Feats of superhuman strength

FizixFreak

Thanks Ivan and i am glad to know that the points i made were not invalid 202HP ahhhhhhhh.....,what was i thinking.

Nismar i see that the guy is bringing down the weight pretty slowly after watching this i think i need to come down even slower when i am squatting but then again including the down stroke will make calculation much more complicated and we don't necessarily have to be 100% accurate we are just looking for a estimate here any ways thank for the explanation.

nismaratwork

No problem, I'm mostly working from info originating with books from DanP. I think your point about accuracy is correct though... when the man in question's claims are orders of magnitude off reality, absolute precision is not necessary.

DanP

One thing which hit me during this week is that humans love Circus. Many humans seems to get their minds in a knot when they see a circus feature like a truck pull, and stare in awe at the perceived strength.

Too few seems to be impressed by Olympic sports nowadays. Because the tremendous forces and power output developed by those athletes is not easy to see. Too few realize for example that a highly ranked triple jumper may generate forces in excess of 400 kgf with a single leg in the moment of take-off, in extremely short periods of time. It just doesn't look impressive.

I beleive that anyone which wishes to see awesome displays of power, it should look at Olyimpic sports. A clean and jerk in weightlifting develops most power displayed in a sporting movement against a significant resistance. A snatch is the fastest lift against a significant resistance. Sprinters develop enormous forces during acceleration phases of their runs. At tremendous speeds. I mentioned other track and field athletes like jumpers before. Look at the forces absorbed during player collisions in handball or football. At landing phases following a jump. At the sharp direction changes at high speeds during a sport game. At the power developed by a boxer's punch.

If you want to get a glimpse to the very frontier of human performance, cease watching Circus and focus on Olympic sports and professional sports.

ThomasEdison

People are comparing Olympic and record breaking lifts to random people lifting cars or helicopters with trapped people underneath and thats incorrect to do. There are very strict rules for how a lift executes in official and recorded competitions.

Leverage counts for a lot and so does rolling.

A person lifting a car however they can is not the same as an Olympic deadlift. A random person could probably lift considerably more than they could in an official setting just by being able to place their feet and hands in whatever manner helps them ; an Olympic athlete doesn't get that choice when competing; he would be disqualified. Its apples and oranges.

DanP

You dont get my point, and there exist no such thing as an "Olympic Deadlift". The biggest dispalys of powers are in Olympic sport. Period.

You didn't lifted anything in your life, aint it ? (that's a statement. Not a question) Maybe except a book. Thats OK.

Ok, Ill consider you a "random man". Be my guest, lift "considerably more" the a WL record overhead from the floor by placing your feet and hands in any freaking way you desire. You will realize, much to your surprise, that cleaning the weight and jerking is the way in which the most weight can be moved overhead from floor.

I always tell ppl, lifting your poetry books overhead doesn't count as a lift. What a sick joke, an average person lifting "considerably more" then an olympic weightlifter, just by positioning your feet and hands different.

Why don't you try it ? Half the weight those ppl move would put you into an hospital. Please doit. Then talk again and share the experience with us. Place your feet and hands any way you want. On what planet do some humans live ? Somewhere where cows fly me thinks.

Antiphon

We need to trap an olympic athlete's child under a helicopter to see what's really possible.

ThomasEdison

I think you missed the point.
On uneven ground with a car halfway falling down a trench and a person is trapped underneath (plus cars have wheels so what could be considered a lift could even be part roll) and the person lifting only has to lift a few inches to get the person trapped out.. yes that person probably can lift what would be an extreme amount in different circumstances..it isnt weight for weight. It doesnt matter that the car in that circumstance weighs more than the weights in record breaking competitions. The two situations can not be compared because they are not the same.



Merely having the ground uneven or at different angles for footing changes leverage. A person can choose how they gain leverage in a non official setting. An olympic athlete competing can not choose to lift starting with one foot 8 inches higher (example) because it is planted on a hill of uneven dirt or start wedged under an object with one foot planted behind him kicking against something for purchase.

This does not discredit what a power lifter does ; but what a person rolling over a car or helicopter does. They aren't the same circumstances. Only the exact same lift can be compared to the exact same lift.

Ergonomically they are different.

DanP

No one contests they are different. But you claim that a random person can lift more than a weightlifter by placing their hand and feet differently.

You cant. Get a grip on reality. Try it. Try to lift a barbel overhead from floor, or any other objects, placing your hands and feet in any way you want. Use the leverage of your body in any way you want. You will fail to lift half the weight those man and women lift. Enough with theory.

And BTW, powerlifting in not an Olympic sport. Weightlifting is.

DanP

And this is also blatantly false, btw. Each of those lifts (no matter is an odd lift, like a truck pull or rolling an atlas stone or a snatch can be easily reduced to a mechanical system and the forces required can be easily determined. Human movement can, and it is, reasonably precise modeled and described through physics. Human neuromechanics laboratories are found in many universities studying how the neuro-muscular interactions produces movement and coordination. They deal with physical models of human movement on a daily basis.

I can only guess guess that a side effect of watching circus is making some humans forget elementary physics.

Jiggy-Ninja

No, that wasn't his claim. You misinterpreted what he wrote.

His claim was that, with the same person lifting in both an official and unofficial setting, they would be able to lift more in an unofficial setting because they have more freedom with the placement of their hands and feet. He wasn't comparing a random person in an unofficial setting to a professional in an official setting, but to a random person in an unofficial setting to themselves in an official setting.

I don't know how accurate that claim is, but I just thought I'd set it straight.

morteck581

personally i think this is possible because as a child i was attacked and sent the man flying 30 feet back slamming against a wall.

Drakkith

It's more likely that you don't remember the events the way they happened.

daveg360

It would be nice to think that superheroes exist. They don't. As I posted something like 18 pages ago, the only incredible feat here is the general failings of human recollection. Study after study have shown that memory is fallible and all to easy to influence. The 90lb lady who rolls a car off her child in an emergency quickly becomes the 90lb lady who lifted a 2000lb car off her child. It just sounds better as a tale to tell. Before long she's heard the myth about what she did so many times her recollection of the event changes to fit.

FlexGunship

EDIT: Personally, I think it's possible because, as a child, I was attacked and (luckily) I had a can of spinach in my hand. I was able to squeeze the sealed can so hard that the spinach was propelled upwards, out of the can, and directly into my mouth. As a result my forearms grew to an immense size, deforming my anchor tattoos, and I was able to fend of Bluto.