Frank_IT
Level 4 Valued Member
In the summer, I went living for at least three months in my nearby country house. My "uncle" (which I'm not related to, but I call it so out of affection) was a hobby farmer and had job that involved daily, somwhat heavy manual work. My grandmother was a teacher in the first post WWII period in Italy, which, at the time and for matters that I'll explain in another post if anyone is interested, was a very physically taxing job. Her husband was a constructions worker and had is own Company (local and small). All these three people could (or can, as my uncle is still alive) easily perform feats of strength most bulky guys in a gym couldn't even start to understand. Just so you understand: one of my grandfather employes could lift a wheelborrow loaded with 100 kg of material to chest level, keep it ther and walk up seven meters of steep stairs, come down and repeat for hours. Each and every day. He was physically "destroyed" in his last years, though.
Smashing an apple while holding it with just two or three fingers is now considered a respectable feat of strength by most people: at the time, around where I live, almost every farmer or construction worker could perform it.
That said, is safe to say that they would be laughed at at a power or olympic lifting meet and their cardiovascular conditioning was questionable.
I think it's a matter of adaptation to what you are doing: you'll never be "farm boy strong" in a way, while he'll never be "strong man strong" in another if both of you won't adventure in the other's territory.
The best example I can give you is this one: some years a go, in Italy, we had a reality television show called "La Fattoria" (The Farm). Male partecipants were all farmers. At one point, production let in a "star" which was a very fit, handsome guy which was very visibily training for bodybuilding or aesthetics anyway. He couldn't perform ONE job the farmer were consistently doing. One evening, during the show, there was a push up contest between one of the farmer and the fit guy. The fit guy SMASHED the farmer. I think it sums up very well what I meant above!
Smashing an apple while holding it with just two or three fingers is now considered a respectable feat of strength by most people: at the time, around where I live, almost every farmer or construction worker could perform it.
That said, is safe to say that they would be laughed at at a power or olympic lifting meet and their cardiovascular conditioning was questionable.
I think it's a matter of adaptation to what you are doing: you'll never be "farm boy strong" in a way, while he'll never be "strong man strong" in another if both of you won't adventure in the other's territory.
The best example I can give you is this one: some years a go, in Italy, we had a reality television show called "La Fattoria" (The Farm). Male partecipants were all farmers. At one point, production let in a "star" which was a very fit, handsome guy which was very visibily training for bodybuilding or aesthetics anyway. He couldn't perform ONE job the farmer were consistently doing. One evening, during the show, there was a push up contest between one of the farmer and the fit guy. The fit guy SMASHED the farmer. I think it sums up very well what I meant above!