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What's the most impressive (non-sexual) physical feat you've ever accomplished?

In high school, a bunch of guys on the basketball court were trying to throw a football the full length of the court and make a basket. After several of them were not even close, I started running my mouth about how much they sucked. So, they toss me the ball and sad lets see you do better (or something to that effect). I swished it on my first attempt......and only attempt. They were all trying to get me to do it again; but I was smart enough to know to let my perfect attempt stand.

Other than that I guess best physical feats would include some of my days backpacking the Appalachian trail. There was a day that my son got ill on the trail and we had to stop for the night well short of our planned destination. Unfortunately, there was no water source in the area. The next morning we decided to backtrack to get to a road where we could get picked up. We were already getting low on water from hiking the day before and it was a stretch without any water (springs) for awhile, but the shortest route for extraction. He was losing fluids with diarrhea, so I basically stopped drinking water to save it for him and took most of the weight out of his pack and put into mine. Later in the day, I was awfully close to just dropping the pack and leaving it on the trail I was just spent; but finally made it to a spring and refilled. It made it pretty clear to me how dangerous dehydration can be.

How much of the trail did you do? The AP is on my retirement list if the body holds up!
 
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Free climbed the Otter Cliffs.

Hit a HR (in a wooden bat league) at the Yankees Spring Training Stadium in Tampa.

Walked my kid up and down the stairs 94 times to get her to shut the hell up when she was a baby.

I love Acadia. In my top five national parks. I’m jealous of your Otter Cliffs climb...it rained the two days I could have gone and done them so I missed out. So many routes you could easily spend some time there! Was still able to get in a bunch of good hikes and “climbs” with my kids so it was a great trip regardless.
 
I climbed a mountain in Ecuador.

Pinchinca

That is a great hike outside Quito. I’ve got a great story from it actually. We were coming back and it just started pouring on us basically right after you come off the rocks that lead to the summit and back on to the path. The whole way it just drenched us and then about 1/2 hour before we made it back to the gondola, it starts lightning. So we start basically running and make it on to take the ride down. Half way down, one of those flash/boom lightning strikes hit and the gondola grinds to a hault. An hour we waited in that thing before they get it going. No communication. One little tiny window to get some fresh air. My claustrophobia was not my friend that day!
 
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Nice. You take knife edges like I do. I leave the dancing around with a GoPro on a stick to others.

What’s your most physically challenging 14er you’ve done so far? For me, it was Longs. Did it all in one day and went up the Chasm Lake / North Face / Cables Route. I’d have to look back to see how long we were out there but I remember getting back to tree line after summiting and being done with it but still had miles on those damn switchbacks to go. Looking back, I should have camped in the boulder field to break it up but I just didn’t have the time that trip. Would have been a lot more enjoyable.
Damn, son.

The most physically challenging was Rainier. Did Crestone Needle and Humboldt in a day from the trailhead. That was a workout.
 
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Damn, son.

The most physically challenging was Rainier. Did Crestone Needle and Humboldt in a day from the trailhead. That was a workout.

Agree on Rainier. Very different than any 14er - even in the winter. I got REALLY lucky on my summit day. Hit the top of the Cleaver and I was still in a baselayer hoody. I didn't put on my softshell until high break. I didn't even pull the puffy out of the bag until we were on Columbia Crest and it was basically because we were all just mulling about for so long. There was literally no wind to speak of. Our guide was on summit ~#150 and said it was the best day he'd ever been on the mountain. I made it but I'm not sure my summit was as hard earned as most people's!

Edit to add that the Needle Humboldt looks to be a very long day. Similar altitude change / length we did for Longs. I've never heard of that 2'fer...I think I may skip it. ;-)
 
I did 63 sit ups in 60 seconds in high school.

I can't do one today. :mad:

The summer after my freshman year in college I moved back home to stay with the folks. I had begun working out that year and had added about 35 lbs. of muscle. I only had a wimpy weight set at home so I did a lot of pushups and sit ups. At the start of the summer, I was doing ten sets of 20 pushups. By the end of the summer, I was doing ten sets of 60. I was swolled brah. CSB.
 
The summer after my freshman year in college I moved back home to stay with the folks. I had begun working out that year and had added about 35 lbs. of muscle. I only had a wimpy weight set at home so I did a lot of pushups and sit ups. At the start of the summer, I was doing ten sets of 20 pushups. By the end of the summer, I was doing ten sets of 60. I was swolled brah. CSB.

That’s damn impressive. I’m a firm believer in the whole “use your own body weight” type exercises. Granted, you’re not going to get all Arnold that way, but you can structure a pretty damn good workout by just moving your own weight around.
 
Agree on Rainier. Very different than any 14er - even in the winter. I got REALLY lucky on my summit day. Hit the top of the Cleaver and I was still in a baselayer hoody. I didn't put on my softshell until high break. I didn't even pull the puffy out of the bag until we were on Columbia Crest and it was basically because we were all just mulling about for so long. There was literally no wind to speak of. Our guide was on summit ~#150 and said it was the best day he'd ever been on the mountain. I made it but I'm not sure my summit was as hard earned as most people's!

Edit to add that the Needle Humboldt looks to be a very long day. Similar altitude change / length we did for Longs. I've never heard of that 2'fer...I think I may skip it. ;-)
Was your guide Jason Edwards?
 
I won the half time shooting competition at the Northwestern vs. Illinois game back in '93 in Evanston. Fans didn't receive me that well as I was introduced as being from Champaign. There were various scoring spots on the floor and you had to shoot each shot once and couldn't shoot two in a row (stand there and make layups) I actually went out there with a strategy and smoked the other two guys in the contest. I won a rib dinner from some joint in Evanston. Then they had me attempt a half court shot. If I made it, the entire crowd would have won ribs as well. I actually drew back iron on that shot.
 
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Me and two other guys drank an entire handle of Wild Turkey 101 while tripping on acid. Did not get sick. Amazing.
 
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Some pretty tough SOB’s on HROT. Can’t think of anything crazy but I was hiking out in the mountains east of Lake Powell, not sure which one but after getting back from the summit I hopped in my gf Honda Accord. I was on roads that an Accord never should have been on, I blew the sidewall of the tire. I was 9-10 miles from anywhere, no water and it was over 100 degrees. After about 6-7 miles, rolling over and dying sounded pretty good (exaggeration for effect). Came to a tiny trickle of water across the road, I put my face in it and drank what I could, realizing later there was all kinds of cow crap in the water. As I neared the highway my gf now wife and a friend drove towards me. I didn’t really think I was going to die but amazing how quickly that dry hot climate can take all your strength.
 
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How much of the trail did you do? The AP is on my retirement list if the body holds up!

We were going to do 7 days the trip my son got sick and had to cut it a few days short. We did 3 days another year to complete that stretch. Plus have done some day hikes on a couple different stretches. I love being out in nature and tent camping, but will probably never do a thru hike on the AP. Each summer my son and I go for 3-4 weeks exploring nature around the U.S. and Canada; but doing 3 months on the A.P. is probably something I never do.
 
That’s impressive! Crossfitter? Or just don’t skip leg day? ;)

Naw dude. Me & CrossFit will never be in same sentence.

Bench will always suck due to past shoulder issues. Always happy with a paused 315.

Always laugh at the brotards who only bench and curl

Looking to go after some Masters III records at 60. Have competed at 220# for a long time.
 
Balling back in the day at the field house. I’m 5’8” 160 decent point guard. Guy got a steal and broke away for a layup, I blocked it coming from behind and bodied him to where he stumbled and fell hard to the floor. He didn’t call a foul, said nice block. It was Andre Tippett.

Second, buddy and I chugged a small bottle of rum after an outing downtown while sitting on banks of Iowa river. It was spring and river was in flood stage. We swam over and back without catching the dead, although the dam was fast approaching.
 
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When I was 19 I ran the Bix 7 mile run in Davenport in 42 mins. Yes, that’s a 6 min pace. The previous year i had just started running and did it in 49 mins so I took 1 min per mile off my time from the previous year. I’m pretty sure I couldn’t run more than about 100yds at that pace today.
 


OK, so when you see these guys start to bleed during a lift, does that really happen and how bad is that for you?

I'm impressed. Congrats on a HUGE accomplishment. :)

Bleeding from nose? Most likely coming out of the hole during a squat or locking out deadlift.

First is high blood pressure. Second is supplementation. Some really goods AAS can and do cause nosebleeds, or so I've heard.
 
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5 1/2 years ago. Living above the rim, brah...
6i4pah.jpg
 
Some pretty tough SOB’s on HROT. Can’t think of anything crazy but I was hiking out in the mountains east of Lake Powell, not sure which one but after getting back from the summit I hopped in my gf Honda Accord. I was on roads that an Accord never should have been on, I blew the sidewall of the tire. I was 9-10 miles from anywhere, no water and it was over 100 degrees. After about 6-7 miles, rolling over and dying sounded pretty good (exaggeration for effect). Came to a tiny trickle of water across the road, I put my face in it and drank what I could, realizing later there was all kinds of cow crap in the water. As I neared the highway my gf now wife and a friend drove towards me. I didn’t really think I was going to die but amazing how quickly that dry hot climate can take all your strength.

Good story! How long did it take for you to recover from the giardia? ;)
 
Some pretty tough SOB’s on HROT. Can’t think of anything crazy but I was hiking out in the mountains east of Lake Powell, not sure which one but after getting back from the summit I hopped in my gf Honda Accord. I was on roads that an Accord never should have been on, I blew the sidewall of the tire. I was 9-10 miles from anywhere, no water and it was over 100 degrees. After about 6-7 miles, rolling over and dying sounded pretty good (exaggeration for effect). Came to a tiny trickle of water across the road, I put my face in it and drank what I could, realizing later there was all kinds of cow crap in the water. As I neared the highway my gf now wife and a friend drove towards me. I didn’t really think I was going to die but amazing how quickly that dry hot climate can take all your strength.

Good story! How long did it take for you to recover from the giardia? ;)

Never got sick, but the time I wiped my butt with poison oak in Durango, that’s another story.
 
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During intermission of one of the Iowa wild games I beat some guy in shooting pucks from the blue line at an empty net.

Now, I've never played hockey, but I still thought making 3/10 and barely missing the rest was terrible. The other guy made zero and missed all but a couple badly.

Won $1 off beer for my section for one period. I'm basically a hero.
 
In high school, I picked some guy up blocking and threw him into the linebacker, knocking then both down. Then smoked some other kid coming across as well.
 
Something where at the end of it you said - "I can't believe I just did that." OPs mom doesn't count.

For me, it was probably running a marathon in my 40's. I don't really like running that much but wanted to tick the box. Loads of training, a crazy time commitment to something I don't really like, and a brutal race day 22+ miles in...but I felt pretty accomplished after I crossed the finish line.

What's yours?

When I was 20 I rode all of Ragbrai on a mountain bike that had only 1 gear.
 
Soph year at Iowa during a racquetball tournament at the Fieldhouse I hit a perfect killshot that split the ball in two...the entire place went dead silent for about 5 seconds...my friend who was the #1 or #2 player on the Iowa club team was equally impressed and pissed I did that...
 
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College players turning pro do 225 bench, I always compare. Got 17 reps this year. Getting old, 20 reps 5 years ago . 52 years old now.
 
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I hit a grand slam in the same game that I pitched a perfect game (struck out every batter, only one put the ball in play - grounder to first)




In 8th grade




Against a 6th grade team




On a field that was 250 to center in a 4 inning game because the 6th grade team quit it early... normally I leave those last few parts out... peaked early.
 
Hiked the Grand Canyon rim to river to rim in a single day. 3x. I've been told they no longer allow that.

Seriously? That would be almost impossible to monitor. I did a lot of daily round trips and never considered it to be too difficult if I planned well and ate enough.
 
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