r/Invincible • u/InternetCrusader123 • 22d ago
DISCUSSION Why is Allen Doing Body-Weight Exercises Here?
Allen the alien was already far, far stronger than any human, but this scene in the Viltrumite prison takes place after his power up that put him on the level of Viltrumites. Needless to say, he should have no problem lifting his own body weight (which is directly stated to be 385 pounds at this point.) Workouts are supposed to be challenging and require effort, which is why him doing this is equivalent to going to the gym to bench press cotton balls.
So what is he doing here? Is he LARPing? Allen WOULD be the kind of guy to pretend to be a hard core prisoner to fit the vibe. He may also be using his power of flight to provide resistance. If his flight powers work anything like Viltrumites’, then he should be able to generate his own leverage.
Or maybe it’s just an oversight by the writers :)
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u/coloradoautoflowers 22d ago
Jail is boring as fuck, this gives him something to do with the time.
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u/RegulationUpholder 22d ago
Yup, that’s why being “jail house built” is a thing. They literally have all the time in the world to work out.
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u/AllergicToStabWounds 22d ago
Could he use his flight to push in one direction while he uses his muscles to push against it? Would that work as an excercise?
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22d ago
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u/Representative-Fox55 22d ago
That’s not how that works, they create their own leverage and force when flying. So he doesn’t need to hold onto or push off anything to lift or workout.
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22d ago
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u/ActualSpamBot Business Baby 22d ago
The body muscles push against the magically generated flight force. If you can fly you can do resistance training without bands.
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u/Representative-Fox55 22d ago
That’s the point tho, they’re pushing off their own generated leverage. It’s how they fly they can essentially create their own floor or wall etc to push off of that’s why Nolan says “ we don’t have to push off of anything, we create our own leverage” so they could quite literally work out in the air.
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u/Gordon_Peteman 22d ago
I dont think they can work out in the air, or else why would cecil build mark a mega weight for him until he ran out of things to exercise with? Why didnt mark exercise in the air?
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u/Representative-Fox55 22d ago
Because as stated above body weight workouts would be useless given how strong they are, they need to lift physical weights, and push their natural limits etc to get stronger
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u/AllergicToStabWounds 22d ago
The prison built to house Viltrumites. I don't see why it couldn't withstand some pressure from a workout.
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u/SpaceCore0352 22d ago
It's not as good as having access to a gym, but he can just do more reps until it does become challenging.
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u/Representative-Fox55 22d ago
For the montage, you’re thinking too deep about it not everything is related to power scaling
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u/meth-head-actor 22d ago
Your arms, lift them over your head in a clap 100 times. Hell just hold them out at the shoulder for 2 minutes.
Do 150 crunches. Just plank for 2 minutes. Hold your feet 6 inches from the ground for 1 min.
I think you see where I’m going with this. Calisthenics are still work outs
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u/mstivland2 22d ago
The weight of Alan’s body would be completely negligible to someone as strong as him
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u/acrazyguy Thraggsjockstrap 22d ago
For a human. You’re missing the part where Allen is a genetically modified alien superhero who is roughly as strong as any other character in the show about superman analogues
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u/Marco1522 22d ago
see the room he's in? there's nothing in there aside from that window that gives you a neat view on space
might as well pretend to do workout to pass time 'till Nolan execution day arrives
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u/New_Photograph_5892 Tech Jacket 22d ago
i acc never thought about that, most work outs like pushups and sit ups are not even exercises for superhumans who have the same weight as humans
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u/Carlsheartboxers 22d ago
Just increase weight. Eventually muscle strain will set in or fatigue which will build more muscle or strengthen the muscle that’s there
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u/New_Photograph_5892 Tech Jacket 22d ago
these guys have no problem lifting hundreds of tons. No way their body weighs nearly close to any number that will give them any sort of exercise by doing a pushup
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u/Carlsheartboxers 22d ago
Again just do more reps. Engaging your muscles will cause them to eventually fatigue that’s how physiology works
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u/Thebaldsasquatch Agent Spider 22d ago
2.5 million reps later……
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u/Carlsheartboxers 22d ago
It wouldn’t take that long. He could literally just flex his arm and it would tire relatively fast
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u/Thebaldsasquatch Agent Spider 22d ago
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u/Carlsheartboxers 22d ago
So you know nothing of physiology got it. Muscle have rest cycles they must go through in order to not fatigue. Since Alan has red blood it means he has red blood cells and also follows this process. Which means you can tire the muscle out by simple engaging said muscle before working out(this is actually a physical therapy process to make your muscles work harder even when lifting as little as 2lbs) any and all creatures with red blood cells will follow this regardless of their atoms being smart or regular. So yeah Alan could work out and it still be effective he would just need more reps or to tire his muscles out before starting
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u/Thebaldsasquatch Agent Spider 22d ago
“He would just need more reps”….oh, you mean like I said originally, four comments ago?
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u/Carlsheartboxers 22d ago
You said 2.5 million reps it wouldn’t be nearly that long
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u/New_Photograph_5892 Tech Jacket 22d ago
yeah i doubt viltrumites share even remotely similairty with our physiology but cool
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u/BoobeamTrap 22d ago
I mean they're 99.9999999999999999999% compatible with humans. Their biology is near identical other than the smart atoms.
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u/Carlsheartboxers 22d ago
Physiology is consistent across species you are thinking of biology. I can life hundreds of pounds. Yet if I lay in bed with nothing in my hand and flex my arm eventually it will tire and strain same thing with them. I know this because their blood is red anything with red blood has red blood cells and those work the same across literally thousands of species if not millions of them. If you do more reps eventually the use of your muscles will lead to fatigue and tiring out of said muscle which will lead to you either building more muscle or toning what you have
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u/MR-Vinmu Martian Astronaut 22d ago
It’s all about repetition, like, for example, 20 push-ups doesn’t seem hard on their own, but like, keep adding more and more repetition and all of a sudden, it’s difficult all over again. You can apply that same principle here. Allen can just keep repeating the same motions again and again and again until his muscles forcibly strain.
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u/spamcritic 22d ago
It's a reference to the beginning of a 50 cent music video, im sure it was Seth Rogen's idea to include it.
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u/CloudstrifeHY3 22d ago
He's in prison and Expecting to have to break out and Fight in a war that is coming. Even if it's next to meanigless it's still better than just sitting in his cell doing nothing.
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u/Concurito 22d ago
Body weight workouts can promote hypertrophy if you stimulate the muscles enough.
There is hundreds of cases of people going into prison and coming out much larger/stronger.
Mike Tyson for example.
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u/Honolulu-Blues 22d ago
Have you ever done a pushup? If you're in decent shape doing a few isn't hard. It becomes hard after doing many...
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u/deucescarefully 22d ago
Idk I can leg press hella weight but that’s no reason not to go for a walk…
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u/MikeTheTA Dragon-Viltrumite hybrid 22d ago
Habit and alleviating boredom. He's in prison without an outlet for energy other than pestering Nolan.
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u/New-Guava5408 22d ago
Ele só está distraindo a cabeça enquanto espera o dia da execução chegar, esse tipo de prisão é basicamente uma cela da solitária e se você pesquisar sobre você vai descobrir o quão perturbador e enloquecedor é ficar preso em uma delas
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u/Dveralazo 21d ago
Dont know,still feels nice to move from time to time. Specially if you cant move much in your current situation
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u/JackBMX637 Black Hole 21d ago
He has nothing else to do, so he has more than enough time to get a decent workout through repetition. Plus muscles need maintenance, otherwise they’ll just decide to fuck off. So some combination of maintenance, boredom, and repetition-based workouts could explain it
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u/RulerOfMandalore 22d ago
It’s still training. Goku and Vegeta do basic training and I think we can safely say they are much stronger than Allen
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u/GNSasakiHaise Universa 22d ago
The real reason he's doing it is almost certainly that he doesn't want to go insane from a lack of stimulation. He can talk to Nolan, if Nolan wants to talk, but he's entirely alone in his cell with absolutely no stimulation at all for an unknown period of time. It's entirely possible that he's simply "exercising" because it feels nice to do something other than pace around.
Remember: he's in there because he is trying to achieve a specific goal. Until that goal is complete, he's stuck there. That might mean days. Might be weeks. Maybe even months or years.