While many dream of being struck with superpowers overnight, this group of men have shocked the world with their extraordinary abilities.
Scientists believe evolutionary adaptations in humans, such as surviving in low oxygen areas or deep divers being able to hold their breath for more than five minutes, may be the closest we will come to having ‘superpowers.’
However, there are some people who have defied the laws of science to break world records and amaze the world with their unique talents.
From being able to store water in their stomach like a camel to running like a monkey, these people have spent years of their lives learning and developing their skill sets.
Below, DailyMail.com reveals the five people with real-life super powers and how they developed them:
Kenichi Ito
Popularly known as Tokyo’s ‘monkey man’, Kenichi Ito hold the Guinness World Record for being the fastest person (15.71 seconds) to complete a 100 meter race while quadrupedal running.
Kenichi Ito holds the Guinness World Record for being the fastest person to complete a 100 meter race while quadrupedal running
Ito, who works as a cleaner and trains for six hours, spent nine years studying the ways in which chimpanzees move
Quadrupedal Running, or ‘running on all fours,’ involves using both the arms and legs to run like a primate.
Ito, who is one of just 100 people who compete in quadrupedal racing, trains for six hours per day and has spent nine years studying the ways in which chimpanzees move.
He explained: ‘You know, my face and body kind of look like a monkey, so from a young age everybody used to tease me, saying “monkey, monkey”.
‘But I wasn’t really bothered because I really liked them, and somewhere inside of me I had this ambition to adopt one of their traits. When I saw a monkey that could run fast, I knew I’d found it – and from that point on I practiced running like a monkey every day.’
As a child, Ito walked around his neighborhood on his hands and feet, wearing gloves and cleated shoes.
Over the years, he also turned his household chores into challenges by trying to complete them while all fours and squatting like a monkey while talking to people.
As a part of his training, Ito looks for walking inspiration from across the animal world online and has season tickets to zoos.
So far he’s developed six distinct forms of all-fours movement including a top-speed gallop to a more leisurely walking pace. He can run at a maximum speed of 14 miles per hour.
Typically, chimpanzees run by first tucking their fingers into a fist on the ground and shifting their weight onto their arms as they push forward with the flat part of their feet.
While there is no clear evidence that walking on all four limbs is better than sticking to just using your legs, a study shows that quadrupedal runners may be faster than leg runners in about 25 years.
A 2016 study by Japanese researchers found that the fastest human on the planet may be a quadrupedal runner at the 2048 Olympics.
The scientists analyzed male bipedal and quadrupedal world record 100 meter sprint times from 2008 using different mathematical curve equations such as linear, quadratic and cubic to predict the maximum speed at future races.
Results found that the winning quadrupedal 100 meter sprinter in 2048 would set the record at 9.27 seconds while the bipedal runner would complete the race in 9.38 seconds – a slim 0.11 second gap.
Juan Ruiz
Blind from birth, Juan Ruiz was born and raised in Mexico and later immigrated to California where he learned to locate objects around him using bat-like echolocation
Blind from birth, Juan Ruiz was born and raised in Mexico and later immigrated to California where he learned to locate objects around him using bat-like echolocation.
Ruiz first began learning echolocation at the age of 12 and set a Guinness World Record in Italy by bicycling around a stage using echolocation.
Echolocation is a biological process where bats emit ultrasonic sounds and analyze the echoes to locate objects and navigate their environment, essentially ‘seeing’ with sound.
Bats, who reside in dark areas, produce high-frequency clicks or whistles that travel through the air or water and bounce off objects in their environment.
When the sounds return to their ears, they are able to pinpoint the location of the object and approach it. The nocturnal animals usually use echolocation to spot and attack prey in dark places.
Similarly, humans can also generate sounds such as tapping their canes, lightly stomping their foot, snapping their fingers or making clicking noises with their mouths and interpret the echoes that bounce off objects.
Experts estimate that about 30 percent of blind people learn how to echolocate at some point in their lives.
And a 2021 study found any human, whether blind or not, can learn to echolocate in the span of 10 weeks.
The study which was published in the Cerebral Cortex journal discovered that after training 14 sighted and 12 blind people for about three hours twice a week over 10 weeks, both blind and sighted people displayed responses to echoes in their visual cortex and were able to complete challenges.
Dickson Oppong
Nicknamed Mr. Waterman and Human Hydrant, Dickson Oppong boasts of his ability to drink up to 1.5 gallon (about five liters) of water in less than two minutes.
He then spits it all out from his stomach in a singular fashion that closely imitates a water fountain.
Born in 1967 in Ghana, he has remained in the international spotlight for his ability to safely chug more water than anyone else on the globe – a feat that has left scientists baffled over how he can do so.
One of his most famous tricks includes spitting out enough water from his stomach to diffuse and completely end fires.
Nicknamed the Mr. Waterman and Human Hydrant, Dickson Oppong boasts of his ability to drink up to 4.5 litres (1.1 gallon) of water in less than two minutes
While in conversation with Tom Hunt of Real Stories, Oppong explained he pressures his stomach muscles to push the water back out through his mouth after drinking it.
As he pointed towards the upper part of his throat, Oppong said: ‘When the water comes up, I can really control it here [the esophagus] and open and close it to spit it out.’
While it is possible to drink 1.1 gallon of water, it’s generally not recommended as it can lead to hyponatremia (low sodium levels) and water intoxication, especially when consumed rapidly – both of which can be deadly.
It is most commonly caused by consuming four liters or more water in a few hours, which leads to a lowering the salt levels in the body to unsafe levels.
Matthias Schlitte
Matthais Schlitte was 16-years-old when he wandered into a bar and discovered he was good at arm-wrestling, due to his genetic condition.
Schlitte was born with a rare genetic disorder known as Klippel-Trénaunay-Weber syndrome, which caused his right forearm muscles to be about 33 percent larger than his left.
The syndrome is a congenital disorder that affects the development of certain blood vessels, soft tissues (such as skin and muscles), bones and at times, the lymphatic system.
Matthais Schlitte was born with a rare genetic disorder known as Klippel-Trénaunay-Weber syndrome which caused his right forearm to be significantly larger than his left
It develops due to genetic changes in the PIK3CA gene that is responsible for the growth of cells and the development of tissues in the body. A change in the gene can cause overgrowth of tissues. It is not inherited and can occur randomly during development.
A common symptom of the disorder is a red birthmark (port-wine stain) on the body, however in Schlitte’s case, the syndrome caused the overgrowth of the bone and tissues in his right arm, causing it to be larger than the rest of the body.
Experts estimate that KTS affects around one in 100,000 people around the world and can affect anyone.
Over the past two decades, Schittle who is also known as Hellboy, has competed in arm-wrestling competition and has become the world’s greatest champion.
The 37-year-old German’s right forearm measures about 20 inches and has even won against an arm wrestling robot. He is also able to crush apples with little to no effort by his right hand.
Eskil Ronningsbakken, 45, successfully travelled upside-down on a bicycle 1,000 meters above an icy fjord, with just a weight dangling below him for stability
He has been honing his death-defying skills since the age of five, with circus troupes around the globe
Eskil Ronningsbakken
Lastly, extreme artist Eskil Ronningsbakken, 45, is known to perform and produce feats of endurance that seem to be super-human.
The Norwegian became a household name in the world of stunts when he successfully travelled upside-down on a bicycle 3,300 feet above an icy fjord, with just a weight dangling below him for stability.
Seeing an Indian yogi on television as a child, Ronningsbakken was inspired to devote his life to his precise art.
He has been honing his death-defying skills since the age of five, with circus troupes around the globe and sees his balancing acts as expressions of art rather than stunts.
After running away from home at the age of 18 to join the circus, he perfected his craft under the expert tutelage of Peter Jakob, a trainer with the Moscow StateCircus.
Ronningsbakken has since performed incredible feats in dangerous setups around the world including once positioning himself upside down and doing a handstand on a trapeze bar placed under a hot air balloon.
