Some communities have developed techniques to help them carry heavier loads. Here's what we can learn from them.

The rural farm workers of Vietnam could be seen as almost superhuman. Every day, they shoulder impressive loads strung to a pole before carrying them for up to several miles at a time by foot. The awkward, bulky packages of produce, tools or other materials can often weigh more than their own bodyweight, yet they seem to take the burden in their stride.

It is a feat most of us would struggle to achieve. Lifting something equivalent to our own bodyweight is hard enough, but then walking long distances with it would defeat all but the hardiest of strongmen or women. The Vietnamese farm workers, however, have a secret weapon – their long springy bamboo poles.

The workers adjust their gait so that the load on either end of the poles oscillates in time with their strides. This reduces the amount of effort required to lift the weight with each step by around 18%, according to one study by researchers who studied the farm workers' carrying abilities.

But even with this springy assistance, there can be little doubt that these farm workers are also just supremely strong after years of carrying heavy loads.

Many of us with jobs that don't involve so much fetching and carrying could also benefit from getting stronger, however. So, what does it take to build this kind of strength?

There can be little doubt that humans have a preoccupation with strength. The sport of weightlifting has captivated audiences for more than 4,000 years and can be traced back to ancient Egypt, Greece and China. Writings, statues and artefacts such as halteres (large throwing stones) from ancient Greece show that competitions involving resistance lifting and strength were popular as early as 557BC.

Of course, the sport has come a long way, becoming a permanent fixture in the Olympics at the 1920 Antwerp games.

At the extreme end we could look at Georgian weightlifter Lasha Talakhadze. At the World Weightlifting Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, in 2021 he achieved three world records, which he still holds today. During the competition he lifted 267kg (584lbs) in the clean and jerk – more than twice his own bodyweight. For most of us, the idea of lifting that much is incomprehensible.

But increasing your strength by lifting weights can bring benefits. Strength training among older adults, for example, has been shown to improve their health and mobility. It can help to build athletic performance and has been linked to lower levels of mortality from conditions such as cancer and heart disease. Some studies have also suggested strength training could be beneficial for mental health too.

Perhaps the most obvious way of getting stronger and carry more is to build muscle. "Developing big muscles and stabilising those muscles," says Jeffrey Ackerman, an associate teaching professor in mechanical engineering who studies load carrying at the Colorado School of Mines. "Our bodies are adapted to carrying our own body mass, then when you add a lot of weight, you really need to be doing strength training in a consistent way to grow your bigger load-carrying muscles, [such as your core and auxiliary muscles], that support the motion of your body while you're carrying things. The only way to train these muscles is through intensive and progressive strength training."

Indeed, higher levels of skeletal muscle mass tend to correlate with strength, although there are

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