Why Do people put arms up?

I never used to put my arms up until I rode Millennium Force for the first time last year. I held on for the first drop but at the bottom of it something in me just sort of snapped and I threw my hands up in the air. I have never held on while on any steel coaster since then. I tell you going over MF in the last seat with your arms up is something else! I have since convinced many of my more safety conscious friends to try hands up especially on Intamins like MF and SROS:NE. Once they see that the lap bar holds them in just as well as it did with their arms down they suddenly change their minds and go arms up for good. Long story short (too late) it is just a way of, no pun intended, letting go of all inhibitions and losing yourself in the ride. Now if I could figure out a way to do the same on woodies. I am pretty slender so I get the you know what kicked out of me bouncing around in woodies. Any tips? I barely survived the CI Cyclone when I held on! How one can go hands up on that is beyond me. *** This post was edited by Figaro on 8/2/2001. ***

There are certain situations that I put my hands up, and other situations that I choose not to.
1.On a sweet woodie like Ghostrider, I put my hands up to absorb the already generous portions of airtime.
Even California Screamin has some nice airtime :), plus it is super smooth, so I will just not hang on or put my hands up to the best I can with the OTSR's.
2. I never put my hands up on rides like Space Mountain, for fear of not having hands when I come off the ride.
3.As with Space Mountain and a ride like Boomerang which is all inversions, there is little or no reason to put my hands up. No real airtime. On Boomerang headbanging just gets worse if you don't hang on.
Space Mountain is all about the lateral G's not airtime.
Basically on either, just no reason.
4.It is like stepping up to another level when you put your hands up for the first time on a coaster. It makes for a largely different experience.

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"Clear, Dispatch"

Sometimes I am forced to put my hands up. If it don't I feel like I disgraced my coaster loving. But I get tired of holding my hands up to prove to people I not scared. Hypersonic was not long but on Ac at bgw I bored and justed rested my hands, not gripping but resting. I am trying to break the habit. I held my hands up on fof the entire time even during launch. It does not hurt, and those beams inside fof are real far away. Space mountain is 2 close though.

In my ever humble opinion, keeping your arms up does two things to a ride:

1) Psychologically, it involves both the "surrendering" of yourself to the motions of the ride, as it was mentioned before in this thread and the acceptance that you are not in control of the ride. By doing this, you give in to the fear that has you gripping the lap bar in the first place: the fear that something will happen to you on the ride, be it fall out or lose control or what not. When you are not holding on, you accept that the only thing keeping you in the seat is the lap bar, and that piece of machinery now controls your fate, and not your own body.

2) Although the effect is minimal, the human flight-or-fright response results in a natural tendency to push yourself down into the safety of the chair. Therefore, when you hold onto the lap bar, you are securely keeping yourself in a position, decreasing the effect of the G-forces (particularly negative-Gs) on your body and lowering the enjoyment of the ride from a strictly scientific and physical point of view.

Besides, it's just so much more fun to keep your arms up! ;-)

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The Luv Monkey has spoken...

NITRO kicks it into high gear...only at Six Flags Great Adventure!

Track Record: 28 and counting...

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MABrider said:

I will ride Nitro later this month for the very first time, and my arms will be up from the get go, 'cause I "know" those B&Mers and I can already feel it!

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I know I just posted, but...YOU ARE RIGHT! The only way to ride Nitro is hands-up...I don't even let my friends white-knuckle it. You will not be disappointed!

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The Luv Monkey has spoken...

NITRO kicks it into high gear...only at Six Flags Great Adventure!

Track Record: 28 and counting...