Data showing that +70% weighted chinup = OAC

[jesusisafriend]

In June @cbsmel did a survey on whether users here can do an OAC and how much weight they can add in a normal 2-armed pullup. Now @trupo26 has persuaded him to release the data, so here's my analysis!

Edit: OAC is short for "one-armed chinup".

11 guys report a full OAC and weighted pullup 1RM. This excludes one outlier who magically can perform a full OAC with only 26% added. However it includes one guy who weighs 140 and adds 285 = 103%. I assume that's something like 140 kg and 285 lbs = 92.5%.

13 guys report over 60% added but fail to do an OAC. This excludes one guy who adds 221 lbs = 58% and one guy who adds 80 lbs = 225%. No idea what these could mean.

The min OAC is 65.7% and max non-OAC is 73.5%. There's a very sharp transition between these two groups between 68.9% and 72.5%.

So if you can add 70% of body weight your 2-arm pullup chances are you can do an OAC and vice-versa.

Edit: Weaker language in the conclusion.

 

[cbsmel]

@jesusisafriend Hello everyone. I am the guy who did the survey. What I want to say is that before analyzing any data and jumping to conclusions, there are a few limitations of the survey that you should keep in mind. For example,

• Very less sample size
• No video/image/live observation proof so you cannot say whether people were honest
• Did not consider training variables like past or present training experience, gender, sport background, injuries etc
• Some people did not fill in the form properly. A few people added the extra weight instead of total weight (bodyweight + extra weight) which was my fault tbh.

I see this all the time. Some study gets published and people are very quick to make conclusions. The biggest example that I can think of now is the recent 2017 study on spot fat reduction. In this study, 16 obese and physically inactive women were given a training protocol of some resistance training followed by 30 minutes of aerobic activity. Some amount of spot fat reduction was noticed in the areas that were trained. So many fitness YouTubers and those stupid Instagram influencers made videos stating that spot reduction is possible. Heck, even Calisthenicsmovement and Jeff Nippard made videos about it. Even though Calisthenicsmovement has deleted the video and jeff Nippard concluded that do not believe in the spot fat reduction myth, it still shows that how much this study was talked about and when something is talked about on such a large scale, people will misunderstand it. That is just what the reality is.

Now coming back here, first of all the title of this post is misleading. 70% weighted pullup will not guarantee an OAC. The data just shows that it was observed that people who can do OAC can also pull extra 70% of their bodyweight. Secondly, I was planning to analyse the data properly like this one where I tried to find the correlation between front lever progression, max pullups and weighted pullups and then release the results. But since I am a bit busy nowadays, I am sorry but I cannot do that.

What I want to say is that studies and data(when properly interpreted) are just a reference point. Nothing beats actual personal experience.

 

[twobraids]

@cbsmel Happy Cake Day! Hahaha!

 

[cbsmel]

@twobraids lol thanks

 

[jesusisafriend]

@cbsmel First, thank you very much for making the survey and publishing the data.

I disagree that we need to be so skeptical here. You're suggesting that the replication crisis should make us wary of all conclusions from data whatsoever. However, the main problem with single studies, like the one on fat reduction, is that researchers are motivated to get a particular answer. We may not see other studies where they got an answer they didn't like, or they may cheat a little to have it turn out how they want. Furthermore, they may claim success with a very small effect size.

In our case we simply had no data on the subject. If you read the other threads on this topic, people claim numbers from 1.5x bw to 1.9x bw. Even though people were confused on the survey, this just adds a small amount of noise to a pretty clear result. Now we can say something like "There's a pretty small chance (say 75% chance) at 1.75x bw."

My only regret is that I said "chinup" not "pullup" in the title.

 

[cbsmel]

@jesusisafriend

You're suggesting that the replication crisis should make us wary of all conclusions from data whatsoever.

Don't get me wrong here. I am not being skeptical and I am not stopping you from making conclusions. I never said that, did I? And I have no idea what the fuck this replication crisis is lol.

The thing is that please make the correct conclusions. There is a difference between the following 2 statements

• So there you have it, 70% of body weight added to your 2-arm pullup is the point where you can do an OAC!
• If you can do an OAC, chances are you can do pullups with 70% extra weight added.

The first statement is a wrong conclusion. The second statement is a correct conclusion. This sub is full of noobs and before passing any claim or info, please take care that someone who does not know any better is reading this and may try to do so at home. It is our responsibility to spread the correct info.

 

[cbsmel]

@jesusisafriend Your new conclusion is better than the previous one

 

[nelnel]

@jesusisafriend now i just need to know what an OAC is

 

[cbsmel]

@nelnel One

Arm

Chinup

 

[thepuritanis]

@cbsmel thanks, and happy cake day

 

[cbsmel]

@thepuritanis lol thanks

 

[mm30]

@nelnel One arm chinup

 

[quad]

@nelnel I think I figured it out. It's a one arm chinup. Never heard this acronym before.

 

[janeestipular555]

@jesusisafriend Your title got me excited since I can do a 1RM 70% weighted CHINUP, then I saw it was a PULLUP, and that I can't do... yet.

My OAC eccentric game is strong, and I can pull myself up about half way, but full ROM feels so far away...

 

[human4675]

@janeestipular555 Same for me, can do 1RM 73% weighted pull up, but full ROM OAC feels impossible

 

[jermyn]

@jesusisafriend

So there you have it, 70% of body weight added to your 2-arm pullup is the point where you can do an OAC!

I think you have to be careful of drawing conclusions like this. All we would need to disprove this is to find one person with a 70 percent WCU who can’t do a OAC. Which there are probably a lot of.

 

[cbsmel]

@jermyn Exactly! The title is very misleading.

 

[jermyn]

@cbsmel It is. Have to be careful when drawing conclusions from a study. So easy to extract the wrong one. Not even anyone’s fault. That’s just human error haha.

 

[jesusisafriend]

@jermyn Better now?

 

[jermyn]

@jesusisafriend Could be but I’m not sure. I’d be careful about assuming A leads to B so B leads to A. So for example, when I have seen people use WCU to get OAC, but the load needed was closer 90 percent. I do agree that you often see people get a OAC and they can do around 70 percent WCU. But that doesn’t work both ways automatically. Or at least, we shouldn’t assume it does and should test it to make sure it does if we are going to say it does.