Doug Hepburn

Doug Hepburn

Doug Hepburn doing his thing. At the time this picture was taken Doug had cleaned and pressed 381 pounds -- the heaviest weight that had ever been lifted in this manner. This picture was taken as Doug was preparing for the 1954 British Empire games in his hometown of Vancouver (At which he won a gold medal.)

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Log Lifting - Marines Style

Log Lifting - Marines Style

Log Drills like this one have been used by the military for well over a century to build strength, endurance and teamwork. And they are still used today. Although if you have memories of training with a log just like this one, I'm sure they aren't fond ones... because they don't make it very enjoyable! (Which is an understatement.)

This picture was taken at the Corporals Course at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina on Febuary 1st, 2006. Photo courtesy of Cpl. Serena DeFilippis

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Clyde Emrich Front squattting

Clyde Emrich Front squattting

Weightlifting great Clyde Emrich front squatting at a sport school just before the 1955 World Championships in Munich, Germany. The front squat is a great power builder. Some men prefer to do this exercise with a 2-inch board under the heels. Regardless, it is an exercise that must be mastered if you want to become an Olympic weightlifter.

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The Jackson Barbell Company

The Jackson Barbell Company

A famous picture of Andy Jackson of the Jackson International Barbell company of Springfield, New Jersey. For years, Andy Jackson labored by himself in his basement manufacturing high quality barbells, plates, dumbbells and the like.

He did all the milling and machining by hand. Needless to say, his equipment was very highly thought of and used by many of the top names in the strength world. If you happen to own any Jackson equipment, consider youself very lucky.

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The Crucifix Lift

The Cricifix Lift is a great Oldtime lift and a tremendous test of shoulder strength. Here Paby Salas of Monterrey, Mexico performs what he claims was a world record at the time: 55-1/4 pounds in the left hand and 55-1/2 pounds in the right at a bodyweight of 161 pounds. Paby is 50 years of age in this picture.

Paby Salas

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Sig Klein Climbing Rope Chins

Sig Klein Climbing Rope Chins

Like every great strongman, Sig Klein employed a variety of exercises to build his strength. Here's one of his favorites for building grip power: chin ups on a thick climbing rope. This rope looks to be about 2-inches thick making any number of chin ups quite a challenge.

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Professor Anthony Barker

Professor Anthony Barker

Professor Anthony Barker was a great Oldtime Strongman in the New York Area in the late 1800s and early 1900s. He was also very proud of his fine head of hair - hair pulling or lifting was a favorite method of several oldtime strongmen for demonstrating strength and they could withstand quite a pull with no ill effects.

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Klein's Bell

For over four decades, Sig Klein owned and ran his famous gym in downtown New York city and something that he did for a while was put out his own newsletter: "Klein's Bell."

This short 4-8 page publication was distributed to members of Klein's gym and highlighted training articles, physique photography and any other topics of interest and it was actually a pretty radical idea for the time. This is the cover of the August 1932 issue featuring the "15-inch Arm Club" - Also goes to show you don't need a huge arm to be impressive.

Klein's Bell ran for 19 issues although in 1933 it merged with Alan Calvert's THE STRONGMAN Magazine

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Liederman on Chest Expander Training

Liederman on Chest Expander Training

"I have spent considerable time in showing people how to get strength and development by using chest-expanders; a device consisting of two handles connected by steel springs, or rubber-cables.

If a pupil asked me to give him an exercise that would develop only the triceps, I would have to tell him to proceed in this manner. To hold the expander loosely across his chest; hold the upper arms out horizontally to the sides so that the elbows pointed straight out; and then to stretch the expander by straightening his arms.

Since the upper arms are held still, the cables are stretched by moving the forearms only; and practically all the work would be done by the triceps, which by their contraction would bring the forearms into line with the upper arms.

But that would be a particularly poor exercise, for it would make the triceps work separately, instead of in conjunction with other muscles. So I prefer to hold the expander across the chest with the elbows close to the body, and the hands near the shoulders; and then to stretch the cables by pushing the hands out straight to the sides, and extending the arms as I straighten them.

For that develops not only the triceps, but all the shoulder and upper-body muscles, which move the arm away from the body; the muscles you would use in "putting the shot," or in striking a hard blow with your fist."

-- Earle E. Liederman, Secrets of Strength, 1930

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William Boone

William Boone

Another great early deadlifter was William Boone who, trained in his back yard after long days of digging water wells in East Texas and Louisiana. Even with this back-breaking schedule, primative equipment and grueling conditions Boone put up some truly impressive numbers such as a push-press of over 400 pounds and a deadlift of over 700.

Here he is in an impromptu shot during one of his backyard training sessions lifting 715 pounds -- notice the small plates balanced precariously on each end. This particular lift occurred during September of 1947.

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Bob Peoples' Leg Press

Bob Peoples' Leg Press

In the summer months, Bob Peoples like to train outside and when he wanted to give his back a rest or work on his lockout, he used this homemade leg press.

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Bert Assirati

Bert Assirati

With teachers like George Hackenschmidt, Alan Mead and William "Apollo" Bankier, Bert Assirati was destined for greatness as a strongman and as a wrestler. And great he was... Assirati's best marks read like a Ripley's Believe-it-Or-Not feature: Press on Back: 400 lbs. Right Hand Press: 160 lbs. Left Hand Press: 145 lbs. Two Arm Curl: 180 lbs. Crucifix: 90 lb. dumbbells x 2 Clean and Jerk: 380 lbs. Overhead Press: 285 lbs. Squat: 550 lbs. x 10 One-Leg Squat: 200 lbs. Assirati was also an accomplished hand balancer.

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David Prowse Lifts The Dinnie Stones

David Prowse Lifts The Dinnie Stones

For over a century the only man to lift the famed Dinnie Stones was Donald Dinnie himself. The, in 1964, British strongman David Prowse came along and changed history.

To this day, the 6'7" Prowse is still the tallest man to lift the 785-pound stones (totalled together.) Prowse went on to play Darth Vader in a little film called Star Wars.

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Norb Schemansky

Norb Schemansky

Champion Olympic Weightlifter Norb Schemansky as he looked pressing 160 kg at the 1960 Rome Olympics (where he won Bronze) and on the cover of the September, 1962 issue of Strength and Health Magazine.

Over his career Schemansky was an Olympic Champion in 1952 (Helsinki), Three time World Champion (1947, 1962, 1963) and set 26 World Records.

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Doug Hepburn - Steel Bending

Doug Hepburn - Steel Bending

Doug Hepburn was a man of many strength talents: Champion Weight Lifter, hand balancer, professional wrestler... now you can add Steel Bending to the list as well.

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The Hand and Thigh Lift

The Hand and Thigh Lift

Walter Donald demonstrates the Hand and Thigh Lift from Alan Calvert's Super Strength.

The Hand and Thigh Lift is a short-range deadlift which allows for very heavy weights to be lifted. Calvert highly recommended this exercise for leg development.

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The One-Arm Snatch

The One-Arm Snatch

The one-arm snatch as demonstrated by Olympic Weightlifting Champion Tony Terlazzo. From left to right:

1. Setting up for the pull (Note position of off-hand)

2. Pulling the arm high enough to quickly drop under and begin the squat

3. The followthrough - stand up with the weight to complete the lift.

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Carl Linich - Man of Iron!

Longtime reader Carl Linich has been hitting the iron for a long time, and, as you can see by his choice of equipment, has been doing so in style. Carl is quite the strongman in his own right, check out his best lifts: Standing Press - 270 lbs. Bench Press - 402 lbs. Behind Neck Press - 245 lbs. Jerk from the Rack - 310 lbs. One Hand Clean and Press - 150 lbs. One hand side press - 175 lbs. One Hand Bent Press - 215 lbs. One Hand DB Bent Press - 205 lbs. Carl was also a very good wrestler, winning the New York State Y.M.C.A Heavyweight wrestling championship twice and eventually turned pro in 1956.(Much thanks to Carl for sending in the picture.)

Carl Linich - Man of Iron!

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Mr. Deadlift - Bob Peoples

Mr. Deadlift - Bob Peoples

Why did they call him "Mr. Deadlift?" - I think this picture makes it pretty clear. Each day Bob Peoples came home after a long day of farming, took off his shirt and just trained -- and he got damn strong doing just that -- a lesson that a lot of modern lifters could stand to learn. In 1949 he set the deadlift record at 725-1/2 pounds at a bodyweight of only 189 pounds.

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A Real Squat

"Tiny" Walsh - 550 Pound Squat

Here's something you don't see every day ~ a REAL squat! "Tiny" Walsh goes all the way to the floor and back with 550 pounds wearing a "super suit" consisting of a t-shirt, shorts and penny loafers. It was reported that Tiny also made 600 pounds in this style.

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