Saturday, February 20, 2010
Hermann Goerner: The Human LinkHermann Goerner was one of the many strongmen who performed The Human Link. Even eight men on each side was child's play for the Mighty German strongman.
Labels: Classic Strongman Feats, Hermann Goerner, Human Link
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Thursday, January 07, 2010
The Amazing Samson!Many strongmen performed The Human Link Feat but around 1920, The Amazing Samson upped the ante by a bunch. He not only held back a pair of draught horses, he also bent a steel bar over his leg at the same time! Amazing indeed. It should also probably be mentioned that he accomplished this feat as a result of a bet.
Labels: Alexander Zass, Amazing Samson, Bar Bending, Classic Strongman Feats, Human Link
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Thursday, December 31, 2009
George Lurich - Human Link!Of the thousands of posts that I have put up on this site, I have to say that this one is one of my absolute favorites: a rare picture of the Estonian strongman George Lurich performing the Human Link with a pair of camels!
Labels: Camels, Estonian Strongman, George Lurich, Human Link, Supporting Feat
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Monday, December 07, 2009
Warren Lincoln Travis ~ The Human Link!Here's a classic shot of Warren Lincoln Travis performing the classic strength feat "The Human Link". Although out of the frame, travis actually has a pair of horses looped over each elbow, and it's all he can do to stop from being torn limb from limb!
Labels: Classic Strongman Feats, Coney Island Strongman, Horses, Human Link, Warren Lincoln Travis
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Sunday, November 08, 2009
Tullus Wright - The American SampsonTullus Wright, from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, traveled the country in the late 1800s, performing in fairs and carnivals as "The American Sampson". He performed a number of traditional feats of strength but his specialty was The Human Link.
Labels: Carnival Strongman, Feats of Strength, Human Link, Performing Strongman, The American Sampson, Tullus Wright
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Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Milo BarusThe great German Strongman Milo Barus, is shown here performing the Human Link feat with a pair of automobiles. Barus performed a tremendous variety of incredible strength feats in his act: Nail Driving, Steel Bending, Harness Lifting, The "Leg Press", Horse Lifting etc etc.
In 1983 a Movie was made about his life and today, a strength competition in his honor takes place in front of his old house at Mühltal Eisenberger. -- The winner receives the "Milo Barus Cup".
Labels: Classic Strongman Feats, German Strongman, Human Link, Leg Press, Milo Barus, Nail Driving, Steel Bending
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Tuesday, September 01, 2009
Don Athaldo: The Human LinkThe Australian Strongman Don Athaldo is yet another example of the many strongmen who have performed "The Human Link". Athaldo was at his best in the early 1930's.
Labels: Australian Strongman, Classic Strongman Feats, Don Athaldo, Human Link, Tendon 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, August 26, 2009
Galen GoughBilled as "The World's Miracle Strongman," Galen Gough from Howard''s Grove Kentucky certainly lived up to his title. Gough was terribly injured while serving in World War I, but built himself back to health and strength through physical training. His results were so dramatic that a career as a performing strongman soon followed.
Gough performed feats of strength in carnivals, fairs and vaudeville houses all over the country. In addition to "traditional" strongman feats such as The Human Link, Nail Driving, and bar bending, Gough came up with many of his own including dangling from a rope tied to an airplane by his teeth, with a 50 pound weight in each hand, biting keys in half, juggling a 300-pound anvil!
One of his many adventures was to perform feats of strength as publicity stunts for the Louisville, Kentucky- based Oertel Brewing Company which is the origin of the Barrel barbell pictured above.
Labels: Anvil, Anvil Lifting, Bar Bending, Barrel, Barrel Barbell, Barrel Lifting, Feats of Strength, Galen Gough, Human Link, Jaw Strength, Kentucky Strongman, Nail Driving, Oldtime Strongman, Teeth Lifting
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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
Classic Strongman Feats: The Human LinkCertain strongman feats are just classics and one of those is the The Human Link. Louis Cyr performed it all the way back in the late 1800s with a couple draught horses... Dennis Rogers does the same feat today with motor cycles or jet planes -- and you can find pretty much every major strongman in between having performed the same feat as well.
Here's Johan Dykhorst of South Africa performing the human link with an automobile on each arm. At the time this picture was taken he was the director of a large physical culture gym in Johannesburg, South Africa. Aside from the Human Link, Dykhorst was also great at some of the more conventional lifts, among them a straight arm pullover with 215 pounds which was equal to his bodyweight - a phenomenal achievement.
Labels: Car Lift, Classic Strongman Feats, Human Link, Oldtime Strongman Feat, Pullover, South African, South African Strongman, Straight Arm Pullover
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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 16, 2009
Canadian Strongman Gaston HeonThere has been a long tradition of Canadian Strongmen, one that you probably haven't heard of is Gaston Heon of Quebec. Heon performed standard feats such as phone book tearing, the human link and having a large rock broken on his chest with a sledge hammer... but he also performed several unusual -- and somewhat dangerous -- feats, such as allowing himself to be run over by a car traveling 40 miles per hour(!) and this backlift/support of a 3000 pound automobile.
Labels: Canadian Strongman, Car, Gaston Heon, Human Link, Phonebook Tearing, Quebec, Quebec Strongman
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Wednesday, February 04, 2009
Hans Kavan: The German HerculesHans Kavan was a little-known strongman from the 1920's who was known as 'The German Hercules.' Here's his signature feat: The Human Link feat performed with two horses on each arm, pulling in opposite directions and threatening to tear him limb from limb.
Labels: German Strongman, Hans Kavan, Human Link, Supporting Feat, Tendon Strength, The German Hercules
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Sunday, January 11, 2009
Jack JohnsonThe first African American heavyweight boxing Champ Jack Johnson certainly earned his title inside the ring and out. When he did finally get his shot he had lost only two of his previous 63 fights going back almost a decade prior. As far as preparation for the ring, Johnson's condition bears the unmistakable mark of physical training and the old photos from the training camps in his era certainly back it up.
He threw the medicine ball performed calisthenics, jumped rope, chopped wood and generally engaged in exactly the kind of physical training he would have needed to in order to compete for(and Win!) the Heavyweight championship of the world.
The tale of the tape from the Johnson/Jeffries fight indicates that Johnson had a 7-7/8 inch wrist, 15-1/4 inch flexed forearm and 17-inch flexed upper arm all at a 210-pound bodyweight.
You may not realize this but Jack Johnson also was a performing strongman after his boxing days were over and one of his favorite feats was the human chain.
Labels: Boxing, Human Link, Jack Johnson, Medicine Ball Training
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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, August 01, 2008
George Levasseur - Ringling Brothers Circus StrongmanThis spectacular elephant lifting stunt of
George Levasseur's turns the calander back to the year 1907 when the Ringling Bros. billed the Detroit-born strongman as "The Strongest Man on Earth."
Levasseur was the center ring attraction with this and other dramatic displays of his strength such as allowing a large motor car filled with passengers to drive over his body.
Another sensational stunt was known as "The Human Chain where the daring strongman would resist the pulling powers of two teams of horses tugging in opposite directions in vain to seperate his clenched arms.
Labels: Backlift, Circus, Circus Strongman, Elephant, George Levasseur, Human Link, Ringling Brothers Circus
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Thursday, May 01, 2008
The Young ApolloThe Young Apollo -- A.K.A. Paul Anderson (yes, really) from Australia performed many unusual feats during his colorful career. He was fond of the Human Link Feat, letting a car run over him and pulling railroad cars with his teeth.
Here's The Young Apollo supporting 540 Pounds in pretty much every imaginable way.
Labels: Australian Strongman, Car, Globe Barbell, Human Link, Kettlebell, Ring Weights, Teeth Lifting, The Young Apollo
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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, October 19, 2007
Dennis Rogers' Death Defying Airplane Human Link FeatThe strength feat that put Oldtime Strongman Dennis Rogers on the map was when he successfully prevented a pair of Airforce T-34 Airplanes from taking off in the human link feat.
That's 285 horsepower on each arm -- and one wrong move meant they would be scraping Dennis off the runway. This amazing feat earned the Association of Oldtime Barbell and Strongman's (AOBS) highest award from Vic Boff.
You can see the footage with your own eyes in Dennis Rogers' 336 Pounds of Fury. DVD
Labels: AOBS, Dennis Rogers, Human Link, Supporting Feat, Vic Boff
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Monday, August 20, 2007
Here's another look at some performances of the Human Link Feat:
An unknown strongman holds back four horses in the 1910's
A German Strongman holds back a pair of automobiles
Hermann Goerner restains the pull of a dozen men
Dennis Rogers
(This incredible feat of strength earned Dennis Rogers "The Association of Oldetime Barbell and Strongmen Highest Achievement Award" in 1993.)
An unknown strongman holds back four horses in the 1910'sA German Strongman holds back a pair of automobilesHermann Goerner restains the pull of a dozen menDennis Rogers(This incredible feat of strength earned Dennis Rogers "The Association of Oldetime Barbell and Strongmen Highest Achievement Award" in 1993.)
Labels: Dennis Rogers, Human Link, 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, August 18, 2007
One of the great traditional "feats" of Old Time Strength is the Human Link.
There's no telling who came up with it first but what we do know is that Strongmen have been perfomring this feat for well over a century -- and because it is very dangerous, always goes over great with the crowd.
Many of the great ones such as Louis Cyr, Warren Lincoln Travis, George Levasseur, Apollon and many others included the "Human Link" feat in their shows.
Here's a look at a few famous performances:
The Great Canadian Strongman Louis Cyr
holds back two draft horses circa 1896
George Levasseur upped that ante with four hourses
as he performed this feat in the Circus
Dennis Rogers, The Pound-For-Pound World's Strongest Man for the feats he performs takes the "Human Link" feat to a whole new level as seen in his great video 336 Pounds of Fury -- That's a Harley Davidson Motorcycle at full blast on both sides!
There's no telling who came up with it first but what we do know is that Strongmen have been perfomring this feat for well over a century -- and because it is very dangerous, always goes over great with the crowd.
Many of the great ones such as Louis Cyr, Warren Lincoln Travis, George Levasseur, Apollon and many others included the "Human Link" feat in their shows.
Here's a look at a few famous performances:
The Great Canadian Strongman Louis Cyr holds back two draft horses circa 1896
George Levasseur upped that ante with four hourses
as he performed this feat in the Circus
Dennis Rogers, The Pound-For-Pound World's Strongest Man for the feats he performs takes the "Human Link" feat to a whole new level as seen in his great video 336 Pounds of Fury -- That's a Harley Davidson Motorcycle at full blast on both sides!
Labels: Dennis Rogers, GeorgeLevasseur, Human Link, Louis Cyr, 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
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