Josef Grafl

Josef Grafl

It doesn't get much more "Oldtime" than this - Josef Grafl, the great strongman from Vienna, Austria, competes in a historical contest. Quite a contrast to today's modern weightlifting meets. Note the chalk ring that the lifter stood in to perform the lifts and the outdoor location. Grafl was the World heavyweight weightlifting champion from 1908 to 1911 and again in 1913.

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Pyotr Krylov

Pyotr Krylov

The great Russian Strongman Pyotr Krylov was well known for his shoulder development and the large tattoo of the Double-Headed eagle gracing his chest. In the early 20th century Krylov performed a Crucifix Lift with a 90-pound dumbbell in each hand - a record that has never been equaled or beaten. One of his favorite feats as a strongman was to break chains across his chest or with his arms.

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Circus Strongman Pierre Gasnier Rips a Deck of Cards

Circus Strongman Pierre Gasnier Rips a Deck of Cards
Standing only 5'3" and weighing 135 pounds, the "French Hercules" Pierre Gasnier possessed a great deal of strength and power as is evident in this rare picture. He was one of the first, and most influential, of the oldtime Circus strongmen, performing for the Barnum and Bailey circus throughout the 1890s.

Shown here ripping a deck of cards with ease, Gasnier was said to be able to perform a one-arm snatch with bodyweight whilst his ankles were tied together. Gasnier is featured prominently in Alan Calvert's book Super Strength.

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Abe Boshes

Abe Boshes

Abe Boshes of Brooklyn New, York won Bernarr Macfadden's gold medal at Madison Square Garden in 1903 and was featured prominently in MacFadden's "Physical Culture" Magazine. Boshes would go on to become one of Earle E. Liederman's top students. Boshes became an expert in Chest Expanders, wrote several training courses on the subject and eventually employed a young Angelo Siciliano (later becoming Charles Atlas) to demonstrate his wares.

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Karl Abs

Karl Abs
Known as the father of German Strength Sports, Karl Abs was the first man in Germany to jerk 130 kg. He could also bent press 242 pounds and was a very good professional wrestler, often billed as "The German Oak."

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Ed Zercher

You might have heard of Ed Zercher from the famous lift which bears his name but the St. Louis native was a master of many different lifts. Here's Ed Zercher deadlifting 536-pounds at a bodyweight of only 155.

Ed Zercher

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Joseph Vitole

Joseph Vitole
At a bodyweight of only 150 pounds, Joe Vitole broke the World's Record with a teeth lift of 550 pounds. Needless to say, teeth lifting builds incredible neck strength. While you may not necessarily want to include teeth lifting in you routine, you should unquestionably be training your neck.

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Batta

Charles Batta, or, as he was more commonly known "Batta" was an oldtime strongman famous for his incredible grip strength. Standing at 5'10" and a bodyweight of only 200 popunds, Batta was the only man who duplicated one of the Apollon's greatest feats: the lifting of four 44-pound blockweights overhead -- each tied to a finger of one hand. It was also written that Batta cleaned (but did not jerk) Apollon's famous railroad wheels - an incredible feat in its own right, but even more so due to his light bodyweight.

Batta

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Michael Mayer

Michael Mayer - Oldtime Strongman
The strongmen of old worked on their overhead press much like modern trainees work on their benchpress. The difference is that the overhead press is a much better exercise. Michael Mayer, at a height of but 5'6", was one of the first men to press 300 pounds overhead.

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Mighty Mac Batchelor - Undefeated Armwrestling Champ

Mighty Mac Batchelor - Undefeated Armwrestling Champ
"Mighty" Mac Batchelor doing his thing -- Mac was undefeated for over a quarter century at armwrestling.

Mac was quite the athlete - at a bodyweight of 330 pounds, he could run the hundred yard dash in 11 seconds and hurl the javelin 190feet.

He also could squat 400 for reps, perform the Zottman Curl with 90 pound dumbbells and Stiff Leg Deadlifts with 500 pounds.

I sure wouldn't want to be across the table from ol' Mac...

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Jack Walsh

Jack Walsh
Jack Walsh from Trenton, New Jersey, is the strongest man you've never heard of.

Over his career he performed all kinds of crazy strength feats, including lifting elephants, towing trains and letting trucks run over his body. At a bodyweight of 190 pounds, he even broke Louis Cyr's backlift record.

Anyhow, here's Jack Walsh jerking a 230-pound dumbbell overhead -- That's damn strong! Do you know anybody that can jerk more than bodyweight overhead with one arm?

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Karl Norberg's Olympic Barbell Feat

The Mighty Norseman Karl Norberg could perform many incredible strength feats -- one of which involved a simple Olympic barbell. Norberg could do a front holdout with the bar (which is pretty impressive by itself.)

Karl Norberg Olympic Bar

Then, with wrist power alone, he would twist the bar from horizontal to vertical. -- A very impressive feat of forearm strength and highly difficult due to the leverages involved.

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H.E. MANN

H.E. MANN
H.E. MANN was an old 1930's Tennessee farmer who followed in the footsteps of Milo of Crotona by lifting a calf each day until it became a full-grown bull.

It worked! ... and thus, progressive resistance training was born. This principle is particularly useful for heavy squatting although I prefer lifting iron to livestock.

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Arthur Dandurand at 48 Years Old

The great Canadian Strongman Arthur Dandurand at 48 years old, still looking very impressive. As far as feats of grip strength, Dandurand could deadlift 550 pounds with one hand and reverse curl 177 pounds.

Arthur Dandurand at 48 Years Old

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The Stiff-Leg Deadlift

The Stiff-Leg Deadlift

The Stiff-Leg Deadlift is a very, very effective power-building exercise that is seldom seen theses days. It is performed just like it sounds, and is shown here in mid-movement by the great Oldtime Strongman Michael Mayer, who was one of the first men to jerk 300 pounds overhead.

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Charles Sampson

Charles Sampson
Charles Sampson was a turn-of-the-century strongman who, unlike any of his contemporaries, claimed his great strength was not from physical training but a result of having been struck by lightning as a small child!

As noted in Physical Training Simplified by Mark Berry, Sampson did perform a Harness Lift with 4008 pounds and frequently collaborated with the famous coin breaker Franz "Cyclops" Bienkowski.

Sampson and Cyclops were both handily defeated by Eugen Sandow in a famous challenge match in 1889.

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Hand Balancing Made Easy by E. M. Orlick

Hand Balancing Made Easy by E.M. Orlick

Professor E.M. Orlick was an outstanding strongman, physical culturist and gymnast who came from a long line of circus performers. Over the years Orlick wrote hundreds of training articles on a variety of topics and was also the editor or "Mr. America" magazine for a number of years as well as the assistant editor of a Boxing/Wrestling magazine. While he was certainly proficient at a number of strength feats but hand balancing was his forte, and he wrote several training courses on the subject. Orlick's training courses include: "Walking and Jumping on Your Hands," "How To Do The One Hand Handstand" and "Hand Balancing Made Easy."

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Al Treloar "The Most Perfectly Developed Man in the World"

Al Treloar
Al Treloar was a stage assistant to Eugen Sandow who went on to develop his own strongman performance.

Treloar went on to win the title of "The Most Perfectly Developed Man in the World" on January 16th, 1904 at the very first large-scale bodybuilding competition in America which took place at the original Madison Square Garden in New York City.

It was said that Treloar could tear four decks of playing cards at once.

After graduating from Harvard University, Treloar became the director of physical education at the famous Los Angeles Athletic Club in California, a position he held for the next forty-two years.

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Harold Ansorge

Harold Ansorge

Harold Ansorge, the great strongman from Grand Rapids, Michigan, was a bent-press specialist. He never broke Arthur Saxon's record of 336 pounds but came very close with a lift of 335 pounds. Here is Ansorge bent-pressing a great 200 pound dumbbell. His gym, the Harold Ansorge Health Studios, was listed at the following addresses: 2124 Plainfield Ave., N.E and 141 28th Street, Grand Rapids, Michigan. Anybody know what's there now?

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Joe Ponder - Teeth Lifter Extraordinaire

Joe Ponder

Of all the recorded oldtime strongmen feats, Joe Ponder may very well have accomplished the most unusual (and maybe the most impressive, all things considered.) Ponder was particularly skilled at feats of teeth and jaw lifting -- here he lifts a 343 pound pumpkin in that manner. Yow!

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Circus Strongman Pierre Gasnier, The French Hercules

Pierre Gasnier
Pierre Gasnier was the quintessential Oldtime Strongman: BIlled as the "French Hercules," He performed feats of strength for the Barnum and Bailey circus in the late 1890's: tearing decks of cards, bending horseshoes, breaking chains, and lifting his special "challenge weight" globe dumbbell shown here.

The dumbbell had a handle of 2" in diameter and weighs 236 French Livres (which equals 260 pounds) Gasnier weighed only 138 pounds at a height of 5'3" yet was able to lift the weight with ease, a feat that such other noted strongmen such as Sebastian Miller, Hans Beck, and Franz "Cyclops" Bienkowski could not duplicate.

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The Mighty Atlas

The Mighty Atlas
You've probably seen the old feat of strength where a strongman puts an anvil or large stone slab on his chest and lets someone hit it with a sledge hammer...

I guarantee you haven't seen this feat before though, -- "The Mighty Atlas," Morris Shapiro, a professional wrestler from Brooklyn, New York, teeth-lifting an anvil while someone else hits the anvil with a sledge hammer.

Now that's impressive!

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William Boone

William Boone was a well-known lifter in the 1930's and 1940's who became tremendously strong training by himself in the back yard with nothing more than a set of squat racks and some rusty weights. He also liked to perform his overhead pressing with a specially made 10-foot olympic bar, shown right.

William Boone

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Hector Decarie

Hector Decarie

Hector Decarie was another great Canadian strongman. He met Louis Cyr in a challenge match on February, 26th, 1906 at Sohmer Park, in Montreal. Cyr was 44 years old and in poor health, but at the end of the contest the results saw both men tied a 4 wins apeice (out of the 8 events.) Despite his showing, Cyr conceeded the title of "Strongest Man in the World" to Decarie right then and there.

Decarie was a worthy successor, he could nearly equal many of Cyr's feats and, as reported by George Jowett, could backlift 3640 lbs.

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Lionel Strongfort

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.

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Monte Saldo

Monte Saldo
As a young man, Monte Saldo apprenticed at one of Eugen Sandow's Gymnasiums and eventually became a performing strongman himself.

Saldo's incredible motor car support feat (which put him in considerable danger if something were to ever get out of hand) made him one of the top earning strongmen of the day.

As you can see, he was pretty rugged.

Saldo went on to become of the great masters of Muscle Control and teamed up with his friend Maxick to establish the Maxalding system.

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Joe Nordquest

Joe Nordquest

Joe Nordquest was one of those rare individuals who seemed to posses incredible strength at whatever lift he tried. He could perform a one-finger and holdout with a 70-pound dumbbell and his record 388 pound "shoulder bridge press" still stands, (at least to my knoweldge.) Here is Joe Nordquest in mid-bent press. (He could bent press nearly 300 pounds with ease.) -- Gotta love that globe barbell.

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Earle E. Liederman

Earle E. Liederman

Earle E. Liederman began his strength career as a strongman on the vaudeville circuit, traveling the country performing feats of strength and acrobatics. Eventually he grew tired of the traveling life and wrote a series of training courses which became incredibly successful, making him one of the first Mail Order Muscle Barons. His first training course showcased a number of exercises that could be done with chest expanders and bodyweight exercises. Theses courses were very popular since they did not require a lot of equipment and could be done at home.

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Stanley Radwan: Conquerer of Iron

Stanley Radwan was a catch wrestler and strongman who performed during the 40s and 50s in the Cleveland, Ohio area. He is not especially well known outside of the Cleveland area but very well known and well loved inside the Cleveland area especially among the Polish community. This event poster from 1949 advertises him pulling cars with his teeth, biting through steel, breaking chains, bending horseshoes, bend nails and spikes, nail driving by hand, tearing decks of cards, and performing the human link feat. It was said he could also bend coins with his hands.

Stanley Radwan

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