r/BeAmazed Feb 25 '25

Miscellaneous / Others Strength of a manual worker vs bodybuilders

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17

u/SoyDusty Feb 25 '25

Country strong is always something different. Farmers are lean and strong af

8

u/communityneedle Feb 25 '25

Watching this reminds me of when I lived in Vietnam and walked past a construction site one day. I casually looked over and saw a tiny guy, maybe in his late 50s or early 60s, barefoot, no taller than 5 feet, and thin as a rail. He wasn't wearing a shirt because of the heat, and you could see his ribs. That MF hoisted two of those giant bags of concrete on each shoulder like they were full of feathers and was walking around with them just as casual as you please. I watched him for about 30 minutes and he just kept going, over and over. Never looked like he was straining, never even stopped to catch his breath.

-1

u/wickmight Feb 25 '25

Muscles can also become seized or stiffen permanently which can make work like that look effortless. He may not have been carrying it on muscle strength but pure leverage from bones and stiffened muscles like its resting on a hard object

7

u/Hara-Kiri Feb 25 '25

Most country farmers are obese actually, and significantly weaker than bodybuilders.

4

u/ConsistentRegion6184 Feb 25 '25

Only as strong as the weakest link for movement. Country work is below center of gravity and towards you. If you meet someone who rows for sport, you'll understand which muscles those are.

1

u/JeddakofThark Feb 25 '25

I don't know a lot of farmers, but the majority of manual laborers I've met have been overweight. Me included. In fact, the main variable for how strong I've been, aside from actually doing the work, has been my weight.

1

u/SoyDusty Feb 25 '25

Different strokes for different folks. I know some dudes who are muscular and some dudes who aren’t. I loved losing weight working doing manual jobs like framing and roofing, and continue to do so when helping with landscaping.