Wednesday, December 02, 2009
A Gathering of The GreatsA 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: Bodybuilder's Sport Shop, Chicago Bodybuilder Magazine, Milo Steinborn, Norb Grueber, Norb Schemansky, Primo Carnera
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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, October 27, 2009
1964 Tokyo Olympic StampHere'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: 1964 Olympics, Gold Medal, Ike Berger, Norb Schemansky, Olympics, Stamp, Tokyo, Waldemar Baszanowski, Yoshinobu Miyake, Yuri Vlasov
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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, September 23, 2009
Norb Schemansky: Vienna, 1954Immediately 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: 1954 World Championships, Clyde Emrich, Continental, Continental and Jerk, Norb Schemansky, Pete George, Vienna
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Monday, July 06, 2009
The Greatest Lift of All TimeOn 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: Norb Schemansky, Record, Record Lift, Snatch
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Tuesday, June 02, 2009
The 1947 U.S. World Weightlifting TeamThe 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: Emerick Ishikawa, Harold Sakata, Joe DiPietro, John Davis, John Terpak, Norb Schemansky, Olympic Weightlifting, Richard Tom, Stan Stanczyk, The 1947 U.S. World Weightlifting Team, Tony Terlazzo
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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, 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: Barbell Training, Continental, Continental and Jerk, Norb Schemansky
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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, March 25, 2009
Norb SchemanskyNorb 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: Norb Schemansky, York Barbell, York Barbell Club t-shirt
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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, February 13, 2009
A Meeting of The LegendsWhen 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: 1940 Mr. America Contest, Mr. Universe, Mr. Weightlifting, Norb Schemansky, Steve Stanko, The MIghty Atom, Tommy Kono, York Barbell Club
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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
Sunday, September 07, 2008
Norb SchemanskyChampion 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: 1952 Olympics, Cover, Gold Medal, Norb Schemansky, Olympic lifter, Olympic Weightlifting, Press, Strength and Health Magazine
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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, February 06, 2008
Norb 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: Clean and Jerk, Norb Schemansky, Olympic Weightlifting
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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
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:
And best career marks: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)
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: 1952 Olympics, 1960 Olympics, 1964 Olympics, Clean and Jerk, Gold Medal, Norb Schemansky, Olympic Weightlifting, Olympics, Press, Snatch, The 1947 U.S. World Weightlifting Team, weightlifting
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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, September 25, 2007
Norb Schemansky Lifts The Apollon WheelsAt 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: Apollon, Apollon's Wheels, Charles Rigoulot, Grip Strength, John Davis, Norb Schemansky, Strongman Equipment, Strongman Feat, Thick Bar
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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