USAWA

Al, in a related post you mentioned that you’d “like” to believe these feats. That leads me to believe that you view them with a certain degree of skepticism. I do, too.

Is it possible that Dinnie’s dad did this feat, or even that Donald’s actually occurred? Absolutely. Is it probable that they occurred? I doubt it. Here’s my reasoning…

For one, I know from personal experience that people are pretty clueless when it comes to explaining what they observed. And this even with people who train with weights. One time, out of many, this one guy was watching my training for IPF worlds. He commented how great my deadlifts looked and how impressed he was with me pulling 700 x 2. I corrected him by stating that after I pulled 700 x 1 I pulled 655 x 2. There are many other similar examples, so I just have a hard time believing what other people believe to have witnessed. And out of the field of criminal science we know how utterly unreliable witness statements are.

But there’s more. Even though many people back then did much tougher labor than we do today, none of that daily work would even remotely equate to the type of training we do today. Let’s take the Chadernator as an example. How long did he train for the Dinnies? Wasn’t it a year or more? And that training was consistent and intense. Had he NOT trained for it, yet maintained his other training, could he have lifted the Dinnies for as many reps as he did, or even once? Doubtful; that’s why he trained specifically for it. And with all the other training he does, I find it extremely hard to believe that Dinnie’s dad would’ve been stronger than Chad in anything. How can ANY person who does not train be stronger than a person who trains regularly? Is that even possible? Yup…but highly improbable.

And even if you do train, whenever you incorporate a new and different exercise, and you train that exercise HARD, you’ll be one hurtin’ unit the next day and REAL sore 48 hours later. Imagine someone who doesn’t train regularly, like Dinnie, who just decides to pick up some rocks and walk across the bridge with them. That would be a max effort squared. Could you imagine how sore he would’ve been? He would’ve been utterly worthless at work for a wk. You think nobody would’ve talked about or noticed THAT?!

But let’s look at a few other considerations. So for one thing, guys back then didn’t
“train” the way we do. They may have worked, and that work may have made them stronger than the average person, but stronger than today’s elite strength athlete? And what about nutrition? People back then had typically very one-sided nutrition, not to mention that the quality of nutrition was not what it is today. Heck, back then it was common for drinking water to make you sick. Heil beer!

And what about the physiology back then? We know that life-expectancy was laughable compared to today and that many, many people were sickly. Sure, there were some studly people, people that were out of the norm. But they were out of the norm back then. That norm, today, would probably be 3 standard deviations below the mean for today’s standards.

For me, though like Al I’d like to believe the stories, I just have a very, very hard time doing so. I’m sure nobody knew what a hook grip was, either. And that means lifting them with a regular grip. Yeah, I don’t think so. So then, you’d have to use a strap of sorts. What would they have used back then to hold that amount of weight, other than steel? Specially made leather straps with 10 layers and 10 inches thick, perhaps. But that would’ve survived along with the stones.

-d

Dan, as usual those are great points. I think this is one of the great things about old time strongmen! We can debate back and forth on whether or not it was a gimmick, if it really happened, etc. I know Travis Willingham and others have made some great points about how everything done back then was physical and this would make them more functionally stronger. I think that makes a lot of sense. From personal experience I can’t imagine someone carrying the stones any more than I can fathom a 1000lb squat.

Also, about how a story changes. David Webster mentions in his book after some locals thought he and another man carried them out of the river (they did it one at a time together using a bar), they claimed Dinnie walked them both in the river together! I probably messed that story up, but that is how it happens!

I choose to believe he got them across the bridge, most likely with a lift drop. The guy made was is equivalent to millions these days doing highland games, why would he risk that carrying those stones? Makes for a fantastic story though!

OK Al, I’ve had it with you.

This is the last straw!!!

I’m calling you to the Field of Honor on August 18.

Since I posted the challenge, the history of dueling rules dictate that you get to choose the type of beer.

-d

Regarding Dan’s comment that he doesn’t believe a person could be as strong as a person who trains regularly. I worked at Wernersville State Hospital back in the early 60’s. There was a patient there who weighed about 285 lbs. and never touched a barbell in his life. He was very lazy and had a big gut. We had a hard time getting him off his butt to do anything. But when he was in a good mood he was very playful. One day he lifted my buddy [a 200 pounder], who also worked there, over his head. Another time he lifted the back end of my buddy’s 1956 Chevy up so that the wheels were off the ground. Another time after I, with the help of another patient, took my motor scooter down some steps to get it out of the rain, he carried it back up for me easily by himself.

When I was about 15 I worked at a auto dealership. The lead mechanic was a guy of about 5’8″, lean, and muscular, weighing probably about 175-isch, though he did no formal training whatsoever. He prided himself in being the strongest guy in the shop. Since at that time I hadn’t discovered weight lifting yet, I was in awe when I watched him lift a VW Bug engine out of the vehicle without a cherry picker. He knew it was quite a feat, too, and would always brag about it. I think he just did that to impress me because he never talked about doing it before and I never saw him do it again. We sorta had the Master – Grasshopper relationship.

Years later I saw him again at the shop, after I had quit there and after I started pumping iron. We had a great reunion and he noticed that I sorta buffed up a bit. He claimed that he was still stronger than me, though. There was a smaller engine laying on a pallet, about the size of a VW bug engine. Instead of talking, I hoisted the engine to my shoulder and walked in a circle back to the pallet and put it down. I didn’t have much control and broke the pallet, not to mention how greasy and torn up I got from various parts of the engine digging into my arms, shoulder, neck, and face. But it proved a point…and he didn’t even try it.

I actually ran into him again just 3 yrs. ago, purely accidental. He basically looked the same, just older. We recounted stories of his strength and he still believed that he was stronger than me. I didn’t argue the point.

-d