Lifting a Person

Idle_Moon

Today I had a course for First Aid and Safety. We realised that a person's weight could be very heavy.
Now I'm wondering if I'll be able to lift a person by processing in my strength training.

How much weight can you lift? And how much should I be able to lift? (5"4 123 lbs woman)
Someone told me males could lift 1,5x their bodyweight and females only manage 0,5x their bodyweight.

PaulaWallaDingDong

I have nothing to report on how much I can lift...but whoever thinks they know how much a man or woman can or can't lift should come and introduce themselves to the MFP crowd.

TR0berts

Idle_Moon wrote: »

Today I had a course for First Aid and Safety. We realised that a person's weight could be very heavy.
Now I'm wondering if I'll be able to lift a person by processing in my strength training.

How much weight can you lift? And how much should I be able to lift? (5"4 123 lbs woman)

You should be able to lift however much you can lift. Also, realize lifting a person is considerably different than lifting a barbell, dumbbell, kettlebell, etc. That said, continue strength training. While there's not a direct relation between lifting a barbell to lifting a person, it'll help.

Someone told me males could lift 1,5x their bodyweight and females only manage 0,5x their bodyweight.

General statement is general. And not particularly helpful. Different people can lift (what lift, anyway?) different amounts, depending on a number of factors. Take, for instance, Jennifer Thompson. She weighs considerably less than I (a male), yet can bench more than I can.

Ready2Rock206

It's not like you're going to lift an injured person over your head though. Did they not teach you how to properly lift someone in your class?? It's very different from lifting weights in the gym. I do think getting stronger in the gym could only help but I don't think you'll ever get to the point of just tossing a body over your shoulder and running down the road with them.

jemhh

PaulaWallaDingDong wrote: »

I have nothing to report on how much I can lift...but whoever thinks they know how much a man or woman can or can't lift should come and introduce themselves to the MFP crowd.

Lol.

I can definitely lift more than half my weight. My dogs are each over half my weight and I've carried them into the e-vet plenty.

My deadlift max is 200. That's on a nice straight bar under optimal conditions. I'm not convinced I could lift a 200 lb person with a neck injury properly but I could drag one away from a dangerous situation if need be.

Idle_Moon

Thank you for your posts. You're fast.

At this moment I don't plan to go to extremes. I've been using the machines for strenght training, but now I realise that actual weight lifting might be more useful.
I'm doing strength training 3x a week, trying to do cardio 2/3x a week and eating enough protein. It would be awesome to lift 80kg (160lbs) . Is that considered as an extreme for my stats?

@Ready2Rock206
We've practised the Rautek to move a person into safety. Deadlifting has similar moves to it. So it might help alot.
Lifting my boyfriend and actually carry him would be my ultimate goal. But not safety-wise.

Squidgeypaws007

Idle_Moon wrote: »

Someone told me males could lift 1,5x their bodyweight and females only manage 0,5x their bodyweight.

It depends on the lift, but that is a scary statement. I'm 5'5" and can deadlift around 200Ibs (which is more than my bodyweight), and squat around 150Ibs, but, I can only lift around 50Ibs over my head...

I have friends on my friends list (females) who can lift more than that, some of who are shorter than me.

Idle_Moon wrote: »

I'm doing strength training 3x a week, trying to do cardio 2/3x a week and eating enough protein. It would be awesome to lift 80kg (160lbs) . Is that considered as an extreme for my stats?

Go lift as heavy as you can for as long as you can, progress safely, as people have said - there's no cap on what you can achieve

I'm not sure deadlifting a person is necessarily the safest way to move someone though. I tried deadlifting my dog, she wasn't impressed...

PaulaWallaDingDong wrote: »

I have nothing to report on how much I can lift...but whoever thinks they know how much a man or woman can or can't lift should come and introduce themselves to the MFP crowd.

sijomial

First aiders generally treat / assist someone where they are rather than lift or move them.
Takes very little strength to put someone into the recovery position, that's technique.

I did have to lift someone out of a chair to treat them when they collapsed at work (no breathing or pulse) and honestly if you have to do something you just do it.
If she was bigger she might have fallen out of the chair rather than being lifted!
The fall wouldn't have killed her but no pulse definitely would have done.....

Idle_Moon

Deadlift @2:03
https://youtu.be/RyJbvWAh6ec?t=123
Rautek @0.03
https://youtu.be/6g27JCPCP4A?t=3

These moves look very similar to me and that's why I think that deadlifting could help you out when you're trying to move a person into safety with the Rautek. Because you're having more strength in your legs.

@sijomial Indeed, it's prefered to treat are person where they are. But sometimes you have to move them. When they are lying on a railway or something.

@Squidgeypaws007 Do you think deadlifting 160 lbs is an hard achievement for a 5"4 woman?

deputy_randolph

I'm 5'3, 132lbs and max deadlift is 255lbs. Personally, I think lifting a 160 pound person would be more difficult than lifting a 255 pound bar/plates; but I have no formal training with moving people.

Its kind of an apples to oranges comparison...BUT increasing your deadlift is never the wrong answer.

sijomial

Idle_Moon wrote: »

@sijomial Indeed, it's prefered to treat are person where they are. But sometimes you have to move them. When they are lying on a railway or something.

I did say generally.
And if a train is coming simply dragging someone out of the way is a valid option - may even be better than lifting.
In the example I gave if I couldn't lift her she would just have been tipped on the floor, if someone is dying you can't really make the situation worse.
There's going to be some circumstances you can manage and some you can't.

My trainer was old, small and neither fit nor strong - he saved an awful lot of lives during his career as a paramedic and continued to do so after retirement. Knowledge is #1 and strength, or lack of it, really unlikely to be an issue. You do your best in the particular circumstances presented to you.

ShammersPink

I'm female, have never done any deliberate weightlifting or resistance training of any type, and have always been able to lift and carry (for a very short distance) those 50kg bags of gravel etc. Those bags are an awkward shape and material to carry. Not much to get your arms around.

That is about my limit, and is currently be a bit more than 2/3 my weight, but I could do it when I weighed a lot less than I currently do, down to about 63kg.

So I think the generalisation isn't even very universal for the completely untrained, like me.

Squidgeypaws007

Idle_Moon wrote: »

@Squidgeypaws007 Do you think deadlifting 160 lbs is an hard achievement for a 5"4 woman?

I don't personally think so, no. It might take you a while to build the right amount of strength/technique but you're probably less than a half an inch shorter than I am (I'm almost 5'5 ).

It depends how dedicated you are really, if you want it, you can do it

JaydedMiss

This thread makes me anxious I start a new job as a mover on wed and im the only female thought for sure i could do it just as well but now im getting a tad scared lol

bbell1985

I'm 5'4", unsure of my weight. Under 150 and over 135 lol. My max deadlift is 275, squat around 215, bench 105.

Lifting a person is different than a barbell.

sgt1372

Someone just doing 1st Aid or CPR should NOT have to completely lift the person they are treating.

At most, as previously mentioned, you would only have to move a person from a chair or car and/or roll them into the proper position for treatment and/or recovery. However, if you're not the 1st person there, the person will probably already be on the floor/ground because s/he will have fallen or soneone else would have out him/her there.

In the police academy, you had to drag a 200# dummy (pictured above) 100# in case you had to rescue them from a car or whatever.

The exercise most similar to this the backward sled pull. While the initial lift of the upper torso is like the deadlift, you only need to lift about 25% of the dummy's or person's total weight to get your arms under their armpits. So, it's no where as near as strenuous as doing a full body weight lift. It's more like deadlifting a 45# bar alone which I dare say anyone can do.

Although you see it in the movies not even firemen are expected to shoulder carry a victim (which is most like doing a back squat) to safety. Fire dept trainees just do the body drag, climb stairs w/30-50# packs and drag hoses which can weigh up to 100#. No throwing a dummy over their shoulders and carrying it anywhere.

So, if you're just doing 1st Aid and CPR, I realky don't think that you ever need to worry about doing a full body lift of anyone.

Sued0nim

First aiders shouldn't lift anyone

Rolling someone or dragging to safety is different

No way would you ever have to deadlift a dead weight

But a woman being able to lift 0.5 bw seems ridiculously low to me