What is the heaviest weight a person can lift?

However, experts believe that humans have not yet reached maximum muscle strength and have not determined where the true limit of human strength is. But to do this is not easy.

Bradley Schoenfeld, a professor of exercise science at Lehman College, said it is possible to use an electromyogram (EMG) machine - which works by recording the electrical activity produced within a muscle, including by neurons. or muscle fiber contraction, to measure muscle strength. However, such testing can only be conducted in a laboratory, and EMG only monitors a local muscle group. This cannot evaluate muscle strength throughout the human body.

E. Todd Schroeder, a clinical professor of physical therapy at the University of Southern California, believes that the only way to determine a person's muscle strength is through continuous training.

Physically, a person's ability to bear weight depends on two proteins that allow muscles to contract, actin and myosin, which are arranged within different types of muscle fibers. Training regimen, as well as biological factors such as genetics and gender, determine muscle mass and muscle fiber ratio. The greater your muscle mass, the more force you can generate.

By continuously increasing muscle mass, professional weightlifters push to the limit. However, as muscle mass becomes larger, the feedback force gradually decreases and eventually, the muscles will reach their limit.

Schroeder said sometimes just increasing muscle mass is not enough because some people who are underweight can actually lift heavier weights than people who weigh more.

One factor that weightlifters need to overcome is "neuromuscular inhibition," which limits the force with which muscles can contract to prevent injury and lift through resistance training.

In addition, psychological barriers are also important for athletes to be able to lift increasingly heavier weights. To lift high weights, lifters need to overcome barriers and put themselves in the right mental state to use all their muscle power.

Marvin Fry

Update 01 August 2024