# How much weight can an ordinary chair carry?



## atsizat (Sep 14, 2015)

How much weight can an ordinary chair carry? Does it carry 125 kilograms?


----------



## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

125 kilograms is too much.


----------



## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

Depends on what you mean by ordinary. There are 125 kg people out there who sit on chairs every day.


----------



## Balthazar (Aug 30, 2014)

I don't know that there is such a thing as an ordinary chair.


----------



## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

I like to know the purpose of this question?


----------



## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Just get a Nemschoff-built chair:



> All of the seating manufactured by Nemschoff is tested to ANSI BIFMA standards for high usage. We test each style by dropping 125 pounds on it 100,000 times. The test entails an impact of 350 pounds on each seat (or seating position), and an impact of 250 pounds to each chair back. This is considered to be the industry standard. Our Plus Seating is available in extended seat widths and rated at 700 or 1,000 pounds, depending on the design. Please see specific product page.


----------



## atsizat (Sep 14, 2015)

Pugg said:


> I like to know the purpose of this question?


I bench press on chair. I like to know if I can bench press with a pair of 27.5 kilograms dumbells on chair. My body weight is 70 kilograms and total weight on chair equals to 125 kilograms. I am a little bit scared if 125 kilograms weight on chair should break the chair.


----------



## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

atsizat said:


> I bench press on chair. I like to know if I can bench press with a pair of 27.5 kilograms dumbells on chair. My body weight is 70 kilograms and total weight on chair equals to 125 kilograms. I am only a little scared if 125 kilograms weight on chair should break the chair.


That's explains it, shouldn't try it if I where you.


----------



## atsizat (Sep 14, 2015)

Balthazar said:


> I don't know that there is such a thing as an ordinary chair.


Just normal chairs that are used at home.


----------



## atsizat (Sep 14, 2015)

GreenMamba said:


> Depends on what you mean by ordinary. There are 125 kg people out there who sit on chairs every day.


Chairs that are used at home. Average chair.


----------



## atsizat (Sep 14, 2015)

This is the photo of my chair. Does this chair carry 125 kilograms?


----------



## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

Is it wrong to laugh out loud whilst reading this thread? Wouldn't it be simpler to buy a weight-bench or am I missing something?


----------



## Ginger (Jul 14, 2016)

I wouldn´t risk it if I were you... Probably take your bed instead?


----------



## senza sordino (Oct 20, 2013)

Merl said:


> Is it wrong to laugh out loud whilst reading this thread?


No.

I'm not structural engineer but I would assume that if your *ss can fit on the chair it will hold your weight. In the downward direction the chair will take a lot of compression force. But the moment there is any sideways movement, any torsional effect, the chair is much weaker. Yet people lean back in chairs and they don't break, they just topple over. So that's the same weight, in a torsional direction on two legs and the chair doesn't break.

Yes, sure, some chairs break. But I think it would take a huge force to break the chair.

When you see a fight on tv and someone breaks a chair over someone's back, the chair is designed to break easily as a prop. Try it in real life and you'll nearly kill the person, the chair won't break, only the person's back will break.

Weightlifting on a regular dining room chair shouldn't be a problem, but only as long as the motion is up and down.

Please don't take this post as a legal document signed by a professional engineer, I'm not. Please don't sue if your chair does break.


----------



## atsizat (Sep 14, 2015)

Merl said:


> Is it wrong to laugh out loud whilst reading this thread? Wouldn't it be simpler to buy a weight-bench or am I missing something?


I do not want to pay money for it.


----------



## atsizat (Sep 14, 2015)

Ginger said:


> I wouldn´t risk it if I were you... Probably take your bed instead?


I cannot bench press on bed. It is like benching press on ground. My arms cannot go back.


----------



## atsizat (Sep 14, 2015)

senza sordino said:


> No.
> 
> I'm not structural engineer but I would assume that if your *ss can fit on the chair it will hold your weight. In the downward direction the chair will take a lot of compression force. But the moment there is any sideways movement, any torsional effect, the chair is much weaker. Yet people lean back in chairs and they don't break, they just topple over. So that's the same weight, in a torsional direction on two legs and the chair doesn't break.
> 
> ...


The last time I worked out, I benched press with a pair of 23.75 kilograms dumbells (47.5 kilograms) in my hands plus my body weight being 70 kilograms. The total weight was 117.5 kilograms. It carried 117.5 kilograms. I was wondering if 7.5 kilograms would make any difference for the chair. I mean when the weight becomes 125 kilograms instead of being 117.5 kilograms.


----------



## Wood (Feb 21, 2013)

If the chair breaks, you can mend it, and stronger than it was before the break.


----------



## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Wood said:


> If the chair breaks, you can mend it, and stronger than it was before the break.


Or add supporting structure to it before it breaks.


----------



## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

125 kg isn't... _so _much... if seriously most common chairs can't withstand that weight, there are gonna be some people with a serious conundrum on their hands....

>_>

<_<


----------



## senza sordino (Oct 20, 2013)

atsizat said:


> The last time I worked out, I benched press with a pair of 23.75 kilograms dumbells (47.5 kilograms) in my hands plus my body weight being 70 kilograms. The total weight was 117.5 kilograms. It carried 117.5 kilograms. I was wondering if 7.5 kilograms would make any difference for the chair. I mean when the weight becomes 125 kilograms instead of being 117.5 kilograms.


Would a difference of 7.5 kg make a difference? Highly unlikely. If your chair fails, it's likely to crack, not fail catastrophically. But because you are moving up and down on the chair while weightlifting, the actual forces are greater than what you specify. Forces to overcome inertia plus the weight. That all depends on the acceleration of the weights you are lifting. Big people can have a child sit on their knee, but if the child were to jump onto the person sitting down the chair might fail.

Everything should be designed with a safety factor. For example, the elevator says maximum 10 people, if the 11th squeezes on the cables don't snap. The elevator, my guess, would take at least the weight of 50 people, if they could fit inside. It's a designed safety factor of about 5 to 10 times.

If you hear your chair creaking and moaning, straining and shifting under the weight, then no, the chair isn't strong enough. If the chair feels solid when weightlifting go ahead, and keep adding some weight as you get stronger. Don't attempt any world records on the chair though.


----------



## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

200 lbs, and men confirmed that suspicion for me twice.


----------

