One girlfriend I was with when I was a teen was a semi-traditional girl … her mother was traditional and her father was a ‘city indian’. She was shorter than me, small and tough. I’m a big guy and I made the dumb assumption that I was just naturally stronger than her … and I probably was in some ways but not all ways. She would challenge me to a finger grip match … the thing you do where you interlock your fingers on both hands and try to twist the other person’s hands. As much as I wanted to and I was pretty strong and could definitely lift more than she could, her grip strength was like vices … I never beat her. She laughed at me lots of times while I begged on my knees to be let go.
I also knew a few old time trappers and hunters years ago when I was younger who looked like little short men who couldn’t lift much. I routinely saw them hoist a 60/70 hp outboard motor that weigh about 200 lbs on their shoulders and carry it down to the water to install on their boat. On one trip into the woods years ago, we were with one of these short guys and we had loaded a full 45 gallon drum of fuel onto a sled in the winter time. Loading it was easy but at camp, the drum had to be moved from the sled to a storehouse. The guy leveraged the barrel off the sled, hoisted it on their back and carried it 10 feet onto solid ground so that we could move it. I couldn’t believe it and neither could my dad who had seen lots of men carry stuff before. A full drum of fuel like that weighs about 600 lbs!
Apparently, it wasn’t unusual for them a generation ago. Boats, aircraft, trailers were all loaded and unloaded by hand and men routinely were tasked with carrying heavy loads of 100 - 200 - 300 lbs on their backs. All this done not just on solid concrete or even gravel … but in sand, mud, mushkeg and swamp!
One girlfriend I was with when I was a teen was a semi-traditional girl … her mother was traditional and her father was a ‘city indian’. She was shorter than me, small and tough. I’m a big guy and I made the dumb assumption that I was just naturally stronger than her … and I probably was in some ways but not all ways. She would challenge me to a finger grip match … the thing you do where you interlock your fingers on both hands and try to twist the other person’s hands. As much as I wanted to and I was pretty strong and could definitely lift more than she could, her grip strength was like vices … I never beat her. She laughed at me lots of times while I begged on my knees to be let go.
I also knew a few old time trappers and hunters years ago when I was younger who looked like little short men who couldn’t lift much. I routinely saw them hoist a 60/70 hp outboard motor that weigh about 200 lbs on their shoulders and carry it down to the water to install on their boat. On one trip into the woods years ago, we were with one of these short guys and we had loaded a full 45 gallon drum of fuel onto a sled in the winter time. Loading it was easy but at camp, the drum had to be moved from the sled to a storehouse. The guy leveraged the barrel off the sled, hoisted it on their back and carried it 10 feet onto solid ground so that we could move it. I couldn’t believe it and neither could my dad who had seen lots of men carry stuff before. A full drum of fuel like that weighs about 600 lbs!
Apparently, it wasn’t unusual for them a generation ago. Boats, aircraft, trailers were all loaded and unloaded by hand and men routinely were tasked with carrying heavy loads of 100 - 200 - 300 lbs on their backs. All this done not just on solid concrete or even gravel … but in sand, mud, mushkeg and swamp!