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When I was a maintenance engineering apprentice at a food factory several years ago, there was a guy in his 60s who was the facilities manager; his name was Dave.

Since he was a young man, he’d worked physically demanding jobs, especially in the steelworks.

Dave never went to the gym and looked like a normal 60-year-old man.

But any time he had to use a hammer, he possessed Thor-level strength.

I can’t remember exactly what we were doing, but we needed to hammer something whilst it was in a metal vice. I remember hammering away for a while, and my wrist and forearm were aching.

Dave comes and grabs the hammer and does the job within a couple of minutes.

I’ve never seen someone hold a hammer like him (apart from Thor). His wrist, forearm, and hand strength result from decades of labour, which results in crazy strength adaptations. This is how older guys from blue-collar jobs can display impressive feats of strength like this.

My next-door neighbour Carl, who has been a joiner all his life, seems to have the same Thor-like strength.

It’s pretty incredible.

And I’d go as far as to say that guys with old man strength have better wrist, forearm, and hand strength than 90% of gym bros.