Pole Climbing - George Hackenschmidt

Pole Climbing - George Hackenschmidt

An incredibly rare snapshot from the training of George Hackenschmidt. In addition to lifting, road work, and wrestling practice, Hack also liked to climb telephone poles to build his upper-body strength. "Hugging" the telephone pole built the perfect kind of strength for throwing and grappling. His training partner Dr. Roller looks on in amazement.

---

Dr. Benjamin Roller

Dr. Benjamin Roller

Dr. Benjamin Franklin Roller was an early catch wrestler who sparred with the likes of Gotch, Hackenschmidt, Great Gama, and Zbyszko. Aside from wrestling, Roller was a great athlete in other sports, captaining the football and track teams at DePauw University where he attended in the late 1800s.

Upon graduating from medical school at the University of Pennsylvania, he accepted a professorship at the University of Washington. Shortly after, he instead chose to chase fame and fortune -- mostly fortune -- as a professional wrestler. Roller was a very good (but not great) wrestler although he did win his fair share of matches. Eventually he became a training partner for George Hackenschmidt

---

The Great Gama

The Great Gama

After seeing this picture it is not difficult to see why The Great Gama was known as the greatest of all the Indian Wrestlers. In a match against Benjamin Roller the great Indian Champion "threw" his opponent 13 times in 13 minutes! From then on it was tough for the Great Gama to get matches. It was said that George Hackenschmidt and Frank Gotch both refused to face him in the ring. This rare picture was taken in 1934 - Gama was 51 years of age at the time.

---

Frank Gotch's Step Over Toe Hold

Frank Gotch Step Over Toe Hold
Frank Gotch's step over toe hold was the most feared submission move probably of all time. It could be applied quickly and efficently from almost any angle and few people knew how to defend it -- his opponents never knew what him 'em.

He used it to dispatch the likes of George Hackenschmidt, Benjamin Roller and Stanislaus Zbyszko.

Gotch, as masterfully trained by Farmer Burns had two main weapons: a precise execution of his moves and holds, and an almost superhuman level of conditioning.

---

Oldtime Wrestler Stanislaus Zbyszko

At the turn of the century, wrestlers and strongmen were often one and the same. Stanislaus Zbyszko was born in Poland in 1879 and began his training career at a gymnastic school. Soon after he followed his contemporary George Hackenschmidt into the wrestling profession where he would hold the Heavyweight World Championship Belt on two occasions.

Oldtime Wrestler Stanislaus Zbyszko

Zbyszko faced many of the greatest grapplers of the day: Ivan Poddubny, Ben Roller, "The Terrible Turk" Youssuf Mahmout, Frank Gotch, and The Great Gama.

---

The Great Gama: Lion of The Punjab

The Great Gama is likely the greatest Pehlwan, or indian wrestler, who ever lived; as he was undefeated in over 5000 matches. Gama publically challenged all comers and easily beat the likes of Benjamin Roller and Stanislaus Zbyszko. His daily training routine consisted of thousands of traditional squats and pushups -- after seeing him train, many would-be challengers wanted no part of him.

The Great Gama

The object he is seen holding here was not a piece of training equipment but an ornamental scepter known as a Gurz, the Indian Wrestling version of the Championship Belt.

---

Frank Gotch

Frank Gotch
He defeated George Hackenschmidt twice, and the likes of Tom Jenkins, Benjamin Roller and Stanislaus Zbyszko on his way to holding the Heavyweight Championship longer than any man before or since.

It was his technique that made him a Champion (Gotch's feared step-over-toe-hold was nearly impossible to defend) but it was his training that made him a Legend.

There have been few wrestlers since then who trained more seriously than Gotch... and he trained just like a wrestler should.

Calisthenics, road work and sparing gave Gotch a killer's heart and an advantage in every single match.

The "Old Farmer" Farmer Burns understood the game of wrestling better than anyone and trained his student to be the best.

---