Hi /his/, fitizen crossposter here. I really don't know

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>>2266448
The numbers were a little overblown, but people were far more active back in the day.

If you were a soldier/sailor/slave you were basically lifting and running all day, everyday from the age of 12 or younger. A well nourished athlete might have been Zyzz-tier.

We know that Greek rowers able to traverse the Aegean at speeds that the fittest rowers today cannot match.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/02/070208100643.htm

>>2266507
tl;dr:

Athenian Trireme crews were able to row at performances equal to or greater than modern elite rowers.

Ancient Athens had up to 200 triremes at any one time, and with 170 rowers in each ship. That's about 27,000 men out of a total male population of about 150,000, so the rowers were clearly not a small elite.

Fir comparison, the UK today would struggle to man a trireme fleet of this size, so the Athenians likely were far more shredded than puny moderns.

>>2266507
>>2266550
How do we know their records are accurate?

>>2266555
Thucydides might have been full of shit, but his account of this event mentions the journey time in passing, and he does not seem to be boasting. It is also in line with other records, such as people running marathon distances in full battle kit. The Athenians also placed physical fitness in tremendously high regard, so it is not too outlandish to posit that they were generally fitter than people today.

>>2266550
>Louis Cyr:His recorded feats, including lifting 500 pounds (227 kg) with one finger and backlifting 4,337 pounds (1,967 kg), show Cyr to be, according to former International Federation of BodyBuilding & Fitness chairman Ben Weider, the strongest man ever to have lived.

Milo of Crotos:Anecdotes about Milo's almost superhuman strength and lifestyle abound. His daily diet allegedly consisted of 9 kg (20 lbs) of meat, 9 kg (20 lbs) of bread, and 10 litres (18 pt) of wine.[3] Pliny the Elder (XXXVII, 54 = 144) and Solinus (De mirabilibus mundi, 77) both attribute Milo's invincibility in competition to the wrestler's consumption of alectoriae, the gizzard stones of roosters.[2][12] Legends say he carried his own bronze statue to its place at Olympia, and once carried a four-year-old bull on his shoulders before slaughtering, roasting, and devouring it in one day.[2][3] He was said to have achieved the feat of lifting the bull by starting in childhood, lifting and carrying a newborn calf and repeating the feat daily as it grew to maturity.[13][14]