Wednesday, December 02, 2009

  • A Gathering of The Greats


  • A Gathering of The Greats: From Left to Right: Norb Grueber, owner of The Bodybuilder's Sport Shop, (located at 1925 West Division street in Chicago) as well as publisher of The Chicago Bodybuilder Magazine, Sam Greller, Athletic Director of the Chicago Fair, Clarence Johnson, Chairman of Michigan AAU lifting committee, Milo Steinborn, Norb Schemansky, Tony Matic, physical director of Illinois A.C. and former heavyweight boxing champ, Primo Carnera.

    Labels: , , , , ,


    Wednesday, December 02, 2009

    www.oldtimestrongman.com

    <<< BLOG Home

    All Contents, Including Images and Text, Copyright © 2010 by John Wood and Thunderdome Media Inc., Not to be reproduced without permission, All Rights Reserved

    Bookmark and Share

    Tuesday, October 27, 2009

  • 1964 Tokyo Olympic Stamp


  • Here's a stamp commemorating the weight lifting event at the 1964 Olympic Summer Games held in Tokyo, Japan.

    Among the Medal winners featured on this site are Waldemar Baszanowski of Poland, who won Gold in the Lightweight Class, and Yoshinobu Miyake of Japan, who bested the field in the Featherweight division. Ike Berger took Silver behind Miyake, and Vlasov and Schemansky took Silver and Bronze behind the Russian Champion Zhabotinsky.

    Labels: , , , , , , , , ,


    Tuesday, October 27, 2009

    www.oldtimestrongman.com

    <<< BLOG Home

    All Contents, Including Images and Text, Copyright © 2010 by John Wood and Thunderdome Media Inc., Not to be reproduced without permission, All Rights Reserved

    Bookmark and Share

    Wednesday, September 23, 2009

  • Norb Schemansky: Vienna, 1954


  • Immediately after Norb schemansky won the 1954 Heavyweight World Championship in Vienna, Austria, he obliged the crowd with this attempt of 451-3/4 pounds in the "Continental" clean & jerk. Clyde Emrich and Pete George are seen spotting. Norb narrowly missed the lift which was 25 pounds above his own World Record.

    Labels: , , , , , ,


    Wednesday, September 23, 2009

    www.oldtimestrongman.com

    <<< BLOG Home

    All Contents, Including Images and Text, Copyright © 2010 by John Wood and Thunderdome Media Inc., Not to be reproduced without permission, All Rights Reserved

    Bookmark and Share

    Monday, July 06, 2009

  • The Greatest Lift of All Time


  • On April 28th, 1962 Norb Schemansky accomplish this lift - a 362 lb. snatch - which was called 'The Greatest Lift of All Time'.

    Of note are the iron weights. Norb often says that Olympic weightlifters were stronger back in his day even if they are lifting heavier weights today. The reason was that back then, with iron weights, lifters had to control the heavy weights they lifted overhead back to the rack position at the chest and then back to the floor. This made the handling of heavier weights that much easier. Today, with bumper plates, lifters simply drop their lifts from the top position, thus robbing themselves of much of the benefits (and strength gains). Certainly something to think about...

    Labels: , , ,


    Monday, July 06, 2009

    www.oldtimestrongman.com

    <<< BLOG Home

    All Contents, Including Images and Text, Copyright © 2010 by John Wood and Thunderdome Media Inc., Not to be reproduced without permission, All Rights Reserved

    Bookmark and Share

    Tuesday, June 02, 2009

  • The 1947 U.S. World Weightlifting Team


  • The 1947 U.S. World Weightlifting Team:

    Back Row: John Davis, Norb Schemansky, Stan Stanczyk and Harold Sakata.

    Center Row: Tony Terlazzo, Frank Spellman, Pete george and John Terpak

    Front row: Emerick Ishikawa, Bobby Higgins, Joe DiPietro and Richard Tom

    The 1947 World Weightlifting Championships were held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and were the first such competition ever held on U.S. soil. This team of American lifters scored 27-3 victory over everyone else and equalled or exceeded 12 World records. This event was also held in conjunction with the very first Mr. Universe contest where Steve Stanko took home the crown.

    Labels: , , , , , , , , , ,


    Tuesday, June 02, 2009

    www.oldtimestrongman.com

    <<< BLOG Home

    All Contents, Including Images and Text, Copyright © 2010 by John Wood and Thunderdome Media Inc., Not to be reproduced without permission, All Rights Reserved

    Bookmark and Share

    Wednesday, May 06, 2009

  • Continental Lifting


  • 'Continental' is a style of lifting where the bar is taken from the ground to the shoulders in any manner possible - usually in 2-3 separate movements.

    The most common style is with the aid of a belt with a large buckle that which the lifter rests the loaded bar on before taking it up to the racked position for the press or jerk. Weightlifting Champion Norb Schemansky is shown here continentaling this barbell in order to train with a much heavier weight than he could have normally used.

    The "short pull" from the belt builds strength in the 'second pull' in the Olympic lifts. It was this type of power training with maximum weights which contributed greatly to Norb's success as a lifter.

    Labels: , , ,


    Wednesday, May 06, 2009

    www.oldtimestrongman.com

    <<< BLOG Home

    All Contents, Including Images and Text, Copyright © 2010 by John Wood and Thunderdome Media Inc., Not to be reproduced without permission, All Rights Reserved

    Bookmark and Share

    Wednesday, March 25, 2009

  • Norb Schemansky


  • Norb Schemansky training at the York Gym in York, PA while preparing for the 1964 Olympics. Norb ended up winning the Bronze medal with a 537.5 kg total, making him the first weightlifter to win four Olympic medals.

    Labels: , ,


    Wednesday, March 25, 2009

    www.oldtimestrongman.com

    <<< BLOG Home

    All Contents, Including Images and Text, Copyright © 2010 by John Wood and Thunderdome Media Inc., Not to be reproduced without permission, All Rights Reserved

    Bookmark and Share

    Friday, February 13, 2009

  • A Meeting of The Legends


  • When you trained at York Barbell, you never knew who might stop by for a visit. On this particular day, 2x Gold Medal Winner and 4x Mr. Universe winner Tommy Kono, Mr. America, Mr. Universe and first man to crack the 1000 pound barrier Steve Stanko, "Mr. Weightlifting" Norb Schemansky and The Mighty Atom, Joe Greenstein got together for a session. That's a lot of history in one place at one time!

    Labels: , , , , , , ,


    Friday, February 13, 2009

    www.oldtimestrongman.com

    <<< BLOG Home

    All Contents, Including Images and Text, Copyright © 2010 by John Wood and Thunderdome Media Inc., Not to be reproduced without permission, All Rights Reserved

    Bookmark and Share

    Sunday, September 07, 2008

  • Norb Schemansky


  • Champion Olympic Weightlifter Norb Schemansky as he looked pressing 160 kg at the 1960 Rome Olympics (where he won Bronze) and on the cover of the September, 1962 issue of Strength and Health Magazine.

    Over his career Schemansky was an Olympic Champion in 1952 (Helsinki), Three time World Champion (1947, 1962, 1963) and set 26 World Records.

    Labels: , , , , , , ,


    Sunday, September 07, 2008

    www.oldtimestrongman.com

    <<< BLOG Home

    All Contents, Including Images and Text, Copyright © 2010 by John Wood and Thunderdome Media Inc., Not to be reproduced without permission, All Rights Reserved

    Bookmark and Share

    Wednesday, February 06, 2008

  • Norb Schemansky

  • Norb SchemanskyNorb Schemansky

    A true Champion in every sense of the word - the Great Norb Schemansky lifting at the 1954 World Championships in Vienna. At this meet, Schemansky totaled 1074 pounds.

    Labels: , ,


    Wednesday, February 06, 2008

    www.oldtimestrongman.com

    <<< BLOG Home

    All Contents, Including Images and Text, Copyright © 2010 by John Wood and Thunderdome Media Inc., Not to be reproduced without permission, All Rights Reserved

    Bookmark and Share

    Sunday, September 30, 2007

  • Schemansky Stalks the Bar...


  • From the late 1940s to mid-1960s, Norb Schemansky was America's most successful Olympic Weightlifter and the first weightlifter to medal in four Olympic Games, (despite missing the 1956 games.)

    Do you think he means business in the shot above?

    Here's a look at Norb Schemansky's achievements over the course of his career:
  • Olympic Champion - 1952 Olympic Games, Helsinki
  • Silver Medal - 1948 Olympic Games, London
  • Bronze Medal - 1960, Rome, 1964, Tokyo
  • World Champion (1951, 1953, and 1954)
  • 1955 Pan American Games Heavyweight Champion
  • Silver Medal - Senior World Championships (1947, 1962, 1963)
  • Bronze Medal - Senior World Championships (1964)
  • And best career marks:

    Press - 415 lbs.
    Snatch - 363 3/4 lbs.
    Clean and Jerk - 445 lbs.
    Total - 1200 lbs. (400-335-445)

    In addition to his weightlifting exploits, he also famously cleaned, then thrice jerked the Apollon Wheels.

    Labels: , , , , , , , , , , ,


    Sunday, September 30, 2007

    www.oldtimestrongman.com

    <<< BLOG Home

    All Contents, Including Images and Text, Copyright © 2010 by John Wood and Thunderdome Media Inc., Not to be reproduced without permission, All Rights Reserved

    Bookmark and Share

    Tuesday, September 25, 2007

  • Norb Schemansky Lifts The Apollon Wheels

  • Norb Schemansky Lifts The Apollon WheelsNorb 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.

    Labels: , , , , , , , ,


    Tuesday, September 25, 2007

    www.oldtimestrongman.com

    <<< BLOG Home

    All Contents, Including Images and Text, Copyright © 2010 by John Wood and Thunderdome Media Inc., Not to be reproduced without permission, All Rights Reserved

    Bookmark and Share

    Welcome to the Strongest Blog on the Net!

    This is THE PLACE where you will find interesting bits of Iron Game history, lore and training tips from the strongest men of all time.

    Monthly Archives