You’re not supposed to wrench the trees from the ground. What do you think the ax is for?
Never mind, I don’t want to know.
Dealing with your wife’s baggage is a pain in the ass regardless of how strong you are.
Well approximately 50% of the population is significantly weaker than the other half so you should direct your question to them.
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Racking the slide of a handgun (not sure if that’s what it’s called) in order to load a bullet into the chamber. I could never do it with some handguns. In fact, I have read that that is one of the advantages of a revolver, that some gun owners might not be strong enough to physically rack the slide of a handgun back.
Stowing carry-on luggage in the overhead bin.
The OP is insightful, in that there is a meaningful difference between “weak” and “nonathletic.” A weak person simply lacks strength, whereas a nonathletic person is unfamiliar/uncomfortable with the kinematics of his/her own body.
The TV show American Ninja Warrior screens their contestants (or just edits their footage) pretty thoroughly so that you only end up with serious athletes getting screen time. If you watch the original Japanese version of the show, they let goddam anybody run the obstacle course, and they’re more egalitarian about who gets airtime. There are some people who are simply weak - they can’t jump far/high, or they have no grip stamina. But there are others who are clearly nonathletic: they can’t figure out how to get their body swinging in a particular direction, or how to get through an obstacle that doesn’t allow any static balance, or how to run up a quarter-pipe wall in such a way as to develop traction even on the nearly vertical part of the wall, allowing you to ascend those last few critical inches to grab the top edge.
There’s a lot of home “handyman” type work that requires significant physical force. Things like fixing that water leak behind your fridge, changing tires/brake pads/oil on your car (tires on my wife’s car are 50 pounds each), or trimming a tree in your yard (difficult to climb a tree or move heavy branches around unless you have decent upper body strength).
Dad and I used to split firewood together when I was a kid using a sledgehammer/wedge and/or a mawl. People who are weak would have difficult merely raising the hammer/maul (8-12 pounds of steel on the end of a 3-foot handle) over their heads, and people who are nonathletic would have shitty swing technique and would experience difficulty splitting wood with any alacrity. Either they won’t develop enough speed, or their accuracy will be dangerously poor.
Every motorcyclist drops their bike once in a while. Weak/nonathletic people who ride motorcycles will drop their bike more often: they’re nonathletic, so their sense of balance won’t be as practiced, which will result in more frequent excursions from vertical while stopped or while “dog-paddling” in/out of a parking spot - and their weakness assures that more of those excursions will be unrecoverable, resulting in a drop.
On a fairly regular basis, it seems I end up seated near a petite, non-gymnast woman who is trying to retrieve her oversized carry-on from the bin directly over my head. I find myself compelled to put my hands over my head, as I worry it’s going to land on me before she gets full control of it.
I remember that thread! Did you successfully get all jacked and Sarah-Connor-y?
This reminds me of another task I attempted (just once, about 20 years ago) and I couldn’t do it:
Hoisting a Western-style saddle onto a horse. This requires lifting the saddle to about shoulder-height (for me) and plopping it on top of the horse. I was barely able to lift it that high, let alone fling it onto the horse. I think Western-style saddles are much heavier than English-style saddles.
I’m not very big, and a lightweight for sure, but I’ve always been wiry. However now that I have passed 60, I’m losing a little strength, I notice. When I was working, it was physical enough work to keep me in constant good shape. But now I’m retired it’s definitely impacted me negatively and I’m struggling to find an activity to help with that. I’ll never be a gym rat, but I am considering a dance class. Been considering it a long time now.
I most notice when doing a dead lift, like pulling big weeds. I’m pretty sure I used to be stronger. I could def do yard work all day long. Not so much now though. I’m lucky to get a full half day in before knocking off and often requiring a nap!
(Will be following your thread, and the experiences of others, with great interest!)
I’ve always been fairly fit and strong, but when I blew out my knee a few years ago, and was struggling to cope with limited the mobility of crutches or cane, and the exhaustion of that, the worst part for me was the feeling of vulnerability when I was out and about. (I don’t live in a great neighbourhood) I had neither the agility nor the strength to get myself out of trouble, and with winter snow adding another layer of difficulty to getting around, it was an interesting and troubling feeling for me.
I’m a relatively fit and strong (and slightly overweight) guy in my 30s. About 10 years ago I spent some time in Honduras learning Spanish, and I contracted Dengue fever. For about a week it turned me into an old man – I didn’t feel terribly sick, but I could barely get up and down steps, and every step hurt, and lifting things up hurt, etc. My muscles were just as strong as ever, but my joints hurt so much with every movement that I was functionally very weak.
In a way it was terrifying, for someone who has, at least to some degree, prided myself on being fit and strong and mobile. I was relieved when I recovered.
The same thing applies to lifting a kayak up to a roof-top car rack. I used to be able to get my 18’ sea kayak up by myself. Now I am forced to get one end up and then slide the kayak up from the back. There are many devices made to help you do this, but it was a big change when I realized that I could no longer just heave it up over my head unaided.
My mother had a bag of clothes ready to bring to the container. To operate this particular model, you need to grab an overhead bar, bring it down, place the bag of clothes into the chute and push the bar back up with both hands. We’re all the same height, but neither my aunt nor my mother would have been able to perform that final gesture: stretch and push at the same time, and overhead? When pigs fly dancing Swan Lake.
Same here, this goes for many types of tools and hardware also that are designed with pull-force or grip-force as their means of safety. I’ve dislocated my thumbs many years ago skiing, and anything grippy is very tough or impossible for me. For example, I have a staple gun that I simply can’t use because the thumb strength needed on the grip is just too high. Gas station gas pump handles are often a two-handed grip to work them for me.
Along those lines ^^^ when I was struggling with PTSD, depression and not eating, it got to the point where it was actually quite difficult to pull back the cocking lever on the machine gun with one hand. In my defense, it was a sticky pull.
I have no such issue now.
My wife can’t unscrew the blades from our blender to clean it - she has to ask me every time. This morning, she said “Does this mean no smoothies for 10 days?” (I’m going on a road trip to photograph the eclipse). I went into the shop and found a spanner-type plumber’s wrench, which I think will let her unscrew it herself.
At 59 I have noticed I lack the strength I had twenty years ago. This spring I had to recharge my boat’s batteries. I have three marine batteries (two in use and an emergency backup spare). In order to take them home, I had to carry them about 100 yards including up a steep ramp. I was certain I could do it in 2 trips, but ended up taking 3 trips (one at a time).
How much does each battery weigh? How does this compare with walking the same distance, up the same ramp, while wearing a 17-lb parachute?
Deep cycle marine batteries weigh a bit more than car batteries. I’d guess 60 pounds a piece, but definitely between 50 and 65 pounds. The plastic straps used to carry them really dig into your hands.
A 17 pound chute would be nothing.
Western saddles are much heavier than English. A nice compromise could be an Australian saddle. My gf uses a synthetic Australian saddle and is able to flip it up onto her horse with ease.