ST, Arnold and Commando

[mr beer]

Ballpark I put him at 3x normal human strength for lifting purposes. I agree with ST 13 or 14, with one or two points of Lifting ST and probably some ability in lifting. Note GURPS Lifting Skill seems really bad in mimicing real life lifting but I do believe bodybuilders specialised practice of moving heavy items in repetitive motions should result in some related skill. Arm ST +1 is also plausible, while Arnold trained his legs extremely hard, he was famous for his arms even in elite bodybuilding circles.

Commando Arnie the character should probably have ST 18+.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by mr beer

Commando Arnie the character should probably have ST 18+.

The simplest benchmark depends on how much ST it takes to dangle a skinny guy over a cliff with one arm (and a little bit on how skinny he really was).

To lift him into that position would be something like a BLx2 lift giving you 18 for 128 lbs and a 19 for 144.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by mr beer

Note GURPS Lifting Skill seems really bad in mimicing real life lifting but I do believe bodybuilders specialised practice of moving heavy items in repetitive motions should result in some related skill.

We discussed alternative mechanics for Lifting in the relevant Skill of the Week thread. There are ideas that make some sense in there, but I haven't heard of anyone using them.

[DanHoward]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

The simplest benchmark depends on how much ST it takes to dangle a skinny guy over a cliff with one arm (and a little bit on how skinny he really was).

To lift him into that position would be something like a BLx2 lift giving you 18 for 128 lbs and a 19 for 144.

Are we talking about Arnold the real person or Arnold the fictional movie character? One has ST13-14. The other has ST18-19.

[RyanW]

Originally Posted by Sam Baughn

According to some random internet sites which I found on a quick search, Arnie could bench-press 500 lbs!

There is a lot of speculation that much of Arnold's biography is as much masterful marketing as actual accomplishment (I didn't intend that to be so alliterative, it just worked out that way).

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by DanHoward

Are we talking about Arnold the real person or Arnold the fictional movie character? One has ST13-14. The other has ST18-19.

Either would need the discussed ST to actually do the feat but it was in reference to Commando Arnie that I did the calcs. I'm sure the actor playing the skinny guy (I wanna say "Terry Kiser") had a hidden safety wire.

[sir_pudding]

John Matrix, the character, is basically the exemplary One Man Army stylist.

[DanHoward]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

Either would need the discussed ST to actually do the feat but it was in reference to Commando Arnie that I did the calcs. I'm sure the actor playing the skinny guy (I wanna say "Terry Kiser") had a hidden safety wire.

Arnie isn't really holding him with one arm. There is a wire to take the weight. These days they use CG to hide the wire but back then they used tricks such as shooting at night. He is, in effect, pretending to have ST18-19.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by DanHoward

Arnie isn't really holding him with one arm. .

Yes, I understand the concept of "fiction".

To re-iterate (again) I was calculating how much ST John Matrix (the character) would have to have had to actually perform the feat.

[zoncxs]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

Yes, I understand the concept of "fiction".

To re-iterate (again) I was calculating how much ST John Matrix (the character) would have to have had to actually perform the feat.

Arnie would need a lot more than ST 14 to pull off that feat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYPZGfFDApw

That video goes into the maths required.

He would need ST around 100 to hold that person like that.