Levers and its Application in

sports
Tomy Jose Ph.D
Associate professor
According to dictionary definition a lever is a
bar or some other rigid structure, hinged at
one point, and to which forces are applied at
two other points. The hinge or pivot point of a
lever is known as the fulcrum, one of the
forces that acts on the lever as the weight or
resistance that opposes the movement and
the other as the force that causes or tends to
cause the lever to move.
Oars, vaulting poles, baseball bats and ski
poles are examples of lever used in sports. The
striking implements used in sports are levers.
The Golf Club, for instance is used for gaining
range of motion at the expense of force.
Tennis and Squash rackets, hockey sticks and
fencing foils are the other examples of levers
used for the purpose of gaining distance at the
expense of force. These levers do not save the
strength of the user, as do the house hold
levers mentioned, but they increase the user’s
range and speed of movement.
 The body movements are produced through a
system of levers. The technique of the sport
wrestling and Judo are largely based on the
principles of the levers and leverage.
Principle of Levers
A lever of any class will balance when the product
of the force and force arm equals the product of
the resistance and resistance arm. This is known as
the principle of Levers. It enables us to calculate
the amount of effort needed to balance a known
resistance by means of a known resistance by
means of a known lever or to calculate the point at
which to place the fulcrum in order to balance a
known resistance with a given effort.
Functions:
Functions of the levers are basically two fold.
1. To increase the force
2. To increase the speed
All the levers will balance if F x FA = R x RA
• Almost all the levers used for the purpose of
using a relatively small force to overcome a
relatively large resistance.
• Which of the two functions a lever serves
depends only on the distances from the lines
of action of the force and the resistance to the
fulcrum- the so called force and resistance
arms.
• If the force arm is longer than the resistance
arm, the function of the lever is to increase
force. On the other hand, if the force arm is
shorter than resistance arm, the lever serves
to increase the speed.
• Finally, if both arms are equal in length, no
mechanical advantage is gained by using the
lever. It serves to increase neither the force
nor the speed.
• Because most of human body’s bony levers
have a force arm that is shorter resistance
arm, the human body is generally considered
to be much equipped to make fast movement
than forceful movements.
 Classification of levers
• Levers have been classified into three orders or
classes according to the relative location of the
points at which the force, fulcrum and resistance
act.
• In a first class lever, the fulcrum lies between the
effort and resistance. e.g., see saw, scissors,
balance scale.
Body lever:- The head tipping forward and
backward is a good example of first class lever in
the body.
• In second class lever the resistance point lies
between the fulcrum and the effort point.
External lever:- wheel barrow, nut cracker
Body lever: body raised on toes
• In third class lever the effort lies in between
the fulcrum and the resistance point.
External lever:- door with spring closer
Body lever:- forearm flexed by the biceps
Use of lever in sports