Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Signor Lawanda: The Iron jawed ManSignor Lawanda: The Iron jawed Man got his name with good reason. His signature feat was lifting several men seated on a barrel by his teeth. The top picture shows him at 20 years old and the neck and jaw development is quite pronounced.
Labels: Barrel Lifting, Circus Strongman, Iron Jawed Man, Jaw Strength, Neck Strength, Signor Lawanda
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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
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
"The Great" Joe RollinoA closer look at the great man in honor of his passing. Joe Rollino learned the strongman trade as an assistant to Warren Lincoln Travis at the famed Coney Island. In the 1920's, Rollino branched out into his own strongman act, performing all the traditional feats such as back lifting, finger lifting, nail bending, phonebook and playing card tearing and, shown here, bending a spike in his teeth.
Rollino was also a boxer under the name "Kid Dundee" and, like many strongmen of the day, was a very good hand balancer.
Labels: Coney Island, Coney Island Strongman, hand balancer, Jaw Strength, Joe Rollino, Kid Dundee, Oldtime Boxers, Spike Bending, The Great Joe Rollino, Warren Lincoln Travis
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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, December 21, 2009
Joe ZimmermanJoe Zimmerman and his brother Dick were Bob Hoffman's neighbors in York, Pennsylvania and they hung around the York Barbell Company office doing crazy feats of strength. Here's Joe performing a hand stand on some boxes -- which is tough enough by itself -- but he is also lifting the 202-pound Louis Cyr Dumbbell in his teeth at the same time!
Labels: Bob Hoffman, Feat, Hand Balancing, handstand, Jaw Strength, Joe Zimmerman, Louis Cyr Challenge Dumbbell, York Barbell Company
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
Monday, November 30, 2009
James J. CarrollJames J. Carroll, of Jamaica, New York, spent most of his adult life fat and out of shape until by happenstance, he watched one of Warren Lincoln Travis' performances. Carroll could not believe that a man could become so strong. After watching Travis in action, Carroll became inspired and later that evening, went down into his basement and lifted (or at least attempted to lift) his coal bin.
Though primitive, this early bit of "training" lit a spark under Carroll, and later, under Travis' tutelage, he achieved a number of notable feats of strength. One of which is shown here, a teeth lift of 318 pounds - a record at the time.
Labels: Globe Barbell, James J. Carroll, Jaw Strength, New York Strongman, Performing Strongman, Teeth Lifting
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
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
The Amazing Samson: Girder Teeth Lift"The Amazing Samson" Alexander Zass was adept at many feats of strength but he had unusually strong teeth. Here, he lifts a 300 pound steel girder by that method - and makes it look easy.
Labels: Alexander Zass, Feats of Strength, Jaw Strength, Teeth Lifting
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
Thursday, November 05, 2009
John J. Hajnos - The Navy HerculesJohn J. Hajnos, originally of California, became a professional strongman after serving in the Navy in World War I. He performed a number of traditional feats but his most well-known is pictured here, supporting a fellow office (in this case J.F. Kaska, who weighed 175 pounds) seated in a chair clenched between his jaws - an incredible test of balance as well as neck/jaw strength.
Hajnos was a student of Lionel Strongfort and actually once defeated Warren Lincoln Travis on one occasion at an impromptu contest held at Coney Island.
Labels: Jaw Strength, John J. Hajnos, Lionel Strongfort, Navy Hercules, Neck Strength, Performing Strongman, Strongfortism, Warren Lincoln Travis
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
Friday, August 28, 2009
Frank "Iron-Jaw" DilksFrank "Iron-Jaw" Dilks, of Bridgeton, New Jersey was an aptly named strongman. Here he goes for a stroll, pulling a brand new fire engine purchased by the city down the block with his teeth. This particular fire engine which was manufactured by the Stutz Fire Engine Company of Indianapolis, Indiana, weighed in at seven and a half tons.
Labels: Feat, Feats of Strength, Frank Dilks, Jaw Strength, Pulling Feat, Teeth Lifting
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
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
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
Friday, May 29, 2009
Lee "Strongman" JonesLee "Strongman" Jones does his thing back in the mid-1950s. I don't know anything about the man other than he has a pretty strong set of choppers.
Labels: Jaw Strength, Lee Strongman Jones, Strength 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
Wednesday, April 08, 2009
Art LevanBesides being a a great Olympic lifter (10x National Champion in the 126 lb. class) Art Levan was the master of several unusual feats of strengh as well. Here he hangs by his teeth with a 70-pound kettlebell in each hand.
Labels: Art Levan, Jaw Strength, Kettlebells, Olympic lifter
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
Friday, April 03, 2009
Jaw StrengthMany of the oldtime strongmen used teeth lifting in their performances and also as a neck developer. If you do decide to incorporate this lift into your training, please do so safely. Here's a classic shot of Jim Murray, managing editor of Strength and Health Magazine using aYork custom-made mouthpiece to lift a 200-pound dumbbell.
Labels: Dumbbell, Jaw Lifting, Jaw Strength, Neck Exercise, Neck Strength, Strength and Health Magazine, York Barbell Club t-shirt
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
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Joseph Vitole's Record Teeth LiftA look at Joseph Vitole's world record teeth lift of 550 pounds which he accomplished in 1922. Vitole was a student of Earle E. Liederman and weighed only 150 pounds at the time.
Labels: Earle E. Liederman, Feat, Jaw Strength, Joseph Vitole, Neck Strength, Strength Feat, Teeth Lifting
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
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Cannon Lifting!If it's heavy, you can bet some oldtime strongman has tried to lift it in a unique manner. As this Strongman demonstrates, here's one way to lift a cannon: with your teeth!
Labels: Cannon, Cannon Lifting, Feats of Strength, Jaw Lifting, Jaw Strength, Neck Strength, Odd Object Lifting, Teeth Lifting
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
Friday, January 09, 2009
Signor Lawanda - The Iron Jawed ManSig Lawanda, The Iron Jawed Man, was an early circus performer whose signature feat was to use his teeth to lift a barrel on which two men sat - an incredible feat of neck strength. He famously appeared with P.T. Barnum
Labels: Barrel, Circus Strongman, Feat, Iron Jawed Man, Jaw Strength, Neck Strength, P.T. Barnum, Signor Lawanda, Teeth Lifting
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
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
The Mighty Atom - Chain BitingAmong the Mighty Atom's incredible feats was the ability to bite steel chains and nails clean in half. The results are shown in the inset. Amazingly, The Atom was not the only strongman who could perform this feat Siegmund Breitbart could do it as well.
Labels: Chain Biting, Jaw Strength, Siegmund Breitbart, Strength Feat, The MIghty Atom
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
Monday, June 23, 2008
Teeth Lifting was a favorite feat of many oldtime strongmen, and this particular mouthpiece was sold by the York Barbell Company in the pages of Strength and Health Magazine Several hundred pounds can be lifted in this manner and this type of lifting will build incredible neck and jaw strength, however, we do NOT recommend this style of lifting (If you decide to do it anyway, please have a dentist onhand.)
Teeth Lifting BitLabels: Jaw Lifting, Jaw Strength, Neck Strength, Strength and Health Magazine, Teeth Lifting, Unusual Training Equipment, York Barbell Company
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
Thursday, November 08, 2007
Teeth LiftingHere a turn of the century strongman tows a car with his teeth. -- Of all the Strength Feats I have talked about so far I definitely do not recommend trying this type of lifting at home.
Labels: Car Pulling, Feats of Strength, Jaw Strength, Strongman Feat, Teeth Lifting
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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