A better hypothetical:

12 silverback gorillas vs 1 Navy SEAL in a fight do the death, location is in a tropical rainforest, with a 5 mile radius to work with. Both parties know the other is trying to kill them, and they are dropped on opposite ends of the 5 mile radius. (but don't know this) Anything goes, and they can use any resources available to them.

SEAL comes equipped with

- M4 Carbine assault rifle with as much ammo as he can carry(grenade launcher add on NOT included)
- 1 knife or bat
- 4 proximity mines, as seen below



Silverbacks come equipped with superhuman strength and good knowledge of the terrain.

I mean, you keep harping on this over and over again, so I kinda have to assume you really are this dumb.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ph-HzTomYhE

Since I'm feeling nice I will break it down for you. 1 ton is 2000 pounds. If you divide this by 2, you get one-half of a ton. This is equal to 1000 pounds. Here, in this video, a powerlifter is bench pressing 1036 pounds. 1036 is greater than 1000. Therefore, when I said elite powerlifters can bench press approximately half a ton, my statement was factually accurate.

This is the part where you say something or other about the guy wearing a tight shirt. I'll go ahead and respond to this as well. Notice the title of the video says "1036 pound bench press" (it doesn't say "1036 pound not-bench-press"). From this you may have scratched your head with rising confusion while observing that maaaybe wearing a tight shirt does not make the exercise cease to be a bench press.

Therefore, you are wrong, and by virtue of the fact I had to explain this to you again, and in this much detail, it is apparent you may be a downie.

If it isn't obvious at this point, saying the powerlifters can bench approximately half a ton each isn't the same as doubling a horse's speed and endurance or saying a gorilla has a 10 foot vertical and weighs 800 pounds.

a bench press with a shirt is a bench press.

But what the living hell is the point of bringing up an equipment assisted lift when raw is the only thing that matters in the scenario presented in this thread?

So how much damage could you do to a gorilla if it just stood still while you wailed on it for a minute in any way you want. I think if a person is actually capable of hurting a gorilla then 12 lifters > gorilla. The gorilla is not going to be using optimal strategy, it is going to be open to attacks and with 12 people it is going to be taking the same types of blows that you could land in my hypothetical.

12 people is a lot, the gorilla can't simply shake all of them off or do a windmill and make them keep their distance. The gorilla will be taking almost non-stop blows to the face and balls.

Beyond that, your feet would be ****ed after a short time.

What's the point of bringing up bench press numbers at all in the scenario presented? Answer this question and you will have your answer.

I think this is basically impossible since I completed it in 2 hours, and the people coming in at 2:30 to 2:45 were 55 year old ladies who weighed upwards of 185 lbs. They werent sprinting, but they were definitely running, and they did it the whole way, and they didnt die, or even throw up, and they were doing it for the joy of bragging to their Oprah book club.

I'm sure their feet hurt. I'm sure they were sore as **** the next day. They might have pulled some muscles and even gotten some plantar fasciitis or something.

But they all survived with quite a comfortable margin. If they had been doing some hardcore distance training leading up to this race, then they hid it quite well under their fat rolls.

And that is a ****ing AMAZING fact, because these people are basically specifically shaped and conditioned, through sedentary lifestyles, to be as ****ty at it as humans are capable of being. And they can still do something, off the couch, that VERY FEW OTHER MAMMALS/VERTEBRATES ON EARTH CAN DO. Running for hours straight is amazing. If most animals tried to do it, they wouldnt get tired, they wouldnt be sore, they wouldnt throw up. They wouldn't just say **** it, lets go get a beer. They would collapse and die.

Because they are not elite distance runners. And humans are.

Hmmmm, if we move this fight to a place with a lake/pool, do the humans have a much better chance?

Yes, the guys just have to shove the gorilla in the water and it will probably die. 11 guys could use one guy as a shield if they want.

---

Lotta talk about gorillas being vicious crazy wild animals.

Can anyone find an instance of a gorilla ever killing anything other than a plant or an insect?

There is a story of a fight that supposedly took place between a zookeeper and a gorilla who became jealous when the zookeeper got married. The zookeeper allegedly killed the gorilla in the fight, using a "short tamer's fork" which I suppose is a small pitch fork kind of thing. But, the incident supposedly took place in a French zoo in 1902 and the source is the Fort Wayne News. So, I'm skeptical about the whole story.

The only other killing I can find is an adult male gorilla killing a baby gorilla that was fathered by another male that had died in the London Zoo.

I don't think gorillas have much killer instinct.

Probably beating a dead horse (that can run 50 km/h for 6 months straight with no breaks while wearing a bench shirt. Well, while he was alive at least) here, but let me ask a simple question:

Put an average silverback gorilla in a ring with a single elite world-class powerlifter or some kind of power athlete. Fight to the death.

Does the powerlifter do absolutely ZERO damage before dying and not tire the gorilla out at all? To the biomedical experts like vhawk and whoever else: there is obviously some way to quantify levels of exhaustion. Would the gorilla not even register and he will end the fight as he started it with the exact same amount of energy and health?

If so, how many could he plow through in a row (one at a time), before he starts to register damage or fatigue? Please note I'm not talking average humans but guys that can do stuff like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBbRmuPTHNQ

Also note that an average silverback really only outweighs one of these guys by 50-100 pounds.

look at how spatially aware it is @1:29. it grab/lands on a ****ing rope without looking at it and propels up the tree. a rope, not a fixed beam of some kind.

and wow, when that big one decides it's had enough- that dynamic sure changed.

Guess thats how you define damage. If he isn't knocked unconscious in the first few seconds of the fight by the gorillas forearms the size of the guys leg...I'm sure he might cause some pain, but nothing substantial.

I don't like using static slow lifts. That lift strength serves no purpose in the comparison. Explosive POWER matters far more. So I'd like to see the lifter leave the ground as he explodes up from the bottom of an ATG squat. What weight should he use? Whatever the gorilla weighs, maybe 75% of that. If the lifter can do that repeatedly then I'll change my mind that lift strength like a squat means anything.

Explosive Power matters way more then just the ability to move large weight. Yes, it means something to move 1200 pounds, thats awesome. But what purpose does it serve in the heat of the moment when he doesn't get to prepare, use chalk, have the knowledge of spotters preventing the weight from crushing him...he wouldn't attempt that by himself. Ever. Whats the weight hes comfortable moving when no one is there to help him?

That would be 50-100 pounds of extremely tough bone and muscle though - apes and gorillas have low body fat.

some of the vids posted itt recently that I liked:



this was originally posted itt from a "look, the gorilla can't break/uproot a tree after all!" standpoint. What I'm seeing is, HOW THE **** is that thing even balancing itself ~10ft up in the air PARALLEL to the ground and only having thin bamboo(?) stalks to support itself and hold onto, all while generating enough power to shake the tree(trunk) pretty hard? The body control(for lack of better term) is mindblowing.

+1. Holy ****, that look it gives at ~1:15-1:25 and the charge up to the man. Pro-12 human side(matt R + some others)--imagine if the man(a super strong one in place of the guy in vid) decided to hold onto the baby in this spot, what do you imagine the SB could've done to it and in how short a time span? All your superhuman bench press stats go flying out the window when you're faced with an angry/motivated silverback.

very good post. and not to mention those are caged/zoo animals, not nearly at the same level of their peers in the wild.

I was trying to envision/compare how long it would take a human(even the most agile) to do what the gorilla does starting at ~0:20(up to ~0:30) and then realized we could take a detour and just walk a straight line from its start point to the end point in about the same time it takes the SBG to do all that incredible ****, lol. Just amazing.

Brief response for now -- Gorilla, on the high end, weighs 400 pounds (we're talking average sb gorilla here). 75% of this = 300 pounds.

I don't know how many explosive ATG reps these powerlifters can do with 300 pounds, but I guarantee you it's a ****load. And if it's not as many as I'd expect it's probably due to endurance or flexibility limitations so we could substitute one of the 375 pound powerlifter tanks with one that carries a little less mass but can move better or has more explosiveness. I still think the huge guys could squat the silverbacks weight plus like 50% for a LOT of reps.

My point is basically put several of these guys in a row (sb kills one, another one pops in immediately), and there's no way in hell the sb doesn't get at least a LITTLE tired or damaged after 3-5 of them. Even just causing a "little" pain will add up. Once the sb gets to around powerlifter #10 when they can squat like 3x the gorilla's weight (explosive, for reps, probably at least 2x), no way it's not pretty much exhausted by this point and quite possibly hurt or injured in some way.

Now, make that number of powerlifters 12 and have them all fight the gorilla AT THE SAME TIME, and imo there's no way the gorilla is not dead tired or injured (and hence dead) before the 12 humans.

I'd like to know the reasoning process behind where people are coming to the conclusion the gorilla kills all 12 powerlifters in 5 minutes or less. If the gorilla can somehow do that then yes, I think the gorilla is the heavy favorite. I just really don't think it can and I can't picture a scenario in my head where it happens when the gorilla weighs 375-400 pounds and the humans weigh 300-350 each.

It would kill him. Probably even kill a 300 pound elite athlete pretty quickly in that spot. There are 12 of them though. And each of them can easily move around 400 pounds (the silverback's bodyweight).

What do you think would happen if ANYTHING faces off against 12 of something that can easily push around its own bodyweight?

Not that you speak for everyone, but of course this didn't phase people, even though several people kept talking about how gorillas break and uproot trees like nothing. Then you show them that it was just a plant and not a tree and a gorilla can basically do no damage to a real tree, it has no effect.

Climbing parallel like that is not hard. Happens all the time on a playground. I can do it and I'm old. If you can't do it yourself, you're kinda weak. No biggie, not everyone has to be strong, but don't project your weakness on everyone else. As far as strength for your body weight and body control for real - any of these much much much better demonstrations:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8e0yXMa708Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTE2zn-dXjg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmArjI2TFoM

In all seriousness, OOT could probably make this happen and post a film if we can raise sufficient cash. We'd need access to a Somali warlord (who have lots of crazy death happy gunfighters at their disposal), a gorilla, and maybe half a mil in cash.

Everyone talking about bodybuilder strength is missing the point. Gorillas are tough boned, tough skinned, tough willed, hairy devils, who only get more pissed off when they're injured. Men are soft weak flesh with soft minds no matter how many homoerotic reps they do with their sweaty gym buddies. Plus gorilla has mad speed.

Speed and toughness is so important here I reckon 1 heavyweight MMA champion could take down 6 average bodybuilders, even though he's the same strength or less.

Man, I would make so much money if this happened and I was allowed to bet on it.

lol

That PingClown post is amazing.

Hey genius, name 12 guys that bench 'half a ton', even with their precious bench shirts. Go ahead, I'll wait....

Bringing up bench press numbers is ridiculous in this scenario. But then I'm not the asshat that kept defending the powerlifters by saying: 'but they can bench press half a ton' as if that was going to help. Your whole argument is a bucket of fail.

People also have to realize our skin is like tissue paper compared to a gorillas.

Kind of important, but the gorilla is not an idle mass of hair and muscle that weighs 400lb. It is a wild animal that weighs 400lb, has large ass teeth and cannons for arms. Presumably it will be offering some form of resistance.


Using your logic, a powerlifter playfighting with a SB would be able to 'easily' push the SB around. LOL.

I think 6 trained power lifters could take down the beast, but if we assume that these power lifters are like 99% of power lifters out there (meat heads) I don't like their chances. When I clicked on the thread I wanted to believe there was a 1% shot that the thread contained a video of said action.

SB would easily out-maneuver 12 BBs or 12 humans of your choice. Those things irl are fast. If this took place in a jungle, SB wins 99.9% of the time. If it took place on a wrestling mat, SB still wins 99% of the time. It takes like a BB 10s to legit put up 0.5 ton, you think that skill is going to be useful in a life/death situation against a charging SB? Hell, he could easily permanently disable a human by leaping onto him or off of him. People just dont understand the strength of these animals.

Humans are too gracile to stand a chance vs a SB. How do you pile onto an animal that is as agile as a SB? How do you reconcile the fact that 1 hit from a SB disables a human 100% of the time?