New York City\u2019s hottest gym isn\u2019t a gym at all.<\/p>\n
For decades, New Yorkers have turned the city\u2019s urban clutter into makeshift workout equipment, especially for pull-ups. Whether scaffolding<\/a>, subway rails or crosswalk lights, if they can hang from it, they\u2019ll pull up on it.<\/p>\n The tradition isn\u2019t new. But women have become the new face of it on social media, filming themselves doing pull-ups throughout the city on girls\u2019 nights out, commutes and even date nights.<\/p>\n Rose Joseph doing a pull-up in the Lower East Side of Manhattan on Saturday, August 15, 2026. Emmy Park for NYPost<\/p>\n New Yorkers Rose Joseph (from left), Yami Nevarez, Paige Bullard and Karen Modesto are part of a growing fitness trend taking over social media. Emmy Park for NYPost<\/p>\n And as the trend gains traction online, their videos are racking up views and challenging the longstanding notion that pullups are an exercise women simply aren\u2019t built to do.<\/p>\n Paige Bullard<\/a>, 36, had just finished a calisthenics training session near Yankee Stadium when she hopped on a 5 train packed with rowdy baseball fans.<\/p>\n One man grabbed the metal handrail and started doing pullups. Then another joined him. Then a third. A stranger \u2014 who had told Bullard earlier that she was in \u201cthe greatest shape ever\u201d \u2014 urged her to join them, even offering to hold her bag. She declined.<\/p>\n Then the women started chiming in.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the girls want me to do it, I\u2019ll do it,\u201d she remembers thinking. \u201cSo then I went up there and did the 20 pullups.\u201d<\/p>\n Yamile (Yami) Nevarez, Paige Bullard and Rose Joseph pose in the Lower East Side of Manhattan on Saturday, August 15, 2026. Emmy Park for NYPost<\/p>\n A professional athlete and founder of Bar Proof<\/a>, a calisthenics and street workout event series, Bullard has amassed more than 150,000 followers across Instagram and TikTok, where she shares snapshots of her workout sessions and community.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of men don\u2019t expect us to be strong in that area. So when you bust out, like, 15, 20, they\u2019re like, \u2018Oh my goodness, I can\u2019t even do that.’\u201d<\/p>\n Paige Bullard<\/p>\n Sprinkled among them are videos of her doing pullsups on crosswalk lights<\/a> and tree<\/a> branches in outfits suited more for a catwalk than a gym. The Brooklyn native has even done them on dates, typically with another calisthenics enthusiast.<\/p>\n \u201cIt works out,\u201d she told The Post. \u201cFrom the bar to the bar.\u201d<\/p>\n Paige Bullard flexes her pullup skills on scaffolding in the Lower East Side. Emmy Park for NYPost<\/p>\n Women have become the new face of it on social media, filming themselves doing pull-ups throughout the city on girls\u2019 nights out, commutes and even date nights. Emmy Park for NYPost<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of men don\u2019t expect us to be strong in that area,\u201d Bullard added. \u201cSo when you go up there and you bust out, like, 15, 20, they\u2019re like, \u2018Oh my goodness, I can\u2019t even do that.’\u201d<\/p>\n Women, she said, are often just as shocked, but their surprise tends to turn into inspiration.<\/p>\n \u201cI really do a lot of what I do for women,\u201d said Bullard, noting that she hosts free weekly calisthenics sessions in the park for women. \u201cI want to see women get more active and engaged in fitness overall, but especially calisthenics.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI just want them to know that you know we\u2019re capable of doing a lot more than just some squats at the gym.\u201d<\/p>\n @impaigeypooh<\/a> <\/p>\n Only in New York\u2026 these guys are on a train doing pull-ups and and this one guy goes \u2018I know you got 20!\u2019 The girls actually encouraged me to actually get up there and do it once they said so you know I always have to do it for my girls, I did the pull ups, and they clapped when I got off it was so sweet, especially after leaving that CCA event today \ud83d\ude87 and thank you to the lady who recorded it The best nyc hype man @nick.swerve<\/p>\n \u266c original sound \u2013 impaigeypooh<\/a> <\/p>\n The girls are getting their reps in<\/p>\n Yami Nevarez<\/a>, 26, an Equinox coach, is one of the women Bullard inspired to do exactly that.<\/p>\n Nevarez had seen Bullard\u2019s videos and attended one of her sessions at the beach in August 2025. The two quickly became friends, and Bullard began training with Nevarez, a calisthenics newbie who had yet to perform a pullup.<\/p>\n An Equinox coach and calisthenics enthusiast, Yami Nevarez enjoys strength training in the gym and on the street. Emmy Park for NYPost<\/p>\n With their friend Felicia Waithe, they formed the Cali Puff Girls, an all-women calisthenics crew that trains together through friendly challenges and supportive sisterhood.<\/p>\n Less than a year later, Nevarez was doing pullups, muscleups and bar dips in a viral video on a scaffolding pole well above her petite, 5-foot frame.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m just doing it for the girls who think that they can\u2019t do it. I was once that girl \u2026 here I am now doing pullups anywhere and everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n Rose Joseph<\/p>\n \u201cI just feel like that\u2019s a certified New Yorker, getting on the scaffold and pulling yourself up,\u201d she said. \u201cPaige inspired me a lot, though. Seeing another woman being able to do things that people put limitations on \u2014 it\u2019s very inspiring.\u201d<\/p>\n That was her first time performing pullups on scaffolding, a feat she described as \u201ca great feeling.\u201d She did have one complaint, though: \u201cYour hands get so dirty. You know, we\u2019re just girls.\u201d<\/p>\n Paige Bullard and Yami Nevarez bonded over calisthenics and went on to form the Cali Puff Girls, an all-women crew that trains and pushes one another. Emmy Park for NYPost<\/p>\n Rose Joseph<\/a>, 29, a project manager and fitness creator from Long Island, had also been seeing videos of women doing pullups across the city and was inspired to start documenting her own.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery time we be out and about in New York City, every time I see little poles \u2014 or, you know, maybe like a traffic light \u2014 I would at least try and get some pullups in\u201d she said. \u201cLike, the gym games don\u2019t stop.\u201d<\/p>\n Joseph achieved her first unassisted pullup in 2025 after trying for about two years.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m just doing it for the girls who think that they can\u2019t do it. I once thought that,\u201d she said. \u201cI was once that girl \u2014 until I just kept on going, and here I am now doing pullups anywhere and everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n After finally nailing her first unassisted pullup in 2025, Rose Joseph now gets her reps in wherever she finds a pole or traffic light. Emmy Park for NYPost<\/p>\n Karen Modesto<\/a>, a licensed daycare provider from Queens, came to pullups through weightlifting. While searching for exercise inspiration, she came across videos of women doing them.<\/p>\n Initially, Modesto wasn\u2019t impressed. But after seeing captions claiming that only a small percentage of women could do pullups, she became determined to not be one of them.<\/p>\n \u201cWait a minute, I\u2019m not going to be in that percentage who can\u2019t do it,\u201d the 39-year-old said. \u201cI\u2019m going to do a pullup. So that\u2019s how I started.\u201d<\/p>\n She now posts videos performing pullups throughout the city, including some alongside men.<\/p>\n Karen Modesto gets into position for another set of pullups.<\/p>\n \u201cMy body, my strength\u00a0\u2014 everything has fully changed,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen you look at me doing a pullup, what you say to yourself is that is one strong woman.\u201d<\/p>\n But how many women can actually do one?<\/p>\n There\u2019s a viral sound<\/a> on Instagram and TikTok of a group of unidentified men discussing how many unassisted pullups they believe the average woman can statistically perform.<\/p>\n \u201cOn average probably 1.5,\u201d suggests one. \u201c4?\u201d guesses another. \u201cZero,\u201d he answers.<\/p>\n 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 only 1% to 5% of women can do one full, unassisted pullup.<\/p>\n The problem is that the statistic isn\u2019t backed by reliable data. In fact, there doesn\u2019t appear to be a reliable large-scale study establishing what percentage of women can perform an unassisted pullup.<\/p>\n Rose Joseph gets in a few reps while out and about in New York City, where she says the \u201cgym games don\u2019t stop.\u201d Emmy Park for NYPost<\/p>\n \u201cThat \u2018data\u2019 seems to be pulled out of thin air,\u201d said Lauren Colenso-Semple<\/a>, an exercise physiologist and strength coach who goes by Dr. Lauren and specializes in female muscle physiology, training and nutrition.<\/p>\n The most famous controlled trial in this area is a 2003 study<\/a> 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, practicing lifting exercises, modified pullups and aerobic conditioning.<\/p>\n The women increased their upper-body strength by 36% and lowered body fat by 2%. Yet only four were able to do a single pullup on test day.<\/p>\n