Oldtime Strongman
FREE Oldtime Training Tips
Name:
Email:

  The #1 Blog for Oldtime Strongman Training and Physical Culture

Home    BLOG    Products    Testimonials     Articles    About     Contact   Order Now    Search

Thursday, October 16, 2008

  • Big Paul

  • Big Paul shows why he's called "Big Paul" - That's 420 pounds overhead.

    Labels: , ,


    www.oldtimestrongman.com

    <<< BLOG Home
    All Contents, Including Images and Text, Copyright © 2009 by John Wood and Thunderdome Media Inc., Not to be reproduced without permission, All Rights Reserved

    Saturday, June 14, 2008

  • Paul Anderson's Silver Dollar Squat

  • One of Paul Paul Anderson's greatest feats was squatting with over 1200 pounds -- but it wasn't with a traditional barbell, it was with $25,000 worth of silver dollars at his strength show in Las Vegas. There was a standing challenge that anyone who could duplicate the feat could keep the money -- needless to say the money was safe.

    Labels: , , ,


    www.oldtimestrongman.com

    <<< BLOG Home
    All Contents, Including Images and Text, Copyright © 2009 by John Wood and Thunderdome Media Inc., Not to be reproduced without permission, All Rights Reserved

    Friday, May 02, 2008

  • Elwood Holbrook - Master of the Bent Press
  • Elwood Holbrook - Master of the Bent PressElwood 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.

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


    www.oldtimestrongman.com

    <<< BLOG Home
    All Contents, Including Images and Text, Copyright © 2009 by John Wood and Thunderdome Media Inc., Not to be reproduced without permission, All Rights Reserved

    Friday, March 21, 2008

  • Paul Anderson "A Wonder of Nature"
  • Paul Anderson RussiaPaul 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."

    Labels: , , , , , , ,


    www.oldtimestrongman.com

    <<< BLOG Home
    All Contents, Including Images and Text, Copyright © 2009 by John Wood and Thunderdome Media Inc., Not to be reproduced without permission, All Rights Reserved

    Wednesday, February 06, 2008

  • Paul Anderson Squats 660 Pounds
  • Paul Anderson SquatsPaul Anderson Squats

    A young Paul Anderson squats with 660 pounds in an exhibition at the 1952 Mr. World bodybuilding contest (Won by Jim Park)

    Doug Hepburn bested it shortly afterwards with 665 pounds but Paul Anderson followed that up with a squat of 714-1/2 pounds and from there it was off to the races.

    Eventually Paul Anderson squatted with 1200 pounds, a feat that has yet to be broken in the manner which it was originally performed.

    Labels: , , , ,


    www.oldtimestrongman.com

    <<< BLOG Home
    All Contents, Including Images and Text, Copyright © 2009 by John Wood and Thunderdome Media Inc., Not to be reproduced without permission, All Rights Reserved

    Wednesday, January 30, 2008

  • The Dumbbell Side Press
  • The "side press" is a looser version of the dumbbell press - contrast the picture on the right with the one here.

    Because it's a bit of an "anyhow" lift, much more weight can be used than a strict dumbbell press. You should be able to press well over a hundred pounds in this manner.

    Paul Anderson could side press over 300 pounds with ridiculous ease.
    The Dumbbell Side PressThe Dumbbell Side Press

    Labels: , , , , , , ,


    www.oldtimestrongman.com

    <<< BLOG Home
    All Contents, Including Images and Text, Copyright © 2009 by John Wood and Thunderdome Media Inc., Not to be reproduced without permission, All Rights Reserved

    Thursday, January 24, 2008

  • Paul Anderson Winning the 1956 Melbourne Olympics
  • Paul Anderson Winning the 1956 Melbourne OlympicsPaul Anderson Winning the 1956 Melbourne Olympics

    With this lift, Paul Anderson won the Gold Medal in the heavyweight class at the 1956Olympic Games held in Melbourne, Australia.

    It sure didn't come easy...

    Big Paul was suffering from an ear infection at the time which caused him to lose his balance and stagger once he had the weight overhead, thus missing several lifts he would normally make with ease.

    Here's how he ended the day:

  • Press - 369 pounds
  • Snatch - 319 pounds
  • Clean and Jerk - 413 pounds


  • Though he totaled, 1101 pounds, it was far from his best. Still, it was a gold medal winning performance, and one that cemented his name in the history books.

    Labels: , , , , , , , ,


    www.oldtimestrongman.com

    <<< BLOG Home
    All Contents, Including Images and Text, Copyright © 2009 by John Wood and Thunderdome Media Inc., Not to be reproduced without permission, All Rights Reserved

    Saturday, December 15, 2007

  • Squatting With Paul Anderson
  • Squatting With Paul AndersonSquatting With Paul Anderson

    If there ever were a man who was born to squat, it was Paul Anderson.

    "Big Paul" often had a hard time finding bars which could hold enough weight so he had to improvise. He built this "barrel barbell" from a design pioneered by his friend Bob Peoples.

    Paul would also train the squat in an unusual way:

    He would dig a pit in the back yard and load up the bar to for over his normal full-squat max, then he would do partial movements, filling in the hole with dirt an inch at a time for each successive workout until he was working with a full movement.

    Labels: , , , , ,


    www.oldtimestrongman.com

    <<< BLOG Home
    All Contents, Including Images and Text, Copyright © 2009 by John Wood and Thunderdome Media Inc., Not to be reproduced without permission, All Rights Reserved

    Sunday, December 09, 2007

  • Paul Anderson Backlift
  • Paul Anderson BackliftPaul Anderson Backlift

    Paul Anderson's 6270 pound record backlift stands alone as the heaviest weight ever lifted by a human being and certainly one of the greatest strength feats of all time. This is not a picture of Anderson's record lift but one of many backlifts he performed in front of crowds as he traveled the country giving speeches. Including the human weight and weight of the platform, this is probably close to a ton and "Big Paul" makes it look easy.

    Labels: , , , , ,


    www.oldtimestrongman.com

    <<< BLOG Home
    All Contents, Including Images and Text, Copyright © 2009 by John Wood and Thunderdome Media Inc., Not to be reproduced without permission, All Rights Reserved

    Thursday, November 08, 2007

  • Nail Driving With Paul Anderson
  • Nail Driving With Paul AndersonNail Driving With Paul Anderson

    Paul Anderson accomplished many things in his life including an Olympic Gold Medal and World Records in just about every lift he tried but I bet you didn't know he was also an expert nail driver too...

    When he traveled around for speaking engagements the quickest way to get an audience's attention was to perform an unusual feat of strength -- and a man driving a nail through a wooden board with his bare hand sure fits the bill!

    There have been many excellent nail drivers throughout strongman history but I will cover them at another time.

    Labels: , ,


    www.oldtimestrongman.com

    <<< BLOG Home
    All Contents, Including Images and Text, Copyright © 2009 by John Wood and Thunderdome Media Inc., Not to be reproduced without permission, All Rights Reserved

    Monday, November 05, 2007

  • Paul Anderson's Wheels
  • Paul Andersons WheelsPaul Anderson's Wheels

    What do you do when a normal barbell doesn't hold enough weight for your squat workouts? Paul Anderson's solution was this set of wheels which helped him build a set of 33" thighs.

    Labels: , ,


    www.oldtimestrongman.com

    <<< BLOG Home
    All Contents, Including Images and Text, Copyright © 2009 by John Wood and Thunderdome Media Inc., Not to be reproduced without permission, All Rights Reserved

    Tuesday, October 30, 2007

  • Paul Anderson
  • Paul AndersonPaul Anderson

    Paul Anderson began as a skinny teenager with a pair of dumbbells and a stack of Strength and Health Magazines.

    Soon, he was scouting out junkyards for heavier weights to lift and by the time he went to college, his lifts were near the American Records. But it wasn't until Bob Peoples taught young Paul Anderson the value of the Squat and deadlift that his strength really took off.

    Paul Anderson eventually squatted 1206 pounds, benchpressed 627 pounds, one-arm pressed 380 pounds, and push-pressed an incredible 600 pounds. His Guinness Book of World Records back lift of 6,270 pounds still stands.

    He also won the gold medal at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics and in all, broke 18 American records, 8 world records, and retired unbeaten and unchallenged.

    Labels: , , , , , , ,


    www.oldtimestrongman.com

    <<< BLOG Home
    All Contents, Including Images and Text, Copyright © 2009 by John Wood and Thunderdome Media Inc., Not to be reproduced without permission, All Rights Reserved

    Wednesday, August 22, 2007

  • The Strength of Paul Anderson
  • The Many Strength Feats of Paul Anderson

    Back in the mid-1940's, Paul Anderson started lifting weights to get bigger for football and just kept growing. He eventually became one of the strongest men of all time while establishing many strength records and winning the Gold Medal at the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia.

    Paul Anderson was also a Senior World Champion and a 2-time Senior National Champion in Weightlifting. He set nine World Records and Eighteen American records during his career and retired undefeated.

    He was also incredibly strong in what would eventually become the three Power Lifts: the squat, bench press and deadlift.

    Here's a look at some of Paul Anderson's record lifts:

  • Squat: 1185 lbs.

  • Bench Press: 625 lbs.

  • Deadlift Record without Straps: 780 lbs.

  • Deadlift Record with "Hooks": 820 lbs.

  • Clean & Press: 485 lbs.

  • Clean & Jerk: 485 lbs.

  • Snatch: 375 lbs.

  • Push Press: 545 lbs.

  • Back Lift: 6270 lbs.

  • Dumbbell Side Press: 240 lbs. x 40 / 300 lbs. x 11


  • Paul Anderson Deadlifting

    Labels: , , , , , , ,


    www.oldtimestrongman.com

    <<< BLOG Home
    All Contents, Including Images and Text, Copyright © 2009 by John Wood and Thunderdome Media Inc., Not to be reproduced without permission, All Rights Reserved



    All materials contained on www.oldtimestrongman.com, including, but not limited to electronic or text, images, emails, ad copy, video and/or audio, in any format are protected by Federal copyright laws. No portion of this website, may be reproduced, copied, edited, published, transmitted, distributed or uploaded in any way or any format without the written permission of John Wood and Thunderdome Media Inc.
    - Don't even think about it. -