I thought I had seen it all, and then I saw this video showcasing ten weird feats of strength. To say that I’m flabbergasted would be an accurate analysis, and my jaw may have dropped open once or twice without my knowledge. If you want to experience a similar physical response, then check out the video below. Also, fair warning that some of these feats of strength may border on disturbing. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!
Top 10 Weird Feats of Strength
Loading ...I was thinking one of the hair pull ones myself…
Now, this begs the question, “what are you fit for?” In other words, what practical purpose does your strength and conditioning serve? And most importantly, how exhausted do your muscles have to be to actually need to resort to lifting something with your eyelids? I’ll tell ya. I thought I was a hardcore athlete, but now I’m not so sure. I’ve never needed to resort to eyelid squats just to get more reps in. I doubt I’ll ever be tough enough to reach that level.
Of course, I’m being facetious. These feats of strength are mainly meant for entertainment purposes, and don’t really have any practical value at all. I mean, if you’ve got to move a helicopter, then I’d think pulling it with your ear would (hopefully) be a last resort. Who thinks of this stuff? Seriously.
Establishing The Practicality Of An Exercise
All kidding aside, it does raise an important point because there are some fitness professionals out there who would argue that much of the fitness industry is rife with completely impractical exercises – and some of them make a good case for their opinions.
And truth be told, I’d really like someone to explain to me the practical value of certain exercises, too. Take the dumbbell fly exercise, for instance. I understand the sporting purpose (ie the bodybuilding purpose to develop and sculpt the pectoral muscles), but I can’t see myself ever needing to even remotely mimic that movement in any situation I could possibly encounter. Maybe you can think of something that I can’t, but I just don’t see any non-sporting, practical purpose for that exercise. And there are tons of other common exercises that I feel much the same way about. And yet, many of these exercises are used every single day by millions of people.
Now, don’t get me wrong because I’m not against pec flys or bodybuilding at all. I think they’re both great when used in the right context and for the right purpose (ie bodybuilding sport). But to play the devil’s advocate, there are tons of ways to strengthen the chest, shoulder, and arm muscles in a more functional and practical way – a way that might actually strengthen a movement pattern you’d need to perform in normal, day-to-day life. So, if you’re not a competitive bodybuilder, then I’d argue you’d get much more practical benefit out of some other comparable exercises – pushups and presses being good examples.
But then again, when are you ever going to be laying on your back having to push something upwards? But I digress.
The Bottom Line
My point being that we need to specifically evaluate the practical value of our exercise selection. It’s not enough to just exercise for the sake of exercising. We need to know exactly why we’re doing each exercise. If it doesn’t serve a specific purpose, then we’re short-changing ourselves. Sure, if your goal is fat loss, then practically any physical activity will aid you toward that end (some more effectively than others). But even still, being active for the sake of being active will result in sub-par results at best. And this is excusable for someone who has been struggling to simply remain active. I mean, why try to over-complicate a good thing, right? But for those of us who are past the compliance issue, and are physically active and training regularly, we would gain so much more benefit from establishing the practical value of specific exercises.
In a future article, I will explain exactly how to do that. Stay tuned for part 2!
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CST Coach, CST-KS
Health-First Fitness Coach
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