"...lifting with one finger a good-sized man by the belt..."

..."feats that anyone can perform after persistent exercise."

Sourced from: “A Triumph for Physical Culture” by Ron Tyrrell.

I persistently exercise...let's see if I can do this! I grabbed a 45lb bar, stuffed four 10lb plates on it. Squatting over the bar, I extended my most precious shooting finger out and confidently wrapped the bar. Breathing deeply in, then out forcefully, I gave the bar a solid pull...nearly ripping my shooting finger off in the process and crapping my pants. Ok...so I'm not a strongman. Let's try two fingers perhaps. Sticking out a pair of eye pokers I gripped the bar. With a solid yank, the bar came off the ground unbalanced, one end clanging back to the mat. I was instantly surprised and amused at the possibility. Much like jiu jitsu, the ability to execute a technique is more often than not an issue with balance, not strength. Shifting my fingers to a better spot...VOILA! Three inches off the mat, I was able to hover the bar. Notice my shitty ass lifting form. I used my left hand on my knee to keep my lower back from super nova exploding. This was mostly deltoid, rhomboid, subscapularis, supraspinatus, infraspinatus and probably a pile of other little muscles.

"And he could perform a one-arm pull-up by pinch gripping the bottom link of a hanging chain, and even holding the link with only his index finger. He could do as many as ten of these one-fingered pull-ups at a time, and could still perform this feat when he was 68 years old." Source: "http://www.artofmanliness.com/2014/05/15/odd-exercises-for-physical-vigor-an-oldtime-strongmans-15-minute-morning-routine/"

I don't think I could pull off that party trick. But as a BIG fan of pull ups, I figured well fuck yeah I can get my fat ass up there with a two handed pull up...with one finger per hand. NOPE. I hooked my claws onto the bar and tried..miserably. The second I got a third of my weight onto my pair of videogame trigger fingers, they failed. So...back up a bit and I tried two fingers per hand...I was able to pump out two solid reps, and a craptastical third.

Not a bad fitness feat for a 40 year old huh?

Now go train!