{{short description|Ability}} {{Redirect|Super-strength|the beverage also known as Super-strength lager|Malt liquor}} '''Superhuman strength''' is a superpower commonly invoked in fiction and other literary works, such as mythology. It is the power to exert force and lift weights beyond what is physically possible for an ordinary human being.
==History== [[File:Herakles pyre Coustou Louvre MR1809.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Depiction of Hercules by sculptor Guillaume Coustou the Elder, 1704.]] Many fictional works involving superhuman strength are rooted in ancient chronicles.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kripal|first1=Jeffery|title=Mutant and Mystics|date=30 September 2011|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=9780226453835|pages=1|url=https://public.ebookcentral.proquest.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=744008&tm=1512353945591|access-date=2 December 2017|language=en}}</ref>
Attempts to modify the human body in order to gain extraordinary strength have also been depicted in fiction through characters such as Terminator, Robocop, Iron Man, and Cyborg. Similarly, humans too have tried to use external devices to enhance their strength. A device for this purpose was patented by Nicholas Yagn in 1890; the device was described to be an apparatus for facilitating walking, running, and jumping through the use of bags of compressed air.<ref>{{cite patent| title=Apparatus for facilitating walking| pubdate=1890-11-18| url= http://www.google.com/patents/US440684 |inventor-last=Yagn|inventor-first=Nicholas|country=US|number=440684}}</ref> The United States Department of Defense is considering a variety of technologies to create an exoskeleton intended for military use to enhance soldier performance.<ref>{{Cite news |url = http://www.newsweek.com/nanotech-super-threads-98541|title=Nanotech: Super Threads|date=2007-01-07|work= Newsweek |language=en |access-date= 2017-12-01}}</ref>
==Applications== Records describe instances of people going beyond 'normal' strength in specific circumstances, as in the case of Tom Boyle, who was able to lift the front of a car in order to rescue a person trapped beneath it.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://tucson.com/news/local/crime/man-lifts-car-off-pinned-cyclist/article_e7f04bbd-309b-5c7e-808d-1907d91517ac.html|title=Man lifts car off pinned cyclist|last= Huicochea |first= Alexis |website= tucson.com| publisher= |access-date= 28 July 2006}}</ref> Penn State professor of kinesiology Vladimir Zatsiorsky stated that extraordinary strength can occur when a person engages their muscles through the conscious "exertion of will".<ref name=":1">{{cite web |url= https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/extreme-fear-superhuman/ |title= When Fear Makes Us Superhuman|last1=Wise|first1=Jeff|website= Scientific American |date= |access-date=28 December 2009}}</ref> Zatsiorsky claims that trained athletes can improve their strength under specific conditions of competition.<ref name=":1" /> Fear can also cause a person to exhibit enhanced human strength, for example hysterical strength.
==See also== *Berserker *Furor Teutonicus *Myostatin *Physical strength *Hysterical strength
==References== <references />
{{DEFAULTSORT:Superhuman Strength}} Strength Category:Science fiction themes Category:Muscular system Category:Fantasy tropes Category:Tropes