http://www.cbn.com/communitypublic/shake.aspx

Well, sort of. I found this link on the James Randi newsletter, and figured I'd watch the video. It is most hilarious. First, the woman sits on the machine and demonstrates how difficult it is to leg press 90 pounds. Of course, if she weighs at least 90 pounds, then she does this every time she stands up. In fact, she does it vertically, rather than on the inclined plane, every time she stands, a much more difficult feat.

Then Pat gets in there and starts pumping out the reps. I especially like how the weights move maybe two feet total over the course of ten repetitions. And how his arms do a bit of the work.

Then there's the picture of him leg pressing 2000 pounds. Apparently his doctor has leg pressed 2700, too. I'm going to go to the local gym, put 1000 on the bench press bar, and take a picture of me lying under it (all 150 pounds of me). Then I'll sell "energy bars" with "natural ingredients" that reinforce your "chakhra." They'll mostly be made of old newspapers and apple cores, I think.

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"It's turtles all the way down."

Well, it's impressive, but not a miracle to be attributed to his faith or super duper milkshakes. Why do I say that:

1 - He's pressing with the biggest strongest muscles in his body. I don't know what the average is, but I can leg press easily 4 to 5 times what I can bench press.

2 - It's a machine. He's basically moving the weight on a guided track in just one dimension. Piece of toast compareed to a free weight lift which requires control in 3 dimensions.

3 - He's helping with his hands. Every little bit makes a difference.

4 - He's only doing about half the range.

When I worked for the railroad (repair track crew) we sometimes moved cars by hand. They have such well made precision bearings that, on level track one person (yes, it has to be somebody young and full of **** and vinegar) can easily get a car rolling. With 2 of us pulling 2 cars together, we could get enough momentum going to actually get the couplers to engage.

But yeah, it's still a nice feat for an old codger.

EDIT: Apologies, didn't think **** was a no-no.

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Don of Borg - Cool, Calm, Collective.

"Within the next generation I believe that the world's leaders will discover that infant conditioning and narco-hypnosis are more efficient, as instruments of government, than clubs and prisons, and that the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

It's also 2,000 lbs on an approximate 45 degree incline, which renders it just 71% of 2,000 lbs, or 1,414 lbs.

As a 118-lb teenager in 10th grade, I routinely leg-pressed the 750-lb stack at my high school's gym. I can currently do 1,200 lbs with more than 8 reps. I tried 1,600 lbs for kicks about eight months ago, and was able to do a full 90-degree to 0-degree extension, so I've little "wow" left over for Pat's 1,414 lbs "miracle feat."

It's just training.

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I am Mugs, of the Alien clan of Usa, Nordamerica, a Terran, of Sol. A human.

Whoever says "perception is reality" is daft. It's merely an abstraction, and often not a very good one.

Isn't the tongue the body's strongest muscle? Oh, Hi, Pat...

"the force is strong with Pat"[/Yoda voice]

<removed expletives>

No Tofu, that is not allowed!

That's right...we must consider the lifting power of hot air.

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A person's name, or a mark representing it, as signed personally or by deputy, as in subscribing a letter or other document.

For it's size yes.

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Perhaps in that particular body, but Wikipedia: Muscle:

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0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 ...

Well that's surprising to say the least, thanks for that 011

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Actually, not so surprising (though I didn't know before now). Considering its agility, and the relative simplicity of muscle function, it makes sense. Even if it were not the strongest single muscle, it would be the most functional.

If you think about the range of motion for the tongue, and that every other muscle in the body tends only to flex and release....

Cripes, talk about 20/20 hindsight, should have been obvious.

Any bets on what really is the strongest muscle based on performance to mass? I'm personally betting cardiac muscle.

According to wikipedia, that would be the uterus

You know, I can believe that. Of course, it being wikipedia, I also won't be hugely surprised if it isn't true. But the uterus or the heart, anyway.

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Gillian

"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"

"You can't erase icing."

"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"

arnt all muscles equally powerful, for their size?

No way, it depends on how much the muscle is used as to how tightly packed the fibers are, why do you think some muscle is soft and some is hard?

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I can verify that the uterus is the most painful muscle when used!

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Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Albert Einstein

I'm very nobly restraining myself from childbirth stories, myself.

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Gillian

"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"

"You can't erase icing."

"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"

I have also heard that the uterus is the strongest human muscle--it's obviously not the strongest muscle in the male body.

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Keeper of the Jabberwock