Farmer strength explained... again

Urban

Savage Mystic
@Gold
Joined
May 16, 2003
Messages
16,942
Reaction score
60
in our last thread on freaky farmer strength we pretty much came to the conclusion that its a matter of grip strength... now here's a thought (brought on by none other than men's health):
the magazine of sin said:
A lack of grip strength could cut the amount of weight you're able to lift by as much as 50%
That means that somebody with a grip twice as strong as average can have can be average in all other respects but lift up to twice as much.

Just another piece of the puzzle I guess, but an interesting little factoid nonetheless and a good reason to do some extra grip work if need be.
 
You still need to lift the farmer's implements before you walk with them which forces you to use a lot of back/hams strength initially.
 
You still need to lift the farmer's implements before you walk with them which forces you to use a lot of back/hams strength initially.

you're right dw, but out of your element. Farmer's walk lifts require a lot more than just grip strength. However, I was talking about the strength of people who work on farms (or do construction, or whatever branch of manual labor happens to tickle your pickle).
 
After a summer of working carpentry, grip has never been an issue for me when lifting.
 
On MythBusters they've debunked myths such as using a piece of plywood for a parachute or using a knife to slide down a sail based on the impossibility of gripping onto the object. What they failed to take into account was the fact that construction workers and pirates have much stronger grips than flabby special effects engineers. Does it make a difference? I don't know.
 
you're right dw, but out of your element. Farmer's walk lifts require a lot more than just grip strength. However, I was talking about the strength of people who work on farms (or do construction, or whatever branch of manual labor happens to tickle your pickle).

Oh, I see.
 
Hopefully i cna gain me some freakish grip strengh now that i am a labor worker at a goodyear tire plant. Which i must give a thx to you guys for giving me the info to lift heavy which is definatly helpingme at my job throwing tires around really isn't a problem for me but problaly would've been if I hadn't started lifting with the help of the info here
 
Hmm... from growing up on a farm the most grip oriented work we did was:

carrying 40 lb feed buckets
moving 40 lb feed / seed bags
moving 80 lb hay bales
catching and holding livestock
shoveling (and a good levering workout as well)
manipulation of heavy equipment (14 ton tractor and 4 ton plow don't hitch themselves together ya know, leg press is a functional lift after all)
 
worked concrete all summer, me and a wheelbarrow full of wet concrete, over and over and over..I hated pours that were under 3 yards. damnit no pump.
 
I work in a very labor intensive job, and with a lot of old farts too.

Grip is huge, no doubt.
But there's other factors also involved.

One is that these old timers have been doing the same basic set of things over, and over, and over again for like 30 years. Efficiency and knowledge and muscle memory all come into play.

So many factors...

They know nothing else... get up early, haul heavy shit around, chop some stuff up, build something, dig a ditch...

The strength means something tangible and practical. Don't repair the blown out ditch and lose profits because the orchid dries up...so, they get their asses out of bed and work 16 straight hours to repair the ditch.

Grip is a product of a LIFESTYLE...imo.
 
This is why wraps are so damn useful as a training aid.
 
Back
Top