Time Warp: Heavy Lifting

" In the world of strong men, your body is not only a tool, it's a machine, but what goes on inside and outside their bodies when they pull off this incredible fits of strength? Only one way to find out. Get truly worked."

" Meet Rob Nerenberg, scientist, professor, and professional strong man, and Dave Hansen, a former football player and fellow competitor. They're here to help us analyze the physics involved in pushing your body to the max. They warmed up with a lightweight 30-pound medicine ball. Next stop, the farmer's walk. Strong men have to carry weights in both hands, and then run as fast as they can. It's a competition that tests both strength and speed."

" I'd estimate, at least this is 120-140 pounds."

" So, in an actual competition, how much weight will they put on?"

" In a professional competition, we'd go up to, say 300 pounds, each hand, so 600 total pounds."

" Wow!"

" With these 2-inch handles."

" So a 2-inch handles?"

" It's extraordinary."

" And when you have normal-size handles, you can go up to 800 total pounds, you know."

" So, 400 in each hand. Extremely difficult of that."

" Alright. So, who's going first?"

" Here you go."

" Yeah, go ahead."

" When you take those tight turns, it seems to me like you could sort of lose control. "

" Without a doubt."

" Absolutely."

" And what's really going on there obviously is as you start to turn, you know, it's ugly momentum. You're starting this trajectory where you want to follow along in a circle, and that's what's so hard to stop that motion."

" Right."

" And that's why, you know, if you really kinda train right, when you actually start to take your turn, you don't take a full turn, you take kind of a three quarter-turn, and you're using that momentum to your advantage. 'Cause if you try to do a full turn, it's actually you're gonna wind up like this."

" And that's where in a competition a lot of people mess up."

" Yeah."

" "Cause that they over turn and then they end up trying to counteract and then come back."

" Yeah."

" That small amount of extra work is actually where it can cause you to lose."