Human Strength

[peter]

The post about the Bulgarian bearman is a remarkable story, Polar. Reminds me of a few things I saw myself.

Story one. I was born and raised in a big city (Amsterdam). At 14, we moved to a small place. Countryside. Didn't like it one bit at first, but I learned to later on. In summer, I worked on the fields with my brothers. Tough work, but good money. When harvesting potatoes, the farmer we worked for used two trucks driving behind each other. The first collected the potatoes. They were put into bags by a few men and then handed over by them to the men on the second truck. These bags were heavy. One of the city boys, when moving over to the second truck with a bag, fell into the gap between the two trucks. While we was waiting for the sounds of cracking bones, one of the older men on the first truck grabbed him. With one arm, he lifted both the boy and the bag filled with potatoes. This guy was in his late fifties and about 150 pounds or so. Well below average for the region, that is. Although not young, he was quick enough to grab the boy and lift him and the bag on to the first truck. Combined weight at least 300 pounds. One arm. During coffee breaks, the younger guys always poked him. We liked him a lot, but he was very different from us. After his remarkable feat, they went over to see his muscles. We didn't see anything and started joking about his secret. The trick was hard labour and 3 beer a day, the farmer said. The old guy smiled.

Second story. My younger brother started boxing at an early age. When he was about 20 or so, he moved to kick-boxing. He was in the gym every day and quickly became known. One of his best friends was a world champion in a different weight class. In built, he was similar to the older guy mentioned in the story above. I never saw any muscles, but his opponents usually were down before they had finished laughing. Most of them, in fact, had to be carried away and needed a long time to recover. Later, when he was well-known, he was invited to try his luck with the bigger guys. Same story, but his opponents suffered more severe black-outs because they were heavier. His career ended when he was surprised by combination of 6 of his former opponents in a local pub, but he still has a gym and most of his his customers are police-officers and would-be fighters. When my brother passed away (many of his friends didn't even reach 40), he came over to pay his respects. I hadn't seen him in a long time, but he recognized me immediately. How's the muscles these days, I asked. Although I still didn't see anything, he told me he couldn't get a fight anymore. The reason was the knock-outs were too known. And too severe.

There's a lot more, but this will do. What I'm saying is strength is a bit of a mystery. I know plenty of people with a great built who used it to make a bit of money in sports or elsewhere. There's no question some of them almost compare to a bear for strength, but there seems to be a difference between them and those who really perform feats you wouldn't believe. Most of those operating in the last category never saw a gym and, on top of that, eat crap all the time. That's apart from drinking beer whenever possible, of course. Although enigmas, they're there and very real.

My take is the generations born between both World Wars in particular, although quite a bit shorter and seldom exceeding 180 pounds, are a different breed. They were the ones who built the society we live in today. Not one of those I know was even close to the prosperity typical for those living in the western world of today. Some of their children, although the opposite of the well-known sportsmen of today, almost compare to a bear or a big cat for strength. It has to be said not one of them I know ever used it to his advantage. These guys have moral standards you only read about. 

These bearmen know you can't take things for granted. Their best opponents are average men you wouldn't give a dime. So there's strength and strength. Usually, you don't see it. You sense it. As to the ability to use it. Big cats don't compare to bears for robustness and strength, and yet they do. In some ways. Movement and speed definitely are involved. Same for technique and attitude.

All in all, I'd say it could compare to what I saw in music. Some of the people I played with had no musical education at all. I also didn't see any ambition or big egos. Yet they outplayed the best whenever they wanted to. Real qualities are inborn. Same, I think, for other fields. What we see most often today is parodies. Today is the day of deception, airplay and ego. Those we see most often have great abilities in this respect, but they always come up empty when things matter. Most people don't see them for what they are and they don't seem to care. Until they realize the consequences. Reply