What is the most weight a human being can lift?

Question

I always see movies and video games with heroes who can lift things twice their weight and use them as a weapon. There is a character in Metal Gear Solid called Vulcan Raven who is able to pick up a gigantic vulcan cannon from a helicopter and use it as a hand held weapon. Now, I understand that's just fiction and hollywood but still it makes me wonder. Just how strong can a person possibly make themselves and what is the maximum amount of weight a person can lift? Is there a limit to just how strong a person can get and how much they can lift up?

Answer 1

Here is a clip from the cited source:

"The total record in the men's 56 kg class is 305 kg, in the 105+ kg class it is 472.5 kg [3]. The Sinclair Coefficients are used as a tool to devise rankings of weightlifters across different weight classes[4].

The current official record for the clean and jerk in the men's +105 kg class is held by Hossein Reza Zadeh of Iran, who clean and jerked 263.0 kg (579.8 lb) at the 2004 Athens Summer Olympics, snatched 213.0 kg (469.6 lb) in September 2003 at Qinhuangdao, and scored a total of 472 kg (1040.6 lb) at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. The current record for the clean and jerk in the women's 75+ kg class is held by Gonghong Tang of China, who lifted 182.5 kg (402.3 lb) at the 2004 Athens Summer Olympics[3].

The heaviest snatch of all time is 216.0 kg (476.2 lb), lifted by Antonio Krastev of Bulgaria in 1987. Leonid Taranenko of the (then) Soviet Union made the heaviest clean and jerk of all time, lifting 266.0 kg (586.4 lb) in 1988." [See source.]

Clean and jerk, and snatch are two different means for lifting weights. And total scores (weights) are given for two successful lifts. Most often, bigger, heavier people are capable of lifting heavier weights. This results from something called the conservation of momentum, where the momentum of the heavier person is greater than that of a lighter person...all other things equal.

Scifi is usually more fi and less sci when it comes to force and energy. For example, when Superman stops a speeding train with his bare hands, ever wonder where all that spent energy goes when the train comes to a stop in a short period of time? And ever wonder how a, say, 250 pound super person, could absorb the momentum of a, what, 100,000 ton train moving at 80 mph? The answer is, scientifcally, that could not happen. [See source.]

Answer 2

Heaviest Weight Lifted By Man

Answer 3

With a special harness and lifting frame, some people have lifted nearly a thousand pounds, but that's barely moving it off the ground. I personally have lifted over two thousand pounds, but that's with a little leverage (a jack). Others have lifted amazing amounts under the extreme stress of an emergency

The more meaningful measure is the carefully measured accomplishments of weightlifters. The maximum is still slowly increasing. That is less because the human body is improving. It is more because in the past, no one had the luxury of spending so much time, effort, and money on such a pointless endeavor.

Answer 4

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RE:
What is the most weight a human being can lift?
I always see movies and video games with heroes who can lift things twice their weight and use them as a weapon. There is a character in Metal Gear Solid called Vulcan Raven who is able to pick up a g...