1. Weight Lifting Ben Cutting and Katherine Stammer Introduction to Systems Science and Engineering Fall 2009

2. Goals What is the relationship between the mass of a weight lifter and the maximum weight they can lift? Why have past studies shown that the relationship is L=AW 2/3 ? (Where L is the maximum lift and W is the mass of the lifter)

3. Methods Concept: Find best fit line using least squares Designed a MATLAB program that takes in a weight vector and a lift vector L=AW b Applied a vector b with values of 0.01 to 0.99 with increments of 0.01 to this data Found a constant A corresponding to each b and evaluated by summing distances to the from each point to the line using least squares function

4. Data Top 10 lifters from each men’s weight class of the 2004 Olympics Each graph is based on the results of 70 lifters Analyzed the three categories: Snatch, Clean and Jerk, and Total

5. Snatch b

6. Clean and Jerk b

7. Total b

8. Future Direction How do women compare to men? Does the (2/3) power hold true? Are there similar relationships between the size and mass of an athlete and their ability to perform in other sports, such as running?

9. Thanks Special thanks to Anatoly Zlotnik for his help thinking through the logic of the problem and converting these ideas into a MATLAB program

10. Questions?