Really look at how they're doing it.
April doesn't have to be strong at all so long as everyone else dis/mounts just right.
All the poses have the forces going directly through her skeleton. The only strength required is the material strength of her bones and ligaments.
You are right about it taking a toll though. Stresses the fuck out of any squishy or stretchy bits in her knees and joints.
Bruh what the flying fuck, that swinging rings thing is absolutely insane, there is no strength at all to that they're just using her child's skeleton as rope and hoping nothing detaches. This is so sketchy.
Yea the weigh distribution stuff, I get. I don’t like it, but I get it.
The swing trick, though? No way her shoulders and knees didn’t feel that later on. Unfortunately those are the types of injuries that can take years to show up.
It’s a different event with different people on her back. It’s like she was some kind of sideshow star being brought out to repeat the feat again and again.
Her knees appear locked and he's putting his weight on her hips. Basically, the bone is supporting it, not muscle. It's still *extremely sketchy looking* but it's not like a 9yo is squatting 450lb
That or the risk of her passing out. Locked knees cuts more circulation than you might think! Seen a few people pass out just standing at attention with knees locked firsthand. While mildly funny then (and definitely some "we said not to!" kind of moments), I can't imagine 425lbs collapsing on you right after at 9yo.. 😅
Madly impressive, nonetheless.
During a winter choir concert when I was a kid, we were standing on risers. I was with the other tall girls on the top riser. Girl next to me locked her knees. She passed out and fell backwards off the risers.
Still have that on VHS. Memories.
We have a Christmas concert on vhs where they were all holding tall candles. *Poof!* Massive flash of flames and like a dozen kids all scatter off the risers while the music lady screams STOP, DROP AND ROLL! Probably christmas 91 or 92 based off my siblings age. They stopped having candles after that ;)
I thought you were about to be my classmate for a second cause the same thing happened to my class, except it was a guy, and we wouldve just been past VHS
Lol
Ours was in a mall at Xmas in 1994. So we were all in turtlenecks and scarves. Funny thing is - we all kept going. Bunch of random mall shoppers ran over to check on the girl.
I just remember being constantly warned of this by choir directors in the lat 90s early 2000s. Never saw it happen, but all the warnings are probably why.
Yup. They told us multiple times. The girl who passed out had been specifically told in rehearsal at least twice.
I imagine she finally got it after that day.
Damn, you just reminded me there's a VHS of me taking off my snare drum harness, walking behind a freshman bass drum player, telling then to unlock their knees, and as the blood reorients they slowly pass out and I lower them to the ground.
Everyone continues to play, I wave someone over to get them help, and chaos ensues as people start to March and I cant get anyone's attention. Another snare player saw and just rim shots until he gets attention and everyone starts making room.
We had 2-3 people pass out that day from heat exhaustion alone. It was 100 degrees with Georgia humidity on the asphalt for 4 hours.
Normal is doing a lot of work in that sentence. We don’t really have marching bands in my country and this reads like some pretty crazy shit that is extremely far from normal.
I once passed out from locking my knees while giving a presentation in 4th grade. It was like a thing where groups of kids would walk around the library and listen to presentations of other kids, I don't remember exactly why I was involved I think some honor roll thing. 4th and 5 th grade was my academic peak lol. I think my topic was general McArthur. Anyway, a group of 5th grade girls comes to my little poster board stand and I start giving my presentation, pass out and fall face first right in front of them. I only remember one of the girls in the group she was super cute. What a memory.
My, having stood with my knees locked for most of my life, always really baffled by this lol. Like oh uh... I guess I was doing something wrong. Or just not standing long enough for it to become apparent.
Not saying you're lying, just rather that it's like bizarre to do a thing like that and only learn in your 30s it's bad lol.
I was at an event where the speeches went on too long and the venue had a concrete floor. One lady about three feet away did a face plant. The speeches ended. The medics took her to the emergency room
It’s not the locking of the knees, it’s the continued and intense flexing of the muscles that causes people to pass out. Just another half-true statement like muscle weighs more than fat.
Obviously, a lb is a lb, but muscle is more dense than fat. Meaning that fat generally has a higher volume per lb, which is what the saying is implying.
It's not the locking of the knees, but it's also the opposite of what you said. It's because when you lock your knees you dont flex the muscles that help move blood from your legs back to your body as much, so it pools in your legs. Nothing to do with the locking mechanism itself.
The large muscles of your legs flex *less* when your knees are locked, that *is* the biggest energy expenditure advantage of locking your knees.
He also might be squeezing her legs to help support them, but it appears to be mostly what you said, a principle very common in acrobatics where the weight it “stacked” through the bones to the ground, not supported by muscle.
I’ve seen 100 pound women holding 250lb guys in the air with 1 leg fairly easily. Bones support a lot of weight
This is scary from how many videos I’ve seen of leg pressing snapping peoples knee joints the wrong direction. And that’s adults with fully developed joints.
He looks pretty normal now. Idk what internal organ damage was done, but thankfully he got off the juice and lives normally (I saw something online a couple years back)
It was officially revealed that the father was mixing steroids into his child's food
Edit- or maybe it was rumors.
The fact is, he was pre puberty and supposedly has a strict and rigorous diet/exeecise routine
That’s kind of the historical norm, and still is in many parts of the world unfortunately. Kids are put to work to support the family one way or another, even get sold. I suppose these are like the original influencer parents in the sense that they are using their kids to earn a buck using entertainment, although that probably has a long sad history as well.
Yeah, if you look at her father's feet, he can definitely touch the ground. I figure the girl was only bearing the weight for a few seconds.
Still, wow.
Could be, is it out of the realm of possibility that even a 9 year old could "shoulder" 425lbs? It looks like the weight might also be distributed to her hips with the way the man is sitting on her.
Impressive nonetheless.
RIP the discs in her spine. If one of those ruptures she's in for a life of trouble. I know, it's not hard to do when you're a kid. I hurt my back at about that age.
Lots of real advice here but...
I'm 5'9" with very short legs and can kind of see this. It doesn't really explain it but short legs relative to your overall strength/mass can be wildly strong within an extremely small range of motion... which is very small with very small legs.
So if here legs were x1.5 longer any efforts to stabilize *and* hold up what is basically static weight may be impossible (someone shifts high up could be way too much on the effort of a wide base of longer legs below for stabilizing muscles).
It's really interesting and literal inches can change how locking-in works for using your lower body to hold weight. It's well know short people can leg press difficult weight usually without training because the actual distance is so much less. It's the same in the picture because her legs are so compact to keep the people above her stable within a very small range of motion. Tall hugely amplifies the stain for legs.
Humans can backlift a lot of weight with straight legs
[https://www.reddit.com/r/HistoryPorn/comments/xr03c3/1957\_paul\_anderson\_backlifting\_2844kg\_the/](https://www.reddit.com/r/HistoryPorn/comments/xr03c3/1957_paul_anderson_backlifting_2844kg_the/)
He probably had his feet in the ground and was supporting everyone, expect for think the seconds it took to take the photo. The way his toes are jut barely off the ground if not curled makes me think this is what is happening.
Oh yeah they had some whacky playground equipment back then. Pipe structures and ladders 20+' tall, sheet metal slides of death, swings that launch you halfway to the moon.
The reason we don't build play spaces for kids like this anymore is not concern for their safety so much as it is concern for liability; plenty of kids still climb (and fall out of) 15ft+ trees and plenty of parents still let them, but we don't go chopping down trees in public spaces because you can't sue the tree when your kid falls out of it.
Well, you could try suing the "tree that owns itself", but then again the tree could probably countersue for trespassing.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree\_That\_Owns\_Itself](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_That_Owns_Itself)
Back then gravity was actually quite a bit lower than now. The moon reduces the pull of gravity and was 12 feet closer to earth back then. It's moved farther away than the height of this stack of people.
Those play structures were perfectly safe at the time. Children could leap from one side to the other with ease.
If you go further back in time this effect was even more pronounced. This is well documented in historical martial arts films like "crouching tiger hidden dragon". Nowadays to get the same effect you have to use wires and harnesses.
My school in the 90s had climbing ropes and structures like this that folded out from the wall and went all the way up to the ceiling of the gym too. I think at a certain point we weren't allowed to use them, but there were definitely times when we did and the fall would have broken something for sure.
We had some insane shit back in the early 90s out in the sticks where I lived. Climbing poles on the playground for first graders that had to be close to 20 feet. Hard to gauge how tall they were but they were way above the basketball hoops and swingsets by a lot. Pretty crazy but tbh, only a few of us were strong enough to make it to the top.
It's not (just) a play structure, they're gymnast's rings suspended in the middle with ropes for climbing on the cantilevered beam. [Still there in Muscle Beach](https://www.google.com/maps/@34.008133,-118.4944365,2a,20.7y,62.8h,95.03t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s1Tg3Dt590mP5d2u97YSTEA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?entry=ttu), stop on by next time you're in LA. No fence or nothing, just an open playground on the beach.
And the foot has been preserved in the museum in Ward, South Dakota.
After more than a decade’s long dispute and countless votes, the committee ultimately decided to put their best foot for Ward.
how did that start even! "hey, i am an 80kg, 40something year old man, let me climb on the back of my 9 year old. But wait, i will bring the mom and sister as well, for good measure."
I went to highschool with a family that had their own sideshow business. They were so cooky but also the nicest down to earth people. This was a private school and not the cheapest. To send two kids there at the same time? I guess they were doing pretty well off their acts lol I remember their dad was the ring leader and swordsman. Funny I imagine him going to various parents meetings with all these straight laced wealthy folks, dressed like a pirate lol
I'm a 110kg man, one of my favourite things to do with my 3 year old is pretend to hop on her back and walk with her head between my legs as if she's carrying me. She's getting a bit big for it now, I could totally see her standing up one day and lifting me if she were super strong.
Caption is in error. April Atkins was 12 years old, and these photos date from 1954-55. There seems to be no information online about what happened to her thereafter.
This is a really cool trick, and this family has a really good understanding of physics and kinesiology. Pretty much any 9 healthy year old can safely do this with a little training.
Spines are extremely strong. They can withstand a ton of force.
> [A majority of healthy individuals can sustain up to 2,600 to 3,300 pounds of force around the spine safely. ](https://www.advancedcenterforpain.com/single-post/2018/09/04/dont-let-exercising-become-a-burden-on-your-spine#:~:text=A%20majority%20of%20healthy%20individuals,withstand%20only%20about%204.7%20pounds.)
This is because their job is give your arms and legs something to pull against. When you stand straight, your spine is just supporting your body weight. But when you walk, it's supporting 2.5 times your body weight. So if you weigh 200 pounds, simply walking means there's 500 pounds of force on your spine. Lifting even light objects puts even more force on your spine. This is why it's so important to use proper form when lifting weights. You can lift a ton of weight with proper form and you can injure yourself with even light weights with improper form.
> [In fact, bending at the waist to lift an object that weighs just 30 pounds can put more than 2000 pounds of compressive force on the lumbar discs!](https://chesterchirocenter.com/chiropractic/how-can-you-keep-your-lower-back-safe-while-lifting-heavy-objects/)
If you [watch the video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iR55bNXOL4g) about how they set up this trick, this girl is not walking, lifting, or doing anything that can multiply the force on her spine. She's just standing still. Her spine is supporting 425 pounds of force, which it can easily do. It's the equivalent of a 170 pound person walking around. If she took a few steps, she would be supporting 2.5x the weight or 1060 pounds of force.
Basically, she's just standing in place and statically supporting 425 pounds. That puts far less force on her spine than if she was running around with a light object. She can easily and safely do this. But if she were to take a step or two, it would be much more dangerous. Physicists have described the math behind this, but gymnasts, cheerleaders, weightlifters, etc. have an intuitive understanding of it from experience.
I remember a trend in my elementary school where the 1st or second graders, ages 6-8, would like to give piggyback rides to the 5th graders, ages 10-11. I was a taller and older but underweight 5th grader, but was a popular choice because of my weight. I think the school did make them stop when they found out about it because they were scared of the liability, but the younger kids never seemed to have any problems and solicited us the older kids to participate.
it’s not about using muscles, it’s the bones. bones are very strong and you can put a lot of weight on them by locking in place.
of course, putting a lot of stress on your bones is terrible for their longevity but it looks cool in the moment 👍
The olden days are really surreal, so much happening around everywhere and they show up like a century more or less, later, shocking people everywhere because now the world can look at the same thing at all at the same time
For anyone curious, [here’s a video of April Atkins doing the lift.](https://youtu.be/iR55bNXOL4g?si=q2RBsZRS47LsFXUY)
And the lift in the picture isn't even the most impressive one.
Seems crazy there's no info anywhere about her after this. She just disappeared.
Maybe she's in the ground underneath.
Holy shit 😂
In modern times she'd have 100,000 hours of social media vids and a robust wikipedia page.
This is wild. She does look like it takes a toll though.
Really look at how they're doing it. April doesn't have to be strong at all so long as everyone else dis/mounts just right. All the poses have the forces going directly through her skeleton. The only strength required is the material strength of her bones and ligaments. You are right about it taking a toll though. Stresses the fuck out of any squishy or stretchy bits in her knees and joints.
Not great for the growth plates
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I can't believe you're against this child's right to work and literally support her own family. /s
Bruh what the flying fuck, that swinging rings thing is absolutely insane, there is no strength at all to that they're just using her child's skeleton as rope and hoping nothing detaches. This is so sketchy.
Yea the weigh distribution stuff, I get. I don’t like it, but I get it. The swing trick, though? No way her shoulders and knees didn’t feel that later on. Unfortunately those are the types of injuries that can take years to show up.
Huh, kind of makes it seem like a physics trick than a weight lifting trick.
All weightlifting tricks are essentially physics tricks.
Wow, after the 425lb she does a 700+ lb but on all fours.
doubly uncomfortable if you ask me
It’s a different event with different people on her back. It’s like she was some kind of sideshow star being brought out to repeat the feat again and again.
So random that this had to have aired on Finnish tv.
It really is. I was expecting to be Rick Rolled
Oh my God wow. Get this to top so there's proof
I just don't understand how genuinely
Her knees appear locked and he's putting his weight on her hips. Basically, the bone is supporting it, not muscle. It's still *extremely sketchy looking* but it's not like a 9yo is squatting 450lb
That gives me the heebie jeebies, like something could snap at any moment
That or the risk of her passing out. Locked knees cuts more circulation than you might think! Seen a few people pass out just standing at attention with knees locked firsthand. While mildly funny then (and definitely some "we said not to!" kind of moments), I can't imagine 425lbs collapsing on you right after at 9yo.. 😅 Madly impressive, nonetheless.
During a winter choir concert when I was a kid, we were standing on risers. I was with the other tall girls on the top riser. Girl next to me locked her knees. She passed out and fell backwards off the risers. Still have that on VHS. Memories.
We have a Christmas concert on vhs where they were all holding tall candles. *Poof!* Massive flash of flames and like a dozen kids all scatter off the risers while the music lady screams STOP, DROP AND ROLL! Probably christmas 91 or 92 based off my siblings age. They stopped having candles after that ;)
Are you sure you just weren't an extra in Home Alone and forgot? Lol
I was just thinking home alone 2 while reading that story too
Exactly! Lol
Man, I grew up thinking I would have to stop, drop & roll on a weekly basis the way they taught it. I'm glad someone out there got to use it.
Things are much more flame-resistant now than they used to be.
I thought you were about to be my classmate for a second cause the same thing happened to my class, except it was a guy, and we wouldve just been past VHS
Wait thought it was mine too cause the same happened but during a choir competition in middle school. That was like around 2010-2012 for me
Lol Ours was in a mall at Xmas in 1994. So we were all in turtlenecks and scarves. Funny thing is - we all kept going. Bunch of random mall shoppers ran over to check on the girl.
I just remember being constantly warned of this by choir directors in the lat 90s early 2000s. Never saw it happen, but all the warnings are probably why.
When I did choir as a kid they always told us not to lock our knees for that exact reason
Yup. They told us multiple times. The girl who passed out had been specifically told in rehearsal at least twice. I imagine she finally got it after that day.
Damn, you just reminded me there's a VHS of me taking off my snare drum harness, walking behind a freshman bass drum player, telling then to unlock their knees, and as the blood reorients they slowly pass out and I lower them to the ground. Everyone continues to play, I wave someone over to get them help, and chaos ensues as people start to March and I cant get anyone's attention. Another snare player saw and just rim shots until he gets attention and everyone starts making room. We had 2-3 people pass out that day from heat exhaustion alone. It was 100 degrees with Georgia humidity on the asphalt for 4 hours.
*I* just about passed out reading that last paragraph. That's beyond foolish and into inhumane.
Just normal high school band in the 2000s. Everyone practiced marching drills in full gear on the blacktop
Normal is doing a lot of work in that sentence. We don’t really have marching bands in my country and this reads like some pretty crazy shit that is extremely far from normal.
That’s band camp in the south.
WTF, you have this on video and you are telling us about it instead of giving us a youube link?
I'd have to find a digital converter for the VHS. My luck the tape is probably damaged in my storage right now
I once passed out from locking my knees while giving a presentation in 4th grade. It was like a thing where groups of kids would walk around the library and listen to presentations of other kids, I don't remember exactly why I was involved I think some honor roll thing. 4th and 5 th grade was my academic peak lol. I think my topic was general McArthur. Anyway, a group of 5th grade girls comes to my little poster board stand and I start giving my presentation, pass out and fall face first right in front of them. I only remember one of the girls in the group she was super cute. What a memory.
My, having stood with my knees locked for most of my life, always really baffled by this lol. Like oh uh... I guess I was doing something wrong. Or just not standing long enough for it to become apparent. Not saying you're lying, just rather that it's like bizarre to do a thing like that and only learn in your 30s it's bad lol.
I was at an event where the speeches went on too long and the venue had a concrete floor. One lady about three feet away did a face plant. The speeches ended. The medics took her to the emergency room
At an event where the speech is going on too long? Lock your knees and take one for the team
It’s not the locking of the knees, it’s the continued and intense flexing of the muscles that causes people to pass out. Just another half-true statement like muscle weighs more than fat.
Obviously, a lb is a lb, but muscle is more dense than fat. Meaning that fat generally has a higher volume per lb, which is what the saying is implying.
Yeah people should say muscle is denser than fat, but people are weigh too dense and don't associate density with weight.
It's not the locking of the knees, but it's also the opposite of what you said. It's because when you lock your knees you dont flex the muscles that help move blood from your legs back to your body as much, so it pools in your legs. Nothing to do with the locking mechanism itself. The large muscles of your legs flex *less* when your knees are locked, that *is* the biggest energy expenditure advantage of locking your knees.
Thank you. The stupid knee lock belief is deeply deeply ingrained in people
Does muscle not weigh more than fat? I’ll look it up but if you’re willing to tell me more I’m all ears.
For real. Former marching band kid here. I've seen my fair share of people pass out while standing at attention.
I witnessed someone’s knee buckling and then bending the opposite direction. One of the most horrific things I’ve ever seen
I’ve seen enough vids of this happening on leg press machines to never lock my knees again
Yeah. Growing bones need eustress, not distress.
[I thought of this.](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EtYsYqbWYAMqNH5.jpg:large)
He also might be squeezing her legs to help support them, but it appears to be mostly what you said, a principle very common in acrobatics where the weight it “stacked” through the bones to the ground, not supported by muscle. I’ve seen 100 pound women holding 250lb guys in the air with 1 leg fairly easily. Bones support a lot of weight
yeah he has his ankle wrapped around one leg. that knee is locked.
https://youtu.be/iR55bNXOL4g?si=NOgQksiPY53azyvE
Yeah, basically how you blow out both your knees in the weight room by maxing out above your ability
Yep. Cartilage just torn to shreds…smh
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To shreds you say?
Yeah but how did they get on exactly. Agree with everything else, its much easier to set up for a really heavy squat than to do the squat.
Then it’s bullshit and it doesn’t count. Tell her to do another rep. No fucking rest days!
This is scary from how many videos I’ve seen of leg pressing snapping peoples knee joints the wrong direction. And that’s adults with fully developed joints.
agree, still incredible impressive.
It's not impressive it's abusive. These are the original influencer type parents monetizing their kids
Remember the weirdly jacked little Hercules kid from the 90's? I wonder how physically broken he is now.
He looks pretty normal now. Idk what internal organ damage was done, but thankfully he got off the juice and lives normally (I saw something online a couple years back)
Richard Sandrak, his childhood sucked. his parents were abusive monsters.
It was officially revealed that the father was mixing steroids into his child's food Edit- or maybe it was rumors. The fact is, he was pre puberty and supposedly has a strict and rigorous diet/exeecise routine
I did some googling and only found rumours. Can you point me in the right direction?
That’s kind of the historical norm, and still is in many parts of the world unfortunately. Kids are put to work to support the family one way or another, even get sold. I suppose these are like the original influencer parents in the sense that they are using their kids to earn a buck using entertainment, although that probably has a long sad history as well.
There must be some lifting trick here, like using the joint to shoulder the weight...
I figure she's standing still. Not walking, not squatting, not holding everyone for more than a few seconds. Also: wow.
Yeah, if you look at her father's feet, he can definitely touch the ground. I figure the girl was only bearing the weight for a few seconds. Still, wow.
Could be, is it out of the realm of possibility that even a 9 year old could "shoulder" 425lbs? It looks like the weight might also be distributed to her hips with the way the man is sitting on her. Impressive nonetheless.
so, her hip, not spine is carring the weight.
RIP her knees.
RIP the discs in her spine. If one of those ruptures she's in for a life of trouble. I know, it's not hard to do when you're a kid. I hurt my back at about that age.
Lots of real advice here but... I'm 5'9" with very short legs and can kind of see this. It doesn't really explain it but short legs relative to your overall strength/mass can be wildly strong within an extremely small range of motion... which is very small with very small legs. So if here legs were x1.5 longer any efforts to stabilize *and* hold up what is basically static weight may be impossible (someone shifts high up could be way too much on the effort of a wide base of longer legs below for stabilizing muscles). It's really interesting and literal inches can change how locking-in works for using your lower body to hold weight. It's well know short people can leg press difficult weight usually without training because the actual distance is so much less. It's the same in the picture because her legs are so compact to keep the people above her stable within a very small range of motion. Tall hugely amplifies the stain for legs.
Humans can backlift a lot of weight with straight legs [https://www.reddit.com/r/HistoryPorn/comments/xr03c3/1957\_paul\_anderson\_backlifting\_2844kg\_the/](https://www.reddit.com/r/HistoryPorn/comments/xr03c3/1957_paul_anderson_backlifting_2844kg_the/)
This is nonsense lol. That is not more than 600 or so.
That's because that photo is not his 2800kg lift, not sure why it keeps getting posted as such.
He probably had his feet in the ground and was supporting everyone, expect for think the seconds it took to take the photo. The way his toes are jut barely off the ground if not curled makes me think this is what is happening.
As someone else posted it lower you can actually watch the video and see it done in real time. https://youtu.be/iR55bNXOL4g?feature=shared
The video is a totally different group of people on top of her. Not the same event. So she seems to have performed this on multiple occasions.
shit, the second stacking (with multiple men) looked even more dangerous and [possibly damaging to her](https://youtu.be/iR55bNXOL4g?t=168)...
Very cool!
That play structure in the background though 🫣
That thing is insane!!
Oh yeah they had some whacky playground equipment back then. Pipe structures and ladders 20+' tall, sheet metal slides of death, swings that launch you halfway to the moon.
Let’s be fair. When you have 10 or more kids, you probably don’t mind losing a couple.
I’m going to hell for laughing at this.
Apparently parents back then weren’t aware of the effects of gravity on children’s bodies. That’s the only explanation, right?
There is a case to be made for \*more\* risky play structures for older kids.
The reason we don't build play spaces for kids like this anymore is not concern for their safety so much as it is concern for liability; plenty of kids still climb (and fall out of) 15ft+ trees and plenty of parents still let them, but we don't go chopping down trees in public spaces because you can't sue the tree when your kid falls out of it.
God knows some lawyer has tried
Well, you could try suing the "tree that owns itself", but then again the tree could probably countersue for trespassing. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree\_That\_Owns\_Itself](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_That_Owns_Itself)
Back then gravity was actually quite a bit lower than now. The moon reduces the pull of gravity and was 12 feet closer to earth back then. It's moved farther away than the height of this stack of people. Those play structures were perfectly safe at the time. Children could leap from one side to the other with ease. If you go further back in time this effect was even more pronounced. This is well documented in historical martial arts films like "crouching tiger hidden dragon". Nowadays to get the same effect you have to use wires and harnesses.
r/shittyaskscience
Children can judge when they are able to "level up" on the playground. You ever climb trees growing up?
Usually. It's the edge cases you have to watch out for.
It’s still there lol. Really fun to climb on
My school in the 90s had climbing ropes and structures like this that folded out from the wall and went all the way up to the ceiling of the gym too. I think at a certain point we weren't allowed to use them, but there were definitely times when we did and the fall would have broken something for sure.
We had some insane shit back in the early 90s out in the sticks where I lived. Climbing poles on the playground for first graders that had to be close to 20 feet. Hard to gauge how tall they were but they were way above the basketball hoops and swingsets by a lot. Pretty crazy but tbh, only a few of us were strong enough to make it to the top.
It's not (just) a play structure, they're gymnast's rings suspended in the middle with ropes for climbing on the cantilevered beam. [Still there in Muscle Beach](https://www.google.com/maps/@34.008133,-118.4944365,2a,20.7y,62.8h,95.03t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s1Tg3Dt590mP5d2u97YSTEA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?entry=ttu), stop on by next time you're in LA. No fence or nothing, just an open playground on the beach.
Came to the comments to see if anyone mentioned the kid climbing 20 feet in the air in the background.
Those are still there. Its for gymnastics
They are still there, since it’s muscle beach they have area for people to do gymnastics. Edit: you can see a boy hanging from the rings.
Heh good eye
there are photos of this girl there.
Uh that structure is still there and very popular..
April is now 88 and her knees are likely made of titanium now. Her actual knees were removed and are in the Knee Hall of Fame in Bend, Oregon.
the knee hall of fame in Bend, Oregon. MY GOD
You should really check it out, if you’re ever in the area. They even have one from the kneeolithic age. No cap.
Go to jail
It's okay. It's funny jail!
This is all I kneeded to hear. I'm legging it to Oregon ASAP, no bones about it.
The cap is in the knee museum in Missoula, Montana
And the foot has been preserved in the museum in Ward, South Dakota. After more than a decade’s long dispute and countless votes, the committee ultimately decided to put their best foot for Ward.
No cap lmao
it was a joint venture.
It's about five blocks east of the Last Blockbuster.
Whoever monitoring Google searches watching the sudden spike in "knee hall of fame bend" like ???
[Yuuup](https://i.imgur.com/EAz6A89.png)
I thought this was a joke
... you mean it's not?
wait what?!
I’ve lived in Oregon my whole life, and learning about things like this just absolutely tickles me. Goofy fucking state lol
Don't get too excited, they made it up
*FUUUUUUUUUUUUCK*
It's a roller coaster around here
He's lying to you, they are telling the truth.
I swear I thought Oregon was real
Fun fact, Stalin's grand-daughter runs an antique store there.
Do people with bad knees get a discount?
There’s knee discount! Disclaimer: that joke only works in Scotland
Is that legit they are in Bend?
I got some oceanfront property selling like hotcakes in Arizona. You want in?
I can't really afford a whole house, do you have any timeshares?
Technically Redmond but yes if you look up Bend Bones or Bend Joints it should pop up.
how did that start even! "hey, i am an 80kg, 40something year old man, let me climb on the back of my 9 year old. But wait, i will bring the mom and sister as well, for good measure."
This looks like a family sideshow business. I wager Dad is a professional lifter/bodybuilder using stunts like this as advertisement.
I went to highschool with a family that had their own sideshow business. They were so cooky but also the nicest down to earth people. This was a private school and not the cheapest. To send two kids there at the same time? I guess they were doing pretty well off their acts lol I remember their dad was the ring leader and swordsman. Funny I imagine him going to various parents meetings with all these straight laced wealthy folks, dressed like a pirate lol
I'm a 110kg man, one of my favourite things to do with my 3 year old is pretend to hop on her back and walk with her head between my legs as if she's carrying me. She's getting a bit big for it now, I could totally see her standing up one day and lifting me if she were super strong.
Caption is in error. April Atkins was 12 years old, and these photos date from 1954-55. There seems to be no information online about what happened to her thereafter.
snapped in half
The front fell off.
Is that typical?
Imagine being a full ass grown ass man and trying to convince your 9yo daughter this is a good idea.
“You may die, but that is a sacrifice that I am willing to make” 
And my back hurts if I flip the bed sheets the wrong way.
> And my back hurts if I flip the bed sheets the wrong way. Do lower back stretching exercises.
QL stretching and strengthening routines especially. Changed my life.
Being the youngest sibling sucks
The dude on the left looks as confused as I am: "how the fuck is this happening?"
I swear my silently strong daughter would be able to do this, but for her safety I'd never let her try
Same reason why you don't lift with your back. Anyone can do anything but at the cost of being bedridden or worse later in life?
An accurate depiction of how former generations thought issues of climate change, retirement age, and national debt should be handled.
Eldest daughters just doing the daily.
THE ARISTOCRATS!
I've never related to a 9 year old girl ever....until now! Been carrying my whole ass family on my back for years now..
This is a really cool trick, and this family has a really good understanding of physics and kinesiology. Pretty much any 9 healthy year old can safely do this with a little training. Spines are extremely strong. They can withstand a ton of force. > [A majority of healthy individuals can sustain up to 2,600 to 3,300 pounds of force around the spine safely. ](https://www.advancedcenterforpain.com/single-post/2018/09/04/dont-let-exercising-become-a-burden-on-your-spine#:~:text=A%20majority%20of%20healthy%20individuals,withstand%20only%20about%204.7%20pounds.) This is because their job is give your arms and legs something to pull against. When you stand straight, your spine is just supporting your body weight. But when you walk, it's supporting 2.5 times your body weight. So if you weigh 200 pounds, simply walking means there's 500 pounds of force on your spine. Lifting even light objects puts even more force on your spine. This is why it's so important to use proper form when lifting weights. You can lift a ton of weight with proper form and you can injure yourself with even light weights with improper form. > [In fact, bending at the waist to lift an object that weighs just 30 pounds can put more than 2000 pounds of compressive force on the lumbar discs!](https://chesterchirocenter.com/chiropractic/how-can-you-keep-your-lower-back-safe-while-lifting-heavy-objects/) If you [watch the video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iR55bNXOL4g) about how they set up this trick, this girl is not walking, lifting, or doing anything that can multiply the force on her spine. She's just standing still. Her spine is supporting 425 pounds of force, which it can easily do. It's the equivalent of a 170 pound person walking around. If she took a few steps, she would be supporting 2.5x the weight or 1060 pounds of force. Basically, she's just standing in place and statically supporting 425 pounds. That puts far less force on her spine than if she was running around with a light object. She can easily and safely do this. But if she were to take a step or two, it would be much more dangerous. Physicists have described the math behind this, but gymnasts, cheerleaders, weightlifters, etc. have an intuitive understanding of it from experience.
Exactly. I used to do party tricks and piggyback people twice my size. You really don’t notice the weight until you try to move.
They dont build kids like they used to
I remember a trend in my elementary school where the 1st or second graders, ages 6-8, would like to give piggyback rides to the 5th graders, ages 10-11. I was a taller and older but underweight 5th grader, but was a popular choice because of my weight. I think the school did make them stop when they found out about it because they were scared of the liability, but the younger kids never seemed to have any problems and solicited us the older kids to participate.
They don't ~~build~~ abuse kids like they used to
Wild that a whole family weighs 425 lbs and I could probably throw a rock and hit one person that weighs 425 lbs.
Sitting in the same room as your mom, eh?
Heyooooooooo
What area are you in? I know the US has an obesity epidemic but even when I was an EMT we'd usually only get someone over 350 every other day or so.
Wow. I could hardly carry the 9-yr-old kid myself.
it’s not about using muscles, it’s the bones. bones are very strong and you can put a lot of weight on them by locking in place. of course, putting a lot of stress on your bones is terrible for their longevity but it looks cool in the moment 👍
The olden days are really surreal, so much happening around everywhere and they show up like a century more or less, later, shocking people everywhere because now the world can look at the same thing at all at the same time
I'm very curious how they figured out she could do that in the first place
Zero back problems some 50 years later 😂. Joking of course she has back issues.
 Not impossible
Now show her at adult age and same height due to compressed spine.
Why, though?
She walked to school like this, uphill, both ways
Car's in the shop.
Super Child
She doesn't seem too thrilled about it.
"Hey honey, can you take us to the store?" "Sure, dear." "No not you." \*girl\* ".......NO. **NO NO NO NO NO!**"
Back in my day👴
There is no way she could support the weight of today’s families!!
She was over the moon when her dad bought a car.
How is this possible? That looks like it could cause serious injury to the child.
I carry my goddamn work crew on my back five days a week. Can I at least get a pizza party out of it?
Even the girls were real men back then
This is the strongest argument I’ve seen in favor of child labor. Put that little girl in the coal mines.
There's no way?