Harvey Mainz was quite impressed as he walked around Muscle Beach on Mieni with Susie Pringle as this presented another big part of the coverage that was to relate to the IAC. Some things related to the various competitions from the IAC, and Susie had been busy with a few of those events, though a lot of it still had some limitations given Covid concerns, though much of that related to vaccines, masks, and social distancing rules, but that was all workable. The biggest part was to provide some comparison between Humans and Animalians, largely as a result of questions that had been asked on why various major sports leagues didn't have Animalians in them. Most of the questions had come from people who were supportive of Animalia, which was nice, but they also missed certain facts that showed the differences between Humans and Animalians.
For given certain features that all Animalians had that carried over from the animals the Animalian was based on, an Animalian often had certain physical advantages Humans didn't have and would skew any direct physical competition in favor of the Animalian. During the last IAC, Animalia Ambassadoria did a special that showed how things related to speed and running and demonstrated how most Animalians, particularly those with a digitigrade foot structure proved to be excellent runners and easily outpaced the casual Human athlete in both speed and endurance. Only top tier Human athletes could do better than those Animalians that were species that weren't known for running or were only good at speed or endurance and they couldn't match an Animalian that was based on an animal that was good at running and good for both speed and endurance. The differences had been closer, but the Animalian had easily won. The plan was to run that kind of comparison again in this IAC, with strength, since that was something that voters on a poll had been asked on what they wanted for the Human/Animalian comparison.
However, some issues had hit a snag. For normally the IAC was held in years between Olympics so that way they wouldn't be drawing potential athletes from events or related festivities and thus they would have good Human athletes to provide a comparison. It was also something that would allow them to avoid issues with other professional sports circuits and their schedules. But because of the pandemic the previous year took out the Summer Olympics in 2020 and moved them back to 2021, the IAC was now competing against them. This meant that they didn't have access to many of the athletes that would be the most available to help with the comparison and weren't getting as many views. Harvey had followed some things and found that while there were people watching many of the IAC events in person, the Animalia Ambassadoria website which provided the live shots of the competitions WASN'T getting as many views as more people were tuning into the Olympics in Tokyo.
They did get some help though, as one of the Humans who had come to watch the body building competition at Muscle Beach had been more than willing to participate in the competition when he'd noticed Harvey and Susie setting up cameras at a time when there was no immediate IAC event on that day. He, a Tyler Zip, volunteered eagerly when Harvey explained what they were doing. They'd also gotten help in sending a call to a professional body builder, Jacen Synda, that had been excluded from some of the other competitions, though more due to not qualifying for them. It wasn't great, but it was going to be the best available. Against them they'd had arranged for an immediate comparison with Travis, who was observing things with Sarah for the more average Animalian build, since Dalmatians were not necessarily known or used for strength and pulling power. They'd also gotten some help with Buford who was also there to compete in the body building competition, though the reports seemed that the Bull Shark Animalian was getting about all he could handle with "the Bald Bull" also competing. They would then have a cut in segment to Dino City where Fred Stairs and Eliza Doolittle would provide a segment that would also show the upper limits that Dino City's strongest, Andrew and Luke could reach.
"So... how will the full comparison go?" Tyler asked, "are we just running through every lift and compare strength that way?"
"There's a lot of lifts, though," Jacen commented, "it might be easier to do one lift and then assume that a general similarity would then apply across the board."
Buford nodded and glanced over to the other staff members from Mieni who were there around the weights and bars to help, "It'd then make changing the weights easier."
"That was the general plan," Susie commented, "though Harvey and I talked and wanted to make sure we didn't force you guys into a lift you didn't want to do or didn't like."
"I would say to go with something simple, that everyone knows," Travis commented, "like the bench press or something like that."
The others nodded and Harvey and Susie then nodded to each other and from there they then moved to the camera to begin the introduction to start the segment. Susie pressed the record button and the the two then began to start the intro as they walked back into where they would be recorded and with the benches that would be used and with a few of the judges that were there for the body building part of the IAC also there to serve as spotters, which included Samson, Anton, and Ran, this was intended to insure that no one would get hurt.
"During the last IAC, Animalia Ambassadoria began to formalize the comparison between Human and Animalian athletes and comparing various running speeds," Harvey began, "this is Harvey Mainz with Susie Pringle and we're here at Muscle Beach to continue to show the differences between Human and Animalian athletes to thus show why many major sports leagues do not have Animalians on their rosters and this would relate to contests of strength."
"Now, we don't have the time to show every lift or demonstrate what it would take for a Human athletes to move an Animalian athlete if they were playing a sport like football against each other," Susie continued, "but we can show a comparison of strength... in a demonstration of the bench press where two Human volunteers will "compete" with two Animalians. From the Humans we have Tyler Zip who's come here to watch the body building competition here at Mieni and volunteered to represent our "average Human" and Jacen Synda to represent the more professional athletes."
"Jacen has competed in various body building competitions in the US, though only at the lower tiers and away from major competitions," Harvey picked up, "but the workout's he's had to do for the competitions he has qualified for are extensive and he looks forward to getting into some of the bigger competitions soon. He and Tyler will be compared with at least one familiar face to Animalia Ambassadoria viewers, Travis, who has been here to watch some of the swimming, beach, and other related events. Travis will be representing the more average Animalian and one that isn't known for its strength. With him is Buford, representing a more professional and stronger Animalian who is also competing in the Body Building competition here at Muscle Beach."
"We also have a familiar face among the judges and spotters for the comparison," Susie picked up and gestured to the three Animalians standing behind the benches that were there, and particularly to Samson. "Samson and Ran will spot for those lifting while Anton will provide judgement on whether or not the lift was done properly. Given that this is more for comparison and not actual competition, bad form in a lift will only require a do over and advice on how to do it." Susie then paused and looked over to their volunteers, "the lifts will go in pairs with one pair going first and the other following. Do you understand the rules?"
There were a few nods and a few voiced answers of "yes" before they then continued. With that, Tyler and Travis were escorted to the benches by Anton while Samson and Ran carried the metal bars to the benches and placed them on the ends of the benches.
"To set the base line we will start with just the bar which for the purpose of this contest we will start with a standard Olympic standard barbell weighing at 44 pounds," Harvey spoke, "Each contestant will then do the left and then wipe down the bench to let the next take his place to continue the comparison. Should we get to a point where we go beyond what the Olympic standard barbell can support, we will transition over to the standard Animalian bar, which weighs closer to 88 pounds. The weights will then be redistributed in order that the total weight per lift remains at the same pace that we will start with at ten pound intervals."
The "Animalian bar" was something that had often come out with how successful many of the Animalians had been at lifting and larger Animalians, if they truly worked at it, could pass many of the weights that the Olympic standard was designed to hold. Buford as a 209 pound Bull Shark Animalian, and was smaller than his wife... as female sharks are larger than males, had the potential to reach into those higher limits. Some of the larger Animalians that were even bigger were proving to be strong enough to easily need a bigger bar. Many of the Dinotopians in Dino City were big enough that even the Animalian bar was too small. Harvey remembered a stunt from when when Dino City got started that showed Mr. M do curls with the Animalian bar one handed. However, Harvey was uncertain how much that would be needed. Tyler was in decent shape and likely did some lifting, but it wasn't routine or with the intent of building up a lot of bulk muscle. And while Jacen was a professional at body building and lifting, he was at the lower tier and thus it was unlikely he'd set any records. Even Travis, who as a double dosed Dalmatian Animalian didn't look big enough that he would need the Animalian bar. Buford would be the only one where that was possible.
Harvey and Susie then stepped aside so that the camera would have full view of the lifts as they were done. They went through them with relative ease at first, though both Tyler and Travis got a fair number of pointers from Anton on how to better perform the lifts and had the "do over." This eventually went on with predictable results. Tyler did fairly well in the beginning, but as more weights were added, he began to struggle a bit more. By the time they got to adding thirty pounds to the weight of the bar, Tyler admitted he'd reached a point that was a bit beyond his ability. Travis continued on, and this then lead to the next comparison to see how well Jacen would do. Here the contest became one of the fact that Travis, despite being an Animalian, wasn't one that got into body building, and that Jacen, while a professional body builder and weight lifter was from the lower tiers. They got to about one hundred forty pounds of weight added to the weight before Harvey and Susie could see any sign of struggle between them.
It was only after that point where that became better known. Jacen managed to make it to one hundred fifty pounds added to the bar before he couldn't get it up anymore. Travis managed his way up to one hundred sixty pounds added to the bar before he backed down. Buford continued on with relative ease. He continued on until beginning to reach his limit at around three hundred fifty pounds added to the bar. It was impressive and so far as Harvey knew below the world record for the weight, but to an extent it was a potential test and the largest of the Animalian lifters was Buford, who was still lighter than the man who'd set the record with regard to the lift without some extra "shirt."
"This concludes the strength comparison," Harvey spoke, "and going in order and counting the weight of the bar, we have Tyler who pressed 74 pounds, then Jacen with 194 pounds, then Travis with 204 pounds, and finally Buford with 394 pounds. Anton... do we have any statistics to compare that two from the rules and records?"
"The official world record was set earlier this year at 783 pounds among Human athletes, which would less than twice the weight that Buford pressed," Anton answered, "though it should also be noted that the man who performed the lift is more than twice Buford's weight. In this, one could make the case that pound for pound, Buford is stronger."
"And Buford isn't the largest Animalian competing here for the IAC," Susie commented, "which means if some of the larger Animalians that were competing were here, they might surpass that record."
"And with that we can turn to some communication with Dino City where we've have some friends there covering a similar comparison with the biggest Animalians around," Harvey commented and then fished through his phone and managed to contact Fred Stairs and Eliza Doolittle and soon had them vocally speaking with them. "Hey, Fred, Eliza, have you two been following our progress here, live?"
"Yes, we have," Fred answered, "and it has earned some amusement here in the Dino Dome where Animalia's largest Dinotopians, the Brachiosaur, Andrew, and the Diplodocus, Luke, have been keeping pace with Mister M and a few of "Sargent" Slash's officers helping as spotters. We will be sending the film to you so that the world can see it, but for the moment we can also relay on what has gone on here."
"And a lot has... and in a way size is a good place to start," Eliza commented, "the bars our two Sauropod Dinotopians use are massive when compared to the Olympic standard. They are longer, thicker, and heavier. This also works with the weights as well, which while they look like stone, they aren't. Many can be as light as ten pounds, but they have weights that are individually heavier than the Olympic standard bar. They also have a hydraulic press that can push down with set weights and a specialized mechanism that either the spotter or even the lifter can access that can protect the lifter in the case of power failure."
"And what eight are Andrew and Luke approaching now?" Harvey asked.
"They've just passed two tons in weight and are going fairly strong," Fred answered, "Luke might be struggling a bit more than Andrew... but that's still showing how strong the Dinotopians are and how that relates to their own size."
"And that would be?" Harvey asked.
"Luke is the slightly smaller of the two," Fred answered, "pre-test weigh in had him at 1, 700 pounds, most of which is muscle. Andrew is heavier at 2, 300 pounds and it should be noted that while both have the hollow air sacks in their bones... similar to all bird Animalians and the fossil record, it should be noted that the air sacks in Andrews bones are slightly smaller than Luke's. I was able to call Doctor Ramos and he thinks this could relate to the evolution of some of the Titanosaur sauropods that emerged in the Cretaceous and were among the largest Dinosaurs to evolve. Brachiosaurus wasn't a Titanosaur... but it is grouped closer to the specific group of Sauropods that lead to the Titanosaurs. Diplodocus was even further away."
There was a small whistle at that. Everyone knew that the Animalia Virus had an odd effect in that Animalians that were based off of animals up to the size of bears remained about the same size as the mundane animal, and Animalians based off of animals smaller than Humans grew at least enough to match Humans. If that Animalian was a converted Human they stayed at the same size they were as Human. But with animals larger than bears, it was noted that even larger, it was often noted that the Animalian was often scaled down, and the degree depended on the size of the animal. Elephant Animalians were the largest of any contemporary land animal based Animalian, but weren't as massive as they were before being uplifted. Bennie, an Orca Animalian wasn't 30+ feet long despite the fact that the mundane marine mammal could be bigger than that. The Dinotopians were clear images of this, as Brachiosaurus could be more than 30 feet tall and almost 70 feet long, but Andrew was nowhere near that height or length, despite how big he was.
"Which shows how big Dinotopians can be," Susie commented.
They waited for a moment before Eliza picked up.
"And Luke just maxed out at 2.5 tons," Eliza reported, "and Andrew is starting to struggle a bit, but not by too much."
They then finished before Fred picked up in closing.
"And Andrew just maxed out at three tons," Fred reported, "showing how strong he is and what comes with the size of Dinotopians."
Harvey nodded, "Thanks Fred, Eliza." He then paused to hang up the phone and put one hand behind him to count down from five with that hand. This was to serve for an editing format so that the video from Dino City could be inserted later. Once he finished that countdown he picked up, "and this then shows some of the strength differences between Humans and Animalians and how the size of the Animalian comes into question. With smaller Animalians, a top tier athlete could potentially prove to be stronger... but the larger the Animalian, the stronger it becomes and that could well reach to a point where the Human athlete cannot contend. We will put up a new poll on what other aspects of Animalian physical forms and abilities to be used in the next IAC after this year's IAC concludes. Hopefully, this continues to show the realities that while we all love sports... at least for the moment, safety for ALL athletes is a big part of why we do not yet have Animalians as NFL linemen or competing against Humans in contests of strength."