I. For the position ladder, start with the hollow body hold, then the front lever progression, the planche progression and the handstand tutorial. To turn a rank into a plan — sets per week, days, deloads — read how to build a personal calisthenics workout plan.
How PlayThenics measures this for you
You log sets. The app reads them against the two ladders above, gives each of the six patterns a rank, shows the exact set that earned it, and weights the overall figure toward your weakest pattern. There is no XP and nothing to farm: recomputing from your history always produces the same answer. Logging, the overall rank, milestones and records are free and work with no account and no signal; per-pattern ranks with their evidence are part of Pro.
Sources
- Calisthenics Movement — From beginner to superhuman: calisthenics levels explained
- The Bodyweight Tribe — High-rep strength standards for calisthenics
- Spartan Lab — Strength standards tool
- Cinnabar Calisthenics — Calisthenics strength standards
- Steven Low, Overcoming Gravity (2nd ed.) — progression difficulty charts
Questions
How many pull-ups is intermediate?
Twelve strict pull-ups is the entry to Intermediate (Intermediate I). Fourteen is Intermediate II and seventeen is Intermediate III. Twenty strict pull-ups is where Advanced begins; five is the first Beginner step.
How many push-ups should I be able to do?
Twenty strict push-ups is Beginner I, thirty is Intermediate I and forty is Advanced I. The published anchors describe the intermediate mark as thirty diamond push-ups and the advanced mark as handstand push-ups; the rep ladder here counts standard push-ups, and the position ladder credits the harder variations separately.
How many dips is good?
Dips use the same ladder as pull-ups: five is Beginner I, twelve is Intermediate I and twenty is Advanced I. Twenty-eight strict dips is Advanced III, the top of the rep ladder.
What counts as Elite in calisthenics?
Elite is not a rep count. It is owning a position that the rep ladder cannot express: a one-arm pull-up or a full front lever for Elite, and a full planche a step above that. Beyond Advanced III only added load or a harder progression can prove a rank.
Do these standards adjust for bodyweight, age or sex?
No. The published tables these are drawn from are unadjusted consensus numbers for strict, full-range reps, and the ladder here is the same for everyone. Treat them as an external yardstick, not a verdict on you.
How does PlayThenics measure my rank?
From the sets you log. A rep-measured exercise proves a rank when a logged set of at least three strict reps meets the number for that step; a skill position proves a rank when you log a hold of at least five seconds or a set of three reps of that progression. Each of six movement patterns takes the higher of its rep evidence and its position evidence, the overall rank weights your weakest pattern at half, and every rank shows the set that earned it.
What happens to my rank if I stop training?
Nothing goes down. After eight weeks without fresh evidence a rank is shown as stale — dimmed, with a prompt to retest — but it keeps its value. Absence is not demotion.
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