Thursday, January 21, 2010
Yuri VlasovIt was Yuri Vlasov who came along and broke most of Paul Anderson's records at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome. In order to do so, he became the first man to Clean & Jerk over 400 pounds(402-1/2 pounds).
Anderson did not compete at these games as by that time he was no longer an amateur athlete. Just to prove a point, however, shortly afterwards at an exhibition Anderson took Vlasov's winning lift and performed three reps with it!
Labels: 1960 Olympics, Paul Anderson, Russian, Russian Olympic Set, Russian Weightlifter, Yuri Vlasov
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Sunday, November 22, 2009
Paul Anderson - Heavy CleanThe Great Paul Anderson is shown here, just miliseconds away from making a heavy clean. I count 345 lb. on the bar, which was pretty light for "Big Paul". Also note the wrist braces, Paul was so strong in some movements that sometimes his body couldn't take it. I can't say for sure, but Isuspect that Big Paul likely would have benefittted greatly from some epecific wrist strength work.
Labels: Clean, Paul Anderson, Wrist Strength
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Saturday, October 31, 2009
Paul Anderson: 300-Pound Dumbbell PressPaul Anderson routinely performed incredibly heavy one-arm dumbbell presses as he traveled the country speaking to young people. His best performance in this lift was a mind-boggling 300 pounds. Also note the table for the back lift in the background.
Labels: Back Lift, Dumbbell Press, One Arm Press, Paul Anderson
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Monday, October 26, 2009
Paul Anderson's Bench Press MachineIn order to specialize on the bench press, Paul Anderson devised this unique machine. Note the many levels of adjustability and the fact that it did not require a spotter, all good "reasons" for the machine in the first place.
Labels: Bench Press, Machine, Paul Anderson
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Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Paul Anderson: Bringin' Home the Gold in '56Here's a rare shot of the great Paul Anderson at the moment he won the gold medal at the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia. The Russians, who had seen Big Paul in action previously figured he would run away with it... But It was no cakewalk, Anderson had developed an inner ear infection during the trip over which gave him trouble with his balance and caused him to miss lifts he ordinarily would have made with ease. Like a true champion though he fought through it and prevailed to take the gold medal.
Labels: 1956 Olympics, Gold Medal, Olympic Games, Paul Anderson
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Friday, August 14, 2009
Power by PaulHas there ever been a more powerful man walk the Earth than Paul Anderson? A feat like this one certainly helps make the case. At an exhibition at Muscle Beach Big Paul put 500 pounds overhead after taking it off some racks. Not only that but he made it look easy.
Labels: Barbell Lift, Jerk, Muscle Beach, Overhead Lift, Paul Anderson, Power
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Sunday, July 12, 2009
Paul Anderson: Behind The Iron CurtainIn 1955, a group of U.S. weightlifting champs traveled to Russia - the first U.S. athletic team to be invited behind the Iron Curtain - for a series of exhibitions with the Soviet national team.
After everyone else had finished their lifting, Paul Anderson astounded their hosts by pressing 402-1/2 lbs., snatching 314-1/4 lbs. and the lift shown here: a clean & jerk of 424-1/2 lbs. Big Paul so astounded the Russians that they did not even bother to enter a heavyweight lifter at the upcoming 1956 Olympics - they figured that he was simply unbeatable.
Labels: Clean and Jerk, Paul Anderson, Press, Russia, Russian Olympic Set, Snatch
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Wednesday, July 08, 2009
Paul Anderson's WheelsWhat do you do when you need to squat 600+ pounds but a normal barbell won't hold enough weight? (And they didnt have 100 lb. plates back then.) This was Paul Anderson's solution, a set of wheels he found in a junk yard in his native town of Toccoa, Georgia. At first, everybody thought he was crazy, of course, they changed their tune when he came home from the '56 Olympics with a shiny new Gold Medal. I don't know of anyone who looked as relaxed as Big Paul when handling such big weights.
Labels: 1956 Olympics, Barbell, Gold Medal, Paul Anderson, Paul Anderson's Wheels, Squatting, Unique Equipment
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Friday, July 03, 2009
Paul Anderson: Elephant vs. GazelleWhat would happen if an Elephant raced a Gazelle? Hard to say but it probably wouldn't be all that different from the time back in '58 when all 350 pounds of champion weightlifter and strongman Paul Anderson and Jim Lea, the 440 yard dash World record holder at the time, took their marks for a 50-yard sprint contest.
The event was held at San Jose State's Spartan Field and, as you might have guessed, the smaller man was the eventual winner... but as you might not have expected, Lea's margin of victory was less than two stride lengths.
Labels: Jim Lea, Paul Anderson, Running, Sprinting
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Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Humberto SelvettiThe great Olympic Weightlifter Humberto Selvetti shows his stuff in his home land of Argentina. It was Selvetti who Paul Anderson defeated to win the Gold Medal at the 1956 Olympic Games. Selvetti and Anderson both totaled 500 kg but Anderson beat him on lighter bodyweight) Selvetti also won a Bronze medal at the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki where he totaled 432.5 kg. (I find the barbell set in this picture especially interesting as I have never seen anything like it before or since.)
Labels: 1952 Olympics, 1956 Olympics, Argentinian Weightlifter, Barbell, Barbell Set, Humberto Selvetti, Olympic Lifting, Paul Anderson, Total
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Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Paul AndersonSure, plenty of people have come along who have squatted more than Paul Anderson but no one has made it look as easy. Here 'Big Paul' squats 800+ pounds in nothing but a singlet without even breaking a sweat.
Labels: 800 Pound Squat, Leg Strength, Paul Anderson, Squat
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Monday, March 23, 2009
The Good MorningIf you want to build strong legs, you need to build a strong back. Paul Anderson knew this, and it was a big reason he was squatting with 1200+ pounds back in the 1950's. A plain Olympic set will work for most people, of course, when you move the kind of weight that Paul Anderson could, you may need something a little more heavy duty.
Labels: Back Strength, Good Morning, Leg Strength, Paul Anderson, Squat
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Thursday, February 26, 2009
Paul Anderson: All in a Day's Work...Paul Anderson takes a breather after a tough workout. All in a day's work...
Labels: Barbell, Paul Anderson
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Sunday, February 08, 2009
Big Paul"Big Paul" - Paul Anderson -- shows how it's done, pressing 415 pounds for a double at Muscle Beach. Chuck Ahrens and Bert Elliott are visible in the crowd.
Labels: Bert Elliott, Chuck Ahrens, Overhead Press, Paul Anderson
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Thursday, October 16, 2008
Big Paul shows why he's called "Big Paul" - That's 420 pounds overhead.
Labels: 420 Pounds, Barbell, Paul Anderson
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Saturday, June 14, 2008
Paul Anderson's Silver Dollar SquatOne 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: Challenge Weight, Paul Anderson, Silver Dollar Squat, Squat
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Friday, May 02, 2008
Elwood Holbrook - Master of the Bent PressElwood 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: 1941 Mr. America Contest, AAU, Bent Press Arthur Saxon, Best Arms, Bodybuilding, Elwood Holbrook, Olympic Weightlifting, Paul Anderson, Rolandow Dumbbell, Sig Kleins Gym, Total
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Friday, March 21, 2008
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."
Labels: Bob Hoffman, Dynamo Stadium, Medvedev, Olympic Weightlifting, Paul Anderson, Press, Russia, Tommy Kono
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Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Paul Anderson SquatsA 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: Doug Hepburn, Jim Park, Mr. World, Paul Anderson, Squat
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Wednesday, January 30, 2008
| 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 Press |
Labels: Dumbbell Press, Dumbbell Exercise, Exercise, Feat, Paul Anderson, Press, Shoulder Exercise, Side Press
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Thursday, January 24, 2008
Paul Anderson Winning the 1956 Melbourne OlympicsWith 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:
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: Bench Press, Clean and Jerk, Gold Medal, Oldtime Strongman Feat, Olympics, Paul Anderson, Snatch, Total, weightlifting
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Saturday, December 15, 2007
Squatting With Paul AndersonIf 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: Bob Peoples, Heavy Partial Movements, Paul Anderson, Squat, Strongman Equipment, Unusual Training Equipment
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Sunday, December 09, 2007
Paul Anderson BackliftPaul 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: Backlift, Feat, Human Weight, Paul Anderson, Platform, Strongman Feat
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Thursday, November 08, 2007
Nail Driving With Paul AndersonPaul 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: Nail Driving, Paul Anderson, Strongman Feat
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Monday, November 05, 2007
Paul Anderson's WheelsWhat 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: Paul Anderson, Squat Workout, Strongman Equipment
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Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Paul AndersonPaul 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: Backlift, Barbell, Bob Peoples, Dumbbells, Gold Medal, Paul Anderson, Squat, Strength and Health
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Wednesday, August 22, 2007
The Many Strength Feats of Paul AndersonBack 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:
| |  Paul Anderson Deadlifting |
Labels: Backlift, Deadlift, Feat, Paul Anderson, Paul Anderson Deadlift Record, Squat, Strongman, 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
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