Early Leg Press

Early Leg Press

Say 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.

---

Nerves of Steel - Muscles Like Iron by George Jowett

Nerves of Steel - Muscles Like Iron by George Jowett

Nerves 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.

---

George Jowett And The Bent Press

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.

---

Ottley Coulter

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.

---

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.

---

The Tomb of Hercules Feat

The Tomb of Hercules Feat

"A feat of supporting strength that is commonly performed is the one known as "The Tomb of Hercules."

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."

- George Jowett in The Key to Might and Muscle, Chapter 6

---

The Jowett Institute of Physical Culture Diploma

The Jowett Institute of Physical Culture Diploma
Our 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.

---

Mail Order Muscle Courses

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.

This not only keeps motivation up, it provides just enough info to work on, and a month to work on it, so that trainees don't get sidetracked.

Some of the most famous mail-order strongmen include George Jowett, Joe Bonomo, and Earle. E. Liederman.

---

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.)

---

Strongman Stunts Made Easy by George F. Jowett

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.

---

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."

---

Eugen Sandow

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

---