Body-builders don't tend to rate highly on most people's list of potential Good Samaritans.

The narcissistic stereotype of beefcakes lovingly watching themselves bench-press the equivalent of a small truck and kissing their swollen, oiled biceps in celebration is one which dominates most people's idea of what those who pump iron represent. The image of total self-absorption is as omnipresent in people's minds as Lycra cycling shorts in a spinning class.

So imagine the surprise of the German driver who found himself being saved by a herd of muscle-bound heroes who came to his rescue when he swerved off the road in his car.

With no consideration for eyebrow safety

Without even checking their plucked eyebrows or fake tans, the 10 body-builders left behind their reflections in an instant to charge across the road after seeing the hapless driver plummet into a ditch opposite the Explosives fitness studio in Bad Zwischenahn near the western city of Oldenburg.

"They dropped their sweat towels and water bottles and ran over the road to the crash site," a police spokesman told Reuters news agency.

After checking the health of the man, the local supermen turned their attentions to the stricken vehicle at the bottom of the two-meter (six-foot) deep ditch.

Summoning the power of Schwarzenegger, the rippling rescuers grabbed the car and dragged it from the hole with super-human strength.

"They heaved the car out," said the police. "It only took them a few minutes."

The grateful driver did what any one would do and offered to buy the body-builders a drink as a thank you. In true fitness-freak style, the men accepted but insisted on a round of energy drinks at the fitness studio bar.