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How physically strong was Michael Jackson?

Richard76

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You know, I always considered Michael as very skinny man. Well, he obviously was really thin during most of his lifetime. I bet, he could never done many pushups or pull-ups, he wasn't a muscle type. But recently I found this picture, where Michael holds Bigi with his one hand! And according to his face, it's not really difficult for him. If he could easily lift 60-65 lbs with one of his hand, then he actually wasn't really weak as he seemed to be! Moreover, this picture was taken, when he physicallly was weaker than ever! That means that during 90s he could be even stronger! I bet during Invincible era he could easily lift cars 😂 Anyway, also lets not forget Earth Song performances, when Michael could bend himself down on a hight altitude! So, maybe Michael had never gone to gym, he never tried to pump muscles, but he definately had really strong body, especially hands. Maybe it's all about genetics

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Young skinny mothers could hold their children in one arm has easily so I doubt it's anything to do with strength.

As for the hanging off the cherry picker, it looks amazing but always scared me that he would slip one of these days.

I'm actually amazed that he never had a single accident, it would have been extremely dangerous and potentially killed him , especially if he got crushed from the fans in a frenzy if he fell into the crowd.

For insurance purposes it would have been a major red flag?
 
I am not sure he was particularly strong. I think most men would hold a small child rather easily. He was, in his prime, incredibly fit though. You don't tour the way he did with the kind of energy he produced without being something of an athlete. He was very, very well conditioned to the rigours of his craft. But I wouldn't bet on him beating me in a push up competition at any point.
 
Hurley509 said:
I am not sure he was particularly strong. I think most men would hold a small child rather easily. He was, in his prime, incredibly fit though. You don't tour the way he did with the kind of energy he produced without being something of an athlete. He was very, very well conditioned to the rigours of his craft. But I wouldn't bet on him beating me in a push up competition at any point.
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Well, comparing to myself he is pretty strong. I always considered myself stronger than him: I can do 50 push-ups and 10 pull-ups. But it's pretty difficult for me to hold my 45 lbs dog with my strongest hand 😅 So, now I guess Michael and me are at the same rank of physical strength 😁
 
In terms of lifting weights, Michael Jackson was not physically strong.

That is because he focused more on muscular endurance which is different from physical strength.

So, he used to do a lot of aerobic exercise, mainly for keeping his legs strong for his complicated dance moves.

He also used to do a lot of sit-ups in order to strengthen his gluteal muscles.
Blues_Away2023 said:
As for the hanging off the cherry picker, it looks amazing but always scared me that he would slip one of these days.

I'm actually amazed that he never had a single accident, it would have been extremely dangerous and potentially killed him , especially if he got crushed from the fans in a frenzy if he fell into the crowd.
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It would have been also extremely dangerous for the fans, if he slipped and landed on their heads.
 
I think Michael focused on flexibility, not necessarily on increasing physical strength. His This Is It physical trainer Lou Ferrigno said Michael wasn’t keen on weight training, instead preferring stretching, core training and exercise balls.
 
There is footage of Michael at one of the HIStory concerts where the YANA girl comes onstage and faints in his arms, so he just picks her right up in the cradle position and hands her over to the security guard.
 
Arklove said:
There is footage of Michael at one of the HIStory concerts where the YANA girl comes onstage and faints in his arms, so he just picks her right up in the cradle position and hands her over to the security guard.
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Really? He was THAT strong??? :oops:
 
Very , very i'd be confident in saying. That upper body /back thing they all have. A dancer's body is the strongest.
Don't ever underestimate it i'd say.
 
Funny thread. Is it difficult to pick up a person who weighs less than you? Don't think so.

He had a lot of endurance and mind-blowing body control for sure (singing and dancing for two hours is just insane). But that's different then strength. He could do pull - ups because he was very skinny, you don't have to be strong to do that. It's mainly technique combined with not a lot of body weight.

Look at weightlifters vs. marathon runners. The weightlifter might not be able to run far, but he can lift insane weights. The marathon runner maybe can't lift weights but run like a maniac.

Greetings from a relatively strong gym girl with shitty stamina (working on it though) 😂
 
Despite how slender he was, Michael was a lot stronger than he looked, because he was all muscles, no fat.

Quote from Jermaine: "He is very strong. One time my mother wanted us to lift this solid marble table. I lifted one end and it was so heavy. And Michael just lifted it by himself. I said 'Where do you get those muscles from? You're so thin!' He has a strong soul. It's like it's in his mind first. I said, 'Wow!'''

From the book "Untouchable":

Strong-Muscles-quote-from-Untouchable-page-170.jpg


When he was a teenager (at 6:19) :

 
we gotta remember that he was a performer for basically his entire life
Plus he was a perfectionist so the already insane amount of training and practices he would do would be even more extreme
It’s just not possible to be able to perform so exquisitely and for at such great lengths without having some of not an immense amount of strength
He also had done a form of martial arts if I remember correctly and was a black belt
again, it takes a lot of muscle tonement and memory and strength to be able to do what he did
 
still: strength =/= endurance. He was more like an athlete, like people who run marathons, combined with body control, like maybe a gymnast. Look at his physique and compare it to the athletes I mentioned vs. strongmen. That's a very different training style.

Endurance training means muscles have to work with a tiny amount of weight load (e.g. body weight) for a long time. Strength training means muscles have to work with a lot of weights only for several reps. All the heavy lifters often use weights they only can lift 1-3 times in their training. That varies of course during their training cycle but often it's like 12 reps absolute maximum. Let someone like that dance like Michael for 2 minutes, guy's dead. But he/she can lift 3, 4, 5 times the own body weight.

The black belt was only a honour as far as I know. And martial arts is also mainly endurance and technique/body control imo 🤔.
 
Climbing trees is probably good training for your arms!

someplace_else said:
The black belt was only a honour as far as I know. And martial arts is also mainly endurance and technique/body control imo 🤔.
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An article in Japanese said that he trained in Karate for 9 months before he was given the honorary 5th degree black belt. He also trained in Kung Fu when he was younger with Lyang Kam Yuen.
 
etoile 37 said:
An article in Japanese said that he trained in Karate for 9 months before he was given the honorary 5th degree black belt. He also trained in Kung Fu when he was younger with Lyang Kam Yuen.
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Just wanted to point out that it's not a "real" black belt. I assume to get that, you have to train many years. I don't have much knowledge in that area though 🙂.
 
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