Real world applications of heavy lifting.

cleotherio

I have a recreational kayak and a Honda Pilot. I can carry the kayak a few hundred yards (carry, not drag) and then hoist it up onto the sliding rack on my car by myself. I've had people comment on more than one occasion this summer about how easy I made it look. (It was pretty easy).

bookworm_847

A little while after starting to lift, Hubby and I went to Walmart to buy some kitty litter. We have two cats who go through a lot of litter, so we bought the 40 pound box. Hubby went to pick it up and put it in the cart, but I said "That's okay... I've got it." And I picked that sucker up and put it in the cart like it was a gallon of milk or something.

:happy:

jwdieter

I haven't found the major lifts to be particularly relevant to my lifestyle. Never come close to full application of strength. If I'm moving a couch, I'm moving a couch - not throwing it. Things big enough to be heavy are usually too awkward to carry solo. Shrugs. Mostly just to look good. For the women it seems like it enables a lot of things men are used to doing, which is great.

sarahrbraun

What are some examples in your own life of how lifting heavy has been beneficial to you?
I know many athletes lift heavy to improve their abilities in sports but most adults are not professional athletes, so what applications of having that weight room strength are there in your day to day life? Or are you just strong in the weight room and not so strong in your real life?

I have chickens. I buy their feed in 50lb bags. Last fall I waited for hubby to unload the bags, and carry them to the feed bin. Since June, I have been doing it all by myself. At the feed store, I throw a bag over my left shoulder and carry it to the register myself. Unless they twist my arm and insist on helping, I carry it out to my car myself too.

I have an almost 18 year old son who is mentally ill. He is 2 inches taller than I am, and weighs around 125lbs. When he flips out, someone has to restrain him. I can DO that. I can throw 125lbs of psychotic rage to the floor, flip him on the floor, and pin him until he calms down.

when hubby asks for my help carrying something, he always tells me it is heavy...it usually isn't.

gracielynn1011

I can lift 50 lb bag of feed sacks like they are little bags of nothing. I helped unload hey bales with no problem, when before they were a struggle for me. We unloaded 2 truck loads of firewood in half the time it had normally taken us.

juliemouse83

I can now carry the 50 pound bags of bird food through the Tractor Supply store without a whole lot of fuss.

I have also been known to pick up and carry huge, thick rolls of blueprints from our office to my boss' office, much to the dismay of the maintenance guys. The first time I did it, they didn't think I could do it. You should have seen the LOOKS on their faces when I did. Bwahahahaha!

Yeah, I love being stronger.

mrslcoop

I work a desk job for a clothing company so I don’t lift ever at work, but our sample sale is coming up and I volunteered to help. When I had to lift a large box of denim jeans (weighed roughly 70 lbs) and carried it to the other side of the warehouse no sweat I realized how strong I’ve become.

Mutant13

Ohhh I have one!

I carried a boxing bag from my neighbours apartment up 6 flights of stairs yesterday. The look on his face when I did it without help was hilarious

LorinaLynn

Last year, my husband had a job injury and was on restrictions where he couldn't lift more than 20 pounds. We had an old tube tv that we didn't want anymore, and they didn't have a tv in the break room at his job. So I carried it downstairs, out to my car, drove it to work, and loaded it onto his forklift, where he drove it to the break room for someone NOT on restrictions to hook it up.

They gave him a rash of poop because they didn't believe his little wifey could pick up and carry a 90 pound television. :laugh:

I no longer have to take the drawers out of dressers if I want to rearrange the furniture.

I have no problems tossing the 50 pound bag of rock salt in the cart and in my car, and I no longer have to spend more money buying the smaller 10 or 20 pound bags.

I haven't had any back sprains since lifting. I used to throw my back out several times a year. I just had bad body mechanics.

When my brother needed to tip his hot tub onto its side to do some work on the underneath, I was one of the "guys" who helped instead of one of the women who supervised.

All the groceries, in one trip. :drinker:

One of the drawbacks... our city has 30 pound limits on the trash bags. I'm always worried that the poor little garbage men won't be able to lift my bags, since they don't feel heavy at all to me. :embarassed:

TR0berts

Lifting has improved my posture. I have "gained" about 1/2" on my height as a result of the strengthened muscles in my back/core.

I no longer get a backache if I ride my motorcycle to and from work every day of the week - over an hour each way.

It allowed me to more easily pick up my bass speakers and move them in/out of the house to/from the car in/out of clubs on/off stages where my band played.

FrnkLft

I don't know if anyone has mentioned this yet, but it helps in the bedroom too

Lifting 5 gallon waterbottles, picking up the dog food, carrying the chlorine around the house to the pool, etc...

Mutant13

I don't know if anyone has mentioned this yet, but it helps in the bedroom too

Lifting 5 gallon waterbottles, picking up the dog food, carrying the chlorine around the house to the pool, etc...

You're right. I can have a dude tied up and in my trunk in half the time now.

ShellyBell999

I can split my own firewood now :bigsmile:

Jewlz280

I'm not 'heavy lifting' yet as I'm just getting into it, but just over the last few weeks the little things add up. For a woman, I've always been considered strong but it is so nice not struggling so much with awkward things like flipping or moving the couch to clean under it, carrying in 40lbs. of cat litter or 50lbs. of dog food. Working out in the yard moving bales of needles, bushes, or landscape rock and bags of sand. Just... all of it. In every day life, being stronger just seems to make everything easier. Some people may not think so, but for me, it just seems like it is across the board.

DrMAvDPhD

Moving heavy lab equipment around on a regular basis.

juliewatkin

Last winter, we decided to break up the concrete on our rear driveway. It was inexpertly poured and looked like a pile of concrete vomit that was unusable for parking. I have a sledge hammer I've used for conditioning and broke up the concrete with the sledge and carried it and piled it for disposal. It should be noted that smashing concrete is significantly different than hammering a tire. I could feel the impact of metal and concrete ringing up my arms for days.

Wow. Hammering concrete into pieces when it's backed by dirt is no easy task. Sharing this story will earn you massive respect points from anyone experienced at this type of job.

Yeah. In retrospect, it wasn't super smart but I now have a usable driveway. I can swing a sledge for sure

No_Finish_Line

Lifting rucksaks (75 to 100 lbs) was strenuous and now only heavy. But i'm not strong in the weight room. I do bodyweight exercises like pullups and chinups. :drinker: Cheers to the heavy lifters!

i would say that there are other forms of resistance training that probably end up being more usefull or functional in real life then 'heavy lifting' (which btw, might mean failing at 1 or 3 to some and as much as 12 or 15 reps to others).

But basically any form of resistance training is going to make your muslces more resiliant in the real world. i think its the conditioning and resistance to minor injury thats the real benefit, more so then being able to lift any particular poundage.

No_Finish_Line

Last winter, we decided to break up the concrete on our rear driveway. It was inexpertly poured and looked like a pile of concrete vomit that was unusable for parking. I have a sledge hammer I've used for conditioning and broke up the concrete with the sledge and carried it and piled it for disposal. It should be noted that smashing concrete is significantly different than hammering a tire. I could feel the impact of metal and concrete ringing up my arms for days.

Wow. Hammering concrete into pieces when it's backed by dirt is no easy task. Sharing this story will earn you massive respect points from anyone experienced at this type of job.

Yeah. In retrospect, it wasn't super smart but I now have a usable driveway. I can swing a sledge for sure

assume that this was more due to using the sledge for conditioning then lifting heavy, but hard to say i guess.

or maybe you only used the sledge for conditioning once or twice, then its definetly the lifting lol

No_Finish_Line

Lifting rucksaks (75 to 100 lbs) was strenuous and now only heavy. But i'm not strong in the weight room. I do bodyweight exercises like pullups and chinups. :drinker: Cheers to the heavy lifters!

i would say that there are other forms of resistance training that probably end up being more usefull or functional in real life then 'heavy lifting' (which btw, might mean failing at 1 or 3 to some and as much as 12 or 15 reps to others).

But basically any form of resistance training is going to make your muslces more resiliant in the real world. i think its the conditioning and resistance to minor injury thats the real benefit, more so then being able to lift any particular poundage.

pull ups in particular have done wonders for my lower back pain, never expected that but it did

MB_Positif

Well, a couple of weeks ago I was at Lowe's and my husband put 960 pounds of concrete mix on one of those flat carts and I said, "Haha, let's see if I can push it!" And I was able to. 133 pound me, pushing 960 pounds of concrete.