Thursday, January 28, 2010
Anvil LiftingThe anvil has long been a symbol of power and many, many strongmen have built tremendous strength by using it as a training tool. Here we have Mr. Peter C. Morse of Coffeyville, Kansas who likely never touched a barbell in his life. But one day way back when, he wanted to see if he could lift the old anvil in the back of his barn.
At first, he could not, but every few days decided to come back and have a go. Eventually he could not only pick it up but perform this pretty impressive holdout by the horn - something that you won't find many people able to replicate even a hundred years later.
Labels: Anvil, Anvil Lifting, Grip Strength, Hold Out, Odd Object
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Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Galen GoughBilled as "The World's Miracle Strongman," Galen Gough from Howard''s Grove Kentucky certainly lived up to his title. Gough was terribly injured while serving in World War I, but built himself back to health and strength through physical training. His results were so dramatic that a career as a performing strongman soon followed.
Gough performed feats of strength in carnivals, fairs and vaudeville houses all over the country. In addition to "traditional" strongman feats such as The Human Link, Nail Driving, and bar bending, Gough came up with many of his own including dangling from a rope tied to an airplane by his teeth, with a 50 pound weight in each hand, biting keys in half, juggling a 300-pound anvil!
One of his many adventures was to perform feats of strength as publicity stunts for the Louisville, Kentucky- based Oertel Brewing Company which is the origin of the Barrel barbell pictured above.
Labels: Anvil, Anvil Lifting, Bar Bending, Barrel, Barrel Barbell, Barrel Lifting, Feats of Strength, Galen Gough, Human Link, Jaw Strength, Kentucky Strongman, Nail Driving, Oldtime Strongman, Teeth Lifting
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All Contents, Including Images and Text, Copyright © 2010 by John Wood and Thunderdome Media Inc., Not to be reproduced without permission, All Rights Reserved
Thursday, February 07, 2008
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!
Labels: Anvil, Anvil Lifting, Mighty Atlas, Oldtime Strongman, Oldtime Strongman Feat, Teeth Lifting, Wrestler
www.oldtimestrongman.com
All Contents, Including Images and Text, Copyright © 2010 by John Wood and Thunderdome Media Inc., Not to be reproduced without permission, All Rights Reserved
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Kevin TolbertKevin 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:
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.
Labels: Anvil, Anvil Curls, Anvil Lifting, Bench Press, Dr. Ken Leistner, Kevin Tolbert, Odd Object Lifting, Squat, Steel Tip Newsletter
www.oldtimestrongman.com
All Contents, Including Images and Text, Copyright © 2010 by John Wood and Thunderdome Media Inc., Not to be reproduced without permission, All Rights Reserved
Saturday, January 05, 2008
Anvil Lifting - Roy Hilligenn 1951 Mr. AmericaHow'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...
Labels: Anvil, Anvil Lifting, Mr. America, Odd Object Lifting, Roy Hilligenn, Squat
www.oldtimestrongman.com
All Contents, Including Images and Text, Copyright © 2010 by John Wood and Thunderdome Media Inc., Not to be reproduced without permission, All Rights Reserved
Monday, November 19, 2007
| 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 |
Labels: Anvil, Anvil Lifting, Odd Object, Odd Object Lifting
www.oldtimestrongman.com
All Contents, Including Images and Text, Copyright © 2010 by John Wood and Thunderdome Media Inc., Not to be reproduced without permission, All Rights Reserved
Saturday, October 06, 2007
George Jowett Lifts 168 Pound AnvilGeorge 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.)
Labels: Anvil, George Jowett, Grip Strength, Oldtime Strongman, Strongman Equipment, Strongman Feat
www.oldtimestrongman.com
All Contents, Including Images and Text, Copyright © 2010 by John Wood and Thunderdome Media Inc., Not to be reproduced without permission, All Rights Reserved
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