I guess it's not a stupid question.
I love Reddit, but you get a lot of situations where the blind are leading the blind. There are plenty of keyboard warriors answering the above query, likely folks who've never done any manual labor in their life, nor had any experience in weightlifting beyond the odd dumbbell they fondled in high school. Here are a couple examples:
"The thing is the construction worker is probably stronger than a
bodybuilder in REAL strength. I'm on both sides of this. A construction
worker who also lifts as well. I'll tell you there are jack gym Bros
where the strength does not translate outside of the gym, and I know
guys who never lifted a weight strong as fuck from just working with
their hands."
"caffeine, nicotine and dumbass right wing talk radio is basically super soldier serum."
"My dad has been a carpenter since he was in his early 20s. At 50 I’m
convinced he could break my hand by squeezing it. He’s also had a beer
belly his whole life but can throw heavy ass furniture and wood around
like nothing. You would never know by looking at him but he’s
ridiculously strong."
"I
worked with a few gym rat types and they could easily bench more than
me in a controlled manner but I swear when it came to lifting something
dumb heavy and out of position or getting something up a ladder they
could not do it.
I was scared to
move heavy shit with them because I was afraid they would fold up,drop
it and blow my spine to pieces with the dead weight. They had no
endurance they were always tired and needed to eat. I'm sure some of
that was from them hitting the gym after work , they were good guys just
blew my mind. They always wanted to know how much something weighed, im
like I don't fucking know we just got to get it up there stop stalling."
"This is precisely my observation. 30 years in trades and I learned bulky
dudes are weak af. Give me a lean roofer any day of the week."
As someone who's a farmer and a weightlifter, I feel as though I am uniquely qualified answer this query. What a lot of the above people are confusing with strength is work capacity. Work capacity is essentially your ability to do medium intensity physical labor. Your average American has the work capacity of an obese slug. I can't tell you how many times people have told me "oh get help, that's heavy" before I've bent down to pick up an object that weighs maybe thirty to one-hundred pounds, and they're always dumbfounded when I pick it up with little effort. I am certainly not the strongest man alive, but I have decent work capacity from handling forty to fifty pound bushels of produce every single day. Work capacity also encompasses the ability to handle the heat and uncomfortable circumstances. Somebody who works outside, like a day laborer, has a heartier constitution just from getting used to being sweaty, gross, and hot.
At the same time, your average gym bro isn't likely that strong or muscular. Some dude working on his six pack or his Instagram shred is more concerned with being lean than setting world records on any strength lifts. Actual bodybuilders who possess a decent amount of muscle mass are strong as hell, and only a complete ignoramus would insist otherwise. Yeah, sure, I bet your average plumber is stronger than a guy doing reps in the squat with over 400 lbs, Reddit.
In my own case, lifting has helped me perform my job better. I no longer have back pain from picking apples or lifting crates since I started deadlifting a decade ago, and my work capacity has increased from doing multiple sets of compound lifts like squats and presses. Actual strong people look strong ten times out of ten. Question answered! Now let's get down to answering some actually interesting queries, like what's the best monkey or which dinosaur could kill an elephant.
