Weightlifting guru Mark Rippetoe is fond of saying, "Strong people are harder to kill." This is one of those things you hope you personally never have to road-test, since situations that almost kill you are terrifying, stressful and often mean you have to buy new pants. Pants-shopping is almost as awful as almost getting killed.
German Olympic lifter Matthias Steiner was nice enough to test that rule for you. He's nice like that.
Steiner, the gold medalist from Beijing, took more than 400 pounds -- 196 kilos, if you're metric -- moving rapidly downward to the back of the head. Because he is both strong and lucky, he suffered no serious injuries. The lesson here is clear: You need to get stronger, and also need to do this without ever putting 400 pounds over your head and then dropping it on your skull. The Olympics continue to educate you in obvious things unlike no other human endeavor. (Via)