Pudgy Stockton

Pudgy Stockton

Pudgy Stockton was about 50 years ahead of her time... Today "fitness models" are a common thing. Pudgy was a consumate "iron lady" back in the 40's. She was adept at hand balancing, olympic weight lifting and even had her own column for years in Strength and Health Magazine. She obviously had no trouble lifting this great Milo Dumbbell down on the sands of Muscle Beach.

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Pudgy Stockton

Pudgy Stockton

There has never been, nor will there ever be anyone like Pudgy Stockton. -- A pioneer for women in strength training, as you can see here she was power and grace in action. Pudgy promoted the first women's weightlifting contests and also had her own column "Barbelles" which ran in Strength and Health Magazine for ten years. Here, Pudgy Stockton clean and jerks 135 pounds (at a bodyweight of just 118 pounds) on the sands of the original Muscle Beach Santa Monica, California.

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Strength and Health Magazine - March 1948: Pudgy Stockton

Here's another look at the lovely Pudgy Stockton gracing the cover of the March 1948 issue of Strength and Health. As was customary in most pictures of Pudgy, she was holding aloft some great weight, in this case, a very nice MILO globe dumbbell. I wonder how many reps she could have gotten?

Pudgy Stockton

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Abbye "Pudgy" Stockton

Pudgy Stockton

If there ever were a "bar belle" it was Abbye "Pudgy" Stockton. (She aquired the nickname "Pudgy" as a child and it stuck.) "Pudgy" weighed 115 pounds at a height of 5'2" and, as you can see, was quite the physical specimen -- especially impressive at a time when weightlifting for either gender was frowned upon. She and husband Les Stockton were well known at the first "Muscle Beach" at Santa Monica, California where they primarily worked on acrobatics and gymnastic feats for the crowds.

Aside from being a frequent contributor to Strength and Health Magazine, Pudgy also helped organize the very first weight lifting contect for women through the AAU. In that contest, Stockton pressed 100 pounds, snatched 105 pounds, and clean and jerked 135 pounds.

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