In the battle of the sexes, women will always win on (at least) one task: the chair challenge. This viral craze exploded for the first time in 2019, and for good reason. Women make the chair challenge seem much easier, but even the stronger men I can’t finish it. What is the explanation?
Basically, the challenge of the chair is simple: take two steps from a wall and bend your waist so that your head touches it. Ask someone to place a chair under your upper body, hold it up to your chest and try to get up. Most women are professional at this. Standing does not give them any problem. It almost makes you wonder why this is a challenge.
But then you see a guy trying, and the challenge is immediately clear. Most men are paralyzed, bent and cursing, unable to stand.
It is also not an act. The men tried the challenge several times, but failed to overcome it.
There are many explanations circulating about why women stand out in the chair challenge while men fail. The Internet has attributed women’s success to everything from superior central strength to smaller footwear and a better perception of the space their bodies occupy. Most of these theories are totally wrong.
“We think it has a lot more to do with the center of mass and essentially with someone’s foot size,” Eric Shadrach, a physiotherapist at MetroHealth Medical Center, told WKYC. “People with bigger feet will place them farther from the wall and extend their center of mass away from a position where their muscles cannot act as a lever and move them through the anchor of their center of mass.”
YouTubers “Math Dad” and “Science Mom” put this theory to the test. When Math Dad followed the classic instructions, taking two steps behind the wall to lift his chair, he failed like the rest of his brothers. But when he followed in his wife’s footsteps, staying just as far from the wall as she was, he successfully stood up. Huzzah!
“This exercise is all about your center of mass,” explains Science Mom. “Being just a few inches further from the wall makes all the difference in the world as to whether this is possible.”
