abnormally strong?

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is anyone else here stronger than you look or otherwise seem on a day-to-day basis?

I mean, to look at me, you'd probably think that I'm rugged but nowhere near as strong as I am.

Could that be an AS trait?

I used to be... skinny as a rail but good strength... mostly due to leverage. I couldn't do brute-force strength as well (such as climbing the rope in gym class) but pushing, pulling, lifting etc, I could perform as well as the rope climbers could, or better.

Of course... they had better endurance and could run longer than I could, though I could run faster.


Now I'm just getting pudgy. Even leverage won't help me this time...

it's spectrum-wide,not just people with AS whom can have super strength,am and others am used to live with don't know own strength.
if am controlling the strength,with opening a door for example,the door usually ends up smacking into the wall,through uncontrollable strength,eg,meltdown-it takes a lot of people to restrain and pin am down,have taken down walls,doors etc.
am female,not that fit though not unfit either, and definitely not muscular.
no idea whether it's ASD that has a part in it or not.

I seem to recall a study a while back that determined that the nervous systems of autistic individuals can produce abnormally high peak voltages in motor neurons but cant sustain it as long as normal.

I am generally quite abnormally weak I would say. If though for example I were to have a meltdown I would become strong and break things without even trying.

It's weird I think.

I'm not sure if it is an AS trait.

I look lazy... I don't know how else to describe it really-just lazy, lol... maybe kind of "dumpy". But I can move just about anything if I really want to do it. I move my furniture around all of the time-have hurt my back 2 times due to lifting things I shouldn't even be trying to lift, but I never realize it until after I'm hurt already, lol. Even after hurt though, I'll get the darn thing to wherever I'm wanting it to go before I see a doc.

There are days though, that I cannot do some of the simplest tasks-such as opening a pickle jar. My arms are exceptionally weak at times.

Last edited by nobodyzdream on 18 Sep 2007, 6:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I seem to have higher peak exertion than most people but my endurance sucks. Back when I was thin I could sprint really fast for a short distance but couldn't do things like ride my bike up a hill without my legs becoming tired. Also, I noticed when lifting weights that even if I can lift more than another person with the heavy weights, I sometimes get tired faster when using the lighter weights.

Im incredibly thin but I can push 600 lbs with my legs repeatedly for as long as I want, but its extremely hard to get it right when you start. A lot of people can do it so its not that amazing youd be surprised. NEVER lock your knees/straighten your legs when your doing it, unless you want them to break anyway or something worse. But anyway, I can be strong if I want to be, but only if I want to be lol.

I am not that strong, in spite of my height. I can shift things if I am in a meltdown tho, for sure.

I am amazingly strong for someone who is just 5' 1". I have lifted some fairly large books at the library and am capable of doing a good deal of hard physical work.

I am very strong. I look intimidating and am still stronger than I look. I have bad endurance for the most part though, I can run at a moderate pace almost all day though.

I'm skinny and stronger than I look....


It has to do with the ability of motor neurons to recruit individual muscle fibers.

The more fibers recruited to do the work at the same time, the more neurons firing, the greater the force exerted by said muscles.


Dunno if it's anything to do with AS though...doubt it..

well... I know I am very skinny and always had good endurance (always top runner, or top person doing the sittup test in PE. As thin as I am I feel I can lift quite a bit, I lift heavy objects at work and if in a fight or flight response can still manage to exert a decent amount of force or run fast even years after not working out. I bet some of us in meltdown mode would be difficult to handel.

I find that I'm very strong for a woman. I can do a lot of heavy lifting.

with most everyone answering that they are stronger than they look (as am i), it makes me wonder if this isn't the case for everyone. maybe strength just doesn't really look like we think it ought to look.

You know thats funny that you put a forum about this. Everybody says I have "ret*d" Strength, which is a bad way to put it, but its true. I only weigh 98lbs, but I lift with my legs up to 330lbs, and with my arms I can't lift up to 120lbs. Growing up I could lift things most people couldn't, I can remember when we lost something under the couch, and I literally just picked up the couch with my father laying on it, and everybody just stared at me like "whoa"! I still amaze people on how much mental strength I have. I was at the gym once and I was getting frustrated, and pushed one of the huge weight machines, and almost knocked it over. A meathead just was like wow, I quickly walked away like nothing happened haha.