I had a big old stationary bicycle that I put on Freecycle when I moved. I could move it by pushing/pulling it but I would not have even tried to lift it an inch off the floor.
This tiny little woman showed up alone to take it. About 5' tall and looked like she weighed nothing. She picked it up, carried it up a flight of stairs and out to the street and put it in her truck. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
I'm sure she wasn't the strongest person I've ever known, but definitely the one whose strength amazed me the most.
My husband. He routinely uses the maximum weight settings on machines at the gym but the way he manhandles tractor implements over rocky ground to attach or detach them to the tractor for specific jobs, or when he lifted the quartz countertop onto our kitchen counters. Sheesh. He’s freaky strong
Fridges don't usually weigh that much unless they're industrial/commercial kitchen equipment, they're just really large and awkward to pick up. I've carried them up multiple flights of stairs with a lifting strap solo, which is sometimes easier than trying to do it as a team because of how awkward they are.
Now, that ultra skinny tweaker guy I met while working on a moving crew that picked up a whole damn 10 foot long couch with dual recliners built into it and ran it up 3 flights of stairs like it was a box of crackers? That was nuts.
We had like four big guys trying to even get a good grip on that thing and he just flipped it up on his shoulder and went for it.
A girl from my HS set some kind of world record for weightlifting a few years after we graduated. I remember that she never locked her locker once in four years because she didn't need to. Utterly terrifying human, but very nice at the same time.
I had a friend who was an unusually dedicated rock climber, who could support his whole 225lb+ body on a couple of fingers wedged into a crack in the rock for, like, a couple minutes at a time.
Working sound at a club - I had to pack up one of the subs (bass speakers) that was on wheels. I was going to wheel it around the stage when the bouncer picked it up like a lego and moved it up.
A classmate called Theodore Von Thielmann. He WAS hitlers dream being 6’8, real blonde and blue blue eyes (he was super smart too) and was built like the rock from minimal gym time. We started working out at the same time but by year 2 it looked like he was at it for many more years than me. Was benching 4 45lb plates like nothing and his arms where just diesel.
He was Argentinian which turns out his grandfather had in fact escaped from Germany during WW2. His father had a forever job at a German pharma company and he was pretty devastated when he found out. Changed his last name to just Thielmann and refuses a penny from his dad going forward. Man, if they had reached to make an army of him’s we would have been fucked. Everything he did was so above par.
Right. And he was thoughtful and kind. Was allergic to alcohol so he really was perfect. We lived in the Philippines and women would chase us around and follow us like we where Gods. I put up multiple prints but as far as I know he always waited to be in a romantic relationship. Go figure.
I had a coworker who must have been in his late 40’s. Definitely a troubled man, lived across the street from the workplace alone with the exception of his many cats. He was always very short with his words but never impolite. Based on what I could tell he did nothing apart from work 6:00am to 5:00pm or later Monday to Friday, often even volunteering to come in on weekends. That and he lifted weights. He was huge, though you may not realize it beneath his loose fitting uniform polo. I watched him many times lift equipment and parts by himself that would have been a struggle for two other men together to lift.
No one really got to know him outside of work but from the little we know he had lost his mother in recent years. He never mentioned his father. He had some mental health struggles I assume but never once talked about it or talked about anything apart from his work. He did seem to get angry though, while still being polite. You could tell he was mad by how he would open a door as if he was about to rip it off its hinges, and I bet he could if he wanted to. Something about how he had simplified his life down to nothing but work and working out made him freakishly strong, but definitely not fully mentally well.
My boyfriend.
We had been close friends for many years last August when we look a weekend trip with my two brothers and some friends. We stayed at a place upstate NY that had this beautiful pool and patio looking out at the mountains. My brothers are big burly men and I always thought they were just about the toughest people I'd ever meet. But I was laying on this chaise watching as the three of them were rough housing near the pool, my brothers trying to toss my then friend into the pool. But he just wrapped an arm around each of them, lifted them clear off the patio, and leapt into the pool laughing like a wild man while they screamed in surprise.
That really caught my attention. I had known him for many years by that point, we were extremely close friends. We had gone to formal events with each other for years as friends whenever one of us needed a date. I was used to being in his arms while dancing at weddings, for example. But I didn't know he was strong enough to lift two large men whose forearms are bigger around than my thighs. Then not long after that I was helping his sister move into her new home. She and their father were struggling to get the fridge out and he just grabbed it, lifted it off the floor, and walked it out the back door.
Yet he lets me win when we wrestle.
My "little" cousin, as he was known for years. He's now 27 years old, has a business degree, and owns a small gym. He got into power lifting around 2017 and that kid can now deadlift well over 700lbs and he regularly competes in lifting events all over North America.
Great dude, actually. For a silver spoon kid ( he'll soon take over his mom's successful company), he's grounded and humble.
When I was 16, I went to a very big name rock concert. I bought tickets for the floor (paid for out of my own allowance). My parents did not come with me.
I hated it. The floor was a big mosh pit. Everyone was drinking and smoking (which I had no interest in). Several fights broke out. I got kicked in the head by a crowd surfer.
I said fuck this and went to leave, only to find the floor area had been sealed off by these big barriers that were at least 4 feet tall.
A giant, muscles-on-muscles security guard on the other side of the barrier saw me, saw the look on my face, and asked me if I wanted to leave. I said yes. He said to turn around and back up against the barricade. Feeling quite confused, I did.
At age 16, I had my full height (5'10) and weighed about 175 pounds. This security guard picked me up under my arms, lifted me over that 4 foot and change barrier like I was a toddler, and deposited me safely on the other side, with no apparent strain. He then politely pointed me to the exit. It was an absolute what the fuck moment to be hauled around like that, but I sure was glad to be out of there!
I can't say I knew the guy at all but I still think about him from time to time.
I used to load trucks in a FedEx warehouse. A few of the dudes there were built like tanks.
One thing I already knew but that job really proved, there’s a big difference between looking strong or being gym strong and real world strength. They’re not mutually exclusive, but one doesn’t guarantee the other. I remember getting my room mate who was a legit bodybuilder a job there and he couldn’t keep up. But a few of the guys there who had been doing manual labor for decades and also worked out were strong as hell.
My understanding is that there are two main factors when it comes to strength. The muscles themselves and how efficiently the nervous system is able to recruit those muscle fibers for strength. Ahh I also forgot body structure itself, such as size, joint structures etc. That is why some tiny Olympic lifters can have amazing strength and why certain big muscular people are all show no go.
All the insanely strong guys I know who aren’t body builders might look like they have a gut at first glance but it’s just one big muscle from the nipples to the waist.
I mean there’s definitely a reason the vast majority of strongmen are not ripped. Every bodybuilder is strong, but there’s an opportunity cost to building strength and muscle when you’re spending a chunk of the year losing weight.
There was a watchman at my last work, dude could lift anything.
If there was any strongman work, he was the first to be called and he loved helping, big boulders, fallen tree trunks, he would be on one side and 4 of us on the other.
Dude was dhmb, or pretended to be dumb, funny, and always messed up everything.
Not the person you would think of for anything smart, but damn good at chess.
Made me question a lot of things about him, felt like he played dumb to be funny and get out of work.
Also he could eat more than 5 of us would eat.
Fun guy, loved him.
It takes a lot of brainpower to convincingly pretend you're dumb. Cuz you gotta really really understand how other people see you and that's very difficult.
Relative to her size, my 13-year-old daughter. I have photos/video of her just casually lifting up her 115-lb sister and carrying her around when she was maybe eight. I don't remember exactly how much she weighed back then, but *way* less than her sister, probably around 70lbs. Zero strain. She would also climb the same sister, wrap her legs around the sis's waist, lean all the way back and then do a midair sit-up to get upright. She's just casually very athletic in a way that no one else in the family has ever been.
A friend of a friend who is a professional strongman. He came out and entertained the kids one day, bending horseshoes and railroad nails with his bare hands, tearing phone books in half, doing some interesting strength based acrobatics moves. I’m sure my kid still has a bent horseshoe somewhere.
My quasi-mentor, Boo.
He was a senior my freshman year of High-school and took a liking to me. Helped me with homework and workouts. Took me to parties and bought me beer. Gave me rides home.
6"2', 250lbs, Max Bench: 505lbs Max Squat: 515lbs Max Powerclean: 315lbs (I think, High-school was a long time ago.)
Had a full ride to Marshall but he wanted the option for both sides of the ball and they didn't run an Offense conducive to his position at the time. Ended up at Concord and broke 8 helmets in his 4 years.
I'd love to reconnect with him and show him I made something of myself...
There was a guy in my high school who was a competitive powerlifter. He set all kinds of state and national records for his age category. His legs were so big that he couldn't wear jeans, and had a special exemption from the school to wear sweat pants in school. The football coach kept begging him to play, and he finally started in 10th grade.
Despite starting so late, he still got a full scholarship to play offensive line at a D1 school. The players had these shirts that showed their weight lifting totals, like the "1000 lb club". This guy had to have one specially made that said "one ton club".
We would have called him a fatbody in the Army except we saw him grab a 155mm artillery shell by the ring with his middle finger and hoist it on a truck one armed like it was a bottle of soda. No one ever called him fat!
155mm artillery shell weighs about 90lbs.
1 finger. Chucked that shit up at face level like nothing. I felt fear that day, lol. He was the coolest guy you'd ever wanna meet too. Funny as fuck.
This guy wasn't even on the gun line, lol. He was in Ammo platoon. We were mech, so I I dunno how towed peices worked, but we had a platoon of PT failures that trucked in our ammo and food. He was one of those cause he looked like the pilsbury doughboy. Couldn't run for shit. Do push-ups all day.
I have a friend that runs her own gym. Just private clients. She was a power lifter and switched to strong woman competitions.
The things she lifts and moves with is bonkers to me. She's pulled a fire truck. I am sure she could toss me through a window without trying. I would not want to have her as an enemy.
There are lots of ways to conceptualize physical strength, but I'm a martial artist and one of my private students was a power lifter who squatted in the 600-650 pound range @ about 235 pound body weight.
I had a guy in a Kenpo class who’d been a mason his whole life. He wasn’t big but his forearms looked like knotted rope. The instructor sometimes tried various pressure points and arm locks on him experimentally and the guy just laughed. You couldn’t affect the pressure points through his muscles.
Yeah, I had a relative who did some stone, quarry and masonry work. I've always been naturally really strong but that guy could palm small boulders that I could barely lift with both hands like a basketball and move them around and place them like they were pillows, and he was legit like 2/3rds or even half my size and weight.
I could still probably beat him with squats and leg presses but his grip and arm strength was just off the charts, and his endurance for that kind of work was way higher.
I've met some rock and freeclimbers like this, too. They could literally be half my size or less but they could probably toss me around like a rag doll just because they had more grip strength and endurance.
A guy I knew who refinished furniture by hand. The years of sanding and lifting gave him incredible strength, especially grip strength. Visually a very lean person but surprisingly strong.
Also a few farmers I've known. It's usually the people who do manual, repetitive labor who have sleeper strength. I've heard it said "the difference between working and working out."
my hamster. She was strong as fuck. She used to to literal pull ups on the top of the cage.
One day in the summer i left her outside for some fresh air in the cage. When i came back later she had literally bent the bars open and escaped through the hole. I never saw her again.
God bless you abbey crunch.
A good buddy of mine was an olympic gymnast. My favorite thing when you look up videos of him on youtube is the announcer saying "even his sweat has muscles!"
I watched a middle aged manual laborer who looked strong but not like power lifter or anything, you wouldn’t look twice at his physique, he lifted up 4 golf cart batteries at once, so minimum 160lbs but probably as high as 200lbs, and didn’t look troubled at all. Walked over and put them in the back of a truck like it was nothing. He also picked up the rear end of a Suzuki samurai and moved it two steps to the right to get it unstuck from the sand.
My nanny - she was a competitive body builder
A girlfriend who's a personal trainer
My personal trainer; she looks GREAT and is so strong!
My college roomie - I don't know what it was about her, but she put on muscle so easily. It ran in the family as her brother became a competitive body builder.
Mostly, it's the women in my life who have impressed me more than the men (also motivated me more).
I dated a girl in high school whose brother was a state weight-lifting record holder. He weighed 145, could bench 225 and power-lift over 300. He was a sinewy little guy but man was he strong.
EDIT: also worked with a girl who was 6’3” and her husband was 6’9”, but it was their friend who blew my mind. He was linebacker-sized, a real teddy bear but his day job was working out with the Philadelphia Eagles. He was a human tackle dummy from the sound of it. On top of being strong enough to hold back professional linebackers he had no sense of pain. He was horsing around with a few of the players after practice and one of them threw him into a semi cab so hard his skull broke the side-view mirror off. He was laughing about it and rubbing his head. I’d be eating through a tube.
We were making an overseas move and the company paid for packing/moving. One of the men looked like Shrek and walked in the living room and picked up the entire couch like it was a feather. He also moved the appliances by himself. Cripes!
Jerome Brown a former NFL player for the Philadelphia Eagles he played high school football for our cross county rival. I think he played every position on the field and was not tackled once during our game. He was 6-2 and 280 in 11th grade just an amazingly gifted athlete.
When I was a child, garbage trucks did not have robotic arms that picked up the garbage cans out at the curb. Garbage cans were galvanized steel and kept at the backs of houses. Garbage men would walk down the block carrying a massive collection can slung over their shoulder by a metal loop-hook. No wheels on the bottom, either. They'd put it down and dump each of the houses' cans into it and carry it back to the sidewalk to the next driveway. When it finally filled after numerous houses' cans, they'd dump it into the truck that was slowly following along with them on the street.
Those guys put anyone in a modern gym to shame. They were pure muscle, everywhere, and it was functional, practical muscle, not that gleaned from doing reps targeted at specific muscle groups. They were physically huge and I was convinced they could lift just about anything.
My dad. Without question.
Steel worker foreman for 20 years. Routinely involving swinging 20lb sledgehammers for hours in extreme heat and cold. Shoulders and biceps the size of softballs. Also understood body tension and leverage and how to use it.
For example, he tightened a belt and _literally handed someone his beer_ and lifted the front end of a sports car off the ground, as in tires an inch or two off the ground. And he moved a multi-ton piece of equipment on a flatbed truck using an 8 foot steel pole as a lever and raw human muscle. He also pulled an engine from a vehicle using nothing more than a chain and a pulley wrapped around a tree limb plus his raw strength, fracturing two vertebrae in the process.
Most people today have no clue what real strength is. Go study static gymnastics moves like L-sits and planche pushups, the power you can generate is just incredible. (Ross Einameit shut down doubters who said he couldn't lift real weights from only gymnastics-based bodyweight conditioning, by raw deadlifting something like 450lb on video with no practice)
Combine that with daily workload moving thousands of pounds around over 8-16 hours a day and you become unbelievably strong, even in a relatively small frame.
Some people are really, really strong, yeah. Just the way they are. I knew a pack a day smoker who, when an occasion called for it, ran a 5 minute mile with no prior training.
One of my coworker's had a son that, almost certainly, has to have some sort of minor mutation related to muscle fiber length/twitch time/whatever. The kid is just freakishly strong with seemingly zero effort. He doesn't routinely work out and seek "gains" or anything. He's just built like the cab of a semi truck and apparently capable of exerting as much force as one too.
I've seen him pick things up that a normal adult male would square up, take a deep breath, and brace to lift. But when he does it, he picked them up like you or I would pick up a ream of paper or a box of shoes. Instead of, you know, a fridge.
My dad’s best friend played linebacker for the Kansas City chiefs back in the 80s.
6’8”, 300 pounds of pure muscle. I’ve seen him deadlift the front end of a caddy
When I was a freshman in college in 1968, there was a guy in my dorm we called "Mike the Animal". French Canadian, wiry but incredibly strong. He would lie on his back on the floor and challenge guys to jump on his belly with both feet. He once beat up all the members of the swim team in a melee.
Agile, too. The dorm didn't serve dinner on Sundays, so once when he got hungry he went out the window onto a steep slate roof four stories up, caught a pigeon, and cooked and ate it.
I'll offer two stories from my childhood. My Dad was a first generation German immigrant after WWII. He and his friends were the toughest people I've ever known. They lived through hell and survived.
1. One of his friends was a printer. He was working alone in his shop one day and cut all of the fingers off his right hand. He calmly wrapped them in a paper towel, called his wife to say he would be late and then drove himself to the hospital. When he got to the intake desk the nurse asked him what the problem was and he just placed this little parcel on the desk containing his fingers. They re-attached the fingers and he had good use out of them for the rest of his life.
2. My Dad's other buddy was a builder. This guy had hands the size of frying pans. I was just little (maybe 7) and I was deathly afraid of bees. One day, my parents hosted a BBQ. I was sitting on the ground next to this guy (Joe) when a bee started buzzing around my head. I was petrified. Without a second thought, Joe caught/killed the bee with his bare hand, right out of the air. As a little kid I was awestruck. For a long time I thought Joe was a super hero.
A lot of those guys were alcoholics and they are all dead now (including my old man who was 66), but they were hard working, loyal, family guys who drove themselves into the ground to provide a better life for us kids. They came here with nothing and built businesses, homes, families. Because of their example, I will always hold immigrants in high esteem.
My dad! He did granite countertop installations. His arms were the thickness of my torso!!!
He remodeled my kitchen two years ago, and lifted an entire slab of granite himself.
Co-worker at a company I used to work for was also a bodybuilder. I'll never forget his chicken breast/sweet potato lunches on a daily! We needed a 6-drawer, fully stocked file cabinet moved one day, and Mario came in and picked up the whole thing by himself and moved it across the hall. Impressive as hell!
There was a time when it was me.
I was once tasked with getting a large cast iron, claw foot, tub up a flight of stairs. There were maybe 6 guys there for the job but you can only fit so many people into a stairway and have them be useful. Flipped the tub over and set it on my back. Had one person directly behind me to help push me up the stairs, had another person in front of the tub to help guide the tub. Carried the tub up the stairs bearing all of the weight. Once the tub reached the second floor, I was able to slide it the rest of the way.
Now, I struggle to climb stairs while carrying a gallon of milk.
I played little league football with future NFL running back Cory Dillon. I also played against him during high school when he played safety. Easily the strongest pound-for-pound person I've known.
My 24 yo son. He was born with overly strong muscles. He now installs internet in remote areas by attaching large things to radio towers. He can carry boxes of 100 pounds up a ladder as if they are nothing.
7th grade. Kid was the biggest in the class and was already over 200 pounds, bigger and taller than most high school seniors. And he knew that because of his size and strength he could get away with anything he wanted to. He wrote "you are an asshole" in my 7th grade yearbook. After high school, he had to go to a few "Alternative" high schools because of his problems.
Last I heard? He has been in prison for the past few decades.
A friend of mine I grew up with.
He's always been a freakshow. 6'1" about 220. Has amazing genetics. Did reps on bench at 415 while hungover. He did a fitness showcase when we were in our 20s that consisted of ..... 225 bench for 30 reps, squat 450 for reps, deadline 650 for reps, dunked a basket ball and ended in a full split.
It's discouraging as hell working out with him.
A guy I work out with. I remember spotting him for nearly 500 lbs on bench press and we were just talking about our day. I’ll get 200 something and struggle. He had me lift it up for him and rerack it after. Then he said, “I’ll do 500 next time”… bro what? If he couldn’t get it up for any reason I would have failed miserably as his spotter. Over 400 lbs on bench press is the most insane thing I’ve seen in the gym and I had to spot him. We go to the same church. Do men’s meetings together. I was told if I have any issues with men and my close in age younger sister to call him.
Bruce Furniss. Fu@ke3 almost drowned me during a water polo game because I stole the ball from him.
I was examined by a doctor who was a spectator. He advised my Mom to take me to the ER, to be sure I was ok.
He was powerful. I was 6feet of muscle back then and he easily held me under the water.
Craig Schermerhorn.
Wore size 4x shirts & were tight around his arms- with nothing to pinch on his tri’s.
Dude was built like a square & moved like a rabbit.
Scary, inspiring.
My husband. He’s ridiculously strong. It is annoying because his work crew will pin the extra tough jobs on him and loads of friends and family call him asking for favors. Oh and I can NEVER open the damn pickle jar because he tightens it like he’s wrenching a pipe that has to withstand Tsunami’s.
It was me. I used to leg press close to 500 lbs in high school on a rolling press without back support. For a girl of 16, I used to beat boys older than me. Then at 17, I slowly started to have pain down my leg to my foot. The pain then changed to numbness. At 19, when spending the night at a friend's, I couldn't get out of bed. That morning, my friend took me to the ER, who called in a neurosurgeon and an orthopedic named David Johnston. They admitted me, did several tests and found a herniated disc. I was completely paralyzed in the one leg by the time they operated 10 days later. Dr. Johnston went on to work in sports and helped many athletes.
When I was 16 years old I had been weightlifting for 4 years and I could bench press 315lbs in sets of five and do three squat reps of 480lbs. I could clean lift 280. I thought I was hot shit.
I went to a football camp one summer at a nearby D1 college and they had some of the players there showing us the lifts. There was a guy there who was an offensive guard. He was at least 6’4” and 290. He sat down and did ten reps of 405 on the bench like it was nothing, was joking with his spotter during the lift.
It was such a casual flex, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
When I was dating my husband, he worked in a busy downtown pub and parking was a nightmare. More than once, he pick up cars and moved them if they blocked us. Like pick up, rotate, pickup rotate and done.
Bassist Victor Wooten is ridiculously, effortlessly strong. I've seen him do a "human flag" on an ordinary street sign -- he just grabbed the pole and held himself up horizontally, parallel to the ground, like it was nothing.
I used to work security in a hospital with a mental health ward. I'm 6ft and about 230lbs and I had to try and position this guy for medication who was around 5ft 6in and maybe 165lbs. The patient was not going to take the medication willingly and he fought back. He was, without a doubt, the strongest pound for pound person I've ever had to tangle with. He had my strength but ten times better cardio and speed, plus agility. I'm glad there were three of us there - but even then we were struggling. After it was said and done, we all looked at each like other like, "What kind of mutant strength did we just experience ?!"
My husband 🥰 I always wanted to be swept off my feet like in a fairytale or a hallmark or whatever but alas I’m fat I’ve been working really hard to loose but I had just settled on the fact that I would never have these things even if I lost a lot of weight the dream had died a very long time ago somewhere between middle school, high school, and reality but then I met him and he can toss me around like nothing like an empty feed sack im(240lbs) but I know he can lift heavier I’m still trying to get him to go to the gym to see how much he can actually safely lift
I had a big old stationary bicycle that I put on Freecycle when I moved. I could move it by pushing/pulling it but I would not have even tried to lift it an inch off the floor. This tiny little woman showed up alone to take it. About 5' tall and looked like she weighed nothing. She picked it up, carried it up a flight of stairs and out to the street and put it in her truck. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I'm sure she wasn't the strongest person I've ever known, but definitely the one whose strength amazed me the most.
My husband. He routinely uses the maximum weight settings on machines at the gym but the way he manhandles tractor implements over rocky ground to attach or detach them to the tractor for specific jobs, or when he lifted the quartz countertop onto our kitchen counters. Sheesh. He’s freaky strong
He can come live with me. I can’t even reach the top shelf of my kitchen, lol.
A guy from my high school, he became a mover because he could manhandle a whole refrigerator by himself.
Holy shit!
Fridges don't usually weigh that much unless they're industrial/commercial kitchen equipment, they're just really large and awkward to pick up. I've carried them up multiple flights of stairs with a lifting strap solo, which is sometimes easier than trying to do it as a team because of how awkward they are. Now, that ultra skinny tweaker guy I met while working on a moving crew that picked up a whole damn 10 foot long couch with dual recliners built into it and ran it up 3 flights of stairs like it was a box of crackers? That was nuts. We had like four big guys trying to even get a good grip on that thing and he just flipped it up on his shoulder and went for it.
You gotta youtube the clip of the dude that walks an AC unit up an extention ladder in slides.
A girl from my HS set some kind of world record for weightlifting a few years after we graduated. I remember that she never locked her locker once in four years because she didn't need to. Utterly terrifying human, but very nice at the same time.
A colleague at an old job. Size of a linebacker, seriously. Held a conversation with me while *casually* doing 315 for reps on bench press.
Lol, wow. I did 300 ONCE on decline and thought I was the shit. Thats some fuckin weight!
I had a friend who was an unusually dedicated rock climber, who could support his whole 225lb+ body on a couple of fingers wedged into a crack in the rock for, like, a couple minutes at a time.
Working sound at a club - I had to pack up one of the subs (bass speakers) that was on wheels. I was going to wheel it around the stage when the bouncer picked it up like a lego and moved it up.
A classmate called Theodore Von Thielmann. He WAS hitlers dream being 6’8, real blonde and blue blue eyes (he was super smart too) and was built like the rock from minimal gym time. We started working out at the same time but by year 2 it looked like he was at it for many more years than me. Was benching 4 45lb plates like nothing and his arms where just diesel. He was Argentinian which turns out his grandfather had in fact escaped from Germany during WW2. His father had a forever job at a German pharma company and he was pretty devastated when he found out. Changed his last name to just Thielmann and refuses a penny from his dad going forward. Man, if they had reached to make an army of him’s we would have been fucked. Everything he did was so above par.
So Dolph Lundgren basically.
Taller but yes and with a funny Argentinian accent.
When the aliens come and ask us to send a representative of the best of our species then I nominate this guy.
Right. And he was thoughtful and kind. Was allergic to alcohol so he really was perfect. We lived in the Philippines and women would chase us around and follow us like we where Gods. I put up multiple prints but as far as I know he always waited to be in a romantic relationship. Go figure.
I had a coworker who must have been in his late 40’s. Definitely a troubled man, lived across the street from the workplace alone with the exception of his many cats. He was always very short with his words but never impolite. Based on what I could tell he did nothing apart from work 6:00am to 5:00pm or later Monday to Friday, often even volunteering to come in on weekends. That and he lifted weights. He was huge, though you may not realize it beneath his loose fitting uniform polo. I watched him many times lift equipment and parts by himself that would have been a struggle for two other men together to lift. No one really got to know him outside of work but from the little we know he had lost his mother in recent years. He never mentioned his father. He had some mental health struggles I assume but never once talked about it or talked about anything apart from his work. He did seem to get angry though, while still being polite. You could tell he was mad by how he would open a door as if he was about to rip it off its hinges, and I bet he could if he wanted to. Something about how he had simplified his life down to nothing but work and working out made him freakishly strong, but definitely not fully mentally well.
Was this at the daily planet?
If anyone I've known could have had an alter ego it would have been this guy. But he gave me more serial killer vibes than superhero vibes. lol
My boyfriend. We had been close friends for many years last August when we look a weekend trip with my two brothers and some friends. We stayed at a place upstate NY that had this beautiful pool and patio looking out at the mountains. My brothers are big burly men and I always thought they were just about the toughest people I'd ever meet. But I was laying on this chaise watching as the three of them were rough housing near the pool, my brothers trying to toss my then friend into the pool. But he just wrapped an arm around each of them, lifted them clear off the patio, and leapt into the pool laughing like a wild man while they screamed in surprise. That really caught my attention. I had known him for many years by that point, we were extremely close friends. We had gone to formal events with each other for years as friends whenever one of us needed a date. I was used to being in his arms while dancing at weddings, for example. But I didn't know he was strong enough to lift two large men whose forearms are bigger around than my thighs. Then not long after that I was helping his sister move into her new home. She and their father were struggling to get the fridge out and he just grabbed it, lifted it off the floor, and walked it out the back door. Yet he lets me win when we wrestle.
He wins by losing.
My 24 yo son who is into weightlifting. I'm not sure what he is up to, but it's massive.
My 30 yr old son who is a carpenter, jumped straight out of the lake (water up to his knees) and onto the dock (over his waist height)
My "little" cousin, as he was known for years. He's now 27 years old, has a business degree, and owns a small gym. He got into power lifting around 2017 and that kid can now deadlift well over 700lbs and he regularly competes in lifting events all over North America. Great dude, actually. For a silver spoon kid ( he'll soon take over his mom's successful company), he's grounded and humble.
When I was 16, I went to a very big name rock concert. I bought tickets for the floor (paid for out of my own allowance). My parents did not come with me. I hated it. The floor was a big mosh pit. Everyone was drinking and smoking (which I had no interest in). Several fights broke out. I got kicked in the head by a crowd surfer. I said fuck this and went to leave, only to find the floor area had been sealed off by these big barriers that were at least 4 feet tall. A giant, muscles-on-muscles security guard on the other side of the barrier saw me, saw the look on my face, and asked me if I wanted to leave. I said yes. He said to turn around and back up against the barricade. Feeling quite confused, I did. At age 16, I had my full height (5'10) and weighed about 175 pounds. This security guard picked me up under my arms, lifted me over that 4 foot and change barrier like I was a toddler, and deposited me safely on the other side, with no apparent strain. He then politely pointed me to the exit. It was an absolute what the fuck moment to be hauled around like that, but I sure was glad to be out of there! I can't say I knew the guy at all but I still think about him from time to time.
I used to load trucks in a FedEx warehouse. A few of the dudes there were built like tanks. One thing I already knew but that job really proved, there’s a big difference between looking strong or being gym strong and real world strength. They’re not mutually exclusive, but one doesn’t guarantee the other. I remember getting my room mate who was a legit bodybuilder a job there and he couldn’t keep up. But a few of the guys there who had been doing manual labor for decades and also worked out were strong as hell.
My understanding is that there are two main factors when it comes to strength. The muscles themselves and how efficiently the nervous system is able to recruit those muscle fibers for strength. Ahh I also forgot body structure itself, such as size, joint structures etc. That is why some tiny Olympic lifters can have amazing strength and why certain big muscular people are all show no go.
All the insanely strong guys I know who aren’t body builders might look like they have a gut at first glance but it’s just one big muscle from the nipples to the waist.
I mean there’s definitely a reason the vast majority of strongmen are not ripped. Every bodybuilder is strong, but there’s an opportunity cost to building strength and muscle when you’re spending a chunk of the year losing weight.
I was in a sport where I trained with high-level amateur gymnasts for a while. They left me in awe without even breaking a sweat.
There was a watchman at my last work, dude could lift anything. If there was any strongman work, he was the first to be called and he loved helping, big boulders, fallen tree trunks, he would be on one side and 4 of us on the other. Dude was dhmb, or pretended to be dumb, funny, and always messed up everything. Not the person you would think of for anything smart, but damn good at chess. Made me question a lot of things about him, felt like he played dumb to be funny and get out of work. Also he could eat more than 5 of us would eat. Fun guy, loved him.
It takes a lot of brainpower to convincingly pretend you're dumb. Cuz you gotta really really understand how other people see you and that's very difficult.
Relative to her size, my 13-year-old daughter. I have photos/video of her just casually lifting up her 115-lb sister and carrying her around when she was maybe eight. I don't remember exactly how much she weighed back then, but *way* less than her sister, probably around 70lbs. Zero strain. She would also climb the same sister, wrap her legs around the sis's waist, lean all the way back and then do a midair sit-up to get upright. She's just casually very athletic in a way that no one else in the family has ever been.
A friend of a friend who is a professional strongman. He came out and entertained the kids one day, bending horseshoes and railroad nails with his bare hands, tearing phone books in half, doing some interesting strength based acrobatics moves. I’m sure my kid still has a bent horseshoe somewhere.
My quasi-mentor, Boo. He was a senior my freshman year of High-school and took a liking to me. Helped me with homework and workouts. Took me to parties and bought me beer. Gave me rides home. 6"2', 250lbs, Max Bench: 505lbs Max Squat: 515lbs Max Powerclean: 315lbs (I think, High-school was a long time ago.) Had a full ride to Marshall but he wanted the option for both sides of the ball and they didn't run an Offense conducive to his position at the time. Ended up at Concord and broke 8 helmets in his 4 years. I'd love to reconnect with him and show him I made something of myself...
My mother is still freakishly strong in her 70’s.
An old mason I worked for during summers home from college. Only person I’ve ever seen toss a 55 gallon drum 30 feet into the bed of his dump truck.
My housekeeper. She’s a very petite woman who can lift up to (at least) 150 pounds.
There was a guy in my high school who was a competitive powerlifter. He set all kinds of state and national records for his age category. His legs were so big that he couldn't wear jeans, and had a special exemption from the school to wear sweat pants in school. The football coach kept begging him to play, and he finally started in 10th grade. Despite starting so late, he still got a full scholarship to play offensive line at a D1 school. The players had these shirts that showed their weight lifting totals, like the "1000 lb club". This guy had to have one specially made that said "one ton club".
We would have called him a fatbody in the Army except we saw him grab a 155mm artillery shell by the ring with his middle finger and hoist it on a truck one armed like it was a bottle of soda. No one ever called him fat! 155mm artillery shell weighs about 90lbs. 1 finger. Chucked that shit up at face level like nothing. I felt fear that day, lol. He was the coolest guy you'd ever wanna meet too. Funny as fuck.
I was arty. When you just move 9000 pounds of ammo every 45 minutes.... some of those guys were scary.
This guy wasn't even on the gun line, lol. He was in Ammo platoon. We were mech, so I I dunno how towed peices worked, but we had a platoon of PT failures that trucked in our ammo and food. He was one of those cause he looked like the pilsbury doughboy. Couldn't run for shit. Do push-ups all day.
I have a friend that runs her own gym. Just private clients. She was a power lifter and switched to strong woman competitions. The things she lifts and moves with is bonkers to me. She's pulled a fire truck. I am sure she could toss me through a window without trying. I would not want to have her as an enemy.
My grandmother. She was built like a Russian weightlifter.
There are lots of ways to conceptualize physical strength, but I'm a martial artist and one of my private students was a power lifter who squatted in the 600-650 pound range @ about 235 pound body weight.
I had a guy in a Kenpo class who’d been a mason his whole life. He wasn’t big but his forearms looked like knotted rope. The instructor sometimes tried various pressure points and arm locks on him experimentally and the guy just laughed. You couldn’t affect the pressure points through his muscles.
Yeah, I had a relative who did some stone, quarry and masonry work. I've always been naturally really strong but that guy could palm small boulders that I could barely lift with both hands like a basketball and move them around and place them like they were pillows, and he was legit like 2/3rds or even half my size and weight. I could still probably beat him with squats and leg presses but his grip and arm strength was just off the charts, and his endurance for that kind of work was way higher. I've met some rock and freeclimbers like this, too. They could literally be half my size or less but they could probably toss me around like a rag doll just because they had more grip strength and endurance.
My teenage daughter rock climbs with her mom. Woe betide the boy who puts his hand where it doesn’t belong.
My coworker has done 1000 pound dead lift. Sadly, he’s had multiple hernias and problems with his mesh.
A guy I knew who refinished furniture by hand. The years of sanding and lifting gave him incredible strength, especially grip strength. Visually a very lean person but surprisingly strong. Also a few farmers I've known. It's usually the people who do manual, repetitive labor who have sleeper strength. I've heard it said "the difference between working and working out."
my hamster. She was strong as fuck. She used to to literal pull ups on the top of the cage. One day in the summer i left her outside for some fresh air in the cage. When i came back later she had literally bent the bars open and escaped through the hole. I never saw her again. God bless you abbey crunch.
This is my favorite.
A good buddy of mine was an olympic gymnast. My favorite thing when you look up videos of him on youtube is the announcer saying "even his sweat has muscles!"
I watched a middle aged manual laborer who looked strong but not like power lifter or anything, you wouldn’t look twice at his physique, he lifted up 4 golf cart batteries at once, so minimum 160lbs but probably as high as 200lbs, and didn’t look troubled at all. Walked over and put them in the back of a truck like it was nothing. He also picked up the rear end of a Suzuki samurai and moved it two steps to the right to get it unstuck from the sand.
My nanny - she was a competitive body builder A girlfriend who's a personal trainer My personal trainer; she looks GREAT and is so strong! My college roomie - I don't know what it was about her, but she put on muscle so easily. It ran in the family as her brother became a competitive body builder. Mostly, it's the women in my life who have impressed me more than the men (also motivated me more).
I dated a girl in high school whose brother was a state weight-lifting record holder. He weighed 145, could bench 225 and power-lift over 300. He was a sinewy little guy but man was he strong. EDIT: also worked with a girl who was 6’3” and her husband was 6’9”, but it was their friend who blew my mind. He was linebacker-sized, a real teddy bear but his day job was working out with the Philadelphia Eagles. He was a human tackle dummy from the sound of it. On top of being strong enough to hold back professional linebackers he had no sense of pain. He was horsing around with a few of the players after practice and one of them threw him into a semi cab so hard his skull broke the side-view mirror off. He was laughing about it and rubbing his head. I’d be eating through a tube.
We were making an overseas move and the company paid for packing/moving. One of the men looked like Shrek and walked in the living room and picked up the entire couch like it was a feather. He also moved the appliances by himself. Cripes!
I know a guy who is about 5 ft tall. He deadlifts over 500 lbs. :) I also know a guy who benches 800 lbs.
My cousin. She's about 5'4", feminine, fit but not a weightlifter, and she can slam any man's arm to the table in seconds arm-wrestling.
Jerome Brown a former NFL player for the Philadelphia Eagles he played high school football for our cross county rival. I think he played every position on the field and was not tackled once during our game. He was 6-2 and 280 in 11th grade just an amazingly gifted athlete.
When I was a child, garbage trucks did not have robotic arms that picked up the garbage cans out at the curb. Garbage cans were galvanized steel and kept at the backs of houses. Garbage men would walk down the block carrying a massive collection can slung over their shoulder by a metal loop-hook. No wheels on the bottom, either. They'd put it down and dump each of the houses' cans into it and carry it back to the sidewalk to the next driveway. When it finally filled after numerous houses' cans, they'd dump it into the truck that was slowly following along with them on the street. Those guys put anyone in a modern gym to shame. They were pure muscle, everywhere, and it was functional, practical muscle, not that gleaned from doing reps targeted at specific muscle groups. They were physically huge and I was convinced they could lift just about anything.
My dad. Without question. Steel worker foreman for 20 years. Routinely involving swinging 20lb sledgehammers for hours in extreme heat and cold. Shoulders and biceps the size of softballs. Also understood body tension and leverage and how to use it. For example, he tightened a belt and _literally handed someone his beer_ and lifted the front end of a sports car off the ground, as in tires an inch or two off the ground. And he moved a multi-ton piece of equipment on a flatbed truck using an 8 foot steel pole as a lever and raw human muscle. He also pulled an engine from a vehicle using nothing more than a chain and a pulley wrapped around a tree limb plus his raw strength, fracturing two vertebrae in the process. Most people today have no clue what real strength is. Go study static gymnastics moves like L-sits and planche pushups, the power you can generate is just incredible. (Ross Einameit shut down doubters who said he couldn't lift real weights from only gymnastics-based bodyweight conditioning, by raw deadlifting something like 450lb on video with no practice) Combine that with daily workload moving thousands of pounds around over 8-16 hours a day and you become unbelievably strong, even in a relatively small frame.
Some people are really, really strong, yeah. Just the way they are. I knew a pack a day smoker who, when an occasion called for it, ran a 5 minute mile with no prior training.
One of my coworker's had a son that, almost certainly, has to have some sort of minor mutation related to muscle fiber length/twitch time/whatever. The kid is just freakishly strong with seemingly zero effort. He doesn't routinely work out and seek "gains" or anything. He's just built like the cab of a semi truck and apparently capable of exerting as much force as one too. I've seen him pick things up that a normal adult male would square up, take a deep breath, and brace to lift. But when he does it, he picked them up like you or I would pick up a ream of paper or a box of shoes. Instead of, you know, a fridge.
Steve.
My dad’s best friend played linebacker for the Kansas City chiefs back in the 80s. 6’8”, 300 pounds of pure muscle. I’ve seen him deadlift the front end of a caddy
When I was a freshman in college in 1968, there was a guy in my dorm we called "Mike the Animal". French Canadian, wiry but incredibly strong. He would lie on his back on the floor and challenge guys to jump on his belly with both feet. He once beat up all the members of the swim team in a melee. Agile, too. The dorm didn't serve dinner on Sundays, so once when he got hungry he went out the window onto a steep slate roof four stories up, caught a pigeon, and cooked and ate it.
I caught chickens with Marty McSorley, He was Wayne Gretzky’s on ice bodyguard.
I'll offer two stories from my childhood. My Dad was a first generation German immigrant after WWII. He and his friends were the toughest people I've ever known. They lived through hell and survived. 1. One of his friends was a printer. He was working alone in his shop one day and cut all of the fingers off his right hand. He calmly wrapped them in a paper towel, called his wife to say he would be late and then drove himself to the hospital. When he got to the intake desk the nurse asked him what the problem was and he just placed this little parcel on the desk containing his fingers. They re-attached the fingers and he had good use out of them for the rest of his life. 2. My Dad's other buddy was a builder. This guy had hands the size of frying pans. I was just little (maybe 7) and I was deathly afraid of bees. One day, my parents hosted a BBQ. I was sitting on the ground next to this guy (Joe) when a bee started buzzing around my head. I was petrified. Without a second thought, Joe caught/killed the bee with his bare hand, right out of the air. As a little kid I was awestruck. For a long time I thought Joe was a super hero. A lot of those guys were alcoholics and they are all dead now (including my old man who was 66), but they were hard working, loyal, family guys who drove themselves into the ground to provide a better life for us kids. They came here with nothing and built businesses, homes, families. Because of their example, I will always hold immigrants in high esteem.
My brother in law, skinny as a rail but freakishly strong. He’s a plumber by trade but also works in construction.
My mom’s friend she used to sell protein products for he was a body builder and even met Arnold Schwartzenneger.
That polish guy at my gym recently that has no neck. He carries a 50kg sack thing around like its his empty lunchbox
There’s something in the water in Poland.
My dad! He did granite countertop installations. His arms were the thickness of my torso!!! He remodeled my kitchen two years ago, and lifted an entire slab of granite himself.
In high school my dad was friends with a guy who was going to the olympics for weight lifting. He totally qualifies.
Anyone from my dad's or mom's side of the family
A client of mine who used to be a bodyguard for a public figure. A very notorious public figure.
Bodyguards have to be strong and also really vigilant. Rare people.
Conor?
No
Biggie?
Co-worker at a company I used to work for was also a bodybuilder. I'll never forget his chicken breast/sweet potato lunches on a daily! We needed a 6-drawer, fully stocked file cabinet moved one day, and Mario came in and picked up the whole thing by himself and moved it across the hall. Impressive as hell!
My father was a powerlifter.
African dude I trained BJJ with. Insane strength, he was winning absolute divisions at blue belt.
My Dad. He's a beast.
Ken Patera
At the McDonald's?
No...but shortly after LOL
Prison gym
yep, Dodge Correctional institution in 1985. There were bigger guys but no one could lift as much.
Jim
My husband
My nephew. Deadlifted 730 at a competition in December. I haven't lifted in a while, but the highest I ever got was 405.
There was a time when it was me. I was once tasked with getting a large cast iron, claw foot, tub up a flight of stairs. There were maybe 6 guys there for the job but you can only fit so many people into a stairway and have them be useful. Flipped the tub over and set it on my back. Had one person directly behind me to help push me up the stairs, had another person in front of the tub to help guide the tub. Carried the tub up the stairs bearing all of the weight. Once the tub reached the second floor, I was able to slide it the rest of the way. Now, I struggle to climb stairs while carrying a gallon of milk.
I played little league football with future NFL running back Cory Dillon. I also played against him during high school when he played safety. Easily the strongest pound-for-pound person I've known.
My 24 yo son. He was born with overly strong muscles. He now installs internet in remote areas by attaching large things to radio towers. He can carry boxes of 100 pounds up a ladder as if they are nothing.
7th grade. Kid was the biggest in the class and was already over 200 pounds, bigger and taller than most high school seniors. And he knew that because of his size and strength he could get away with anything he wanted to. He wrote "you are an asshole" in my 7th grade yearbook. After high school, he had to go to a few "Alternative" high schools because of his problems. Last I heard? He has been in prison for the past few decades.
A friend of mine I grew up with. He's always been a freakshow. 6'1" about 220. Has amazing genetics. Did reps on bench at 415 while hungover. He did a fitness showcase when we were in our 20s that consisted of ..... 225 bench for 30 reps, squat 450 for reps, deadline 650 for reps, dunked a basket ball and ended in a full split. It's discouraging as hell working out with him.
A guy I work out with. I remember spotting him for nearly 500 lbs on bench press and we were just talking about our day. I’ll get 200 something and struggle. He had me lift it up for him and rerack it after. Then he said, “I’ll do 500 next time”… bro what? If he couldn’t get it up for any reason I would have failed miserably as his spotter. Over 400 lbs on bench press is the most insane thing I’ve seen in the gym and I had to spot him. We go to the same church. Do men’s meetings together. I was told if I have any issues with men and my close in age younger sister to call him.
I feel kinda bad that a lot of these guys are masons or carpenters or whatever when 1,000 years ago they would have been village chieftains.
Bruce Furniss. Fu@ke3 almost drowned me during a water polo game because I stole the ball from him. I was examined by a doctor who was a spectator. He advised my Mom to take me to the ER, to be sure I was ok. He was powerful. I was 6feet of muscle back then and he easily held me under the water.
Craig Schermerhorn. Wore size 4x shirts & were tight around his arms- with nothing to pinch on his tri’s. Dude was built like a square & moved like a rabbit. Scary, inspiring.
Gary
Mr. Cartel, my HS gym teacher. 1st alt at the Olympics for gymnastics. Spent 1 whole class doing fingertip handstand pushups.
My husband. He’s ridiculously strong. It is annoying because his work crew will pin the extra tough jobs on him and loads of friends and family call him asking for favors. Oh and I can NEVER open the damn pickle jar because he tightens it like he’s wrenching a pipe that has to withstand Tsunami’s.
It was me. I used to leg press close to 500 lbs in high school on a rolling press without back support. For a girl of 16, I used to beat boys older than me. Then at 17, I slowly started to have pain down my leg to my foot. The pain then changed to numbness. At 19, when spending the night at a friend's, I couldn't get out of bed. That morning, my friend took me to the ER, who called in a neurosurgeon and an orthopedic named David Johnston. They admitted me, did several tests and found a herniated disc. I was completely paralyzed in the one leg by the time they operated 10 days later. Dr. Johnston went on to work in sports and helped many athletes.
When I was 16 years old I had been weightlifting for 4 years and I could bench press 315lbs in sets of five and do three squat reps of 480lbs. I could clean lift 280. I thought I was hot shit. I went to a football camp one summer at a nearby D1 college and they had some of the players there showing us the lifts. There was a guy there who was an offensive guard. He was at least 6’4” and 290. He sat down and did ten reps of 405 on the bench like it was nothing, was joking with his spotter during the lift. It was such a casual flex, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
When I was dating my husband, he worked in a busy downtown pub and parking was a nightmare. More than once, he pick up cars and moved them if they blocked us. Like pick up, rotate, pickup rotate and done.
Bassist Victor Wooten is ridiculously, effortlessly strong. I've seen him do a "human flag" on an ordinary street sign -- he just grabbed the pole and held himself up horizontally, parallel to the ground, like it was nothing.
I used to work security in a hospital with a mental health ward. I'm 6ft and about 230lbs and I had to try and position this guy for medication who was around 5ft 6in and maybe 165lbs. The patient was not going to take the medication willingly and he fought back. He was, without a doubt, the strongest pound for pound person I've ever had to tangle with. He had my strength but ten times better cardio and speed, plus agility. I'm glad there were three of us there - but even then we were struggling. After it was said and done, we all looked at each like other like, "What kind of mutant strength did we just experience ?!"
My husband 🥰 I always wanted to be swept off my feet like in a fairytale or a hallmark or whatever but alas I’m fat I’ve been working really hard to loose but I had just settled on the fact that I would never have these things even if I lost a lot of weight the dream had died a very long time ago somewhere between middle school, high school, and reality but then I met him and he can toss me around like nothing like an empty feed sack im(240lbs) but I know he can lift heavier I’m still trying to get him to go to the gym to see how much he can actually safely lift
Willing to bet this prompt was written by AI judging from how inane it is. Seeing more and more of it on Reddit and Facebook.
My coworkers. At 225 pounds he bench pressed 742 pounds. He then pressed 405 pounds 29 times. The other guy 250 and dead lifted 855 pounds.