So you meant in terms of fighting prowess? But you should already know, then, that the visibility of muscles has nothing to do with athletic ability. A guy that works out at the gym daily and models for romance covers could be easily beaten by a frail old man who's a sensei of Cuong Nhu.
I have no idea what Cuong Nhu is but I know that a little child could defeat Brock Lesnar easily outside of the octagon. The situation just has to be such that it favors the child and puts Lesnar in a vulnerable position in regards to the child who would, say, point a gun at Lesnar while he's sleeping, pull the trigger, no more Lesnar.
So yeah, anybody can beat anybody on the street if they succeed in manipulating the outcome of the situation to their favor.
But if we speak in terms of athleticism, absolutely, to a degree you can look at a skinny person and think they're stronger than they look. That definitely happens (with K. Trian for example, she's definitely stronger than she looks with her long, slender limbs).
What I have noticed, however, is that there's strength like that, and then there's the kind of strength where a guy can grab your head as if in an RNC but too high so that there's no danger foryou to choke out and yet they are able to squeeze the head so hard that you simply pass out. I've seen that happen. It just kinda woke me up to the ridiculous amounts of strength some people have. The thing is, guys like that who have freaky strength usually do look the part. I have
never met a skinny guy who could make someone pass out just by squeezing the upper half of someone's head. Or grab me into a bearhug under the arms and squeeze so hard I have to tap out. Big, strong-looking guys, yeah, skinny guys, never (though some have tried just like I but none of us "normal-" or skinny-looking guys could do it).
That's the kind of strength you just have to shake your head at, it's so far above what a skinnier person could ever do because at some point you just have to look at it from the perspective of physics and science. There are limits to what muscles can do and the smaller they are, the lower the limit.
So:
Yes, a smaller person can be surprisingly strong
No, they can't be as strong as the freakishly strong who also look the part
Yes, a smaller person can defeat the bigger/stronger if the situation is tilted in their favor
No, a skinny 100lbs guy wouldn't survive in the octagon (in a fight under standard MMA rules) with, say, UFC heavyweights no matter how skilled he is. Most people accept this as a fact and that's also why there are things like weight classes in combat sports/martial arts tournaments/competitions.
It doesn't necessarily follow that they're unhealthy or healthy because they have that natural state.
I agree, it definitely doesn't. However, I was talking about that in the context of majorities so while that word can get tiring over time, the part where I said something like that also needs the proper context it was said in.
I don't really see what any of that has to do with beauty or attractiveness, though.
It doesn't, not without the proper context. And the context for that in this thread is judging people by their looks. You can't really cultivate the kind of awareness of your surroundings I find necessary for proper self-defense unless you do what has been discussed here in great detail: judge people according to their looks.
Oh, and it's also related to the discussion we've had here about physical ability and a person's ability to estimate someone's physical capabilities solely on their looks alone.
I size up men as far as what sort of physical threat they could pose, yeah. I've had too many run-ins with dangerous men (strangers) to not do so.
That has nothing to do with whether or not I find a man attractive.
*snip*
If the guy is big enough, I move far, far away while they walk by. That sort of thing.
That's exactly the sort of thing I meant: you look at people and make a judgement call (which includes but is not limited to making a rough estimate on their physical capabilities) based on their looks.
I wonder if those musclemen on the covers of magazines can compete with that?
First, I do agree with your entire post and we seem to have similar values and ideals.
I just wondered why you appear to see it as a bad thing that I judge a person's physical ability when I look at them while you (at least as far as I understood it) appeared to see it as acceptable to note that a person looks athletic and then associate negative traits upon them on the basis that they look athletic, i.e. judge them by their looks (the part of your previous post I quoted in my post previous to this one).
There's just that bit in the quote that I would like to ask you about for clarification: do you believe having bigger muscles somehow lowers a person's capacity for mental strength? That's the impression that (possibly rhetoric) I got from that statement.
PS. Props for your mom for hanging tough. My dad's parent's died when the grandfather was 93 and a few years later when the grandmother was 88. My regret is that I didn't know them as well as I would have wanted to and now it's too late.