Can I hold down more than my body weight on a 1 to 1 system?

[Podrat]

Can you pull down/hold more weight than your body using your muscles?

Imagine a 1 to 1. One side is suspended 190 pounds, the other is me, 175 pounds. Can i, using my muscles and standing on the ground, hold that suspended weight off the ground?

I understand if i lock out my arms and don't use force to hold the weight ill rise upwards, but using active resistance of activated muscle, is it possible to apply enough force to not rise up?

Also not at an angle. Let's assume its straight up and down. Can my muscles makw up the 20 pounds of force for a net 0?

 

[PeroK]

Newton's laws imply that the centre of mass of your body will move if subject to an unbalanced force. An upward pull of more than your weight must lift you off the ground - unless you have something else to hold you down.

 

[Lnewqban]

Welcome!
What makes you think that the action from your muscles will stop or slow down the weight from raising your body upwards?

 

[Podrat]

Welcome!
What makes you think that the action from your muscles will stop or slow down the weight from raising your body upwards?

Well let's say its the same weight as my body. So if i weigh 175 and the weight suspended on the other side of the 1 to 1 is 175, if i generate momentum to pull the weight down (lifting it on its side), shouldn't my applied force combined with my weight be able to move it?

The human muscles can generate force in a downward direction, does that force not compound with the weight and be able to hold 190 lbs suspended?

 

[Podrat]

Newton's laws imply that the centre of mass of your body will move if subject to an unbalanced force. An upward pull of more than your weight must lift you off the ground - unless you have something else to hold you down.

So human arms/back/muscles can't generatena force to help hold you down?

 

[jbriggs444]

So human arms/back/muscles can't generatena force to help hold you down?

Right. They cannot.

If, hypothetically, they could generate a force to hold you down then it follows by symmetry that they could equally well generate a force to hold you up like a flying saucer.

We do not discuss reactionless drives here.

 

[Podrat]

Right. They cannot.

If, hypothetically, they could generate a force to hold you down then it follows by symmetry that they could equally well generate a force to hold you up like a flying saucer.

We do not discuss reactionless drives here.

Well when you jump you are creating a force more than your body weight, hence you leave the ground, but of course gravity pulls you back down. I am simply asking, if using that same idea, a person can essentially hold more weight down for a short period of time using self made force from muscles/momentum.

 

[PeroK]

Well when you jump you are creating a force more than your body weight, hence you leave the ground, but of course gravity pulls you back down. I am simply asking, if using that same idea, a person can essentially hold more weight down for a short period of time using self made force from muscles/momentum.

Yes, for a short time. It all boils down to Newton's laws. For example, I do climbing and if I see my partner likely to fall, I crouch slightly so that although my centre of gravity is pulled upwards by a fall, I'm not immediately pulled off the ground.

Also, you could be cleverer and have your mass moving downwards (momentum). In that case, the upward force first has to reverse your downward momentum, before it starts to move you upwards.

And, of course, if you can generate an external downward force (by pushing up on something), then you can hold more than your body weight. E.g. you can pulldown more than your body weight by trapping your knees under a bar.

 

[Ibix]

Im simply asking, if using that same idea, a person can essentially hold more weight down for a short period of time using self made force from muscles/momentum.

No. If you stood on a stool and jumped off with slack in the rope the weight would lift when the rope went taut, and similarly if you can hold the rope with your arms bent and then relax your knees and drop your weight. But you cannot stand on a floor and pull down on the rope - you will lift yourself off the floor unless you are glued to the floor or have your toes tucked under something.

 

[Lnewqban]

Well let's say its the same weight as my body. So if i weigh 175 and the weight suspended on the other side of the 1 to 1 is 175, if i generate momentum to pull the weight down (lifting it on its side), shouldn't my applied force combined with my weight be able to move it?

The human muscles can generate force in a downward direction, does that force not compound with the weight and be able to hold 190 lbs suspended?

If both bodies weight the same, your arm muscles are shortening the linkage between both of them; therefore, both bodies should go up half of the shortened distance and simultaneously.

As one of those bodies become gradually heavier, it will go up less and less of half of that shortened distance (while the lighter body will go up more).

As one of those bodies become heavier still, a point will be reach at which it does not move under the action of the shrinking linkage, while the lighter body will move up the whole reduced distance of the linkage.
Beyond that point, the heavier body will start moving down, taking linkage and lighter body with it.

 

[PeroK]

If both bodies weight the same, your arm muscles are shortening the linkage between both of them; therefore, both bodies should go up half of the shortened distance and simultaneously.

As one of those bodies become gradually heavier, it will go up less and less of half of that shortened distance (while the lighter body will go up more).

As one of those bodies become heavier still, a point will be reach at which it does not move under the action of the shrinking linkage, while the lighter body will move up the whole reduced distance of the linkage.
Beyond that point, the heavier body will start moving down, taking linkage and lighter body with it.

I have to say I don't find this post very clear.

 

[FactChecker]

Can you pull down/hold more weight than your body using your muscles?

Imagine a 1 to 1. One side is suspended 190 pounds, the other is me, 175 pounds. Can i, using my muscles and standing on the ground, hold that suspended weight off the ground?

I understand if i lock out my arms and don't use force to hold the weight ill rise upwards, but using active resistance of activated muscle, is it possible to apply enough force to not rise up?

Also not at an angle. Let's assume its straight up and down. Can my muscles makw up the 20 pounds of force for a net 0?

It sounds to me that you are asking about jerking on a rope with a simple pully holding a heavier weight. You can jerk it off the ground and you will also be jerked off the ground faster than it is. After that, it will fall back down and you will be lifted higher. You can not "hold" it off the ground in any sustained manner.

 

[PeroK]

You might want to rephrase some of that!

 

[hutchphd]

Can you pull down/hold more weight than your body using your muscles?

You could grab the object being lifted and pull it up directly as well as with the pulley. Then you could pull it without going up because it could hold you back down. This would be equivalent to the action of the Bosun's chair with a weight in your lap. If the weight is heavier than you, then you can pull harder than your weight and not move.