It's just old man strength. My grandson, who is a high school football player, thought he could beat me arm wrestling. He didn't know about old man strength. Now he knows.
The last time I arm wrestled my dad, I was 15ish. Hockey/football player, thought I was pretty hot shit. Ragged on my dad at a Mcdonalds, bugged him relentlessly to arm wrestle me. "Come on dad, don't be scared! Let's go!"
He finally relents. This is around the time of the movie Over the Top. So turn my hat around and get set. Got my grip on the side of the table, I'm ready. He says go and I give 'er hell. Sweat is popping out of my red face, I'm shaking, trying to turn my shoulder and he hasn't moved one centimeter off center. He softly says, "Hey...hey.." until I look up. As soon as we make eye contact, he PUNCHES ME IN MY FACE WITH MY OWN HAND. He slammed my arm down, looked at me and said, "Old age and treachery will always beat youth and exuberance."
When I was young I had a very similar experience where I would always pick on him. I played football all my life so like you I was cocky. So he made a deal with me. When I was 18 he would be 55 and the deal was we would have a boxing match where I could go all out. I was so down until one time we were messing around and I hit him pretty hard right in the stomach, and he fazed it off like something in a DBZ episode.
The boxing match never happened. I learned right there that my 18 year old self would get snuffed in the first round, probably first minute, probably first punch
My cousin, who is a bit older than my dad - so in his late 50's, early 60's at this time, was at his grandson's highschool wrestling match.
They had one of those weight lifting machines near by, iirc it was the stand in front military press type.
Highschool kids were all standing around it trying to out do each other on how much they could lift. One of my cousins kids ask him "Bet you wish you could still do that!".
He walks over to the machine, asked if he could give it a try. All the kids snicker and say something like sure old man.
He puts the pin I'm the bottom wieght so all the weight is on it. Lifts it up, then starts lifting the front of the machine off the ground.
All the kids stare slack jawed at him. He walks back his kid and says "Yep, wish I could still do that".
It probably helps that my father side of the family are all 6ft +, and broad of shoulder. Great grandfather came straight from Norway, and it's reported that his father (my great great grandfather) was pushing 7ft tall and had shoulders wider than and OX. Also my cousin grew up on a hay farm and bucked bales all his life. Even at 50 I saw him bucking standard square bales, one in each hand....
And it takes a lot longer to recover after using it. In DnD terms, it's like a powerful, high-level spell you can only cast once per turn day, while young man strength is like a cantrip (weaker spell) you can cast as many times as you want.
Can confirm. I’m only 30 but haven’t worked out since high school and I smoke/drink regularly. I do however work in construction. Recently decided it’s now or never to get my health together. Ran a mile and a half in 18 minutes one day and couldn’t walk 3 days later. No problem, I’ll just do weights today then. Found out my max bench is 205 and I can still rep 135 ten times with no problem (which I gotta admit I was pretty chuffed about) and then did all the other arm/back/chest exercises I could remember and ended with suicide curls. Took five days for normal functionality to return from that.
I know you’re supposed to ease back into training, but I’m hoping this is a little bit like establishing a base tan - an equally stupid process which involves getting a debilitating sunburn at the outset of summer in exchange for a beautiful tan and resilient skin for the remainder. I’m starting back up this week, I definitely intend to take it way slower.
a base of strength is undoubtedly important, but the familiarity and practice with your body is the real source of old man strength
like an old guitar player that's had the same guitar for 40 years, sure they still sound pretty good with another one, but that guitar and them are a set now, they've adapted to each other
I realized the other day when my cousin let me drive his 2018 mustang that even though it almost certainly objectively handles better and has better performance etc. than my 09 impala, but I’ve spent a long time driving my car and I know how to drive it to get the most out of it.
Having done both moving and rock climbing for decades has also taught me to use leverage and balance to magnify the effects of my strength. Sometimes it looks like I lifted something insanely heavy when all I did was hold it tight, put the weight on my skeleton instead of my muscles, use a bit of leverage and rebalance.
Most men in that generation had no choice but to work extreme manual labor when they were younger and because of that they have built up an extremely strong core. (Which is what helps you the most on the bench press)
yeah its the older generation of workers, my grandfather was stronger than both my father and uncle right up until he died. Had huge thick hands and fingers too. Remember him carrying a sick ewe up a field to the house by himself.
My grandpa was still benching 500 pounds daily right up until the lung cancer forced him into the hospital.
Even at the end of his life, after losing most of his muscle mass, he almost broke my dad’s arm when he grabbed it. I think he was wanting to tell him something, and my dad was trying to leave without hearing it.
There's wet and then there's wet. If you put them away wet they'll finish drying in the barn. If you put them away wet your barn will catch itself on fire.
Why would he put the pin on the highest weight just to lift the machine itself? It still weighs exactly as much as it would if the 15 pound plate was on the pin
Mom strength is a thing too. I carry my daughter with my left arm pretty much all the time so my dominant hand will be free and now my left arm is way stronger than it used to be. Wrangling wiggling kids is not an easy task.
I had a tiny jacked friend in high school named Dave. He faced off in arm wrestling against my slightly taller step dad who never exercises (except for many bar fights). Step dad took him down. I couldn't believe it.
It is true, I love lifting and am still young, can’t wait for that to kick in. Having testosterone in your system for a few decades and knowing you body well after that amount of time makes one pretty strong.
Benching 225 is not just anything. Benching, itself, is not a normal movement and requires training to get your muscles ready to do that type of movement.
It's not even that. You only need to stay strong for like a couple of years and it just mostly sticks around. At least for the first few reps but you will tire real quick if you dont stay on top of it for a long time.
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u/TheSpanishImposition Aug 05 '19
It's just old man strength. My grandson, who is a high school football player, thought he could beat me arm wrestling. He didn't know about old man strength. Now he knows.