A Strength Feat by the Mighty Atlas

A Strength Feat by the Might 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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Mac Batchelor's 2000-Pound Hip Lift

Mac 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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Cyclops and Sampson

Cyclops 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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Cannon Lifting with Warren Lincoln Travis

Warren Lincoln Travis

You 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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Charles Sampson

Charles 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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Warren Lincoln Travis' Challenge

Warren 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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Harry Shafran

Harry Shafran

Harry 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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Harness Lifting 1875 Pounds

Harness 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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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 Bankier

(Looks like it worked!)

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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 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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