Jul 7, 2011

Men's Maximum Deadlifting Distribution in Pounds with Equation

I figured it would be helpful to readers to revisit the distribution for men's deadlifts using pounds instead of kilograms.  Also, as I have been working on graphs for future posts, I have been tweaking equations that generate good estimates of what a person can lift at any percentile.
 It is important to note that the line was not calculated to be a best-fit to the data, and that was intentional.  I do not like how the deadlifting data I have creates a large jump past the 50th percentile, and it is entirely an artifact of the way the data was collected, not representative of the population, which would follow a smoother curve.  The equation I settled on is 65 + 35 * 1.0225 ^ (100 * percentile) in pounds.  Some day I will learn how to make equations pretty.  What is it, LaTeX?

Also, the equation for the line should only be used to estimate deadlifting ability for the 5th-95th percentiles.  Over the 95th, we see a sharp turn upward as the elites truly separate themselves from the pack.  Below the 5th percentile, we would also see a sharp turn downward if any data had been available for unhealthy or particularly weak men.  The lowest value available is the average maximum weight lifted by men with body weights in the bottom 0.005 proportion.

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