Though I am a fan of strength training, olde time strong men, and fitness in general, I always find it entertaining to hear about stories where cleverness won out over brute strength. In the early 2000s, I had the good fortune to meet many famous people in strength and fitness circles through my company, Max Kettlebells. Included among those I met were professional bodybuilders, World’s Strongest Man competitors, and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fighters. I became close friends with some of them and loved to listen to their stories. Among the many athletes I had encountered, one of the greatest was Mark Henry, a giant among giants.

Mr. Henry’s resume includes world-class powerlifter, Olympic weightlifter, competitive strongman, and professional wrestler with the WWE. He is a two-time Olympian and has earned gold, silver, and bronze medals at the Pan American Games.

At six-foot, four inches, 400 pounds, Mark was big even by strong man standards. Next to Mark, I looked like a toddler, literally. There is actually a picture somewhere amongst my photos of us shaking hands, and it is comical the way his hand swallows my forearm.

As you can imagine, strongmen get to know each other, as they do not have many peers. A mutual friend was famed performing strongman, John Brookfield. Over the years, Brookfield broke many records and has been featured on “Ripley’s Believe It Or Not” and in The Guinness World Book of Records, most notably for his tremendous grip strength. He can literally bend and tear metal with his bare hands! Though John is a large man —measuring six feet, one inch and weighing approximately 260 pounds at the time — he was tiny standing next to Mark Henry.

The two men had been friends for many years, and one day when they were at a gym for a seminar, Mark said to John, “All right Brookfield, I challenge you to a test of strength. Anything in here.” Mark pointed at the weight equipment in the facility. “But none of that grip stuff.” Mark was no fool. Though he outsized John by 140 pounds and was almost two decades younger, he knew the strength in John’s hands was unparalleled. Brookfield thought for a moment, looked around the room, then finally said with a grin, “OK. Chin-ups.” “Aw, man,” Mark Henry sighed. He knew he could not win the bet because, as every strength athlete knows, really big men are not usually good at bodyweight things such as a simple chin-up.

The moral of the story is that while size actually does matter, wit can outperform muscle. Often in life, we let our emotions dictate our actions. I certainly know I am guilty of this from time to time. Instead, take a moment, assess your situation, then choose the best course of action. You never know when you will be challenged to a feat of strength by a seemingly unbeatable giant and will have to rely upon your brains instead of your brawn.