What if Tarzan met up with Conan and a fight broke out? Maybe Conan made a move on Jane or Tarzan did his famous yell at 5:30AM and Conan was nursing a bad hangover. Whatever the case, these two Alpha males would certainly clash if they ran across each other. Although Conan would probably win in a head to head fight, I think Tarzan would school Conan in most athletic events. It is time to Geek Out!
[Note: These are real photos of Tarzan and Conan when they were in peak condition. I’m delivering the hard-to-find photos again. It’s all about connections!]
Tarzan’s Height and Weight vs Conan’s Height and Weight
Judging by these two photos, I’m estimating that Tarzan is around 5’10” and 165-175 pounds. I heard that he pumped up right before this photo by doing pushups behind the tree (he appears a little bigger than normal in this photo). Conan, on the other hand, is 6’1″ tall and around 260 pounds. Almost a 100 pound difference in weight!
Conan Is on the Juice, but Tarzan Isn’t Intimidated
Tarzan knows that Conan’s bulky muscles look impressive, but don’t have as much function in the Jungle. Things like swinging from vines and sprinting over rough terrain are tougher with those extra 100 pounds. No doubt that Conan could crush Tarzan in a rock lifting competition, but Tarzan would smoke Conan in any thing that required any type of endurance.
Raw Strength VS Strength to Weight Ratio
Conan has much more raw strength than Tarzan. In a head to head fight or wrestling match, Conan would most likely come out victorious (if Conan could catch Tarzan). As far as functional strength to survive in the wilderness, Tarzan comes out on top. If a volcano erupted and Tarzan and Conan had to reach higher ground to avoid molten lava, Tarzan would be up a tree in a flash…this wouldn’t be an easy task for Conan.
Conan’s Excessive Muscle Slows Him Down Substantially
In anything requiring speed, Tarzan comes out on top. Same with endurance. Unfortunately for Conan, all that excess muscle just gets in the way the majority of the time. It definitely helps him swing around that massive sword he carries, but he pays a hefty price of being much less athletic compared to Tarzan. No doubt that Tarzan would smoke Conan in most competitions (Tarzan is even smoother with the ladies).
Erwan Le Corre, A True Modern Day “Tarzan”
Recently I was reading one of my favorite blogs, Free the Animal, and Richard wrote about a modern day Tarzan. He is a 37 year old Frenchman named Erwan Le Corre. Le Corre believes our workouts have been “domesticated” and believes we should workout in the outside world instead. This guy is impressive and Men’s Health believes him to one of the fittest men in the world. Here is the Men’s Health article: Fitness to Survive in the Wild.
[This is a cool video. It makes me want to head outside and run around the woods and beach like I did when I was a kid.]
A “Thank You” to the Sites Who Are Redefining the Idea of Fitness
There are many great sites who are pushing away from the idea of “gaining as much muscle as possible”. Unfortunately, most gyms and fitness magazines are still pushing the bodybuilding-type workouts pretty hard. I want to thank those who are offering a better alternative (at least in my opinion). Soon the rest of the fitness world will catch up, but for now…please stay “ahead of the curve”!
Same Thing Goes for Women
Women obviously don’t want a bunch of excess muscle either. I see bad advice thrown around like crazy in my gym. If you don’t want bulky thighs or to become bulky in general, you really need to take a different approach to getting fit. Yes, I know it is tougher for women to put on a lot of muscle, but even 5-10 pounds of extra muscle on your thighs can make a negative impact on your physique. Just be cautious when following typical bodybuilding routines (better yet…avoid them altogether).
I am not well versed about Conan but can say otherwise about Tarzan. You have to get your facts straight. If this is the Tarzan from the novels by E.R. Burroughs that is – I have little respect for the Disney movies of Tarzan as in my humble opinion, they were pathetic. The character which they portray there as Tarzan is so very dissimilar to the original one that I can hardly even wonder how they got the permission of using the name. Perhaps, the fact that it was made after the authors demise allowed it.
Anyways, Tarzan in the novel series has been described as a very large man, his exact measurements has never never been stated but he has been frequently called “White Giant” or similar.
In one novel called Tarzan and the Golden Lion, a look alike of Tarzan appeared who went by the name of Esteban Miranda and he was stated to stand at a full three inches over six feet tall. Therefore we can safely agree that Tarzan is no where near 5’10” or even close, rather he has a much larger frame.
Now about the weight, just as I said earlier that Tarzan had no exact dimensions given, however he had been described as more like Apollo than like Hercules. He has muscles that are large but flowing; not gnarled. His sinews are said to move under his skin with fluidity rather than bulging out. From his overall description it could be concluded that he was muscular but more like a athlete than a body builder.
As for abilities, Tarzan’s unusual upbringing gave him tremendous physical strength. So much to the point where he can effectively fight and subdue wild gorillas with his bare hands – albeit perhaps putting his superior mind to derive his strength but barehanded nonetheless.
He had on several occasions fought and killed lions, wild buffaloes, crocodiles, sharks, bears, tigers, great apes (some gorilla like creatures), leopards and in some rare encounter even dinosaurs (including a pterodactyl) with only a knife. Sometimes he has beaten leopards with just a stick or even barehanded. In the very first book, just after attaining maturity and before his absolute prime he killed a great ape leader by just brawling and slamming. In later books after learning some martial arts from civilized men, he could make short work of apes even faster and with less effort, presumably since apes are similar to humans in anatomy and thus more susceptible to martial arts attacks than other animals.
Further indications of his strength could be seen when he is described to carry a chest that required four strong man to just lift, effortlessly, while moving over the trees. He also had carried full grown men, or hunted animals like deer or boars over the trees for longer amount of times and while doing so maintained the same speed that he was used to moving at. At one occasion he managed to lift up hurl a full grown lion.
Tarzan’s acrobatic skills are above that of great apes and sometimes even monkeys. He shares the same level of jumping potential and with his smarter mind he can improvise – like his use of vines to swing. He could easily jump from one tree to another with even someone on his back and keep it going for hours. In the ground he can out run lions in short races meaning his top sprint speed is more than 40 miles per hour. He can traverse far longer distances than ordinary humans can over the same period of time.
Tarzan is immensely durable, in several cases he survived fights with and injuries from wild beasts as well as humans. Which includes a gun shot wound to the head or a bite to the feet by a crocodile, being hit at the back of the head by clubs and similar weapons. He also in some scenarios suffered falls from great heights but managed to overcome the impacts rather easily.
His speed and reflex are far beyond that of normal humans. He is faster than the predatory beasts at reacting to attacks which he utilizes while fighting lions or leopards. He is also extremely proficient at stealth, as he can sneak up on the ever wary beasts like deer and boars to hunt them by hand.
He has very keen senses and can hear and see much further than ordinary humans and in cases even more so than apes. His sense of smell could be compared to that of a dog and he can use it to spot or track people/beasts.
Tarzan’s other skills include high level of marksmanship with both bows and arrows or riffle. He is also skillful with a knife and spear at both throwing and handling. He can watch better in the dark as he grew up in the jungle and had to survive the pitch black jungle nights. He is an excellent swimmer and can hold his breath long enough to even fight crocodiles under water. He is also proficient with ropes and can throw a lasso to capture a prey.
I am not going to elaborate on Tarzan’s other skills like languages, etc as they won’t be a key in the fight. I am also disregarding communication with animals as this is probably an one on one match.
Finally I would like to add that Tarzan had fought against men larger than himself in various occasions and beaten then effortlessly. He even, in one story, defeated a world Champion Boxer with ease. He has military training as he was in the British Air Force during WW2. Also he is well versed in some martial arts.
Now I do not know how thus resume of Tarzan’s fit against Conan but I think it is different from what you initially gave him credit for. Oh and one more thing. Tarzan deep down is more similar to an animal than a civilized man, in other words he is completely savage and therefore will not hold anything back in a fight. In one fight he was described to try and bite off the opponent’s jugular vein. So there it is, the real Tarzan not the movie version.
Great post. I am dealing with many of these
issues as well..
Tarazn is the precursor of Conan, we know that Robert Howard enjoyed reading works RiSE Burroughs. Anyone who has read something, and notice how much more similar to each other, Tarzan and Conan. Tall, light eyes, dark hair, tanned skin, kolosalnye strength, agility and endurance. They are equal.
You have several things wrong with both characters. First, let’s start with Tarzan.
You claim Tarzan is 5’10 and 165-175 pounds. NOT TRUE!!!! Burrough describes Tarzan as OVER 6’0 TALL when he kills Kerchak…and he’s only 17.
When Jane and company get stranded in Africa (consisting of Jane, her father Professor Archimedes, an assistant, and Clayton, the young Lord Greystoke) Burrough’s favorite word to describe Tarzan from their perspective is “giant”. This is 1905-1906 (in the novel)….165 pounds? A giant? WAY OFF!
Now Conan. Have you read Conan? First, Conan was a Cimmerian. He didn’t grow up in a city (he did go to cities) or a village. He was raised not only by the jungles, but by the deserts, mountains, and every other environment you can think of. He traversed hundreds of miles at a time by foot…sometimes running for miles and miles and miles without stop. Low stamina? Yeah right.
Also, you discredit his speed and agility. I remember Conan being described as a towering (like 6’6) and bristling with muscle (compared to a normal man) but I imagine he was much leaner than a body builder. Also, despite being so big, he was often said to be FASTER and more DEXTEROUS than master thieves half his size.
The plastic toy you used to show conan is not even close to the conan described in the novels.
In the novels Conan is described as having the quickness of a panther with agility and grace to match. Conan wins in battle not but battering through the defenses of others but by striking around them while avoiding their blows.
The Conan of the 2011 movie is much more physically accurate than the Arnie Conan of the 1980s.
Take Conan as written in the origional short stories and you have someone much closer in build to Tarzan and with much greater endurance. He is also someone with years of jungle experience in addition to woodlore good enough to sneak through the jungles of the Pics.
THIS MAKES IT SO CONFUSING!!
you say in other topics that lifting heavy makes denser muscles but here you say heavy lifting makes your muscles larger??
please explain
Although this is way too late to still be commenting on this post, looking up some Tarzan sites led me to this one, for which I am most grateful–SUPER website!!!! So my geek-self felt compelled to respond, if only for education’s sake……Yeah, you really need to read the Tarzan books(if you haven’t yet–cheaply and easily ordered on Amazon)–don’t consider the character anything much like how he has been portrayed in nearly a century now of films(they have YET to get the character right!). He was specifically described by the author as being 6′ 2″, and other fan/afficiondos have estimated his weight anywhere from 230 to 240 lbs. most of the actors portrating the character have been over 6′ and over 200lbs.(with a few, mostly most recent exceptions…) The lion in the illustration you provided(one of Joe Jusko’s paintings) is WAY oversized–actual lions(even the biggest!) DO NOT stand head high to a tall man’s shoulders! Tarzan would have to be only about 4′ tall if this painting was accurate! Raised by apes and growing up constantly climbing and swinging through the trees developed superhuman strength, which allowed the character to successfully survive battles with lions, tigers(in Sumatra during his World War 2 adventure), apes of all kinds, crocodiles, even dinosaurs in one novel! His encounters with single humans were quick and perfunctionary in comparison–there is a great scene where he IS pitted against a huge Conan-like character in an arena of a lost, Roman-like civilization, in “Tarzan And The City Of Gold”, and has the spectators betting heavily on the much larger, more powefully-LOOKING muscled gladiator–Tarzan vanquishes him with embarrassing ease(as he does many such characters in the many books), and even throws him out of the arena! The author, Edgar Rice Burroughs, emphasises the QUALITY(and strength) rather than the Quantity of muscle, again and again throughout his books–makes you wonder if he had seen such examples which inspired his notions on the subject…….Anyway, great fun, and I am certainly going to enjoy reading this website–I gotta lot of catching up to do!!!!!