Me (Diana Rhodes)
Diana Rhodes
Don says:
>I have been involved with strength and fitness for many years, and find
>your posting most fascinating. However, I find it difficult to
>comprehend the magnitude of the physical strength possessed by you and
>your grandmother. Even the strongest women I have known, or men, cannot
>match such feats! I have no experience in bending steel bars, pennies,
>or breaking nails. But I have worked out in gyms for years and
>understand what it is to bench or curl a quantifiable weight, or read
>the gauge on a grip strength meter. Is there any way you can provide
>some quantifiable measure of your phenomenal strength?
Don, thanks for writing back. It's good to get the benefit of advice
from someone with a lot of experience. I hope you don't mind if I take
advantage of your kind offer. I could do with some good advice from
someone who knows what they're talking about.
I don't go to gyms, and I don't have any weights. My Gran didn't use to
do that sort of thing either; especially in the 1950s, it wasn't
considered ladylike. Pennies aren't as impressive as it sounds, I'm not
talking about the titchy new pennies, that you can't possibly get a grip
on, but the old ones, you can still get them in junk shops down the
Fulham Road. They're about three centimeters across, a couple of
millimeters thick, and you can get hold of them at each end in your
finger and thumb. Gran used to be able to do them in one hand, but I
can't do that. I keep trying to get her to show me how, but she says
"later".
Six inch nails, well, Gran taught me how to do that. There's a trick to
it. First, you wrap them in paper, which is flexible, so it doesn't make
them harder to bend, but it protects your skin from the sharp ends; you
use several turns of paper, and make it really thick. Second, when you
straighten them, don't even try to use your thumb and fingers, because
it's much harder than bending them. You take one end of the nail in each
hand, and push the bent middle down on your thigh (you have to tense
your leg to get the thigh muscle hard enough). There's this specially
hard bit running down the top of your thigh, you use that. That
straightens it, not completely, but enough so that you can bend it again
between your two hands. And you keep doing that, bend and straighten,
bend and straighten, as fast as you can. You do it fast, so that the
middle of the nail heats up from the bending. The wrapping of paper
helps here as well, acting as insulation so it heats up faster, and as
it gets hotter, it gets easier, so you start bending and straightening
it just with your hands, and now the paper protects your hands from the
heat (they get quite hot!) until suddenly the nail breaks, and then you
make sure it cools down before you give it to anyone. Most people don't
realise just how important the paper is. When you pass the nails round
the audience, you don't give them the paper. Some men can put a bit
of a dent in the nail, but that won't matter, because they can never
work out how to break them.
Quantifiable. Well, I'm 165 centimeters, and 81 kilos, which might sound
a bit heavy, but it doesn't show up on me. I asked Gran, and she told me
she was five foot six, and varied between 13 and 13 1/2 stone, sometimes
up to 14 stone. She told me that she once lifted 330 pounds over her
head, and I make that 150 kilos. I know I'm stronger than she is today,
but since she's in her seventies now, that doesn't mean very much.
Although she can still do some impressive things.
>It is also amazing that your strength doesn't show much, although I have
>some ideas why it doesn't. I know it's true, though. I remember seeing a
>photo of your grandmother in a National Geographic magazine bending a
>steel bar, and her figure was very feminine. No bulging muscles. In
>today's world of scientific training, you would seem to possess a
>genetic secret many would love to research! Do you know any other women
>with equal strength?
Yes, Gran didn't have big bulges on her arms, and I don't either. No, I
only know about me and Gran. Yes, I hope I'm feminine, I try to be. I
wear my hair long, in a pony-tail, and I never wear trousers. I prefer
frilly blouses to plain ones, and I wear my skirts long and swishy. I
don't wear jewelery much, but sometimes a brooch.
>Are your physical proportions "normal"? That is, are your arms or legs
>normal sized for a young woman your size?
I'm not sure. I think they are, maybe a tad bigger, I mean thicker, when
I wear a bikini on the beach I can't really see much difference unless I
compare closely, but it's hard to say. I don't have any fat on my arms,
and other girls do, so it's comparing apples with oranges.
>Is your weight "typical"?
No. I know I'm heavier for my height than the charts say I should be,
but I also know I'm not fat. You know the pinch test? Can you pinch an
inch? Well, I can't, also my tummy's nice and flat, so I know I'm not
fat. I think we have heavy bones, or dense muscles, or something. Gran
can't swim, and I can't either.
>How can you hide your strength from people close to you, like your
>boyfriend?
That's both easy, and difficult. It's easy, because I'm used to it. I
bet you never use your full strength on your wife, well I don't use
mine, either. If I hug him, I do it rather gently; if I hold his hand, I
don't grip it tightly. That's easy, I expect everyone does it. I mean,
you can pick up a kitten without hurting it, can't you?
I bet you hardly ever use your full strength. So it's usually not an
issue, it isn't like I have to watch myself every minute of every day. I
mean, what do you spend your time doing? Typing, cooking, walking,
shopping, doing your nails ... most of the time, you just do things. No
problem.
At the same time, it's difficult. There are two main problem areas. The
first is twisting things, like jar lids and taps. If I open a jar, I
never know if some big strong man just tried and failed; it doesn't
happen very often, and I can get away with it by saying "You must have
loosened it." With taps, the problem is, you just turn it until the
water stops, and if the washer is worn, that means you turn it rather
hard, and then the next person says "Who turned this off? <grunt>". Then
I just pretend I didn't hear, and they usually guess it must have been
someone else. If they do know it was me, then either (hot taps) the
metal contracted when it cooled, or else (cold taps) it must have
corroded while it was off. I know, I know, it isn't very believable, but
people just don't *think* very hard about trivial things like taps.
Lifting things isn't a big problem. I lift carefully until I know how
heavy something is, and if it's "too heavy", I just say "oof" and wait
till a big strong man can help me. Unless it's something no-one's going
to know about, of course, like dust balls under heavy furniture. Most
things, I know whether I "can" lift them without trying, because I've
done it before.
The other problem area is watching someone in trouble, knowing I could
help, and not being able to. There I break my own rules far too often,
but there's not usually a chance of getting spotted. A couple of months
ago, I helped a woman with a flat tyre; she had the spanner on a wheel
nut, but couldn't get it started. I thought it would be safe to help, so
I gave it a twist to loosen it for her. The trouble was, by the time I'd
done all four, her husband came back to the car with a big spanner, and
he wanted to know how I, a mere woman, had managed to get the nuts loose
when he couldn't. I gave him the old "You must have loosened it", and
walked quickly off, but I saw him staring after me, and I'm not sure if
I fooled him. Still, he didn't know who I was or anything.
I haven't been in a serious fight since I was ten, maybe less. Where I
come from, girls don't fight.
Harry's a much bigger problem, like you thought. We've been going out
for a few months now, and let's imagine he proposes to me. Should I tell
him? How could I not tell him? If we get married, he's bound to find
out, and then what happens? He'd feel betrayed that I didn't tell him
before, and if he hates the idea of me being a lot stronger than him,
then he'll hate me, and then what happens to the marriage? So, I clearly
have to tell him before we get married, only Gran says that if I start
telling people, I'll end up an old maid like her. Maybe I can swear him
to secrecy before I tell him, but you know what happens if you start
telling a secret to people. I mean, it's all right here, and it's great
to be able to talk about it, because I can hide behind this anon-server.
But if I tell Harry, and as a result he decides not to propose, then we
break up, and I maybe go out with someone else, and then maybe he
proposes, and maybe I tell him, and he breaks it off, and so on and so
on.
Mum's not a problem, she already knows, but I'm not sure how much she
really understands. Gran's my best friend. I tell her everything. She's
a brick.
>Don't your arms or legs feel unusually firm?
No. But after you asked that question, I squeezed Harry's arms when he
kissed me goodnight, and I hadn't realised just how soft he was. It felt
like I was squeezing an orange, maybe even a tomato, I didn't want to
squeeze too hard and find out. My arms are more like an apple.
>Don't you ever play wrestle and accidentally let your strength "slip"?
Of course not! What do you think, I'm stupid? I don't play wrestle, it's
as simple as that. If a boy tries something I don't want, I just say
"NO!", loud and firm, and I hope I never go out with a boy that would
ignore a signal like that. I must say, though, most boys don't try to go
too quickly, and if they do, well, that isn't so terrible really, is it?
But I've got a related worry. It's a bit embarrassing. Mum says I'm
being silly. It's to do with, er, bed. I hope you follow my meaning. I'm
*very* worried about it. I asked Gran once, and she got a far-away look,
and then she started crying, and I never raised the question again. But
that scared me badly. I'm really worried about this.
>Answers to these questions would give me a much better idea of the
>issues you deal with on a daily basis.
I haven't been very good at quantifying. Have you got any suggestions?
And don't suggest I lift a car, I happen to know that I can't.
>If you wish to correspond with me
>via email, ask for Don, and I will provide you my email address.
Yes please, I think email would be much better. Even with the anon
server, I feel slightly uncomfortable talking about the bed problem in
front of dozens of people. I hope you don't mind if I don't tell you my
real name, but I think you must see by now why this is.
Thank you, Don.
Diana Rhodes
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Martin John Gallagher
>
> I saw someone posting here about Joan Rhodes. Actually, she's my
> grandmother, so I'd like to correct a few misapprehensions.
>
Hello Ms. Rhodes: (or whoever your name is.)
You should not hide your light under a basket. The true
characteristics of someone are what gives them their character and value
at the deepest levels. If your boyfriend won't love you for who you are,
then he is not right for you. You, of course, must decide.
On a more selfish note. . . I'd love to talk with you more about
your abilities. I'm also sure that most people on this newsgroup would
like to also.
On a different note, I thing that lifting weights, and flexing
are all fine and good, but how about some real feats of strength. Joan
Rhodes used to do these fine demonstrations. How come no one does these
things anymore? Breaking chains, bending iron bars etc. are great
demonstrations that also show determination and resolve.
Marty