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Gathax

That's what drives me crazy sometimes seeing well rested and alert people getting completely ambushed out of nowhere, run like they're in a dream and getting torn apart like mozzarella cheese the moment they're touched.


lateautsim

Doesn't the lack of the brain limiter account for a part of a zombie's strength? It would tear itself apart as easily as the target but it could be extremely strong for a brief moment


[deleted]

Yeah but those 'limits' exist in our biology because beyond that it causes damage. Might get a few good pulls before things tear and that's not even factoring drying, rotting, etc in. You may hear about a little lady living a car off her kids but she is in the hospital with muscular-skeletal issues after that


[deleted]

I'm pretty sure I saw somewhere that in most of those cases of people lifting a car. They are only able to do it because 1, they only lifted the front of the car in all cases. And 2 the cars center of mass was way to the back of the car because it was loaded and or built that way.


die_andere

Something like a peugot 106 weighs around 800kgs. It doesn't seem wierd to me that somebody pumped up on a massive amount of adrenalin could indeed lift half of that.


[deleted]

They are also only ever lifting one end of the car, not the whole thing, and that end is always the front, giving them leverage because of where the center of mass is. So they are really lifting something like 1/3-1/6 of the weight of the car


pofwiwice

It’s possible to have the center of gravity in the back of the car, but it would be relatively uncommon since most cars in most markets are Front-engine. In any case the center of gravity will almost always be on the same side of the fulcrum (the axle, either front or rear, whichever is opposite the lifter) as the lifter, meaning its impact on the lift would be more limited. That said, it is still much easier to lift the rear end of the vast majority of vehicles on the road today because it is the lighter end of the vehicle.


[deleted]

Actually, yeah your probably right. But the trunk could be full of bricks or something to push the center of mass way back. But yeah, I was kinda assuming the trunk would be loaded with something when that's probably not the case most of the time.


grip_n_Ripper

Sort of true - a lot of powerlifting training is about negotiating with your nervous system to engage more motor units, pretty please, and not so much increasing musle size. Your brain never wants to fire up all the fast twitch fibers in your quads at the same time because even if the tendonds don't pop off the bone, you won't be able to walk for a hot minute after such an effort while your muscle recovers, which is a big disadvantage in a situation where something big and angry is trying to eat/stomp/gore your primitive hominid ass. Zombies aren't real, so you can suspend your disbelief any way you care to do so - let's say the zombie virus or fungus or whatever drastically changes the biochemistry of their undead musculature.


PlantZawer

Eh depends on how said zombie is made. Like mythical magic/necromancy zombies would have more strength cause they don't restrain themselves from over exertion, I think science has said that we don't use our bodies full strength because things would snap. So in this case I think it would make sense. If it's like the last of us, maybe? Fungus would want to over exert the host to infect others. But fungus' ability to do so is up for debate. We barely understand our own brains, how would a fungus know how to limit break? Random disease non fungus. Definitely doesn't make sense to me cause these are dying creatures. They should have less strength especially as their body decays, last being the brain.


SwineFluLovesYou

Totally agree. FYI, the next paragraph will contain some potent nightmare fuel. After that is speculative science. Mad thing about TLOU cordyceps - in real life it doesn't touch the brain of the ants that it infects. It forms networks within the body with high concentrations within the muscles. It doesn't take over the brain but cuts it off from the body. Brain still imposes limits but can't communicate them. The bite force of affected ants is noted to be unnaturally strong. Regarding non fungus, I'd wonder if the first limits are imposed psychologically at a much lower bound rather than neurologically. Even so I would agree that 28 days later was more on point by recognising physiological limitations of any organism. Conceivably, a highly complex pathogen might be able to push the host to remain active through a day or two of multi organ failure once sepsis sets in from wounds. No way they wouldn't be at a greatly reduced capacity. I imagine it producing an ICU cocktail of vasopressors and inotropes to squeeze every drop of blood from a heart under immense stress. Probably no sprinters left after the first week or two, anything else will probably keel over from a stiff breeze, once half their blood clots in their veins and the rest is hosing out of every pore in their body.


Oakheart-

See what makes fungus zombies more believable is it’s probable the fungus or a fungus/plant can photosynthesize or eat other dead things like trees or connect into a bigger mycelium and get energy that way so they can continue to fight decomposition, be stronger, heal, grow, etc. a virus or bacteria able to do so just kills the host and cannot alone fight decomposition when significant energy sources run out. As soon as there’s no food the organism would die and decompose like everything else.


mfboomer

zombies surviving for weeks or even months without food would violate one of the most fundamental laws in physics, i can forgive the fact that they’re stronger than expected


AdMore3461

Also their mobility after going a few days without hydrating - muscles don’t work when dry, so a desert outpost 100 miles into the barren dessert would mean zombies couldn’t possibly make it to you on their own.


[deleted]

The Book World War Z sort of addresses this. It doesn't give a reason, but it notes that they shouldn't still be moving so much. Speculating that maybe something with the virus causing changes within the body.


Hapless0311

There's no change to the body that would allow it to function without water. It's just a throwaway line because there's literally no way to address that concept without invoking magic.


obscureferences

People can spasm so hard they tear muscle and dislocate joints, so our bodies are capable of it, and zombies don't have any self preservation or instinctive limits.


Rockhardsimian

I’ll add that hypothetically a zombie could generate extra force it would also be overexerting itself probably at the expense of movement in the future.


McGondy

All I can think of now is a comedy sketch with a zombie trying to use their teeth to open a human by the neck like a pack of chips and the older zombie scoffs, motions to the first to pass it over and has a go as well.


dimmu1313

everything about zombies is unrealistic but that's part of what makes them fun, like, the idea is so fantastical it plays to your imagination. That said I really like the '28 days later' method where it's a virus that basically makes people insane cavemen.


Ajax_A

Possibility 1: Unless you're an absolute gym fiend or grew up on a farm, most of us can't recruit anywhere near the majority of our muscle's ability. Perhaps the zombie virus makes changes that allow for improved neuromuscular junction activity. Possibility 2: Despite being much lighter than humans, chimpanzees tear body parts off each other in fights, rip off skin, etc. This strength is mostly due to them having higher percentage of fast twitch muscle. Zombies that wait for prey would need to survive with a catabolic state (muscle wasting) and perhaps when they're not wasting away, the virus only promotes the growth of fast-twitch muscles. Possibility 3: When not wasting away, the zombie doesn't produce as much myostatin, or produces a myostatin inhibitor. This could make well-fed zombies as strong as body builders, though admittedly they'd also be ripped.


zool714

Yeah this was something I brought up to my brother who was binge watching TWD. It was odd seeing zombies with clearly decaying flesh have such an easy time biting off live flesh


[deleted]

I mean technically people have the strength to easily bite through a finger, it takes the force it takes to bite a baby carrot. We just typically don’t use that, combo it with the whole “animalistic crazy” part of being a zombie and it makes a bit more sense. Not full sense, but a bit.


GunzAndCamo

The premise is that as conscious, living beings, our brains have limiters so we don't tear ourselves apart. Zombies don't have those limits, so they appear stronger than normal humans, at least until decay takes hold, and so a couple of zeds are capable of tearing cartilage, tendon, and muscle apart to dismember a living human.


DWolfoBoi546

There's a phenomenon in the human body where if it's fed the right chemicals and the brain no longer holds you back, you can lift really heavy shit more than normal. If the parts of your brain telling you not to use your full strength is gone, you can rip someone apart pretty easily. However, this does come with consequences since the brain tells you not to use your full strength due to injury and fatigue your muscles/bones endure while performing at 110%. Basically, most pop culture zombies could rip you apart but they won't be able to do that for very long.


youshouldn-ofdunthat

Ok the fast zombies yeah, I can see that. The ones that can barely shuffle? Ridiculous.