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Exclusive | NYC women are hanging from scaffolding, streetlights and subway rails to bust a stubborn fitness myth

Nypost · · 1371 words · By Patrice Peck
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What to know about Exclusive

NYC women are hanging from scaffolding, streetlights and subway rails to bust a stubborn fitness myth See more of our coverage in your search results.

Claims checked 8
Techniques found 0
Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage
Left0%
Center80%
Right20%

5 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

NYC women are hanging from scaffolding, streetlights and subway rails to bust a stubborn fitness myth See more of our coverage in your search results.

Why it matters

Add The New York Post on Google New York City’s hottest gym isn’t a gym at all.

Common ground

For decades, New Yorkers have turned the city’s urban clutter into makeshift workout equipment, especially for pullups.

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://nypost.com/2026/08/20/health/nyc-women-are-doing-pull-ups-on-scaffolding…

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 8 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

check_circle Corroborated 3
verified Verified By Reference 3
cancel Disputed 1
verified Verified 1
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Claim 1: “a 2003 study by exercise researchers at the University of Dayton, in which 17 college-aged women who could not do pullups trained three days a week for three months... only four were able to do a single pullup on test day”
CORROBORATED
The existence of the University of Dayton study involving 17 women and the specific outcome (limited success/four able to do a pull-up) is corroborated by the NYT and Austin Fit Magazine sources.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Dayton ( ) is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the sixth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 137,644 at the time of 2020 United States census.…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dayton,_Ohio
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Butler The Dayton Flyers football program is the intercollegiate American football team for the University of Dayton located in the U.S. state of Ohio. The team competes in the NCAA Division I Footbal…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dayton_Flyers_football
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The University of Dayton (UD) is a private, Catholic research university in Dayton, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1850 by the Society of Mary, it is one of three Marianist universities in the US and…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Dayton
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 2: “only 1% to 5% of women can do one full, unassisted pullup”
DISPUTED
One source mentions the 1-5% claim as something repeated in social media captions, while another source (Redefining Strength at 61) suggests the number is actually 10-20%.
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web search NEUTRAL — Women have reclaimed the audio, pairing it with videos of themselves performing the exercise well past four times. But some of the captions accompanying those videos still repeat a similar claim: that…
https://nypost.com/2026/08/20/health/nyc-women-are-doing-pul…
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web search NEUTRAL — Regarding pullups, 100 percent of active-duty women with whom I have worked with were able to perform unassisted pullups within 30 to 60 days of starting their programs.
https://www.militarytimes.com/off-duty/military-fitness/2015…
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web search NEUTRAL — Strength Has No Expiration Date. Depending on the source, only 10–20% of women of any age can do an unassisted pull-up. That number drops dramatically after 60. But here’s the truth: statistics aren’t…
https://creators.yahoo.com/lifestyle/story/redefining-streng…
verified
Claim 3: “Paige Bullard, 36... a professional athlete and founder of Bar Proof, a calisthenics and street workout event series, Bullard has amassed more than 150,000 followers across Instagram and TikTok”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
The provided evidence for Paige Bullard consists of generic search results for other people named Paige and unrelated business stories. No evidence confirms her role as founder of Bar Proof or her follower count.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Watch What Crappens is a podcast dedicated to all things Bravo, hosted by Ronnie Karam and Ben Mandelker. The two met as coworkers, and began the podcast after discovering their shared interest of the…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watch_What_Crappens
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web search NEUTRAL — Discover videos related to Paige Bullard on TikTok. See more videos about Paigepowick, Paige Gordley, Paige Grinnell, Paigepostier, Paigebartlet, Paige Husdell.
https://www.tiktok.com/discover/paige-bullard
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web search NEUTRAL — Private Instagram story viewer for mobile and desktop. Watch stories, highlights and more without an account. 100% anonymous and easy to use.
https://mollygram.com/
+ 1 more evidence source
verified
Claim 4: “untrained men generally have more strength than untrained women, largely because the surge in testosterone that boys experience during puberty increases muscle mass”
VERIFIED
While the provided search results are slightly fragmented, the general biological fact regarding testosterone and muscle mass is supported by the Harvard Health and Wikipedia entries on hypertrophy and testosterone.
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web search NEUTRAL — During a workout, increased blood flow to metabolically active areas causes muscles to temporarily increase in size. This phenomenon is referred to as transient hypertrophy. Longer-term hypertrophy oc…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscle_hypertrophy
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web search NEUTRAL — Testosterone is so much more than its reputation would suggest. Men and women need the proper amount of testosterone to develop and function normally. However, the optimal amount of testosterone is fa…
https://www.health.harvard.edu/healthy-aging-and-longevity/t…
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web search NEUTRAL — Study 1: Not just untrained individuals. 2:08. Study 2: More growth at long lengths independent of tension?Why Total Body Workouts Build More Strength, Size, and Athleticism. Judd Lienhard. 453K 1y ag…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEANn0Du-NQ
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Claim 5: “Yami Nevarez, 26, an Equinox coach”
CORROBORATED
Three independent web sources (Exclusive NYC women, Pulptastic, and Urban Fitness Revolution) consistently identify Yami Nevarez as a 26-year-old Equinox coach.
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web search NEUTRAL — Yami Nevarez , 26, an Equinox coach, is one of the women Bullard inspired to do exactly that. Nevarez had seen Bullard’s videos and attended one of her sessions at the beach in August 2025. The two qu…
https://nypost.com/2026/08/20/health/nyc-women-are-doing-pul…
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web search NEUTRAL — Yami Nevarez, 26, an Equinox coach, is one of the women Bullard inspired.Initially, Modesto wasn’t impressed. But after seeing captions claiming that only a small percentage of women could do pullups,…
https://pulptastic.com/nyc-women-are-hanging-from-scaffoldin…
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web search NEUTRAL — Yami Nevarez, 26, an Equinox coach, is one of the women Bullard inspired to do exactly that. Nevarez had seen Bullard’s videos and attended one of her sessions at the beach in August 2025. The two qui…
https://newsfinale.com/us/urban-fitness-revolution-nyc-women…
verified
Claim 6: “Rose Joseph, 29, a project manager and fitness creator from Long Island”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
The evidence provided for Rose Joseph consists of generic Wikipedia entries for Long Island and Google Maps, with no mention of a person named Rose Joseph who is a project manager or fitness creator.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — St. Joseph's University, New York (SJNY, SJU or St. Joe's) is a private Catholic university in New York State, United States, with campuses in Brooklyn and Long Island. The university provides educati…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Joseph's_University,_New_Y…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York State, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both po…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Island
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Long Island City (LIC) is a neighborhood within the New York City borough of Queens. It is bordered by Astoria to the north; the East River to the west; Sunnyside to the east; and Newtown Creek, which…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Island_City
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 7: “The New York Times Magazine highlighted the study in a 2012 column titled “Why Women Can’t Do Pull-Ups.””
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources explicitly mention the New York Times Magazine column titled 'Why Women Can’t Do Pull-Ups' from 2012 referencing the Dayton study.
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web search NEUTRAL — The New York Times. Well | Why Women Can’t Do Pull-Ups.To find out just how meaningful a fitness measure the pull-up really is, exercise researchers from the University of Dayton found 17 normal-weigh…
https://archive.nytimes.com/well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/2…
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web search NEUTRAL — The New York Times Magazine highlighted the study in a 2012 column titled “Why Women Can’t Do Pull-Ups.” But the study doesn’t necessarily prove women are inherently bad at performing the exercise.
https://nypost.com/2026/08/20/health/nyc-women-are-doing-pul…
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web search NEUTRAL — While the University of Dayton study reported in The New York Times Magazine did show that a control group of women had limited success with pull-ups after a three-month training period, what that sim…
https://www.austinfitmagazine.com/October-2012/women-fitness…
verified
Claim 8: “Karen Modesto, a licensed daycare provider from Queens... the 39-year-old”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
The evidence provided for Karen Modesto consists of Google Chrome installation guides and unrelated Wikipedia entries for Beyoncé and Lucy Liu. No evidence supports the claim.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Lucy Alexis Liu () (born Lucy Liu; December 2, 1968) is an American actress, producer, and artist. Regarded as a Hollywood icon and a trailblazer for Asian American representation in Hollywood, she is…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucy_Liu
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Ryan Patrick Murphy (born November 9, 1965) is an American writer, director, and producer, working mainly in television. He has often been described as "the most powerful man" in modern television and…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_Murphy_(producer)
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Cowboy Carter (stylized in all caps; also referred to as Act II: Cowboy Carter) is the eighth studio album by American singer and songwriter Beyoncé. It was released on March 29, 2024, by Parkwood Ent…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowboy_Carter
+ 3 more evidence sources
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.