WildFact
Bear Strength - Printable Version

+- WildFact (https://wildfact.com/forum)
+-- Forum: Information Section (https://wildfact.com/forum/forum-information-section)
+--- Forum: Terrestrial Wild Animals (https://wildfact.com/forum/forum-terrestrial-wild-animals)
+---- Forum: Carnivorous and Omnivores Animals, Excluding Felids (https://wildfact.com/forum/forum-carnivorous-and-omnivores-animals-excluding-felids)
+----- Forum: Bears (https://wildfact.com/forum/forum-bears)
+----- Thread: Bear Strength (/topic-bear-strength)

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21


RE: Bear Strength - brotherbear - 05-31-2016

Fortress of the Grizzlies by Dan Wakeman and Wendy Shymanski:

When you are traveling in bear country, whether the residents are grizzly or black, it is extremely important that you understand bear behavior. Even the smallest bears are extremely strong, and if a careless approach spooks an animal, it can injure or kill you. Learn as much as possible about bears before you venture out.


RE: Bear Strength - Polar - 05-31-2016

(05-31-2016, 02:19 AM)brotherbear Wrote: Fantastic find Polar. Would you be willing to repost something you discovered before; about the muscle tissue of older bears?

@brotherbear,

Sure! I still have it on my Google Drive. Here it is:


RE: Bear Strength - Polar - 05-31-2016

Older and post-prime-aged bears, as proven by the study, can grow as much muscle as prime-aged bears, but most of it is the denser muscle fiber type (slow-twitch Type Ia/Ib).

Prime bears develop more fast-twitch fibers to supplement their huge body volume, and young bears are more prone to an increased combination of Type Ia and fast-twitch fibers (that is why young bears have so much endurance.)


RE: Bear Strength - brotherbear - 05-31-2016

The muscle mass of the oldest specimen concurred with the relatively high amounts of Ib fibers: the densest muscle fibers discovered in mammalian and reptilian bodies so far.
In conclusion, no significant evidence provided leads towards increased muscle strength deterioration or muscle mass deterioration in post-prime brown bears, yet evidence had been found of increased muscle volume deterioration in post-prime brown bears as: The brown bears who were experimented on were shortly released back into their respective locations within Yellowstone National Park after the study commenced. These findings suggest that brown bears, if not all bear species as a whole, are able to retain their muscle mass and maximum muscle strength well past their prime years, unlike most other animals.


RE: Bear Strength - Polar - 05-31-2016

Notice that the prime-aged bear had the most powerful fast-twitch type: IIb. This type differs from IIa/x in that IIb is less dense; however, it still has more contractile material and slightly more mitochondria per muscle cell than IIa/x.


RE: Bear Strength - brotherbear - 05-31-2016

Grizzly Years by Doug Peacock.

I edged over the rise and froze: a huge dark grizzly shook the remains of a buffalo carcass in the air, much as a dog might play with a stick. From a hundred feet away I watched, motionless in the fading light.

The bear slammed the carcass to the ground and circled, stamping his forepaws on the bones and hide. I waited until his back was turned, then retreated a hundred yards and climbed a steep timbered hillside. I could see the flash of his claws as he turned over the dead buffalo. These were much longer than a black bear's, maybe four inches long. The grizzly looked almost black in the dim light. His shoulders, nearly as high as mine, were separated by a mound of muscle, which rippled as the bear pawed and slid the heavy carcass along the ground. His head was massive, scooped out below the eyes, and he must have weighed well over six hundred pounds.


RE: Bear Strength - brotherbear - 05-31-2016

Previous posts right here on this topic would suggest that even young sub-adult bears have astonishing physical strength while fully-matured bears, even post-prime specimens are even stronger.


RE: Bear Strength - brotherbear - 05-31-2016

The Grizzly by Enos A. Mills.

He has extraordinary strength. I have known him to drag the carcass of a cow or a steer of twice his own weight. In several instances this was dragged up the mountain-side over fallen logs, yet it was apparently moved without extraordinary effort.


RE: Bear Strength - Pckts - 05-31-2016

(05-31-2016, 12:51 AM)Polar Wrote:
(05-31-2016, 12:27 AM)Pckts Wrote: Nice study, I'd like to see a similar test administered to gorilla grip and pulling strength and a big cats pulling strength.

I'll try and look for studies of the two, but for some reason, though, the internet is lacking in studies relating to gorillas. Big cats can be an easier find, though.

I also have quite a few personal experiences with bears (mainly polar bears during my Polar Bear International trips.)

By the way, were you surprised that a 80-kg bear can pull 1720-kg? I always thought it would only pull up to 600-800 kg according to brotherbear's accounts.

Even I underestimate the physicality of animals by quite a bit.

The pull test showed that both bears needed to exert full force or almost full force to pull that weight and did fairly close to each others time. I have seen my coach pull massive trucks, so I'm a bit jaded there. What I am surprised about is the deadlift weight of 387 kg for a bear weighing 85kg and he did it with ease and could of doubled or tripled that weight. We have a 125lber (maybe smaller) and he pulls around 525 on the dl... Or about 54kg to pull 240kg. So very close to the Bears pull, the difference is that is his max while the bear could of possibly doubled or tripled that. So it is safe to say that these two bears are at least double the strength of an equal sized professional power lifter or roughly triple the strength of a comparable male human.


RE: Bear Strength - Polar - 05-31-2016

@Pckts,

Keep in mind that the bear's deadlift was instantaneous, yet unbalanced (humans can deadlift with more balance) and that the bear fell because he didn't know how to release the weight while keeping his balance.

If you take the 125-pound bear against the 125-pound powerlifter, then I can agree with your last statement. However, a 350-pound bear and a 350-pound strongman? The 350-pound bear will be way, way more pound-for-pound stronger than three times since heavier people are generally weaker pound-for-pound. But note that the bear, as a carnivore, is more suited to power rather than to brute strength (although, unlike other carnivores, a bear has much more brute strength), so the bear will pull its maximum weight more explosively than the human will do to his own max.

Also, note that as brown bears, pulling motions are less effective in force production than pushing motions, so if the wall was weighted most for pushing, we would have probably seen these bears push 2000+ kg.

How big is your coach? And did he pull the truck like a strongman (with his back to the truck and harnessed while powerwalking it), or did he face the truck while pulling it with his arms and back-walking?

The heaviest vehicle I pulled was a 30,000-pound cargo truck; I did it the professional strongman way (with a harness).


RE: Bear Strength - Pckts - 05-31-2016

Harnessed. 
His name is Scott Brengal, check him out. The real beast of our crew is Casey garrison and Sean deramus (sp) 
Both of those guys are absolute freaks.

I'm not sure what their arm over arm pull is, but I'm sure it's ridiculous as well.

Do you have your pro card for strongman or just amateur?


RE: Bear Strength - Polar - 05-31-2016

I am just an amateur. I usually do my strongman exercises in my backyard and within my basement (kettleballs, kegs, barrels, other odd-shaped objects), and powerlifting exercises are within my local gym: Planet Fitness.

I don't think I will be hitting for pro since I am trying to focus more on BJJ/MMA (especially the uma-platas, I still have trouble with those sometimes...) I am taking time off lifting and also am going into long-distance running to increase my stamina for sparring and rolling.


RE: Bear Strength - Pckts - 05-31-2016

Ok, good to know. Ya, getting your pro card is absurdly hard, those guys are absolute monsters. 
In regards to mma, if you're serious I suggest a wrestling base first and foremost. Don't worry about specific bjj moves like an omoplata, hip flexibility and knee flexibility will be a bigger factor there. For a guy of your size I'd focus more on chokes (head and arm, guillotine, etc and wrestling submissions like canopeners. But you'll develop this as you learn what works best for you. Also, you need to spar hard and often early on, learn how to take a punch while being able to stay calm. I wish you all the luck, let me know if you have any questions in regards to trainers or places to train.


RE: Bear Strength - brotherbear - 06-01-2016

(05-31-2016, 02:17 AM)brotherbear Wrote:
(05-31-2016, 12:07 AM)Polar Wrote: @brotherbear,

You'll have to read the following study to find out (the 83 kg~180 pound bear provides the most staggering results):

Conclusion: Bears are noted to be extremely strong by both literature and first-hand accounts, and this approach is also true for very young bears. The ratio of the vertical pulling weight to the young bear's weight approximated at 4.624x, and the ratio of the horizontal pulling weight to the young bear's weight approximated at 20.550x, slightly more than 20 times his own body weight. Powerlifters and other humans, who lift according to their body's maximum loads, will usually vertically-pull 2.5 to 3.5 times their body weight. The power of the young bear in this experiment was astonishing, and this finding could provide more light into the muscle function of not only brown bears, but all bear species in general.

The powerlifter ( we are talking Olympic class here ) can pull from 2 and a half to 3 and a half times his own body weight. The sub-adult grizzly can pull better than 20 times his own body weight.


RE: Bear Strength - Pckts - 06-01-2016

They are talking about vertically pulling not horizontal pulling. They show the bear pulls 4 times its body weight while a human pulls 3 times. But both can be increased, also note that powerlifting isn't an Olympic sport.
You'd be amazed how much a human can horizontally
For instance... Massive trucks with weight in them.