Indian Club Swinging at the 1904 Summer Olympics

Indian Club Swinging at the 1904 Summer Olympics

When you think of the Summer Olympics, the events that most immediately come to mind probably include track and field, weightlifting, swimming, and other popular forms of competition... but Olympic history is full of several unusual sports that garnered much less attention, and which existed as a competitive event for only a brief period.

You may be surprised to learn that at the 1904 Summer Olympics (held in St. Louis, Missouri) indian club swinging made its first (but not only) appearance as an Olympic contest.

Classified as a gymnastics event, the original competition featured only three athletes -- all from the United States: Edward Hennig of Cleveland, Ohio took home the Gold Medal, narrowly edging his countryman Emil Voigt by a score of 13-9. Ralph Wilson took Bronze with a score of "5."

Indian Club Swinging was again on the docket for the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, but that was its last moment in the spotlight, at least on the Olympic stage. We sure won't be seeing any late-night coverage of club swinging from Beijing this year.

Although no longer a competitive sport, club swinging still remains a great way to build upper body strength and stamina even a hundred years later.

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Chuck Sipes Lifting His Truck

Chuck Sipes Lifting His Truck

Chuck Sipes was one of the strongest bodybuilders of all time. Chuck, who won the 1959 IFBB Mr. America, 1960 IFBB Mr. Universe and 1968 Mr. World Bodybuilding titles, could also could perform several incredible feats of strength.

As he was training to accomplish a 600 pound(!) bench press, Chuck used to train using a variety of techniques involving heavy supports and negatives -- he even had a special handle welded to the underside of his pickup truck which he used to lift and support the whole affair.

Sipes would first lift the pickup truck as high as he could with his arms then wedge his legs underneath. In the top position, he estimated that he was supporting 1600 pounds.

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George Hackenschmidt on Recovery

"The natural invigorating remedy for an exhausted body is rest, both in the physical as in the mental direction, and a healthy sleep. This is the only means by which the various organs and muscles may rid themselves of the "fatigue poison" and collect and develop fresh energy." ~ George Hackenschmidt, The Way to Live, Chapter 6

George Hackenschmidt

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45-Pound Plate Hub Curl

45 Plate Hub Curl

Rocky Erickon of Chicago, Illinois performs an incredible feat of grip strength: a hub "lift" and curl of a pair of old York Barbell "deep dish" 45-pound plates. Lifting a 45-pound plate by the hub is impressive, but Rocky takes it to a whole new level with this feat.

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One Corner of Ed Yarick's Gym

One Corner of Ed Yarick's Gym

This picture represents approximately 50% of Ed Yarick's Gym out in Oakland, California. As you can see, there wasn't much to it -- a couple rows of dumbbells, a few platforms, barbells and benches -- but that is all it takes.

These spartan surroundings produced some of the greatest strength champions the world has ever known: Olympic Champion John Davis, THE clasic physique, bodybuilding champion Steve Reeves, Mr. Americas Roy Hilligenn, Clancy Ross and Jack Dellinger all trained there. As did Doug Hepburn and Reg Park when he visited the west coast.

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Bob Peoples' Deadlift Ring

Bob Peoples always felt that the key to a strong deadlift was a super strong lower back -- he would know, since he's history's strongest deadlifter. To accomplish certain tasks in his training, Bob often had to make his own equipment. For example, in order to gain a deeper range of motion, Bob created what he called a "Deadlift Ring," which is demonstrated here by young Bob Hise. This ring allows for roughly an extra foot of "pull." A similar exercise can be performed very effectively with a Gerard Trap Bar

Deadlift Ring

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Yet Another Look at Sig Klein's Gym

Sig Klein's Gym

Yes, we have shown it before but Sig Klein's gym never goes out of style.

Here's another shot clearly showing the rich, oak panneling, great collection of oldtime globe barbells and antique weights and the Persian rug on the floor (better take your shoes off before you train at Sig's place!)

This shot was taken before Sig had a shelf built around the perimeter of the gym for his world-famous beer stein collection.

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The Dymek Curling Bar

The Dymek Curling Bar

The Dymek Curling Bar -- every gym in the county has one although you probably know it by its more common name of the "EZ Curl bar." The angled handles stress the biceps in a much different manner than a normal straight bar. I don't particularly care for them but a lot of people swear by an EZ Curl Bar for their arm workouts. Today there are many copy-cat versions but this one is the original.

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Barrel Lifting

Barrel Lifting

Barbells and dumbbells can be nice, but sometimes it pays to lift something big, awkward and heavy to build unusual strength. For many strongmen of the past, a barrel often fit the bill perfectly, and even more-so when partially filled with water.

Read Dinosaur Training or ROCK IRON STEEL by Steve Justa for more information on Barrel Lifting.

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The Hip Lift

Hip Lift

Mr. Roy L. Smith demonstrates a Hip Lift of a train axle weighing 2250 pounds. Smith did not begin to lift weights until he was over 30 years of age, but using MILO Barbell methods he put on over 40 pounds of muscular bodyweight and was featured in the MILO Barbell Company advertisements.

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John Grimek

John Grimek - One Arm Snatch

John Grimek, in mid-one-arm snatch. It was often written that Grimek credited his all-around development to his using a wide variety of exercises.

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Teeth Lifting

Teeth Lifting Bit

Teeth Lifting was a favorite feat of many oldtime strongmen, and this particular mouthpiece was sold by the York Barbell Company in the pages of Strength and Health Magazine Several hundred pounds can be lifted in this manner and this type of lifting will build incredible neck and jaw strength, however, we do NOT recommend this style of lifting (If you decide to do it anyway, please have a dentist onhand.)

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Antone Matysek and the Roman Chair

Antone Matysek and the Roman Chair

Matysek was much more than a master of muscle control, for many years he was one of the premier strength performers in the entire world and excelled at a variety of feats. This Roman Chair feat is especially difficult. It requires a great deal of abdominal power but also depends very heavily on the strength of the frontal thigh muscles.

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Kurt Saxon

Kurt Saxon

of the Saxon trio, it was often Arthur who got most of the spotlight, but the other brothers were also quite strong. Here's a shot of Kurt Saxon, at 50 years old, supporting nearly half a ton of classic barbells and other weights.

The largest Barbell weighs 330 pounds and the kettlebells on his feet weight 88 pounds apeice, the barbell on his abdomen weighs 200 pounds, the barbell he is holding weighs 100 pounds and another 88-pound kettlebell on each hand.

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A Strength Feat by the Mighty Atlas

A Strength Feat by the Might Atlas

The Pro Wrestler "The Mighty Atlas" often performed feats of strength before his matches, many of them unusual, and not performed by any other strongmen before or since.

Here's one you don't see every day: breaking a 3/4" manila rope with a harness lift. That's a "gut buster" for sure!

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Moore's Squat Bar

Moore's Squat Bar

1959 AAU Mr. America winner Harry Johnson demonstrates Moore's Squat Bar, a unique piece of equipment often advertised in the old Iron Man Magazine that eliminates much of the discomfort of squatting.

Look familar?

The rights were eventually purchased by multiple-time Mr. Olympia winner Frank Zane, and re-released as the Frank Zane Leg Blaster (which is still available today.)

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Train Wheel Dumbbell

Sometimes you'll have to improvise if you still want to get in a workout. Back during the second World War, our troops overseas had to do just that if they wanted to keep training. Here, Cpl. Robert Hamilton of the 1st AAF in Italy fashioned a nifty dumbbell out of some narrow-gauge train wheels. I'm sure the thick handle made for some interesting workouts.

Train Wheel Dumbbell

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Mac Batchelor's Challenge

If you were ever out near L.A. and wanted to stop by Mac Batchelor's tavern and challenge the big man, you were more than welcome to. One of Mac's challenges was to place his hand, palm-up, on the bar and have someone try to hold down one of his fingers, with a quick flip the would-be challenger always went flying. You can read more about it in the "Grip and Forearm Development" Chapter in John McCallum's Key's to Progress.

Mac Batchelors Challenge

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Indian Wrestlers

Indian Wrestlers

Wrestling in India is a lifetime profession and should you be born into a family of "Phelwans," as wrestlers are termed in India, within a few years you would be following their system of training and ways of life.

When in training -- which is pretty much always -- Indian wrestlers rise at 5:30 AM to begin their exercises which consist of thousands of "Dunds" (pushups) and "Batticks" (squats). This routine is performed each day without fail and builds and incredible amount of strength and endurance.

These three men were some of the greatest wrestlers in all of India during their time, from left to right Chota, Imam-Bux (the Great Gama's brother), and Mdrala.

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Bob Jones' Toughest Feat

Bob Jones

If you could travel back in time and ask Bob Jones what his toughest hand balancing feat was, he might tell you this one... but he did it! Most of the time hand balancers balance on a solid, stable surface such as a table, or parallettes. That's a decidely "unstable" base, a free-swinging length of pipe hung by a couple ropes.

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