Pete George

Pete George

Akron, Ohio's Pete George on the cover of the March, 1956 issue of Strength and Health Magazine.
Over his career, George won five World Championships (1947, 1951, 1953, 1954, 1955) and three Olmpic Medals (Silver: 1948 games London, England; Gold: 1952 Games, Helsinki, Finland; Silver: 1956 games Melbourne, Australia).

He set three world records and his best lifts were as follows:

Press: 122.5 kg

Snatch: 127.5 kg

Clean and Jerk: 164.5 kg

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Clyde Emrich

Clyde Emrich

Another one of the great U.S. weightlifters is Clyde Emrich, who was a 4-time National Champion (1952, 1956, 1967, and 1959), Pan-Am Games Champion (1959) and competed in the 1952 Olympic games in Helskini.

During his career, Clyde broke two worlds records as a middle weight in the clean and jerk. Clyde went on to become the strength coach for the Chicago Bears for a number of years.

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Fred Lowe

Fred Lowe

Michigan native and MSU grad Fred Lowe is one of America's greatest Olympic Weightlifters who won the first of his 8 National Championships in 1969.

He went on to compete in the Olypics Games three times(1968 - Mexico City, Mexico, 1972 Munich, Germany (pictured above), 1976 - Montreal, Canada)

At a bodyweight of 165 pounds, Fred Lowe is the lightest lifter to ever Clean & Jerk over 400 -- a record that still stands over 20 years after it was set.

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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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Steve Stanko Cleans 370 Pounds

Steve Stanko Cleans 370 Pounds
The Mighty Steve Stanko showing the form that allowed him to become the first man to officially total over 1000 pounds in the three Olympic Lifts and the first American to snatch 300 pounds.

The shot was taken during a workout in 1940. A year later Stanko went on to break the 1000 pound barrier. (His bodyweight at the time was only 220 pounds.)

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Elwood Holbrook - Master of the Bent Press

Elwood Holbrook - Master of the Bent Press
Elwood Holbrook took 4th at the 1941 AAU Mr. America Contest AND took home the "Best Arms" award (He had also competed in the afternoon's weightlifting contest where he finished 6th with a 715-pound total in the 165-pound class.)

While Holbrook was a very talented strength athlete and equally good at bodybuilding as well as weightlifting, his real gift was the bent press -- he won the national Bent-Press Championship in a contest held by Sig Klein.

Holbrook was also one of the few men to bent press the famous Rolandow Dumbbell - a feat which he did on his first try and without a warmup.

Here's a shot of a 48-year old Elwood Holbrook bent-pressing 240 pounds -- 75 pounds above his bodyweight. That unique dumbbell belonged to Paul Anderson.

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Dick Bachtell - Weightlifting Champion

Dick Bachtell - Weightlifting Champion
The great weightlifting Champion Dick Bachtell as he appeared on the cover of the January, 1936 issue of Strength and Health Magazine.

Dick Bachtell was a seven-time National Champion (1929-1931, 1934-1935, 1937, and 1943) and competed in the 1932 Olympic games in Los Angeles, Claifornia.

For his last National Title, he totaled 630 pounds in the 60-Kg class.

In addition to his Olympic Weightlifting exploits, Dick Bachtell could also one-arm snatch 154 pounds, squat 350-pounds, deadlift 425-pounds, one-arm press 92-pounds, pullover 100-pounds, swing 137-pounds and bent-press 180-pounds.

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Walter Good

Walter Good
Walter Good, one of the Good Brothers as he appeared in the early 1930s. Like his brother Bill, Walter Good was also an Olympian, competing in the 75-Kilo Class at the 1936 Olympic Games held in Berlin.

Walter also appeared on the cover of several early bodybuilding magazines.

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Paul Anderson "A Wonder of Nature"

Paul Anderson "A Wonder of Nature"
The great Paul Anderson warms up before a weightlifting exhibition at Dynamo Stadium in Russia, circa 1955 (at the height of the Cold War), as Bob Hoffman, Tommy Kono and other members of the York Gang look on.

At the time, the World record in the Olympic press was 330-1/2 pounds, set by the Russian champion, Medvedev. In front of a crowd of 15,000 people on a rainy day, Paul Anderson pressed 402-1/2 pounds.

The Russian crowd gave Anderson a standing ovation and rightfully began calling him "Chudo Prirody," which means "a wonder of nature."

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The York Barbell Broad Street Gym

The York Barbell Broad Street Gym
One of the great training halls was the old York Barbell gym, located on Broad Street on York PA. It was an old factory converted to a gym, with nothing but a couple lifting platforms, a climbing rope, a few old dumbbells and plenty of iron.

It was hot, dark and cramped (just like a great gym should be)and the equipment was old, but solid and it produced an untold number of strength Champions in bodybuilding and Olympic weightlifting.

That's Ike Berger on the platform working on his press while Bob Hoffman, Tommy Kono and others look on.

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Chuck Vinci

Chuck Vinci
Chuck Vinci was another great olympic weightlifter from York, Pennsylvania. Though he stood only 4'11" and weighed 123 pounds, he could clean & jerk well over 300 pounds and snatch 220+.

Vinci was a Two-time Olympic Gold Medalist (1956 and 1960), Seven-time world Senior National Champion (1954-1956,1958-1961) and set Twelve World Records during his career.

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Ike Berger

Isaac "Ike" Berger
Ike Berger is one of America's most successful Olympic Weightlifters -- he was the first featherweight in history to lift more than 800 pounds and the first to press double body weight.

Over his career he was the owner of 23 world weightlifting records, a 12-time United States national titleholder, 2-time World Champion and Olympic Gold Medalist at the 1956 Games in Melbourne Australia (along with two more Silver medals at the next two Olympic Games.)

At the 1964 Olympic games, he estabilished a record of 152.5 kg (336 lb) in the jerk, at a bodyweight of only 130 pounds (59 kg). This lift made him pound-for-pound the strongest man in the world, a record that stood for nine years.

Ike Berger was elected to the United States Weightlifter's Hall of Fame in 1965.

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Vasily Alexeev's Unusual Training

Vasily Alexeev's Unusual Training
The Russian Champion Vasily Alexeev is one of the greatest weightlifters who ever lived.

One of Alexeyeev's most unusual training techniques was to practice his cleans in waist-deep water. This famous shot was taken of Alexeev as he trained in the Don River in Mother Russia.

Unconventional... but certainly effective:

Alexeev set the first of his 80 world records in 1970 and was undefeated for the remainder of his career which also included two Olympic Gold medal winning performances (1972, Munich and 1976, Montreal)

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Norb Schemansky

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.

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Dave's Gym - South Bend, Indiana

Dave's Gym - South Bend, Indiana
Dave Bjoraas, (pictured far right) the legendary "Dave" of Dave's Gym and Dave's Barbell Club of South Bend, Indiana... for many years the center of strength activity in the Mid-Western United States.

Dave's Gym in South Bend, Indiana produced many Iron Game champions: 1956 Mr. America Ray Schaefer trained there. So did Jr. Mr. America Doug Lindzy (pro-wrestling's original "Doug Gilbert").

Dave's Barbell Club Weight-lifting team produced champions like Winston Binney and Mike Burgener. And, most importantly, many of the top football players on Notre Dame's great Irish teams trained with Dave.

Dave's Gym... one of the top gyms ever... Dave Bjoraas, a fine man and a giant in the world of weights.

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Roy Hilligenn - 1951 Mr. America

Roy Hilligenn 1951 Mr. America

Roy Hilligen was a great all-around "iron athlete." As a bodybuilder, he won the Mr. South Africa title in 1943, 1944, 1946 and 1976 as well as the AAU Mr. America Title in 1951. As an Olympic lifter, Hilligenn was the first South African to Clean and Jerk double body weight. His lifts in 1946 were Press: 245 pounds, Snatch: 255 Pounds and Clean & Jerk: 321 pounds. In the early 1950's, and weighing just 173 pounds, Hilligen unofficially equaled the world record in the Clean & Jerk with a lift of 375 pounds.

He eventually Clean & Jerked 405 at a slightly heavier body weight, which was an unofficial world record at the time. It was voted as one of the greatest "lifts" of all time. Hilligenn also "cleaned" a pair of 142-pound dumbbells (but did not press them) at Ed Yarick's Gym in Oakland, California in the 50's.

Interestingly, he was also a life-long vegetarian.

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Globe Barbells at the 1924 Olympic Games

Globe Barbells at the 1924 Olympic Games
Here's a look at the Globe Barbells that were lined up and ready to be used at the 1924 Olympic Games held in Paris France.

This was the last year that lifters were given the choice between lifting with shot-loaded globe barbells or barbells loaded with the iron disc plates that we use today.

The only lifters to choose the shot-loaded globes at the 1924 Olympic Games were the French Weightlifting team, of which great strongman Charles Rigoulot won the gold medal in the heavyweight class and his teammate Edmond Decottignies took home the gold in the light-weight Class.

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The Good Brothers

The Good Brothers
The Good Brothers, Harry, Walter and Bill, were a trio of weightlifters and Strongmen from Eastern Pennsylvania. Bill was the strongest of the three, winning seven Senior National Weightlifting Titles (1930-1937) and competing in two Olympic Games (1932 Los Angeles, 1936 - Berlin). Bill Good was the first American to Clean & Jerk 350 Pounds.

Walter Good competed in the 1936 Olympics as well.

Harry was the U.S. Professional Champion in 1933 in addition to writing training articles for a number of different strength publications and training courses. Harry Good went on to establish the "Good Barbell Company" in the late 1930s.

Mark Berry also used the Good Brothers to demonstrate several of the exercises in his book Physical Training Simplified (1930).

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Osmo Kiiha

In addition to publishing "THE IRON MASTER" John "Osmo" Kiiha is a former World-Class Olympic Lifter who competed in the 1968 Senior Nationals in the 198 pound class. His bests lifts were: Total: 985, Press: 333, Clean & Jerk: 418, Snatch: 286. Here he is getting ready to incline press a pair of 150 pound dumbbells.

Osmo Kiiha

Also, check out Osmo's IRON MASTER dumbbells here.

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David Prowse

David Prowse
Before he was Darth Vader in the Star Wars movies, David Prowse was the Britsh Heavyweight lifting Champion in 1962, 1963 and 1964.

At 6' 7 and 265 pounds, he deadlifted 678-1/4 pounds, jerked 335 pound behind the neck as well as competed in bodybuilding, Olympic Weightlifting and tossed the caber in the Highland Games.

He also was the first man other that Donald Dinnie to lift the Dinnie Strones (which he did in 1964.) Prowse also once owned the Inch Dumbbell, having purchased it from Reg Park.

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John Terpak - Eleven Time Senior National Weightlifting Champion

John Terpak - Eleven Time Senior National Weightlifting Champion
John Terpak was a member of the "York Gang" and one of America's best Olympic-style weightlifters, winning eleven Senior National Weightlifting Titles (1936-1945 & 1947).

Over his career he lifted in three different weight classes (148, 165 and 181.) His best performance occurred winning the 1947 Worlds as a light-heavyweight:

Press - 253-1/2 pounds
Snatch - 264-1/2 pounds
Clean & Jerk - 336-1/4 pounds
Total = 854-1/2 pounds

He also one-hand snatched 154 pounds and one-hand jerked 170-1/2 pounds in some early weightlifting contests when those lifts were still contested.

Terpak was a three-time Olympic Team Member (1936, 1940, & 1948) and a part of nine total Olympic teams and sixty consecutive National Championships as a lifter, judge or coach. He eventually served as an executive for the York Barbell Company.

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Tommy Kono: Weightlifting and Bodybuilding Champion

Tommy Kono: Weightlifting and Bodybuilding Champion
With thirteen Senior Nationals titles, eight consecutive World Championships (1952-1959) and two Olympic gold medals (1952, 1956), Tommy Kono is arguably America's greatest Olympic Weightlifter.

In addition to his weightlifting exploits, he was also a very successful bodybuilder, winning the Mr. Universe bodybuilding title in `1954, 1955, 1957 and 1961.

It is unlikely that the World will never see another champion Weightlifter and Bodybuilder who are one in the same.

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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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Doug Hepburn

Doug Hepburn was born in Vancouver B.C. on September 16th, 1927. He was of average height and build and took up weight lifting to bulk up.

Soon it became apparent that Doug wasn't so average after all --- he began to progress very quickly in his training.

Although he had a slight handicap (a club foot) that did not stop him from becoming one of the most powerful men in history. He became a Senior World Champion in 1953 and set eight World Records during his career.

Here's a look at some of his best lifts: Right Hand Military Press - 175 Pounds Two Hands Press (Off Rack) - 440 Pounds Behind Neck Press - 350 Pounds Two Hands Curl - 260 Pounds Bench Press - 580 Pounds Jerk-Press (Off Rack) 500 Pounds Two Hands Snatch - 297-1/2 Pounds Two Hands Clean & Press - 381 Pounds Squat - 760 Pounds Two Hands Deadlift - 705 Pounds

Doug Hepburn

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Steve Stanko

On April 19, 1941 Steve Stanko made history as he the first man to break the mythic 1000-pound total in an official weightlifting contest.

Unfortunately Stanko also suffered from painful blood clots in his legs and five weeks later found himself in the hospital. By mid-1942 he regained enough health to begin light upper-body training again. He was told to stay off his legs and could only train while sitting or lying on a bench.

Steve Stanko

Through his specialized upper-body training program he was able to build himself into a bodybuilding champion, winning the 1944 AAU Mr. America and Junior Mr. America, the 1945 Most Muscular Man in America and the 1946 Mr. Universe.

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Tommy Kono Jerks Classic Globe Barbell

Tommy Kono and Classic Globe Barbell
Tommy Kono was one of the United States' greatest Olympic weightlifters and overall strength athletes.

He not only won two Gold Medals and a Silver over the course of three Olympic games, he also won the Mr. Universe title in Bodybuilding several times.

I'll cover that in more detail on another occasion.

Check out this classic shot from the early 1950's where Tommy Kono narrowly misses completing a jerk with this huge 374 pound globe barbell at Robert Cayeaux's gym in Lille, France. -- Kono had the barbell at arm's length but couldn't quite hold it.

(N.B. This was the same gym where Norb Schemansky lifted the famous Apollon Wheels in 1954.)

...I wouldn't be at all surprised to hear that Charles Rigoulot lifted with the very same globe barbell. - Rigoulot favored globe barbells long after they went out of style.

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Schemansky Stalks the Bar...

Norb Schemansky
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.