Saturday, March 27, 2010
Strongfort's MonthlyLionel Strongfort was among the many strongmen who had their own monthly periodical. It ran for 14 issues. Copies, however, are pretty hard to come by.
Labels: Lionel Strongfort, Magazine
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
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Young Lionel StrongfortLionel Strongfort's most famous feat was The Human Bridge where he supported 3-1/2 tons in the Tomb of Hercules. It was this feat by which he traveled the country amazing audiences and becoming a household word. On the advice of his mentor Professor Attila, Strongfort established one of the first, if not the first mail order phsyical culture businesses in 1898. Known as "Strongfortism" his mail order business lasted until around World War II. As you can see, Strongfort was also a fan of kettlebells.
Labels: Human Bridge, Kettlebell, Lionel Strongfort, Mail Order Course, Mail Order Muscle Courses, Oldtime Strongman, Strongfortism, The Tomb of Hercules
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, March 08, 2009
Muscle Builder Magazine Volume 2, No. 1, September, 1924Lionel Strongfort on the cover of the Sepember, 1924 issue of Macfadden's Muscle Builder Magazine. This issue included articles on boxing and wrestling, as well as abdominal training and the wrestler's bridge.
Labels: Abdominal Training, Bernarr Macfadden, Cover, Lionel Strongfort, Muscle Builder, Muscle Builder Magazine, Muscle Magazine, Wrestlers Bridge
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, February 07, 2008
| A young Lionel Strongfort, circa 1900, billed as "America's Most Perfect Athlete" (and he certainly looked it.) Actually Strongfort was a great athlete -- he excelled in boxing, wrestling, track and field events as well as feats of strength. He could perform a somersault with a 50-pound dumbbell in each hand along with many other traditional oldtime strongman feats. |  Young Lionel Strongfort |
Labels: Lionel Strongfort, Oldtime Strongman Feat, Somersault, Young
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, January 29, 2008
 Lionel Strongfort | Lionel Strongfort, (Real name Max Unger) began his strongman career as a pupil of Professor Attila Strongfort went on to thrill audiences all over the world with his incredible and very dangerous Human Bridge feat where he supported over 7,000 pounds in the Tomb of Hercules position. Strongfort was also one of the most successful Mail Order Muscle Barons and his training courses on "Strongfortism," which only required bodyweight and some light dumbbells, were incredibly popular in the early 20th century. |
Labels: Human Bridge, Lionel Strongfort, Mail Order Muscle Courses, Max Unger, Oldtime Strongman, Oldtime Strongman Feat, Professor Attila, Strength Author, Strongfortism, Supporting Feat, Tomb of Hercules
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, July 18, 2007
From page 51 of 'Super Strength' by Alan Calvert:
"The chest and lungs are the storehouses of your power. A big rib-box means plenty of room for the lungs. Big lungs are of immense value to the super-strong man. They enable him to keep up for many minutes at a time of exertions which would exhaust an ordinary individual in the course of a few seconds.
Therefore your first aim should be to increase the size of the rib box; and even if you do not intend to try for super-strength, or if you are not interested in any other kind of exercise, I most earnestly recommend you to practice the movement described in the following paragraphs.
If you don't have a few chest expansion movements in your training - you should!
To learn more about how to expand the chest and enlarge the rib-box, I recommend the following resources:
1. The Key to Might and Muscle by George Jowett
2. Super Strength by Alan Calvert
3.. Combat Abs by Matt Furey
4. The New Bodybuilding for Old School Results by Dr. Ellington Darden
"The chest and lungs are the storehouses of your power. A big rib-box means plenty of room for the lungs. Big lungs are of immense value to the super-strong man. They enable him to keep up for many minutes at a time of exertions which would exhaust an ordinary individual in the course of a few seconds.
Therefore your first aim should be to increase the size of the rib box; and even if you do not intend to try for super-strength, or if you are not interested in any other kind of exercise, I most earnestly recommend you to practice the movement described in the following paragraphs.
| A few months daily practice will increase the girth of your rib-box by several inches. As the rib box grows larger, the shoulders will get proportionately broader, the lungs will get bigger and you will find that you will have vastly endurance as the size and power of the lungs increases. Furthermore you will find that you arms and legs will develop automatically. A big-chested man can get arm and leg development at a much more rapid pace than can the man who has a small rib-box and correspondingly small lungs." |  Lionel Strongfort from 1931 |
To learn more about how to expand the chest and enlarge the rib-box, I recommend the following resources:
1. The Key to Might and Muscle by George Jowett
2. Super Strength by Alan Calvert
3.. Combat Abs by Matt Furey
4. The New Bodybuilding for Old School Results by Dr. Ellington Darden
Labels: Chest Exercise, Chest Expansion, Combat Abs, Lionel Strongfort, Super Strength, The Key to Might and Muscle
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, July 01, 2007
THE GREATEST FEAT OF STRENGTH IN WORLD'S HISTORY!- The Human Bridge performed by Lionel Strongfort -
"In all the larger cities of Europe and America, LIONEL STRONGFORT has performed his amazing "Human Bridge" feat of supporting a huge bridge of 1500 pounds over which travels a heavy, steel-bodied automobile, carrying six to seven passengers; total weight sustained - over 3-1/2 tons. There is no record of ancient or modern times of any other athlete ever performing a feat that required such enormous strength."
Labels: Lionel Strongfort, Mail Order Course, Oldtime Strongman, 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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