Can you grip like a chimp?

[Guest DavidHW]

Calvin:

I think you're referring to an ape that lived about 100,000 years ago called Gigantopithecus. If it stood upright (there's debate on this), it would have been 8-10 feet tall, and would have weighed 500-700 pounds.

There are many, many serious researchers who believe that surviving specimens of Gigantopithecus are probably what people are reporting when they see giant apes in the Pacific Northwest and the rest of the world. A good article on this (with a stunning reconstruction of a Gigantopithecus standing next to a man) can be found here:

http://www.bfro.net/REF/THEORIES/MJM/whatrtha.htm

If such an ape does in fact exist, and does run in the 8 ft, 600 lb range, the strength would be unimaginable, easily able to rip a grizzly bear apart (which, oddly enough, there have been reports of bears killed in remote regions of the Northwest and Alaska by what witnesses described as blunt trauma to the head, including twisted necks -- in other words, something with a big, big, grip).

So forget gorilla grip. Train like a Sasquatch!

[Guest Harlan Jacobs]

Nine feet tall and 1000 lbs. Hmmmmm if I ever need blood, I know where I want it from !

[Guest CalvinP]

David

I grew up listening to folklores about the giant aps in the forest who would catch his victim by the forearms and look up in the sky howling like a laughter until noon. Before it'd kill you 'cause no one can escape its grip. This is way before I heard of big-foot in USA. I used to live near the forest in  my native land 36 years ago, and this folklore scared me for long time, phew! As far as I know they call it The savage man (of forest). When I read about the fossil remains, it told me the legend is probably true somewhat

[Jonathan McMillan]

I was watching the Discovery channel the other day and they mentioned some primate that was able to hold a hanging grip on a branch while sleeping!  The thing I don't remember is if it was with the tail or hand.

Jon@han

[Guest DavidHW]

I think this thread is demonstrating one of the reasons we're all so gung ho about grip sports: it's primal stuff. Hanging from trees, ripping apart bears, stalking through the forest unchallenged, snapping bamboo stalks in half -- you don't think about apes bench pressing in the forest or doing biceps curls, you think about what they do with those monster hands.

My next gym T-shirt: "Reclaim the ape within. Grip."  :-)

[MRBeyers]

David,

You mentioned in an earlier post about the superior bone density, and mechanics of primates.  Has ther been any research into the phenom that they develop this strength despite being vegetarians?  I mean, no traditional protien sources such as meat and fish, so what builds the muscle for them?

[KJM]

It's a genetics issues. For hundreds of thousands years tree dwelling primates have had to support their full bodyweight while climbing trees. Those that couldn't cut it dropped to the jungle floor and became dinner. Only the strong survived. We humans evolved to roam the patchy savannas and grasslands. Our legs became our primary movers. Hence the fact that we can outrun chimps but can't hang from branches all day long.Food has nothing to do with it.

[Guest DavidHW]

MRB:

Primates aren't strict vegetarians. Gorillas do primarily eat leaves and a few insects, but they eat A LOT of leaves and insects. Bonobos generally concentrate on fruit and such. But chimpanzees have mixed diets, consuming nuts, fruits, termites, and other mammals. Chimpanzees hunt and eat monkeys, and will also take down bush pig. They don't eat mammal flesh all the time, but they get enough. A large portion of their protein comes from nuts and insects, especially termites.

Lots of people bake with crushed mealworms, which provide a clean source of protein-rich food. I imagine you could just as easily make protein shakes from crushed bugs (esp. mealworms) as you could soy or whey. According to one web site,

"Insects contain the purest form of protein available in the animal kingdom, save for maybe egg whites. They have a better protein ratio than beef, lamb, fish, pork, or chicken. That squishy gray stuff that comes out when you step on them is almost pure protein. They also contain virtually no fat, which would make them a perfect food source for bodybuilders (if they can stomach them)."

Grasshopper/banana protein shakes, anyone?

[MRBeyers]

David,

I did not know that, thanks for the info.  However, I think I'll be sticking to eggs!!!!!!

[Jonathan McMillan]

Weren't the bodybuilding mags hawking a supplement with insect hormones a while ago???

Jon@han

[John Wood]

Does anyone have any idea how long this exhibit is shown for and how far a trip it is from Detroit?  I cant find any info on the website.  If its still around in a month, I might be able to check it out.

[Guest Euclid]

But we are the only species that no longer relies on physical ability for survival due to the evolution of the human brain.  If anything, over thousands of years humans will probably regress in strength because it will no longer be essential for survival.  We won't even have to walk anymore once those weird 2 wheeled scooters whatever the heck they're called hit the street.

[Jonathan McMillan]

1.  Traveling times from Detroit to Toronto depends on how the 401 is.  Usually there's some accidents or construction going on.  I remember seeing a british comedian and he was talking about how Canada has two seasons...winter and construction.

2.  Those two wheel things look like there right out of Buck Rogers or something.  I heard the US postal service was trialing them...anyone seen them in real life??

Jon@han

[bender]

Besides the idealized mechanics and neural connections of gorillas, their unfathomable strength while on a near vegetarian diet comes from their hormonal balance.  Their bodies are all hopped up on huge amounts of GGH, gorilla-growth-hormone.  It’s the same product that Russian strength coaches gave their athletes with the desire of them taking on the same super-gorilla-strength.  It didn’t work. ???

  The gorillas body is also dosed up on testosterone.  This combo keeps them in an ultra-anabolic state.  Even with an un-ideal diet, their chemistry is still set on gaining and maintaining muscle mass.  So forget the bamboo and banana diet, Just stick to huge cocktails of HGH and testosterone for the rest of your life, then even you can develop near-gorilla strength!  (There may be unwanted side effects.)  :crazy

[Guest Jeff0]

A few notes:  

High mitochondrial, bone and fiber density are adaptive responses to intense contraction in humans.  Do apes have those traits because they are born with them, or do they develop them because their nervous system lets them voluntarily contract their muscles at full strength?

The simple existence of the traits does not tell us.  Also I pulled out the school's chimpanzee skeleton and measured the structure of several hinge joints.  The maximum moment arms and ratios between distance-from-joint-axis-to-muscle- attachment and distance-from-axis-to-point-of-loading were not universally superior (some were weaker, some better, none remarkably so) to a human's.  That and the fact that humans can exert full expected primate strength under the influence of extreme stress, drugs or psychosis tells me that the difference is nervous, and is not so much lost as unconsciously suppressed.  I am certain it can be un-suppressed, perhaps most easily by genetic tinkering (I wonder if it's coincidental that my postgraduate specialization is genetic engineering?  :hehe )

For John:

The exhibit has moved to the Cincinnati Museum, about 300 miles from Cleveland:

Jane Goodall's Wild Chimpanzees

• Oct. 12-Feb. 14.

• Cincinnati Museum Center, 1301 Western Ave.

• Film: As many as 11 screenings daily, seven days a week.

• Admission: $4.75-$6.75

 Exhibit:

• 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday.

• Admission: $4.75-$6.75.

• Information: 287-7000, 800-733-2077

I'd go and pester them myself, but it's a heck of a drive from Washington State.  

[John Wood]

Cincinnati? Thats perfect.  Ill check it out when I go home for Thanksgiving.

[ChrisJames]

Jeff, you need a massive overdose of gamma radiation.It worked for Bruce !!

[Guest Jeff0]

I've tried that route, Chris, but the Army refuses to let me into their missile silos so I can hug the warheads.  

Say, there's another "primate grip" exhibit over there in the U.K, and it appears to have actual numbers!  

This--  http://www.the-inventing-shed.co.uk/is/exhibits/grips.html   -- is in the Chester Zoo near Liverpool, in the Monkey Islands section.

[John Wood]

Hello all, I just checked out this exhibit this afternoon.  It was excellent and the grip strength tester was there as promised.  I'm in the process of sending pics to wannagrip to post as I am not sure how to do this.  In any case, once those are up a, better idea of what Im taking about will be had. As per this machine I have the strength of an adult gibbon with my right hand and a little more than a rhesus macaque with my left.   The curator had never seen these levels reached before.  The highest he had seen was rhesus monkey level by a mountain climber.  I tried with both hands at once and nearly pinned the machine.  Here are two views of the machine.  You may have to enlarge some of them to read the writing.  The exhibit runs until February,  I'll go back in three months to see if my grip has increased to Sitaka level(whatever that is).

[Roark]

John,

You mentioned weeks ago that with football season in

place, your grip training would be on simmer. When will

you be able to resume grip training at full throttle? When

you are fresh and full strength, the curator will demand a

DNA sample!

Also, if you apply for the TV show BLIND DATE, perhaps it

would increase your chances of selection if you omit any

reference to sharing characteristics with an adult gibbon.

[Bill Piche]

See my other post with links to the pictures of John and the machine.

[amaury]

Hi John,

congrats (how did you manage to escape from the zoo ?? ) !

BTW which ape has the strongest grip ?

Thanks.