I'm an industrial electrician. I'm also skinny; people often undrestimate me. Once I had two non-electrician coworkers helping me pull some large wire and make up splices in a trough. One beefy guy was struggling with the wire, so I grabbed it, twisted it around into place. The other guy says, surprised, "You're stronger than you look." I just said, "Sure".

Because of the way the strands are laid, wire has a direction and way it "wants" to go. I'd been an electrician twenty years by that point and knew how to work it. Not strength. Not that I said any of that.

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doubled112 13 hours ago | parent [-]

I think some call that “old man strength”.

Might not be as strong or fast as he used to be, but knows how to do it smartly.

Sometimes the problem truly requires strength and brute force, but not usually.

Even something like taking up concrete. It seems straight forward but you can waste a lot of energy hitting the wrong places.

	▲	Ntrails 5 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		> Might not be as strong or fast [..] knows how to do it smartly. Friend of mine worked in Prisons for a while, and has a way of telling the difference between people with a lot of muscle and people who know how leverage their musculature to high effect.
	▲	imp0cat 10 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Also using all your motor units to their full capacity (the "invisible" strength) helps. Which usually requires at least some training.