Antonino "Argentina" Rocca

Antonino "Argentina" Rocca

Antonino "Argentina" Rocca was one of the greatest pure athletes to ever enter the squared circle. His incredible jumping feats and aerial maneuvers left an indelible mark on the world of pro-wrestling. His signature move was the "Argentine Backbreaker" although it was flying dropkick after flying dropkick which often put his foes down for good. Rocca was trained by Stanislaus Zbyszko

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European Strongmen

European Strongmen

A rare photo of European strongmen taken in the early 1900's. The great strongman/wrestler Stanislaus Zbyszko can be seen in the center of the photograph. Gotta love that great oldtime training equipment.

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Frank Gotch's Step Over Toe Hold

Frank Gotch Step Over Toe Hold
Frank Gotch's step over toe hold was the most feared submission move probably of all time. It could be applied quickly and efficently from almost any angle and few people knew how to defend it -- his opponents never knew what him 'em.

He used it to dispatch the likes of George Hackenschmidt, Benjamin Roller and Stanislaus Zbyszko.

Gotch, as masterfully trained by Farmer Burns had two main weapons: a precise execution of his moves and holds, and an almost superhuman level of conditioning.

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Stanislaus Zbyszko

The list of champion athletes who have trained with Chest Expanders is quite long. ... Stanislaus Zbyszko happens to be one of them. The great Polish wrestler, was well known for his incredible strength, in addition to his grappling ability. Back then, just as today, Chest expanders, no doubt, allowed him to train some of the smaller muscles that "weights" won't always get to.

Stanislaus Zbyszko

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Otto Arco

Otto Arco was a very popular performing strongman on the vaudeville circuit during the early 20th century. His performance consisted of hand balancing feats with his brother Pete followed by a posing display (which was particularly impressive due to Arco's muscularity.) Arco's training consisted of acrobatics, tumbling, hand balancing, muscle control, weight lifting and wrestling...

Otto Arco

He was a very good wrestler -- Arco's childhood pal in Poland was Stanislaus Zbyszko!

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Oldtime Wrestler Stanislaus Zbyszko

At the turn of the century, wrestlers and strongmen were often one and the same. Stanislaus Zbyszko was born in Poland in 1879 and began his training career at a gymnastic school. Soon after he followed his contemporary George Hackenschmidt into the wrestling profession where he would hold the Heavyweight World Championship Belt on two occasions.

Oldtime Wrestler Stanislaus Zbyszko

Zbyszko faced many of the greatest grapplers of the day: Ivan Poddubny, Ben Roller, "The Terrible Turk" Youssuf Mahmout, Frank Gotch, and The Great Gama.

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The Great Gama: Lion of The Punjab

The Great Gama is likely the greatest Pehlwan, or indian wrestler, who ever lived; as he was undefeated in over 5000 matches. Gama publically challenged all comers and easily beat the likes of Benjamin Roller and Stanislaus Zbyszko. His daily training routine consisted of thousands of traditional squats and pushups -- after seeing him train, many would-be challengers wanted no part of him.

The Great Gama

The object he is seen holding here was not a piece of training equipment but an ornamental scepter known as a Gurz, the Indian Wrestling version of the Championship Belt.

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Frank Gotch

Frank Gotch
He defeated George Hackenschmidt twice, and the likes of Tom Jenkins, Benjamin Roller and Stanislaus Zbyszko on his way to holding the Heavyweight Championship longer than any man before or since.

It was his technique that made him a Champion (Gotch's feared step-over-toe-hold was nearly impossible to defend) but it was his training that made him a Legend.

There have been few wrestlers since then who trained more seriously than Gotch... and he trained just like a wrestler should.

Calisthenics, road work and sparing gave Gotch a killer's heart and an advantage in every single match.

The "Old Farmer" Farmer Burns understood the game of wrestling better than anyone and trained his student to be the best.

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