A strict pull-up starts from a full dead hang, arms long, and ends with the chin over the bar, no kick and no swing. On the camera test both ends are checked: a rep without the chin over the bar is a no-count, and so is a rep with too much swing.
There are no credible general-adult pull-up norms, and most adults cannot do a single strict pull-up: the median is zero, so any percentile put on your count would be an invented number. What does exist is the published US Marine Corps standards, so your reps are read against those instead, stated for exactly who they were written for.
The standards below are pass marks written for a named group, not percentiles for the general population. Clearing 5 reps means you met the US Marine Corps PFT pull-ups minimum for men 21-25, and nothing more than that.
| Standard | Minimum | Maximum | Who it applies to |
|---|---|---|---|
| US Marine Corps PFT pull-ups | 5 reps | 23 reps | Men 21-25 |
| US Marine Corps PFT pull-ups | not published | 11 reps | Women 21-25 |
Pass marks for the group each test was written for. Not percentiles, and not a rank among adults.
US Marine Corps PFT pull-up standards, Marine Corps Bulletin 6100
Pull-up standards. Entry standards for a pre-selected military population that trains for this test, shown as targets to clear, never as percentiles. Only the 21-25 band could be verified, so only that band is recorded. Women may substitute push-ups on the PFT, so no women's minimum is published; the women's maximum is shown alone rather than invented.
Next rung up: Full push-ups.
There is no honest all-adults percentile for pull-ups: most adults cannot do one strict rep, so the median is zero and one clean pull-up already puts you past most people. US Marine Corps PFT pull-ups (men 21-25): 5 rep minimum, 23 rep maximum. US Marine Corps PFT pull-ups (women 21-25): 11 rep maximum.
Because of the floor effect: when the median of a population is zero, a percentile curve over it is almost entirely invented. No credible general-adult pull-up norms exist, and the samples that do exist are gym populations that would flatter nobody honestly. Published military standards are real and citable, so your count is read against those instead.
23 strict pull-ups is the maximum score on the US Marine Corps PFT pull-ups for men 21-25, so reaching it means you top out that test. It is not a percentile: nobody has published where that count sits among adults generally.
Chin over the bar at the top and a full hang, arms long, at the bottom. On the camera test a rep whose chin never crosses the bar line is a no-count (logged as chin stayed below the bar), and so is a rep with too much swing (logged as too much swing). Kipping is a different sport.