The Physics of Weightlifting

After months of practise, hard work (typical ain’t it?) has yielded results. The medal at open IIT Powerlifting reaffirmed some of my beliefs of the alchemical process

1. Mentors play a very significant if not pivotal role.
2. One has to be inebriated by hope and leave the rest to chance. (I am not much of a believer of a greater Force, but I do believe in the chance mechanism)
3. Independent thought is necessary in any endeavour.

Although some of my readers may argue that all you need to do for weightlifting is eat eggs and lift weights, I am afraid that your view of weightlifting is at best naive. For the IITian, it is always doing with understanding.

A Question of Torque

Any layman could tell you that you have to balance the weights if you can hope to lift any significant weight. If the weights aren’t balanced you are going to have a tough time. If we assume the rod to have homogenous density, then the length of the rod should be equal on both sides.

Minimizing the work done

Why is a bench press done with an arched back? To minimize the distance travelled and hence the work done (W = Fs). As elementary as that.

Components of Force

A deadlift is always done with the shoulders and the arms in the vertical plane. What does it ensure? You get the entire force of your arms to be working against the gravity. The moment there is an angle, the horizontal component of force comes in and energy is wasted.

Yin and Yang

The grip for a deadlift is always complementary. If one hand  grips the bar with an open palm, the other with a closed palm. As you can see in the diagram below, this way the horizontal component of the force gets cancelled and the bar remains in firm grip.

Ok, so that is how an IITian would lift weights. I hope I have changed the viewpoint of many who believed that weightlifting was all brawn and no brains.