Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Jowett Institute AdHere's a vintage advertisement for the Jowett Institute of Physical Culture from 1922. Thousands upon thousands of young trainees were introduced to physical training through this ad -- or one very similar to it. Once a Jowett pupil, always a Jowett pupil!
Labels: Advertisement, George Jowett, Jowett Institute, Jowett Institute of Physical Culture
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Saturday, October 24, 2009
Doug Hepburn and George JowettOnce in a while, the stars align just right and the great ones end up at the same place at the same time. Just such an occasion was at a lifting contest in Montreal, Canada in the early sixties when Doug Hepburn and Geoge Jowett had a chance to meet up. I would imagine they had a very interesting conversation. Ol' George obviously still has a Mighty Grip.
Labels: Doug Hepburn, George Jowett, Lifting Contest
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Tuesday, August 04, 2009
Strength and Health Magazine, March, 1934The great weightlifter Art Levan on the cover of the March, 1934 issue of Strength and Health Magazine.
This is one heck of an issue: Check out the lineup of strength authors: George Jowett, Earle E. Liederman, Harry Good, Bob Hoffman and Professor Paulinetti.
Labels: Art Levan, Bob Hoffman, Cover, Earle E. Liederman, George Jowett, Harry Good, Magazine, Professor Paulinetti, Strength and Health Magazine, York Barbell Company
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Friday, July 03, 2009
Sig Klein: Partial DeadliftsAt a strength show held in 1922 at New York City's Bryant Hall, Sig Klein got a chance to test out a piece of equipment designed by George Jowett which was used for performing partial deadlifts. The ACWLA on Sig's singlet stood for the American Continental Weight-Lifter's Association, which Jowett founded.
Labels: ACWLA, George Jowett, Patial Deadlift, Sig Klein, Strongman Equipment
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Monday, May 11, 2009
George Jowett, Karl Moerke, Sig Klein and Mark H. BerryOnce in a great while several different legends will be in the same place at the same time. In this case, a strength show at Bryant Hall in New York City circa 1922. From left to right George Jowett, Karl Moerke, Sig Klein and Mark H. Berry. (Klein made a record press at the show.)
Labels: George Jowett, Karl Moerke, Mark Berry, Press, Sig Klein
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A short video clip featuring Brooks Kubik and Dinosaur Training in action. Log lifting... Barrel Lifting... Anvil Lifting... John Davis... Doug Hepburn... John Grimek... Arthur Saxon... Heavy Dumbbells... Basement lifting... Power Rack Work... Grip Training... If you don't want your own copy after watching this then you had better check your pulse.
Labels: 1 Leg Squat, Anvil Lifting, Arthur Saxon, Barrel Lifting, Brooks Kubik, Dinosaur Training, Doug Hepburn, George Jowett, John Grimek, Odd Object Lifting, Press, Video
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Wednesday, April 29, 2009
George Jowett: Anvil Lifting"...Talking about feats with an anvil reminds me of a particular feat that I performed impromptu which takes a great amount of confidence as well as strength. It happened at one of the times that I picked up an anvil by the horn in a smithy shop, and after that stunt I pressed the anvil to arm's length by lying it on its broadside upon the flat of my hand, which is not as easy as it sounds. After I had done this I put the anvil on the floor on its base.George Jowett
We began to talk about various anvil feats being so difficult because of its awkward unbalanced construction. One man remarked that it would be some stunt to balance the anvil on the hand upside down. That meant the face would rest on the hand and the heavy wide base on top. Somehow I conceived the notion I could do it, and accordingly I took hold of the face with my right hand, and with the help of the left arm got the weight to the shoulder.
Despite the wide base and the bad balance caused by same and the horn, I not only succeeded in balancing the anvil by its face, but pressed it to arm's length, to the amazement of all. I have done it many times since, and for this volume I performed the same feat, thinking it might interest my readers. The anvil weighed one hundred sixty-eight pounds..."
The Key to Might and Muscle, Chapter 9
Written in 1926
Labels: Anvil Lifting, George Jowett, Grip Feat, Grip Training, Odd Object Lifting, The Key to Might and Muscle
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Tuesday, April 21, 2009
The Bent Lateral RaiseWith a pair of Aristocrat Dumbbells to provide resistance, Sig Klein demonstrates the favorite exercise of another oldtimer George F. Jowett. The bent lateral raise is primarily intended for training the rear delts.
Labels: Aristocrat Dumbbells, Bent Lateral Raise, Dumbbell Exercise, George Jowett, Shoulder Exercise, Sig Klein
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Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Jowett Barbell PlatesLike many strongmen, George Jowett had his own brand of barbell plates. These were likely cast by the same foundry which produced equipment for the Milo Barbell Company. Jowett and Alan Calvert were both based out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the time and also worked together on several projects.
Labels: Alan Calvert, Barbell Plate, Equipment, George Jowett, Jowett Barbell Plates, Milo Barbell Company, Oldtime Strength Equipment
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Friday, December 05, 2008
Strength MagazineStrength Magazine began in 1914 and was originally a house organ for Alan Calvert'sMilo Barbell Company. It was used primarily to educate customers of the fine art of using their newly purchased weight set.
The first dozen or so issues were digest size and printed on acid free paper... certainly ahead of its time. The magazine then went through several format changes focusing primarily on athletic training. Eventually the format shifted back to magazine size with strength training and physical cultrue making up the bulk of the material, with articles on other related athletic pursuits, boxing, wrestling, baseball, golf etc thrown in.
Each month you would find training articles by many of the greatest strength writers in the pages of Strength Magazine. Men like George Jowett, Mark Berry, Handbalancer Bob Jones and many others. Copies are extremely difficult to come by. This is the cover of the January 1928 Issue.
Labels: Alan Calvert, Bob Jones, Cover, George Jowett, Mark Berry, Milo Barbell Company, Strength Magazine
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Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Early Leg PressSay what you want about modern gyms but you may not realize how good you have it. If you wanted to do the "leg press" exercise years ago, here's the setup you would need. This exercise was featured in some of George Jowett's training courses.
Labels: George Jowett, Leg Exercise, Leg Press, The Leg Press
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Sunday, August 17, 2008
Nerves of Steel - Muscles Like Iron by George JowettNerves of Steel - Muscles Like Iron was an advertising booklet for the Mighty George Jowett, which highlighted his many successful students and which also promoted his Jowett Institute Course.
Labels: Advertisement, George Jowett, Jowett Institute
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Friday, April 25, 2008
 George Jowett And The Bent Press | The great oldtime strongman and strength author George Jowett as he prepares to bent press a heavy globe barbell. Jowett was a master of many different strength feats, most notably, lifting a 168-pound anvil by the horn and other feats of grip strength Jowett's best bent press performance was 304-1/2 pounds. Note the great Milo Kettlebells in the background. |
Labels: Bent Press, George Jowett, Globe Barbell, Kettlebell, Oldtime Strongman Exercise, Oldtime Strongman Exercises, Oldtime Strongman Feat, Strongman Equipment, Supporting Feat
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Friday, April 18, 2008
Ottley Coulter A rare shot of the well-known oldtime strongman Ottley Coulter as a young man.
In the early 1900s, Coulter performed for a number of years with several Circuses, Carnivals, and Vaudeville houses.
Among being a master of many traditional Strongman feats (Spike Bending, Human Bridge, Harness Lifting, Backlifting etc) he was also rather adept at Muscle Control and Hand Balancing.
Interestingly, Coulter was not large like many other well known strongmen of the day, his bodyweight during his peak was 150 pounds.
Later, Coulter, along with George Jowett and David Willoughby formed the first weightlifting governing body in the country: The American Continental Weightlifting Association.
Coulter's vast collection of physical culture books, courses, memoribilia and letters also became the corner stone of the Todd-McLean Physical Culture Collection Holdings currently housed at the University of Texas.
Labels: Carnival Strongman, Circus Strongman, David Willoughby, George Jowett, Hand Balancing, Hand Balancing Feat, Muscle Control, Oldtime Strongman Exercises, Ottley Coulter, Vaudeville
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Thursday, March 27, 2008
Doug Hepburn Presses the Jowett DumbbellDuring 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.
Labels: Challenge Weight, Doug Hepburn, Dumbbell, Dumbbell Press, George Jowett, George Jowett Dumbbell, Globe Dumbbell, Overhead Dumbbell Press, Overhead Press, Shoulder Exercise, Thick Handle
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Friday, February 01, 2008
The Tomb of Hercules Feat"A feat of supporting strength that is commonly performed is the one known as "The Tomb of Hercules."- George Jowett in The Key to Might and Muscle, Chapter 6
The athlete takes up his position with the hands and feet only upon the floor, and the face looking upwards. The hands are turned back along a line parallel with the body which gives a better arm lock in the elbows.
The body is held up fairly well, but not so high as to have the body level with the line of the knees and the shoulders.
The arms and legs from the foot to the knee must be perpendicular so that no lateral pressure is suggested. Then a platform is placed on the body so that it has four points of rest, both knees and the shoulders.
A number of men are then seated upon the board, which is supported by the athlete for a few seconds. Some athletes make this stunt more spectacular by supporting a whole orchestra while it plays, and others allow an automobile to run over a trestle supported in this manner.
In this latter feat, the machine is only supported a bare fraction of a second, and the fact that the machine is moving across distributes the weight so that actually the entire weight of the machine is not supported all at one time by the body.
But enough weight is supported to make the act very dangerous.
If I remember rightly, Monte Saldo, an English athlete was one of the first to introduce this stunt."
Labels: George Jowett, Monte Saldo, Oldtime Strongman Feat, Supporting Feat, The Key to Might and Muscle, The Tomb of Hercules
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Thursday, December 20, 2007
The Jowett Institute of Physical Culture DiplomaOur friend Carl Falco sent this one in (Thanks Carl!) This is the Diploma that he received in 1959 after completing George Jowett's monthly mail-order training course. Carl is 65 years young and his training hasn't changed much since then. Just goes to show you that great training info never gets old.
Labels: George Jowett, Jowett Institute, Jowett Institute of Physical Culture, Mail Order Course
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Wednesday, December 05, 2007
 Mail Order Muscle Courses | Before there was this thing called the inter-net, many folks around the country developed their training knowledge through the good old U.S. Mail. It was a perfect idea -- each month you would receive a packet of training information with new exercises, workouts and ideas to try. |
Some of the most famous mail-order strongmen include George Jowett, Joe Bonomo, and Earle. E. Liederman.
Labels: George Jowett, Joe Bonomo, Mail Order Course, Mail Order Muscle Courses, Strength Authors, Tradition
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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
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
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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
Friday, September 07, 2007
 Strongman Stunts Made Easy by George F. Jowett | This training booklet, along with five others, appeared sometime around 1930 and George Jowett claimed to have sold hundreds of thousands of them all over the world. Like much of Jowett's writings, the material is surprisingly timeless, of course, this booklet is devoted specificaly to feats of strength -- the Bent Press, lifting a human being, finger lifting, steel bending, how to tear a deck of cards etc. In what should also not be a surprise, George Jowett describes the training for each feat in great detail. |
Labels: Bent Press, Deck of Cards, finger lifting, George Jowett, Human Lift, Mail Order Course, Oldtime Strongman, Steel Bending, Strongman Stunts Made Easy
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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
Monday, July 23, 2007
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."
Labels: Dumbbell, George Jowett, Globe Barbell, Strongman Equipment, Strongman Feat
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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
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Eugen Sandow was THE prototypical strongman and the first true strength Superstar.
He thrilled audiences all over the world with his classical physique as well as his amazing feats of strength. Many of the most famous Iron Game luminaries such as George Jowett and Alan Calvert were inspired to begin training after seeing Sandow in action. Once he tired of the performing life, Sandow established the very first "Health Studios," mail order training courses and physical culture magazine. Even to this day he still inspires millions to develop their health and strength. |  Eugen Sandow |
Labels: Alan Calvert, Bodybuilding, Eugen Sandow, George Jowett, Mail Order Course
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