The Mighty Atlas

The Mighty Atlas
You've probably seen the old feat of strength where a strongman puts an anvil or large stone slab on his chest and lets someone hit it with a sledge hammer...

I guarantee you haven't seen this feat before though, -- "The Mighty Atlas," Morris Shapiro, a professional wrestler from Brooklyn, New York, teeth-lifting an anvil while someone else hits the anvil with a sledge hammer.

Now that's impressive!

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Kevin Tolbert

Kevin Tolbert
Kevin Tolbert is Dr. Ken Leistner's adopted son - and easily one of the strongest men who ever lived. If you've read any of Dr. Ken's writings, especially The Steel Tip Newsletter, you know Kevin's name pretty well.

Kevin went on to play running back at the U.S. Naval Academy. At 5'9" and 220 pounds, Kevin could run a legit 4.5 forty yard dash. As for his marks in the weightroom, here's a few:

23 reps with 375 lbs. and 15 x 405 lbs. in the bench press at a bodyweight of 230 lbs.

510 lbs. max-Bench Press in a legal, competitive style

Squat: 30 x 600 lbs. at a bodyweight of 248 lbs.

Those aren't misprints...

Here's Kevin doing a couple anvil curls while finishing up a workout in Dr. Ken's basement in the mid-1980's. I was fortunate to have Kevin as a strength coach at the University of Michigan for a few years.

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1951 Mr. America Squats With an Anvil

Anvil Lifting - Roy Hilligenn 1951 Mr. America
How's this for odd object lifting? 1951 Mr. America Roy Hilligenn does some squats with a pretty big anvil on his back.

Roy Hilligenn weighed around 175 pounds and I bet that anvil isn't too far off...

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Anvil One-Arm Press

Training with an Anvil is always a lot of fun. Presses and cheat curls for high reps and, for the very strong handed, lifting it by the horn always present a nice challenge. -- Plus, its a lot of fun to lift with something unusual. If you can press a 100 pound anvil like this you are one strong hombre.

Anvil One-Arm Press

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George Jowett Lifts 168 Pound Anvil

George Jowett Lifts 168 Pound Anvil
George Jowett was one of the first strength authors to highlight the incredible importance of grip and forearm development in his writings.

Jowett understood that "strength" begins in the hands.... He made it a point to make his fingers, hands, wrists and forearms as strong as he possibly could, usually through regular work with thick-handled equipment.

Due to his immense grip strength, Jowett became a champion at "Wrist Westling" and could perform a number of unusual strength feats including cleaning and pressing a 168 pound anvil with one hand, as pictured above.

(As a side note, anvils have always made very popular pieces of training equiment with many of the oldtime strongmen, a topic we will, however, save for another time.)

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