I have never done a true one-arm pullup.
When I was skinnier, and weaker overall, I could do 20 strict pullups.
I did pullups multiple times a day, most days a week. Hung a pullup bar in the office, so I could do them at work. Kept a doorway bar at home and would randomly do a set of 6-12 while walking through.
At some point I thought a one-arm pullup would be a good goal. Today I don’t think it is a good goal, FOR ME, but maybe it is for you!
If you want to do one-arm pullups, you definitely need to be able to do at least 20 strict pullups with ease; THEN start progressions toward unilateral loading.
If it’s the only goal in your life, might as well stop squatting because all those glutes, hams, and quads weigh a ton and don’t help your pullup. But if you approach it with a healthy attitude I bet you can get there as part of an all-around program.
I gave this a pretty serious try 6-8 years ago or so. I never could get one. My weight was maybe 165 at 5’9". I followed progressions religiously, and came fairly close but never got there.
Question: Can you rep out muscle ups? Can you do one arm negatives?
I don’t think genetics is the main consideration, I think bodyweight is, the only guys I’ve ever seen being able to easily crank out pretty much one arm anything (especially pus) are guys who weigh well under 200lbs.
The answer is no. The question seems to be can a person with average genetics do a one arm pull up. Well, if we look at average person, we are including women. I have seen one woman do a one arm pull up in my entire life, and she was a high level rock climber. IMO, maybe average genetics for men could do it, but not average for all people.
The 1% are most certainly the 1% because of genetics. Genetics are the #1 determining factor for basically everything. To quote Charlie Francis, “I can make you faster, but I can’t make you fast”.
Just to clarify, my thoughts are based on the idea that 1% means one in every 100 humans have the genetic potential to hit whatever arbitrary target we’re talking about. 1% would therefore mean that about 78 million people in the world were able to achieve whatever.
I’ve seen several no-name climbers do it, all males granted. But none strike me as genetic specimens. Wouldn’t say they had great weightlifting genetics though. Their bone structure makes me think of hummingbirds. They might be tall, but things are thin.
I have seen a female climber do it. She was very good. The genetics for it are IMO different than what would make a good BBer. Basically, you want as small of lower body as possible. Huge arms and back.
With the bench thread, we talked about making sacrifices to achieve the goal. If a person was willing to go into a wheel chair for a couple years, while training the back and arms heavily, it would improve their odds greatly.
