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Subscribe to RSSWhen Lauren Kornacki discovered her father crushed beneath his BMW 525i, which had slipped off the carjack as he was working on it, the 22-year-old wedged herself under the mid-sized vehicle -- and pulled it off her father.
We hear tales from time to time of people exhibiting superhuman strength in life-and-death emergencies. After experiencing amazement over such a feat, we all wonder: How can a regular person lift something that weighs more than a ton?
Actually, most people "can lift six to seven times their body weight," says Michael Regnier, professor and vice chair of bioengineering at the University of Washington. But most people don’t push themselves so hard, though athletes often push themselves more than most. Fear, fatigue and pain prevent people from attempting feats of amazing strength in daily life, says Dr. Javier Provencio, director of the neurological ICU at Cleveland Clinic.
Regnier, a former world-class weightlifter, has experienced bouts of incredible strength both as an athlete and as someone who helped after an accident. About 20 years ago, Regnier was driving on a Los Angeles freeway when he spotted a wrecked car on the side of the road. The driver sat slumped over his steering wheel so Regnier pulled over to help. It was instinct; he couldn’t fathom leaving the man without doing something. The driver’s door had caved in and Regnier couldn’t get him out any other way—he ripped the door off to pull the man out.
Regnier remembers his hands hurting from cuts he sustained while tearing off the car door, but he doesn’t know what happened with the driver because he left when the EMTs arrived.
Ripping doors off cars or lifting vehicles from people could be considered hysterical strength. Little medical evidence exists about such cases; most of it remains anecdotal.
Physicians once believed that the adrenaline that flooded the system caused an extra boost to the muscles, allowing people to be stronger. But that’s not quite accurate. Adrenaline certainly primes the body for emergency action, it speeds up the heart and lungs, dilates the blood vessels and releases nutrients, both of which ready the muscles for quick responses.
And while the adrenaline fueled fight-or-flight reflex spurs people into action, the body’s entire stress response contributes to superhuman strength. Cascades of enzymes and proteins release, helping people sustain the activity.
“Endorphins are very important,” says Provencio. Our bodies release endorphins when we exercise, providing that “runner’s high.”
These neuropeptides make people feel good and suppress pain as well as providing people with an extra boost to finish their superhuman task.
“[Endorphins] sort of make the brain available to handle these stressful situations. You focus on the task you are doing,” says Regnier. “The endorphins will have a longer lasting affect.”
While the body’s stress response enables humans to turn into less angry Incredible Hulks, our emotions truly motivate people to attempt such actions. In most cases, the rescuers believe the victim will die without help. Take 21-year-old Danous Estenor, a University of South Florida football player, who lifted a car off a 34-year-old tow truck driver pinned under a tire in 2011. He believed Pedro Arzola would have perished without his intervention.
“The people who do these things are really under a lot of stress,” says Provencio. “It really touches them personally.”
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It's really amazing what the human body can do. Not only can we lift incredible amounts, we can squash our bodies into tiny plexiglass boxes for an hour or more, hold our breath for almost 20 mins, walk on fire, lie on nails, run 26 miles without stopping, etc.
Why don't we study how to use our bodies to their full potential instead of spending time learning Latin and wasting time in study hall?
I dunno about you AG, but my body can't do any of those things. I get winded walking up stairs. ;-)
Kudos to this young girl for saving her father though. That's a pretty amazing feat.
Because learning Latin pushes ones brain to do incredible feats! I know I took Latin for 2 years! :)
When my father was a younger man he lifted a vw that had fallen onto him with a broken arm. That may have been "stress related strength". But when my brother and I used to rotate his chevette sideways in its parking spot at work so he couldn't leave without the cars beside him being moved, that was humor enduced strength. We did it 4 times and to this day (unless hes reading this) its one of the few things we did as kids that he never knew we did. He would complain about it at the dinner table and we would laugh about it later on in our room.
Have to agree with grrrrl4ever, latin challenges the brain, and allows superhuman feats like becoming fluent in other languages... Latin is the basis for 6 current languages, plus strong influence behind Germanic, and countless English words. 13yo son has had several years of latin in school, he breezes through English & composition, several years ahead of average in testing.
What it really comes down to is the chemicals released in these situations suppress our feeling of pain which allows a person to push their body well beyond normal limits. This is because in normal situations the pain of this extreme exertion would cause someone to stop. It is not at all uncommon for people who have performed these extreme feats to end up with fairly significant soft tissue injuries such as torn muscles as a result. Once the chemical rush dies down the pain sets in. It is not unlike people in combat situation who keep fighting despite severe injuries. It is the fight or die reaction that allow the mind to completely ignore the pain and keep going.
LOL...i guess those teen years spent...riding in cars with boy's paid off for her...now we know...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7XnNFD6hUE
Well, you obviously didn't go to college. And if you did, you dropped out after one year. And if you didn't, it was a community college.
so proud of this young woman!
Being a lifeguard is actually quite an athletic pursuit ...and she'd been a high school athlete. I think we can credit Title Nine for her even thinking in the moment that it' would be possible she could lift the car.
Before title nine most girls after puberty did not know their own strength and physical abilities. Society sent them a message that they were physically weak and delicate.
I work in healthcare and I see a big difference in attitudes toward ones body and what it can accomplish, as well as self care, in former female youth athletes vs women who were not athletic as kids.
I can't help thinking that this made such a big difference to her. Also of course (yet, tied in to her becoming a lifeguard in the first place) was that she was a lifeguard so was trained to remain calm and to think that as being the only one there she MUST respond.
I'm so glad for both of them.
The lieing on nails thing i have seen it done and explained the bodies mass is spread out over many points and if you dont move the wrong way they wont break the skil but step on a single nail and since al the weight is on that one point it penetrates
I bet he uses a jack stand next time. Glad your okay.
This story is ironic for me. Years ago a young woman who worked for me did much the same thing. She was about 28 years old, maybe 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighed approx.128 lbs. On an Autumn Saturday am, She was raking leaves in Her yard, while an elderly neighbor next door was working underneath His jacked up 1966 Delta 88 Oldsmobile. The two were close enough, and talked as they went about their work. Suddenly, She heard a racket and the neighbor screamed, then went silent. She rushed over and found the jack had slipped allowing the vehicle to fall upon the man, pinning Him across a shoulder and a portion of His back. As She explained It, She instantly went into some sort of trance, thinking only of removing the car off Her friend. Witnesses said, She reached under the front bumper, lifted with a tremendous heave, and slung the front of the Oldsmobile over and away from the pinned neighbor. The Neighbor suffered a broken shoulder, cracked ribs, and a punctured lung. He did recover though. While I didn't witness Her feat, many did, and the local paper did a story about Her. An amazing truth.
Editors: does it take superhuman strength to catch writing errors? This sentence, "The endorphins will have a longer lasting affect," should end with "effect," not "affect."
Yesterday I saw this same error in large letters below an NBC TV broadcast about the Olympics. Writing errors detract from the message and reduce your credibility. Your, you're, their, they're, there, its, it's, and apostrophes are commonly used incorrectly. You only need 15 minutes to go online, review their correct usage, and free yourself of these irritating errors for life. Then go and write an article about superhuman strength that won't distract the readers.
Agree Traci M.
MSNBC.com did it for years. Looks like the "new" NBCNews.com will be continuing that long tradition of poor and incorrect grammar and spelling. Seems as though they never manage to mess up their advertsing or their obnoxious pop-up touting their "new" website...
It really takes away from the story and makes the writers/editors/publishers look amateurish. Of course, if a real person were editing these stories, these sorts of errors would be far less common. No doubt they are using computer editors that primarily look for absolute errors of spelling and only the most rudimentary of grammatical errors. I'm sure it saves them a fortune since they don't have to hire a person, who expects a paycheck and benefits to make sure these errors are corrected.
The last line is strange.
"The people who do these things really are under a lot of stress." <<< Well no kidding!
But that's not the point! The people they are saving are on their mind!
Stress? Ha ha... to put it lightly --- and it's not even what this article is about.
Like oh, the poor rescuers? <<<< The people who do these things don't know whey they
could suddenly do miraculous feats of strength. They don't walk around talking about -
oh I felt so stressed during it. Any stress they felt vanished and adrenaline kicked in
and all they knew was they needed to do something!
What a weird way to end it.
The writer talks about stress because it is the body's stress reaction that results in the excess adrenaline and endorphins.
there is the long term stress of daily life or whatever, then there is hardcore immediate stress that comes closer to fitting the definition of trauma
I believe this question was answered in the Incredible Hulk TV show from the 70's....
Yup, an unequal balance of A and T in the DNA and abnormal peaks in background Gamma radiation.
You're confusing your pop culture references. The balance in T & A was Charlie's Angels.
Back in 1983, I was involved in an accident where a drunk driver hit my car as I was standing next to it by the driver-side rear tire. When the dust settled, my car tire was on my foot. Needless to say I was in searing pain and needed to get this car off my foot. When you are in so much pain, the body has an uncanny ability to be able to lift very heavy things and at that point I litterly lifted the car off my foot. However, I did receive extensive soft-tissue injuries that put me out of work for almost a year, 29 years later the only lingering pain from the accident is, I (my foot) is able to tell when the weather is about to change.
Congrats to her and best of luck and a speedy recovery to her father.
I had heard that afterwards people who did superhuman feats suffered after effects like strained muscles and sometimes broken bones, especially in the hands if used to lift a car, etc. No mention of these effects here other than one man's hands bleeding
I was also wondering about muscles and tendons being torn, especially if you are not an Olympic weightlifter.
that man that recently caught a six yr old who fell from a window (six is not all that light) wasnt' particularly an amazing specimen...he just was terrified she might fall.. felt no pain in the moment he said
he'd ripped his biceps tendon off the bone.
In my experience this need not result in injury. When I did it my fingers were a touch sore for a few minutes afterwards and no more. It should be noted that at the time I was 145 pounds, but leg pressed the third most of anyone on the highschool football team. Here's what I know of this feat:
My grandfather once encountered a very nice car that was double parked - obviously the owner had a phobia of dents and felt entitled to two spots to avoid them. My grandfather picked up the car and scooted it over until it was turned sideways. He then stood there and laughed silently to himself while the obnoxious driver inched his precious vehicle forward and back to get out.
30 years later, when I was 15 we were going to a local arcade and there was no parking...but there was a shiny double parked car. Originally we were going to just move it over, but a spot opened up while we were moving it. So, my friend and I turned it sideways. I was capable of lifting the vehicle by myself, but not moving it more than a few inches. With the help of my friend we were able to walk with the bumper in hand. The owner of the vehicle came out and saw that his car had been turned 90 degrees. He then came over to our car and shouted at us. For our part, we laughed so hard we were crying. He eventually went back to his car and began pulling forward and back, inch by inch until he was about ready to drive away. At that point the owner of the SUV parked to his left came out, got in and drove off.
I once lifted a beer and a tv remote at the same time
I got that beat. I can lift a beer AND a remote in the same hand while scratching my colliones with the other!
Bragger !
Pssh, I can do that and use my mouth to lift a bunch of chips as well.
The only thing my daughter lifts is my spirits. I'm good with that :)
lets do a study where we put people in deaths danger and see if others can save them, for scientific purposes.
True story here...happened in the late 50's when I was a teenager: My father was working under his jacked up Studabaker (not sure if I spelled that right). My mom was working in her flowers near-by. The jack slipped and the car fell on my father's chest, pinning him to the ground, concrete to be exact.
My mother was in her early 50's and a small woman, not what one would call physically fit in today's world. She, by herself, lifted the car off of my father's chest. He managed to pull himself back far enough to get out from under the car. My grandmother, in her 80's, ran 5-6 blocks to the doctor's office to get help (there was no 911 back then).
My father suffered a crushed collar bone and several fractured ribs. Mother suffered no ill effects from her lifting feat. Grandma? well, let's just say she was non the worse off for her sprint. I was in school when this happened. I head the fire siren go off to call the volunteer firemen, not knowing it was for dad. The doctor and neighbors came to help dad and mom. I remember being summoned from school, being told my father has been in a serious accident. When I got home the doctor had imobilized dad's left arm and bandaged his ribs so our neighbor could take him to the nearest hospital 35 miles away (this was a small town in Nebraska, no EMS or ambulance). The volunteer firemen were there also. Everyone was just shaking their heads at what happened....my dad should have been dead by all right. There laid my father, in pain but joking with everyone as only dad would do, and the car's driver's side axel was on the ground.
Call it what you will....I say that it was the hand of God that helped my mother lift that car off my father. He was not finished raising his only child, me. I Thank God every day that He allowed me to keep my father and mother way into their golden years. I give thanks that Lauren will have her father by her side too, for I know that she had the same helping hand that my mother did.
Luke 17:6
And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.
Not that anyone will understand what this means whatsoever or believe this but I posted it anyway.
Some of us understand it very well. See my story posted a few minutes ago. Oh yes, some of us understand very well.
glad someone does. :)
Never forget... "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!"
The moral of the story is... use Jack stands!!! Even though I'm a complete automotive newbie, I know that. Don't go under the car with just a jack!
Excellent point. It seems there are several anctedotes from the readers where a Jack Stand would have alleviated the need for feats of super human strength,.
Or if a jack stand is not handy or available, you can always use a Festivus pole.
I seen my 4 ft. 11 inch mother lift a large 15 year old girl up off the floor with one hand when the girl got ugly with her, funny to me but not to the girl, she never ever got cross with my mother again ha ! There was 5 of us boys and 2 girls and we all knew you do not trip mothers trigger it will not be good ha ! Mother is and was a sweet heart but you do not get cross with her, it will not work out for you if you try ha !
Michael Regnier says most people can lift 6 to 7 times their body weight. Maybe he should give the Olympic lifters a clue. CBS reported on the N. Korean lifter who lifted 3 times his body weight and said only a handful of lifters have done that. What is holding everyone back ?
They are not lifting the weight to save someone they love.
So does the DEA know about this "runners high"? I can see the new laws against running because people get high - yes they are that crazy.
The human body can do amazing things when the demand is place on it.
The human brain has the capacity to do the same.
It has been said that we only use 10% of our brain power presently and in the future, we may learn to be able to use up to 40 or 50% of our available brain power. That may also be true of the physically ability of our body.
Imagine what the human race could accomplish if it were able to develope 4 or 5 times the capacity to create through its intelligence and the same capacity through its physically ability?
I don't think this ability will apply to politicians though.
Or citizens who chase the utopian democratic party agenda.
In East LA people usually lift cars with nothing more than a gun........
When I was 18 months old, the emergency brake failed on my dad's heavily log loaded Ford pickup. It rolled back onto my stomach. Mom screamed, aunt screamed, and Dad came running. With one hand, he lifted the rear of the truck, and with the other, grabbed me and pulled me out from under the truck. 15 miles from the nearest doctor, no phones, (not even electricity, except for batteries from Dad's truck for the radio,) on that dirt farm in Arkansas.
Dad had tried to lift the truck later, but he couldn't budge it. The doc drove over with his Model T later to check on both of us, and couldn't believe it. If it hadn't been for half the family witnessing it, he wouldn't have. His explanation, "It had to be an extreme adrenaline rush." Remember, this was a country doctor in 1947. (I didn't know anything about this until my aunt, Dad's older sister, told my wife and I about it years later.
And as far as Payless31 comment: I've worked two jobs most of my life, even after I "officially" retired, and my wife worked as well. Who's to say this guy hasn't worked hard all his life to get what he wants, certainly not you or the government. Jealousy gets us nowhere. Respect others achievements in life, as long as they are actually achievements, and not just lolling around sopping up the suds at everyone else's expense, like the majority of politicians today.
some people like nice cars, it brings them pleasure
others like to travel
or own a vacation home
or collect art
If someone pays his taxes and treats people decently, and earns his money fairly I only can smile at the pleasure such fun uses of money brings these people
this man was fixing his own car. He could have saved for years for it. Shame to judge him.
Now, some well off people inherit their wealth and connections then blame those that don't have those things from getting ahead or being able to make it even if they work three jobs. I have trouble with those people who want to raise taxes on hardworking poor people and cut taxes on the rich who often pay little tax at all because they have access to experts who find loopholes (offshore accounts etc) for them.
oops...sorry for the politics.
when some person in middle age like this man is working on a car like this, I assume it's a source of pleasure and pride not just a car. Such matierial things matter to people and it's a matter of taste and his money.
I lifted a F3500 pickup/axle off my cousin after the axle fell down he unbolted and the body of the truck came down also, I couldn't believe it, This does happen. I felt like I lifted up a flowerpot. It was so easy! I certainly couldn't repeat it!
What about when you think of someone out of the blue you haven't talked to in awhile, and then they call you a couple days later? Or you run into them at the grocery store or something? Never had the feat of super human strength, so I don't know what that is like.
when I was 8 my best friend went to another friends house on his bike. On his way home he was hit by a car and broke his leg. I did not know it at the time, i was on this hill on the playground and I saw his mother run by. She first ran about 6 blocks. Her son was pinned under a parked car where he was thrown by the force of the car that hit him. When his mom got there she lifted the back of the car so he could be pulled out.
It's a buncha BS.
Cars are suspended on springs. It doesn't take superhuman strength to lift the car body a couple of inches to get something out from underneath it. And if a tire's sitting on your foot, YOU can't get leverage to roll the car off of it, but someone else can easily. Any grown adult can push a car.
It's just fake "supernatural" baloney.
And ladies and gentlemen, this is why I never use a jack to support my car with me under it. Jack to lift, stands underneath solid frame to hold.
Superhuman strength is possible by pushing past the point where your muscles naturally lose strength due to the feedback system of the golgi tendon (not to be confused with the golgi apparatus). The golgi tendon is responsible for the autogenic inhibition reflex, which keeps muscles and tendons from getting torn and ripped from too much force.
You can push past the inhibition reflex and perform acts of "superhuman strength", but muscles and tendons will often get damaged in the process.
Use this knowledge with caution.
They don't. They just find their own human strength...
He must be one proud and grateful Dad. God bless the two of them.
If I was married to her, I would NEVER make her mad. Haha.
She would be handy to have around for flat tire though.