You hear about cases of superhuman strength now and then — such as a mother lifting a car to rescue her pinned child — performing a feat of strength not normally available to humans. So, is there such a thing as superhuman strength? Actually, it’s all about adrenaline. On a day-to-day basis, we only use a small percentage of our muscles’ capability. Adrenaline and noradrendaline, hormones that create a state of fight-or-flight readiness in stressed humans, have the capability of raising the heart rate, dilating the pupils, increasing respiration, slowing digestion, and allowing muscles to contract more than they normally would. A good example is when a body is shocked with electricity. We’ve heard about people being thrown across the room by the shock, or their hands clamping down on live wires so hard that they can’t be loosened. It’s not the current that causes that, but rather the muscles contracting all at once from the current. Call it superhuman, but it's just a normal body reacting by using its full — but not often used — capability.
