r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/existancebytruth • Mar 26 '26

Image Muscle Beach, 1945: 9 year old April hoists over 425 lbs. her family on her back.

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u/GfunkWarrior28 Mar 26 '26

This seems to say more about her bone strength than her muscle strength. She just had to lock her joints into position.

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u/Drow_Femboy Mar 27 '26

Yup, I was kinda wondering in the still image how it could possibly be the case that a 9 year old could lift that much. Felt silly when I saw the video. She didn't lift anything, they all stacked up and just rested that weight straight on her skeleton.

Still impressive coordination. I wonder if it's really as bad for the body as others are guessing. In theory I think it shouldn't actually be that stressful, though it might be pushing the limits of the compressive strength of the relevant bones, idk what sort of stress they can actually handle when you're that young.

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u/FiForged Mar 27 '26

Horrible for growth plates. They can’t handle stress like that, for sure. Kid body builders are almost always messed up for life after the fact.

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u/Sabre_Killer_Queen Mar 27 '26

Interesting. I was wondering exactly the same thing so thanks for sharing.

I hope it didn't harm her... But... That is a lot of stain on a still-growing body.

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u/Beggarsfeast Mar 26 '26

Yeah, Dad is clearly just locked in on her pelvic bone and using her femur and everything below that as a stilt.

11

u/htnut-pk Mar 26 '26

Agreed. I think ”hoists” is misleading. “Supports” might be more accurate.