What is Strength, Who's the Strongest?

I was listening to Ricky Dale Crain at a meet last fall and he said something to the effect of “Powerlifting isn’t about who’s the strongest, it’s about who lifts the most weight.” There’s a lot of truth to that. Whatif we have two different lifters that lift the same amount with the same range of motion, but they have different lever lengths?

Then we could conjure up some equations and show that one of them was producing larger forces in some muscles than the other. So is that what we should do? Put our lifters on force platforms, and instrument them up so we can compare forces muscle by muscle?

Ultimately, as Hanley alluded to above, it’s a dick measuring contest. Only you can ask you if you’re strong or not. There is no “strong police” to come and tell you whether you’re good to go or not.

Instead of asking “What’s strong?” or “Who’s strongest?” ask “Am I stronger than I was yesterday?”

[quote]tom63 wrote:
The hulk is the strongest. He can press over 100 tons when mad and jump over a mile. He is brutally strong and agile! He also does crossfit from what i was told.[/quote]

Maybe, but he isn’t actualy functional. When in daily life do you need to jump 1 mile?
Also in the comics and films I’ve never seen him even close to a Bosu ball (and what I really hate is that he never has shoes on, making BF% estimation impossible!)

[quote]conorh wrote:
I was listening to Ricky Dale Crain at a meet last fall and he said something to the effect of “Powerlifting isn’t about who’s the strongest, it’s about who lifts the most weight.” There’s a lot of truth to that. Whatif we have two different lifters that lift the same amount with the same range of motion, but they have different lever lengths?

Then we could conjure up some equations and show that one of them was producing larger forces in some muscles than the other. So is that what we should do? Put our lifters on force platforms, and instrument them up so we can compare forces muscle by muscle?

Ultimately, as Hanley alluded to above, it’s a dick measuring contest. Only you can ask you if you’re strong or not. There is no “strong police” to come and tell you whether you’re good to go or not.

Instead of asking “What’s strong?” or “Who’s strongest?” ask “Am I stronger than I was yesterday?”[/quote]

In what is basically a bullshit thread, this is a good post.

[quote]triple-10sets wrote:
No…I meant strength balance in the real world. Hanley said above crossfitters sarcastically, but I actually believe that philosophy of non-specialization leads to the strongest individual, because no matter life throws at them physically they can withstand it if their training is good enough. [/quote]

What if the real world throws a 400 pound bench at them? Non specialization leaves you sort of good at a lot of stuff. If you want excellence you must specialize. Not everyone wants to be sort of good. Some want to strive for great.

Personally, that crossfit stuff would bore me to tears. I like getting stronger. I do weights. I don’t lift strongman stuff due to some issues in my shoulder.

When I want to improve my wind I do some more aerobics.

I agree with tom63 on this one. Its better to be great at one thing than mediocre at a lot of things.

[quote]Scrotus wrote:
I agree with tom63 on this one. Its better to be great at one thing than mediocre at a lot of things. [/quote]

Ah yes, but what if you’re great at being mediocre??

[quote]Hanley wrote:
eic wrote:
Can we all agree to simply stop posting in this thread and pretend it never happened? Please?

It’s fun tho!!

As an aside, I’m just out of an economics lecture. We were talking about agricultural import barriers within the EU. I made reference to how the EU will not curretly allow the importation of Brazillian beef, and the lecture posed a question… “Say I’m the Irish farmer, and you’re 100% brazillian beef, what happens?”

So there you have it, the hulk is 100% brazillian beef!![/quote]

I’d only worry about those Irish farmers if you were a sheep.

there are different types of strength, how can you compare one type of strength to another in a quest to see which is the best?

the simple answer to this dumb question is:

you can only make claims to whom is the strongest in their specific event/competition, because strength is specific to that event/competition…

with that being said, i’d own all of you on agility ladders i am the strongest.

[quote]triple-10sets wrote:
No…I meant strength balance in the real world. Hanley said above crossfitters sarcastically, but I actually believe that philosophy of non-specialization leads to the strongest individual, because no matter life throws at them physically they can withstand it if their training is good enough. [/quote]

non-specialization … so by not actually being the strongest at ANYTHING they are the strongest of all. Interesting.

And by ‘interesting’ I mean ‘insane.’

hah

jack of all trades msster of none… world’s strongest man though. funny.

good analysis kbctird.

This thread will go nowhere.

[quote]Ruggerlife wrote:
Hanley wrote:
eic wrote:
Can we all agree to simply stop posting in this thread and pretend it never happened? Please?

It’s fun tho!!

As an aside, I’m just out of an economics lecture. We were talking about agricultural import barriers within the EU. I made reference to how the EU will not curretly allow the importation of Brazillian beef, and the lecture posed a question… “Say I’m the Irish farmer, and you’re 100% brazillian beef, what happens?”

So there you have it, the hulk is 100% brazillian beef!!

I’d only worry about those Irish farmers if you were a sheep.[/quote]

Yeah but you see the real problem is that it puts up a huge barrier to entry. With the common agricultural policy Europe has basically become a closed market. No competition = unnatural price levels. So basically the consumer is the one that ends up getting screwed!!

But I do see your point. We’re a nation of notorious sheep shaggers. That’s mostly in the west tho…

[quote]Hanley wrote:
Scrotus wrote:
I agree with tom63 on this one. Its better to be great at one thing than mediocre at a lot of things.

Ah yes, but what if you’re great at being mediocre??[/quote]

Now there’s a philosophy one can take to heart

[quote]Scrotus wrote:
I agree with tom63 on this one. Its better to be great at one thing than mediocre at a lot of things. [/quote]

It’s like when I worked at the Ironman races. Everyone had a big boner that they were the fittest athletes on the planet. One of my faggy triathlete buddies made fun of me because I was out of shape. In relation to doing something for 11-18 hours.

I asked him in the animal kingdom where he ever saw lions and wildebeest ever jog for 12 hours. i told him if I could catch him in 100 yards he was food. that’s the way it works.

BTW, it doesn’t impress me if some fatass completes an Ironman in 16.5 hours.

haha!

Mark Henry.

Okay, let’s say we hold a “World’s Strongest Human” contest.

All the competitors can choose whatever feat of strength they wish to demonstrate their strength.

And let’s say the event is held (oh hell, why not) in Hanley’s hometown on Monday March 17, 2008 at precisely 12noon.

  1. Who would win?
  2. What did they do?
  3. What did Hanley think of it?
  4. Who didn’t make it? (why not?)
  5. Who didn’t care?
  6. Who is the strongest human in the world…
  7. on March 18, 2008?
  8. March 19, 2008?
  9. -on July 4, 2009?
  10. Why are you still reading this?

seriously

  1. Mr. Invisible
  2. Lifted up his invisible car with one hand
  3. I had never seen anything like it before. Still haven’t.
  4. These guys Torvill & Dean - 1984 Olympics - Bolero - HQ - YouTube (poker night at the Ice Rink)
  5. Everybody, except T-Nation
  6. That guy benching 535x23
  7. Andy Bolton
  8. Zyrundas Savickas
  9. Donny Thompson
  10. Boerdem. Why else?

Mr Invisible!

Ha!

…too much

[quote]Hanley wrote:
3) I had never seen anything like it before. Still haven’t.
[/quote]

…and I’m STILL laughing!