Tuesday, March 02, 2010

  • Oscar Wahlund, The Strongest Man in Sweden


  • Who IS the strongest man in Sweden? Hard to say these days but a hundred years ago it was Oscar Wahlund. He is credited with a harness lift of well over 4600 pounds and could clean and jerk 225 pounds for 10 repetitions.

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    Tuesday, March 02, 2010

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    Monday, February 08, 2010

  • John B. Gagnon


  • John B. Gagnon, of Caribou, Maine, is a strongman that you do not hear much about but laid claim to some very impressive feats which are as follows:
  • Finger Lift – 794 pounds
  • One Hand Lift – 1,111 pounds
  • Two Hand Lift – 1,575 pounds
  • Two Hand and Knees Lift – 2,195 pounds
  • Neck Lift – 1,317 pounds
  • Harness Lift – 2,689 pounds
  • Teeth Lift – 627 pounds
  • One Arm Lift – 924 pounds
  • Two Arm Lift – 1,248 pounds
  • Back Lift – 4,170 pounds
  • Total – 16,650 pounds lifted in only 25 minutes
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    Monday, February 08, 2010

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    Wednesday, April 01, 2009

  • Paul Kronus


  • As a young man, Paul Kronus of Germany was inspired to become a strongman after watching a performance by Karl Abs. During the 1920's Kronus traveled throughout Europe and the U.S. performing feats of strength, among them this harness lift of a car said to weigh 3600 pounds.

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    Wednesday, April 01, 2009

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    Tuesday, February 24, 2009

  • Charles A. Sampson


  • Step right up... a rare ticket from Charles A. Sampson's performance at Royal Albert Hall, London England, on Novemnber 22nd and 23rd, 1899. If you had been in attendence, you would have seen Sampson perform his signature feats: harness lifting, coin bending, lifting heavy thick-handled globe barbells and breaking chains wrapped around his bicep.

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    Tuesday, February 24, 2009

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    Friday, February 20, 2009

  • John Grunn Marx


  • "The Luxembourg Hercules" John Grunn Marx was descended from a long line of blacksmiths. He was famous for his tremendously powerful hand strength and his ability to break horse shoes. In 1905, he performed a harness lift with 4410 pounds.

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    Friday, February 20, 2009

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    Tuesday, January 13, 2009

  • Sandow's Harness Lifting


  • One of Sandow's favorite leg exercises was harness lifting a heavy weight. He would adjust the length of the chain to different lengths in order to train different leg muscles. Not only was this a very productive movement in itself, it also allowed him to become accustomed to heavy weights and practice some of the feats for his strength performances.

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    Tuesday, January 13, 2009

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    Monday, June 23, 2008

  • A Strength Feat by the Mighty Atlas

  • The Pro Wrestler "The Mighty Atlas" often performed feats of strength before his matches, many of them unusual, and not performed by any other strongmen before or since.

    Here's one you don't see every day: breaking a 3/4" manila rope with a harness lift. That's a "gut buster" for sure!

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    Monday, June 23, 2008

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    Wednesday, May 07, 2008

  • Mac Batchelor's 2000-Pound Hip Lift

  • Mac BatchelorMac batchelor's 2000-Pound Hip Lift

    Mac Batchelor was well-known for his grip strength but he excelled at many other different types of strength feats.

    Here's Mighty Mac performing a harness or hip lift with over 2000 pounds.

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    Wednesday, May 07, 2008

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    Friday, April 18, 2008

  • Cyclops and Sampson

  • Cyclops and SampsonCyclops and Sampson

    A rare poster advertising the strongman duo of Franz "Cyclops" Bienkowski and Charles A. Sampson. Sampson's Harness Lift is highlighted.

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    Friday, April 18, 2008

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    Monday, April 07, 2008

  • Cannon Lifting with Warren Lincoln Travis

  • Warren Lincoln Travis Cannon LiftWarren Lincoln TravisYou aren't a real Oldtime Strongman until you lift a Cannon...

    The great Warren Lincoln Travis shows he's still got it as an old man, Harness Lifting a Cannon and a Globe Barbell - combined weight: over 1500 pounds.

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    Monday, April 07, 2008

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    Sunday, March 30, 2008

  • Charles Sampson

  • Charles SampsonCharles Sampson

    Charles Sampson was a turn-of-the-century strongman who, unlike any of his contemporaries, claimed his great strength was not from physical training but a result of having been struck by lightning as a small child!

    As noted in Physical Training Simplified by Mark Berry, Sampson did perform a Harness Lift with 4008 pounds and frequently collaborated with the famous coin breaker Franz "Cyclops" Bienkowski.

    Sampson and Cyclops were both handily defeated by Eugen Sandow in a famous challenge match in 1889.

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    Sunday, March 30, 2008

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    Friday, December 14, 2007

  • Warren Lincoln Travis' Challenge

  • Warren Lincoln Travis' ChallengeWarren
    Lincoln
    Travis
    If you wanted to win the Richard K. Fox Heavyweight Strongman Champiionship Belt you had to beat Warren Lincoln Travis at his own game in a challenge match.

    Here's the list of Travis' ten strength challenges:
    1. 100 lb.barbell brought from the floor with both hands, pressed overhead with both hands, while seated(thirty seconds).

    2. Pair of ninety pound weights brought from side of body to shoulders, then slowly pressing to arm's lengh over the head.

    3. Teeth Lift from floor, hands behind back, 350 lbs.

    4. 350 lbs. from floor with one finger, eight times in five seconds.

    5. One finger lift from floor, 560 lbs. once.

    6. Two-hand grip lift, straddling the weight from floor, 700 lbs. twenty times in ten seconds.

    7. Hand and knee lift from floor, 1600 lbs. once.

    8. Back lift, 3660 lbs. once.

    9. Harness lift, 3580 lbs. once.

    10. 2000 lb. back lift, 250 times, seven minutes.
    (Did I mention all these lifts must be accomplished in 30 minutes or less if you want to win the belt?)

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    Friday, December 14, 2007

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    Saturday, December 01, 2007

  • Harry Shafran

  • Harry ShafranHarry ShafranHarry Shafran was an oldtime lifter who ran two gyms (one in Brooklyn and one in greater New York City) in the 1920's.

    Eventually Harry got tired of big city life and moved to a farm near Scranton, Pennsylvania where he converted a large barn into a gym.

    His collection of oldtime strength equipment was quite impressive, you can see a bit of it in the picture to the left where Shafran is harness lifting 1500 pounds (at 72 years old!)

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    Saturday, December 01, 2007

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    Thursday, October 11, 2007

  • Harness Lifting 1875 Pounds

  • Harness Lifting 1875 PoundsHarness Lifting 1875 Pounds
    Harness lifting was very popular with many old time strongmen. It was a very simple way to move a lot of weight and with the heavy weights and short range of motion, it builds tremendous strength in the bones and ligaments as well as the muscles.

    You can also see John Grimek performing this exercise on the cover of The Mark Berry Barbell Courses

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    Thursday, October 11, 2007

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  • Bicep Training With William Bankier, The Scottish Hercules

  • William Bankier was a performing strongman and wrestler at the turn of the century who went by the name of Apollo, The Scottish Hercules.

    For his act he would harness lift an elephant and perform a backward somersault over a chair, carrying a 56 lb weight in each hand.

    According to David Willoughby, The Scottish Hercules had a rather unusual method for building his biceps:

    "Rope climbing, using a rope one a half or two inches in diameter would be difficult to improve upon as an exercise for developing the arms and grip. If climbing rope in the vertical direction should prove beyond one's strength, the bottom of the rope could be fastened so as to fix the rope at any desired angle.

    This climbing of the rope on an angle is an exercise which "Apollo" ( aka William Bankier) aka "The Scottish Hercules" used to develop his bicep strength.

    From a single climbing and descending of a 30 foot rope each day (which took about two minutes) he obtained infinitely better results than did an acquaintance who devoted a half hour each day to light exercises especially for the biceps."
    William BankierWilliam Bankier

    (Looks like it worked!)

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    Thursday, October 11, 2007

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    Monday, July 02, 2007

  • Strongman Breaks Cobblestones With His Hands

  • It was on this date back in 1891 that Louis Cyr defeated Sebastian Miller in a back lifting contest 3192 pounds to 2400 pounds.

    If you've spent any time on the site so far you are pretty well acquainted with Louis Cyr but you probably aren't as familiar with Sebastian Miller.

    Heres a bit about him from the Cambridge (Ohio) Jeffersonian newspaper dated January 3, 1899:

    -- Strongman Breaks Cobblestones With His Hands --

    Sebastian MillerSebastian Miller

    "A strongman has turned up on Philadelphia. He calls himself Sebastian Miller and a distinguished gathering of physicians and Professors witnessed some of his feats of strength in the Pennsylvania hospital a day ago.

    Miller stripped to the waist in order that the physicians might see the workings of his gigantic muscles, and he stepped to a light pine table on which were placed several cobblestones.

    A large stone was held in place and Miller, giving three powerful swings with his right arm, brought his fist down on the stone.

    The first blow cracked it, the second broke it, and the third shattered it into bits.

    In doing this, Miller wrapped a piece of cloth around his hand to protect it from being cut.

    But Miller's strength is not all in his arms. With a harness he has raised 3500 pounds and with his hands he can lift 1800 pounds. With three successive blows of his fist he has broken a block of Quincy granite 5 feet long, 4 feet broad and 6 inches thick."

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    Monday, July 02, 2007

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