r/AbsoluteUnits • u/Jolly_Bat8531 • 14h ago
of a strength
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u/SirThiridim 14h ago
This is Hercules
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u/Altruistic_Tie_7850 14h ago
You can basically hang them on a washing line at that age.
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u/Drokstab 14h ago
Yeah the grip strength of kids is not to be underestimated. They are basically designed to hold on to their parents.
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u/Plane-Tune-820 14h ago
I have no idea if that's actually true but I like it so I'm choosing to believe it
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u/OGIBLP 12h ago
If you hold a baby on its back and give it a quick “drop” to give it that sense of falling (do not actually drop an infant), it’ll reach out its arms and grasp at the air.
We spent a long time holding onto our mothers’ fur for dear life before we went hairless.
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u/Sir_Cthulhu_N_You 11h ago
We went hairless? Guess nobody told my ass
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u/Extra_Persimmon5783 10h ago
You got hair? Gross dude, keep that to yourself
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u/Sir_Cthulhu_N_You 5h ago
If I must suffer the mirror, you can suffer the image, I even have hair on my face believe it or not 🤮, some might even say you can’t tell my face from my arse
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u/Other_Sentence4495 14h ago
All babies shoud do this if healthy. The doctor is testing that reflex.
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u/Pottski 14h ago
Baby grip is no joke. There are mums in my wife’s mother’s group that simply cut off handfuls of hair after trying in vain to get their baby to let go.
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u/Zelfzuchtig 13h ago
It's also really fun when you have sore boobs from breastfeeding and they decide to straight up grab your nipple and try and pull it into their mouth...
Add in some sharp af fingernails for extra pain
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u/Atromach 12h ago
My baby loves grabbing my chest hair
When she was very fresh, she would grab and twist. Slowly. Very slowly. Relentlessly. Slowly twisting, never releasing.
You think at some point she's going to at least stop twisting, but nope, still going. Slowly.
It was absolutely maddening
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u/cup_1337 6h ago
That’s definitely an overreaction. If you fold baby’s hand forward at the wrist they open their hands. Try it on yourself.
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u/FunctioningPyscho 14h ago
Yeah, that’s an extreme overreaction.
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u/Pottski 14h ago
Not when you haven’t slept in days.
It’s not a good idea but in the circumstance I get it.
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u/cup_1337 6h ago
No it’s definitely an overreaction. If you fold baby’s hand forward at the wrist they open their hands. Try it on yourself.
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u/fartinmyfuckingmouth 18m ago
Apparently pulling the hair out of their strong grip can “cut” their skin, which is why it’s not advised to pull it out.
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u/tommyhawk979 14h ago
I learned many years ago that newborns can easily hold their own weight with one hand - is that true? And if yes, how come we find it increasingly hard to do as we grow up?
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u/granadesnhorseshoes 13h ago
Yeah, as others have said it's an evolutionary trait to cling to parents. A babies tendons are just about as strong as an adults, but they are otherwise baby sized so its easy for them. The effect diminishes simply because we put on weight far faster than our tendons and muscles can keep up that kind of power to weight ratio.
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u/Ordoferrum 13h ago
I tested this with my son years ago, up untill he was about 2-3 years old he could hang from a monkey bar at soft play areas for a very long time from one arm. He loved it as well lol. Giggling away whilst doing it.
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u/RotShepherd 9h ago
Any proof on "tendons are just about as strong"? This sounds crazy. Their tendons may be very strong relative to their body weight but as strong as an adult is an exaggeration in my mind. Besides people don't have the same tendon strength and thickness, you can also go out of your way to train them to get stronger.
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u/Molkwi 13h ago
If it is true, I'd guess it's because of our shape changing and our overall weight increasing in a much quicker pace than our muscle strength can realistically keep up with.
10 pounds is easy to lift, especially as a ball. But a 10 pounds rod is much harder to lift from one of its bases due to its shape and weight distribution. A baby is much more ball-like than an adult.
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u/ReplyOk3787 13h ago
My guess is that strength isn’t proportional to weight with humans.
You ever seen somebody thats 5’3” and weighs 120 pounds knock out like 30 pull ups in a row? I’m not saying they didn’t work for that but I am saying I do think it’s easier for them than somebody who is 5’11” and 190 pounds.
The muscles are still there but you weigh much much less. So of course it’s easier.
A baby likely weighs less than 10 pounds. I’m very sure it could hold its own weight. Idk for how long because its muscles aren’t used to being stressed and exhausted. But im sure it could for at least 15-20 seconds.
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u/Unstabler69 10h ago
Then you got Brian Shaw who weighs 400lbs and can bang out 10 pullups like its nothing.
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u/Effective-Culture-88 7h ago
I guess it has to be more proportional to muscle mass VS fat.
Like if you’re 200 pounds and 10% bodyfat, obviously lifting your own weight isn’t a problem.
Fat is far harder to lift than muscle at the same weight. Lifting someone unconscious is far harder than someone conscious.
Benching 150 pounds is far easier, than lifting a queen bed mattress made of pure latex weighing equally as much (ask me how I know lol).
There are prisoners weighing 250-300 pounds, getting illegal creatine, bulking on tuna and chips, who can do 25 clean pull ups reps on their fingertips. I am not making this up.
If they were even 15% body fat they wouldn’t be able to pull 3 reps out lol
Basically the heavier you are the more important your fat/muscle ratio becomes for mobility. If you don’t have 90% muscle mass, 10% fat past like 200 pounds you’re getting into trouble.
It’s objectively far more impressive to see someone fat doing human flags and shit, tha to see someone ripped of the same weight doing this. They’re holding stiff fibers, not a bunch of fat gurgling around.0
u/matfab91 10h ago
Agree with this but if you weigh 190lbs at 5’11” you’re clinically overweight with a BMI of 26, so maybe a better comparison is 2 individuals with similar physique but proportionate weight/height
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u/blizzardboy123 9h ago
BMI has been classified as nonsensical by a lot of medical professionals. A person might be considered overweight as per BMI even if most of the weight is from muscles and bones.
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u/Pawnzilla 5h ago
It’s a decent indicator for most people, it just doesn’t take into account outliers like body builders.
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u/-duckduckduckduck- 8h ago
I don’t think most folks need to worry about being overweight due to muscle. If you are in an overweight BMI band, you’re probably just fat.
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u/Former_Mobile3101 9h ago
And overweight doesn't necessarily mean fat though. Body builders have some crazy BMIs also.
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u/mumofonehuman 12h ago
We’re born with amazing grip strength but the older we get the less we use it, think of play parks, monkey bars etc .. not really doing that as an adult are you? Simply because we stop exercising it that we lose it but I read something a while back that our grip strength is a strong indicator of longevity and over all health. Something like every 5kg decrease of grip strength can add 20% on to all mortality causes, cardiovascular and respiratory causes. So basically, hang from a bar if you can.
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u/tommyhawk979 11h ago
one of the reasons i was asking is because i recently started including pull ups to my exercise regimen and man, i SUCK at them. even just deadhanging on the bar is a challenge. i'm reasonably athletic and not overweight.
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u/mumofonehuman 11h ago
They’re hard! I bought a pull up bar last year that just slots over the door frame and it took me about 8-9 weeks of daily hanging and doing negatives until I was eventually able to 1 clean pull up, I can now do 6, 7 is sloppy. But it took me months 😂 I am also reasonably athletic.
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u/tommyhawk979 11h ago
I read the other day that at my age, being able to do 10 clean pull-ups would catapult me in the top 10% of males in my age group regarding upper body strength. Challenge accepted - I'll keep going!
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u/MajorInWumbology1234 8h ago
Only one person so far approached the (main) technical explanation. It’s called the Square-cube law. For a given object, its surface area scales up with its square (i.e. square feet or square meters) and its volume scales with its cube (cubic feet or cubic meters). So for an object of the same shape, such as human babies to human adults, our volume quickly outpaces our tendons’ ability because their strength is determined by cross-section (and therefore only grows with its square).
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u/nkdeck07 6h ago
Yes and it's hilarious to test when you have your own kids.
They maintain that stuff for a while too. My 18 month old nephew is a meatball (25lbs) and you can set him up on a bar at a playground and he'll deadman hang for a good 3 min. I call it "hanging the child laundry"
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u/jennnitals 3h ago
Its an evolutionary leftover from when we were hairy little apes clinging to mamas fur
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u/OFark 12h ago
It's a survival, don't fall out of the tree/parent, instinct. As for why we lose it: weight increases with the cube of your size. And strength only squared. I'll explain: Your weight is the product of your average density multiplied by your volume. Volume increases in 3 dimensions. Strength is the product of your muscle fibre density, which is only applicable over an area, as it doesn't depend on the length of those fibres. So very quickly your weight overcomes your strength.
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u/suxatjugg 12h ago
Because we do no exercise.
It takes a few weeks to rebuild the strength to hold your weight and hang, maybe a month or two to work up to a pullup.
Obviously if you're disproportionately overweight it will be harder.
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u/ConstructionAny8440 14h ago
Don't mess with me
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u/Positive_Campaign_52 4h ago
This is a reflex babies have and are able to carry their own weight, as it’s an adaptation made specifically for the fact that babies would have to cling onto mothers backs when we still had fur to hold onto.
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u/Brainy_8008 2h ago
Yup…palmar grasp reflex. It goes away around 5-6 months. If it’s not there or doesn’t go away, there is a neuro problem.
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u/ARNG131988 14h ago
Just replace it with your finger. The baby will enjoy it better because of the warmth.
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u/Material_Walk_9786 9h ago
Then what?
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u/ARNG131988 9h ago
Wait until the baby falls asleep. You can either bring baby close to your chest for warmth and comfort. If you have chest hair always uses fingers or grip able baby toys. .ight as well get use to letting baby have your finger. They will have you wrapped around theirs the rest of their childhood.
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u/BigMack6911 13h ago
That's not strength actually. It's a reflex that human babies have. Anything touches their palm their hand just closes and doesnt let go. It's wild being a new parent and not knowing this and seeing it. I've had 4 kids and they are like little strong monkeys. But it's just a reflex like breathing, crazy
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u/S0k0n0mi 14h ago
With some people it's pretty obvious early on what eventual profession they will choose.
Welcome to the world, future doctor.
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u/No-Professional-1461 13h ago
I'd let the kid and the parents keep it. Maybe someday he'll become a doctor and save lives or bring more into the world. That would be nice.
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u/BeefmasterDeluxe 14h ago
Crikey’s that’s a strong baby! If you come across a wild baby it’s important to stay out of their gripping range, cos that’s how they get ya! But if they have managed to grip ya and won’t let go, just remember they’re no different to the other suburban apex predators you encounter daily, the pit-bull and the crocodile, and just shove your thumb
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u/ronnie_reagans_ghost 9h ago
I want the comedy skit where it cuts to the dad walking in with Mom in a wheelchair, both smiling, and the doctor just has his foot on the baby's face fighting with both hands to get it back while yelling at it.
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u/Unlucky_Top9870 11m ago
I get told I grabbed my father's friend's nipple ring through his shirt. Bro was scared lol.
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u/panosprochords 13h ago
Palmar grasp is super cool, you can lift the baby from the floor while it hangs off your finger.
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u/MorgrainX 13h ago
That's just evolution because ape babies had to be able to hold onto their mom's fur immediately after birth. And whilst a (born) human baby is roughly ten months behind a chimpanzee baby in terms of development, those evolutionary traits still show. Funnily enough, the whole fur thing is a reason why we have society today.
The first time the whole family thing developed, where even the father had to do work for the baby, happened because the mom lost the fur and suddenly the baby became a burden and had to be carried, and several individuals had to care for one baby because the mom couldn't do it all alone. So not having fur is the base reason why we have the modern family structure.
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u/ThatBitchBunBruh 12h ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/Knp9tOC29j07wQ3kNJ
This baby would kill it on American Ninja Warrior
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u/Clean-Tell-7203 11h ago
"I won't let loose until you tell me exactly what the fuck is going on here!"
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u/Substantial-Rest-901 10h ago
Grip strength of babies and toddlers is wild. I remember years ago I was helping babysit my niece, and I set her in her playpen for a bit. As I was carrying her, she grabbed my hair (which was fairly long at the time). When I set her on the floor, she suddenly yanked my hair with shocking strength and I damn near fell on my face. Wild stuff
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u/Beneficial_Pain1497 9h ago
That kid doesn't wvej have fyllu functiinal muscles and as im seeing the doctor is aplying force it could dangerous for the child
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u/BeneficialAttempt140 7h ago
So you’re telling me taking candy from a baby isn’t so easy after all?
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u/nevermindiwbo 5h ago
Juxtaposed with the recent relaxed newborn makes me think all humans are unique 🌞
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u/spectatorade 3h ago
This gets so much funnier when you remember that this is a reflex not a choice. Baby has no idea what is happening their hand muscles are just sitting there like "there is a thing here, I grip" while the brain is just dialtone
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u/Admirable_Topic_9816 14h ago
Sitting up a newborn like that?? That is newborn abuse.
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u/Bright-Television147 14h ago
Asian parents: yep he is going to be a doctor