Louis Cyr's Weights

Louis Cyr's Weights

A rare picture of some of Louis Cyr's weights. Note the Ring Weight in the foreground and the fact that most of these classic weights have thick handles. You can tell a lot of strength was built with these weights.

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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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George Zottman's Oldtime Strongman Equipment

George Zottman Globe Barbells
A rare picture of a young George Zottman with some of his great oldtime stage equipment. Grip strength is a premium for any oldtime strongman. Gotta love those thick-handled globe barbells and dumbbells. You can tell a lot of great workouts happened with those.

The globe dumbbell in the foreground weighs 175 pounds -- and the dog's name was Sphinx.

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Jack Walsh

Jack Walsh
Jack Walsh from Trenton, New Jersey, is the strongest man you've never heard of.

Over his career he performed all kinds of crazy strength feats, including lifting elephants, towing trains and letting trucks run over his body. At a bodyweight of 190 pounds, he even broke Louis Cyr's backlift record.

Anyhow, here's Jack Walsh jerking a 230-pound dumbbell overhead -- That's damn strong! Do you know anybody that can jerk more than bodyweight overhead with one arm?

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Another Incredible Hand Balancing Feat by Bob Jones

Bob Jones again shows why he was one of the greatest hand balancers who ever lived... a one-arm planche while simultaneously holding a 55-pound dumbbell in the other hand. You won't be seeing this one again any time soon...

Bob Jones

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Doug Hepburn Presses the Jowett Dumbbell

Doug Hepburn Presses the Jowett Dumbbell
During his pro-wrestling career, Doug Hepburn often performed feats of strength in the ring. Here Doug presses the 169-1/2 pound George Jowett dumbbell overhead. This special dumbbell was said to have a handle "four-times" thicker than a normal dumbbell. -- Yet another incredible pressing feat from the great Canadian Strongman.

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Chuck Ahrens and Bert Elliott

Chuck Ahrens and Bert Elliot

Two fixtures in the Santa Monica, California Muscle Beach scene share a laugh in the late 1950's - Chuck Ahrens and Bert Elliott. Chuck Ahrens was a man of immeasurable power, and Bert Elliott was a champion weightlifter and bodybuilder (He won the 1954 Sr. Nationals Weightlifting Title in the 165 Plound Class (totalling 765 pounds), the 1953 "Iron Man" bodybuilding contest as well as the 1954 AAU Mr. Southern California.) At their feet is Bert Elliott's 201 pound "challenge" dumbbell which he could bent- press with ease.

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"The Blob" Grip Strength Challenge

In the mid-1990's a new grip challenge appeared: "The Blob" --it was half of a 100 pound York Cast Dumbbell with the handle sawed off. Often referred to as a "block weight," think of a 50 pound aspirin and you can imagine why this awkward chunk of iron has defeated some of the strongest hands in the world. No chalk or "stickum" allowed.

The Blob

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The Louis Cyr Challenge Dumbbell

The Louis Cyr Challenge Dumbbell
This incredible dumbbell belonged to the famous Quebec strongman Louis Cyr who used it in his act as a challenge for anyone to lift it.

Due to the 1-5/8 inch thick handle the bell is difficult to lift but it was specially designed for Cyr who had a very strong grip. It weighed 202 pounds empty and at its heaviest, packed with metal pellets, Cyr's Dumbbell weighed 273 pounds. Cyr handled it easily using the overhead "side press" style.

To this day only a handful of men have been successful in lifting it overhead with one arm.

Among them John Grimek, Sig Klein, and Wally Zagurski as shown above using the bent press style (Yes, that's the exact dumbbell above being lifted by those individuals at different points in time.) The Cyr Dumbbell currently resides in the York Barbell Company Hall of Fame in York, Pennsylvania.

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General Custer's Dumbbell

General Custer's Dumbbell

General George Custer first came to Kansas in 1866 as Lieutenant Colonel of the newly formed 7th U.S. Cavalry. He spent late spring of 1867 at Fort Hays, where the 7th camped until they had accumulated adequate supplies and ammunition for a summer campaign.

Time in camp was quite boring and to pass the time, as well as keep physically fit, Custer comissioned the fort's blacksmith, Thomas Kennedy to make this dumbbell for him sometime in 1867.

It is made of bronze and weighs around 25 pounds.

Custer's Dumbbell currently resides in the Kansas Museum of History.

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Dennis Rogers World Record Dumbbell Curl

Strongman Dennis Rogers

At 5'9" and a bodyweight around 160 pounds, Dennis Rogers sure doesn't look like your average strongman... But when it's time to lift some iron, Dennis can do some things that will shock and amaze you. One of Dennis' unusual abilities is his incredible bicep strength. At Memorial City Mall in Houston, Texas Dennis Rogers' established a World Record One Arm Dumbbell Curl record of 98 pounds x 10 Reps with an Iron Master Dumbbell- he weighed 148 Pounds at the time. (Above)

The screen caps on the left are from his 336 Pounds of Fury Strength Feats DVD.

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Circus Strongman George Levasseur's Classic Stage Weights

Circus Strongman George Levasseur's Classic Stage Weights

George Levasseur was the "Strongman" at the Ringling Brothers Circus during the early part of the 20th century. He was famous for his Backlifting ability but he performed all manner of classical strongman feats, including lifting several unusual "stage" weights as pictured here: Globe barbells, dumbbells and kettlebells.

Notice the Thick Handles on the globe barbells.

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Eugen Sandow's School of Physical Culture

Eugen Sandow's School of Physical Culture
There are a lot of strength history "firsts" associated with Eugen Sandow - one of those "firsts" is that he established the very first commercial gym franchise.

Im 1900, Sandow opened five of his Schools of Physical Culture in London, with others in Manchester and Liverpool. Pictured above is Sandow's School of Physical Culture, 185 Tottenham Court Road, circa 1901.

Notice sets of Globe Barbells, Dumbbells and Chest Expanders along each wall.

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Thomas Inch

Thomas Inch
At just 16 years of age, Thomas Inch was Britain's Strongest Youth. From there, he became a strand pulling Champion, the first official Britain's Strongest Man and at one time had the largest physical fitness correspondence school in Great Britain.

It was Thomas Inch who pioneered the use of strength training for athletes, most notably in swimming, track and field and boxing. He was also credited with introducing the adjustable "disc"-type barbells and dumbbells into modern strength training (although that is debatable.)

But when it comes to dumbbells, Thomas Inch is most well-known for one in particular...

The Thomas Inch "unliftable" Challenge Dumbbell has defied thousands of strong men over the last hundred years (and still does today.)

Many a strength athlete have tried... but failed... to break it off the ground.

What was its secret?

You can read one of Thomas Inch's best known training courses right here: Developing the Grip and Forearm by Thomas Inch (1930)

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The Iron Master Dumbbell

The Iron Master Dumbbell
From 1989 to 2000, Osmo Kiiha published "THE IRON MASTER" one of the most informative periodicals ever produced on the history of strength training.

What made this publication stand out from anything before or since was the focus on training, -- every issue focused on one or more of the all-time greats but it wasn't just talk, there was always a number of workouts included so that readers could learn exactly how the champs trained.

At one point, Osmo decided to create a further link to the past by coming out with his own classic equipment. He created a series of globe barbells, dumbbells and kettlebells which were reminiscent of the kind of equipment that the MILO Barbell Company had produced a century before.

The "Iron Master" Dumbbell is shown above.

Like the MILO models, these had hollow globes which could be filled either with shot or loded with smaller plates through the handle. They were cast in either aluminum or steel and were machined, one at a time, by hand ~ true works of art.

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Henry Holtgrewe: The Cincinnati Strongman

Henry Holtgrewe: The Cincinnati Strongman
Henry Holtgrewe was born in Hanover, Germany in 1872 but came to live in the United States at an early age. He settled in Cincinnati, where he ran a saloon near old Chester Park in Northside.

In his spare time he delighted in performing feats of strength, especially lifting barbells and dumbbells with thick handles -- which not only confounded smaller-handed competition, but also allowed Henry Holtgrewe to build a tremendous 15-1/2 inch forearm in the process.

Holtgrewe also out "pressed" the great Louis Cyr with a single-arm lift of 287 pounds. It was said that each time Eugen Sandow performed in Cincinnati Holtgrewe challenged to a lifting contest -- and each time Sandow refused.

In 1904 Holtgrewe backlifted two opposing baseball teams at Redlands Field in Cincinnati. The combined weight was estimated at 4103 pounds easily placing him among the strongest backlifters of all time.

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The MILO Barbell Company Showroom

The MILO Barbell Showroom
Alan Calvert established the MILO Barbell company in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the turn of the century. It was the very first source for barbells and heavy dumbbells in the United States.

Located at 1116 Olive Street, the MILO Barbell showroom must have been quite a sight to see with its grand selection of globed barbells, dumbbells and kettlebells.

Unfortunately the MILO Barbell Company is long gone but we do have a number of Alan Calvert's training materials left to instruct future generations:

The Milo Barbell Courses

The Truth About Weight Lifting

Super Strength

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George Barker Windship's Adjustable Dumbbell

George Barker Windship's Adjustable Dumbbell
George Barker Windship was one of the very first proponents of "Physical Culture" and unlike many of his contemporaries, promoted hard work and heavy lifting for super strength.

Pictured above is the dumbbell he patented on February 2nd, 1865 which could be loaded from eight to 101 pounds in 1/2 pound incriments.

"The body should be made as strong as possible, with no weak points. It should be balanced and symmetrical with the muscles full and round and strong, like those of the "Farnesian" Hercules. Heavy weights and short workouts are the secret to health and longevity.

Training should be systematic, with the intensity of the exercise gradually increasing over time. Workout sessions should never last more than an hour and that proper rest must be obtained before the next day's training."
- George Barker Windship, February, 1861

(Couldn't have said it better myself. -- JW)

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Don't Try This One At Home!

I don't know what you would call this one but I have never seen anything like it. When you're "strong" you can pretty much do whatever you want... something George Jowett called "The Thrill of Strength."

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Weightlifting at the 1904 Summer Olympics

Here's a classic shot from the 1904 Summer Olympics held is St. Louis, Missouri. Back then they contested "weightlifting" i.e. with a barbell in events with both one and two hands. Interestingly enough, they also had a seperate Dumbbell contest.

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