Doug Hepburn - 1953 Heavyweight World Champion

Doug Hepburn - 1953 Heavyweight World Champion

Doug Hepburn's final lift to win the 1953 Heavyweight World Weightlifting Championship held in Stockholm, Sweden. (defeating John Davis) The lift pictured here was a 363-pound clean and jerk -- the highest of the contest. Doug's other lifts of the day were a 371-pound press and a 297-pound snatch for a total of 1031 pounds.

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Tommy Kono

Tommy Kono succeeds in jerking unusual classic barbell at Cayeaux's Paris gym (the same place where Norb Schemansky lifted the Apollon Wheels.) This non-rotating thick-handle barbell weighed 358 pounds and the smaller plates necessitated a longer pull making it quite a challenge. The first two men to clean and jerk this weight were Charles Rigoulot and John Davis.

Tommy Kono

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John Davis Pinchlift

John Davis Pinchlift
The Olympic Champion John Davis pinch-gripping 55 pounds with one finger and a thumb while training as Ed Yarick's Gym.

Try it!

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Dave Sheppard Training at The York Gym

Dave Sheppard Training at The York Gym
One of the greatest gyms of all time was the old York gym on Broad street. An untold number of champions trained there, among them Dave Sheppard, shown here practicing his high pulls with 360 pounds.

Sheppard used a wide grip, as if snatching, and pulled the weight high enough to touch his chest lightly on each rep. This was one of the key exercises that allowed him to snatch 316-1/2 pounds at a bodyweight of 190 pounds.

John Davis looks on as he waits his turn to lift.

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John Davis' Flag

John Davis Flag
There's no question that John Davis was one of the greatest strength athletes who ever lived. - He was exemplary at nearly every lift he tried, whether grip feats such as lifting the Apollon wheels or pinch gripping feats or Olympic lifting and other incredible lifts.

Here John Davis performs the incredible bodyweight feat "the flag" while training at Ed Yarick's Gym in Oakland,California.

Although Davis makes it look easy, this feat is harder than it looks - try it.

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The Famous Rolandow Dumbbell

The Famous Rolandow Dumbbell
The Rolandow Dumbbell has a very interesting history. It was originally cast by the McLoughlin Iron Foundry in Brooklyn, New York in 1896 at the request of Warren Lincoln Travis who wanted to use it in his act.

The dumbbell was supposed to be 200 lbs. but came out of the mold just over it at 209lbs.

A few years went by and fellow strongman G.W. Rolandow offered to purchase it from Travis, on the condition that Travis deliver the bell himself.

Travis grabbed the bell, hopped on the nearest street car, transfered twice and carried the bell two blocks and up two flights of steps to Rolandow's office.

Rolandow then stated that unless he could lift the dumbbell, there would be no sale. And with that, we walked over to it, hefted it to his shoulder and commenced to bent-press it no less than seven times!

After several decades, Rolandow closed his gym and his famous dumbbell eventually became acquired by Sig Klein who featured it as a challenge weight in his gym.

If someone could succeed in bent-pressing the Rolandow Dumbbell, Klein put their name on an Honor Roll, here's how it looked:

(1) G.W. Rolandow...................1900
(2) John Grimek.........................1934
(3) Bob Hoffman........................1936
(4) Wally Zagurski..................1936
(5) John Davis............................1936
(6) Jack Kent..........................1937
(7) Frank Bates........................1937
(8) Bob Harley.........................1937
(9) Siegmund Klein...................1939
(10) Aurele Velleux..................1939
(11) George Hobby...................1940
(12) Elwood Holbrook...............1941

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Another Look at John Davis Lifting The Apollon Wheels

John Davis Lifting The Apollon Wheels
I've covered John Davis lifting the famous Apollon Wheels before, but you've probably never seen it from this angle before. This shot is from a French Newspaper and probably hasn't seen the light of day for over five decades.

You saw it here first...

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Can You Curl Like John Davis?

John Davis

Can you curl like John Davis? -- In Dinosaur Training, Brooks Kubik looks at John Davis' curling ability in detail. John Davis, as reported in an article in The Iron Master by Osmo Kiiha, could curl 215 pounds at a bodyweight of just 193 pounds. -- That's 1.11 times bodyweight, a staggering feat of strength. Here's John Davis curling 205 pounds in damn good form.

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John Davis - Pinch Grip Feat

John Davis had a mighty grip to go along with his incredible strength. -- He would need a pretty terrific grip to lift the Apollon wheels. Davis could also perform three one-arm chinups with either hand. Pictured here is Two-time Olympic Gold Medal Winning Weightlifter John Davis performing a unique grip feat: pinching a pair of York "Deep Dish" 35-pound barbell plates. Not many people practice pinch gripping, or gripping a smooth surface with the fingers extended. Pinch gripping modern barbell plates is hard enough, what Davis is doing here is very impressive considering those particular plates are twice as wide as any barbell plates you'll find these days.

- John Davis - Pinch Grip Feat

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Weightlifting Champion John Davis

Weightlifting Champion John Davis

John Davis was one of America's greatest Olympic weightlifting champions. Throughout his career he won two gold medals: 1948(London) and 1952(Helsinki) He was also a Senior World Champion in 1938, 1946, 1947, 1949, 1950, and 1951. His best Olympic lifts were: Press - 342 Pounds Snatch - 330-1/2 Pounds Clean & Jerk - 402 Pounds

He also excelled in a number of other lifts, deadlifting 705 pounds, squatting 525 pounds eight times in succession, curling 215 pounds, chin himself with either arm multiple times, a right-hand lift of 8 pounds on a Weaver Stick in the Forward Lift style and one of the few men in history to Clean and Jerk the Apollon Wheels

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Squat!

Olympic Champion John Davis - Squat!
If you are truly interested in size and strength, you need to train your legs. -- and one of the best leg exercises is the barbell squat. In fact, heavy squats have built the foundation of some of the greatest strength athletes in history.

Here's a look at the great John Davis squatting at Ed Yarick's Gym in Oakland, California in the 50s -- and that's how you should be squatting: full and deep.

No monkey business there, just pure power development.

I don't recommend squatting with a board under the heels but it seems to work for John Davis, who was Twice Olympic Weightlifting Champion (1948 and 1952) and Six Time Senior World Weightlifting Champion (1938, 1946, 1947, 1949, 1950, 1951).

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John Davis Lifts The Apollon Wheels

John Davis Lifts The Apollon Wheels
September 13th, 1949 -- American Olympic Weightlifting Champion John Davis succeeds in cleaning & jerking the famous Apollon Wheels. This weight once belonged to the great French Strongman Louis "Apollon" Uni who would lift it each night in his act.

The wheels themselves weigh 366 pounds connected by a 1.93" diameter axle making this feat an incredible test of grip strength. The widest diameter of each disc is 26 inches.

After passing out on a previous attempt, (dropping the weight and slightly bending the axle) John Davis cleaned the ponderous weight with a mixed grip, switched hands in mid-air, and jerked it overhead.

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Norb Schemansky Lifts The Apollon Wheels

Norb Schemansky Lifts The Apollon Wheels
At the turn of the century, the French strongman Apollon introduced his famous challenge weight -- a pair of railcar wheels attached by a thick axle.

The whole affair weighed 366 lbs. but the real challenge laid in the 1.93 inch thick axle which meant that only the strongest pairs of hands would ever have a shot at breaking it free of the ground.

Apollon, who likely had the strongest grip in history, was the only man who ever lifted it for decades...

Many a strongman tried but all failed until the great french weight lifter Charles Rigoulot finally achieved the feat in 1930 after having trained for it over the course of several months.

Nearly two decades later the American weightlifting champion John Davis was able to lift the wheels on his second try (after passing out on his first attempt.)

On October 14th, 1954 another American weightlifting champion, Norbert Schemansky, "cleaned" the Apollon wheels and jerked them three times in succession, thus writing his name (again) in the record books.

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