Saturday, December 12, 2009
Oscar MarineauOscar Marineau, the great Canadian Strongman is shown here with a unique exhibition feat: that's 850 pounds supported on his back which he took out for a stroll. The two engines weighed 346 pounds each and his son weighed over 150 pounds. In order to get the weights in position in the first place, Marineau had to perform a partial squat. Marineau weighed only 142 pounds himself.
Labels: Canadian Strongman, Heavy Partial Movements, Odd Object, Oscar Marineau, Supporting Feat
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Thursday, August 13, 2009
Harness Lifting"In making a harness-lift, the athlete stands on a platform above the weight. The lower platform, which bears the weight, is usually suspended by four chains, which join to one chain which passes through a hole in the upper platform. This chain, in turn, is attached to the lifter's harness... Because of the amount of weight involved, Harness Lifting is no game for the weak or untrained man."
- Super Strength by Alan Calvert (1924), pages 35-36
Labels: Alan Calvert, Harness Lifting, Heavy Partial Movements, Super Strength
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Friday, July 24, 2009
The Hip LiftOne of the most interesting training techniques of the Oldtime Strongmen is to use short-range movements with very heavy weights. This not only gives a super workout for the muscles, but strengthens the tendons and gives the psychological boost of being able to lift far above what you would normally be able to.
Here's John Grimek, training his legs by performing Hip Lifts with what looks like 600 lbs. or so. To find out more about how Grimek trained, you'll want to pick up a copy of the Mark Berry Bar Bell Courses (with this famous picture on the cover).
Labels: Grimek Exercise, Heavy Partial Movements, Hip Lift, John Grimek, Leg Exercise, Mark Berr Bar Bell Courses, Mark Berry, Tendon and Ligament Training, Tendon Strength
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Thursday, June 25, 2009
Archie VanderpoolIf you want to practice heavy partial deadlifts or hand-and-thigh lifts, you'll want a setup like Archie Vanderpool here. The strongman (and proud member of the York Barbell Club) from Woodbine, Iowa, specialized on a number of unusual -- and very heavy -- lifts. For example, his record in the lift shown was 1840 pounds. He also liked to do things like shouldering a 1100 pound railroad rail and then going for a walk.
He also reported carrying a barbell loaded to 400 pounds for a distance of 80 feet. If this looks and sounds familiar, it's because Archie was good friends with Steve Justa's father.
Labels: Archie Vanderpool, Heavy Partial Movements, Odd Object Lifting, Steve Justa, Unusual Strength, Unusual Training Equipment
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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
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Joe RagusaStrongman Joe Ragusa does a... actually I don't know what you call this one.. a neck lift? ... either way it looks pretty extreme. The bar is loaded to 655 pounds and it sure doesn't look very comfortable. Joe could also do a two-finger deadlift with 515 pounds and backlift an Elephant. This picture was snapped at Muscle Beach.
Labels: Back Lift, Elephant, Heavy Partial Movements, Heavy Weight, Joe Ragusa, Muscle Beach, Neck Strength
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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
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Training The Backlift with Mac Batchelor If you want to train The Backlift, you'll need a special setup and plenty of weight. Here's how Mac Batchelor used to do it. Mac preferred to train the backlift for high reps, on the order of 30-40 reps, usually with a ton or so.
Labels: Back Lift, Heavy Partial Movements, Heavy Weight, Mac Batchelor, Supporting 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
Monday, February 02, 2009
The Good DumbbellOne of the most interesting pieces of historical weightlifting equipment is the Good Dumbbell. This dumbbell which weighs 2150 pounds, once belonged to Warren Lincoln Travis.
It was later purchased by the great weightlifter Bill Good which is where it got its name. Bill Good was fond of harness lifting this great dumbbell to build leg strength, as pictured in the above photo. In fact, he used to do so to celebrate his birthday, lifting the bell for each year of his age, a practice he regularly upheld well into his 90s.
Labels: Bill Good, Famous Dumbbell, Harness Lifting, Heavy Partial Movements, Oldtime Strength Equipment, The Good Dumbbell
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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, May 09, 2008
Louis Cyr's BackliftA rare woodcut of the great Louis Cyr's famous backlift. Cyr astonished the world with a lift of 4337 pounds!
Labels: Backlift, Feat, Heavy Partial Movements, Louis Cyr, Oldtime Strongman Feat, Supporting Feat
www.oldtimestrongman.com
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, December 15, 2007
Squatting With Paul AndersonIf there ever were a man who was born to squat, it was Paul Anderson.
"Big Paul" often had a hard time finding bars which could hold enough weight so he had to improvise. He built this "barrel barbell" from a design pioneered by his friend Bob Peoples.
Paul would also train the squat in an unusual way:
He would dig a pit in the back yard and load up the bar to for over his normal full-squat max, then he would do partial movements, filling in the hole with dirt an inch at a time for each successive workout until he was working with a full movement.
Labels: Bob Peoples, Heavy Partial Movements, Paul Anderson, Squat, Strongman Equipment, Unusual Training Equipment
www.oldtimestrongman.com
All Contents, Including Images and Text, Copyright © 2010 by John Wood and Thunderdome Media Inc., Not to be reproduced without permission, All Rights Reserved
Sunday, November 04, 2007
 Steve Justa (Top), Archie Vanderpool (Below) | If you have had a chance to read Steve Justa's book ROCK IRON STEEL you've had a chance to see many unusual training techniques and pieces of equipment that Steve Justa uses in his workouts... You probably wonder where he got some of these training ideas -- well it just so happens that Justa's father was a friend of a guy named Archie Vanderpool who was featured in several of the lifting mags during the 1950s with some very interesting equipment and ideas on super-heavy partial movement training. |
Labels: Archie Vanderpool, Heavy Partial Movements, Rock Iron Steel, Steve Justa
www.oldtimestrongman.com
All Contents, Including Images and Text, Copyright © 2010 by John Wood and Thunderdome Media Inc., Not to be reproduced without permission, All Rights Reserved
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