Barrel Lifting

Barrel Lifting

Barbells and dumbbells can be nice, but sometimes it pays to lift something big, awkward and heavy to build unusual strength. For many strongmen of the past, a barrel often fit the bill perfectly, and even more-so when partially filled with water.

Read Dinosaur Training or ROCK IRON STEEL by Steve Justa for more information on Barrel Lifting.

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Barrel Lifting for Forearm Development

Barrel Lifting for Forearm Development
I can't always say for sure how the oldtime strongmen built their strength but I can say that in the year 2008, many of the training methods they wrote about works just fine. One of those methods is Barrel Lifting which is a good way to build the gnarly, knotted foreams that the oldtimes often had. The unbalanced, unweildy load provides a shock to the system that can build incredible strength. Check out ROCK IRON STEEL by Steve Justa and Dinosaur Training by Brooks Kubik for more information on barrel lifting.

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Go For A Walk With Steve Justa

Steve Justa
Steve Justa has some pretty unique ideas about training... Lifting,Barrels, sandbags, rocks, chunks of concrete... all in a day's work for Steve Justa.

One of his theories is that walking with heavy weights will build incredible ligament strength, especially in the ankles.

Walking with a heavy barbell on the shoulders is cumbersome, not to mention dangerous should it fall. Instead, Steve built this piece of equipment which allows him to load up as heavy as needed and be in perfect position to walk every time.

He worked up to walking with well over a ton on his back.

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Steve Justa: The High Plains Heavy Metal Master

Steve Justa: The High Plains Heavy Metal Master
Out in the Nebraska cornfields you'll find a man who lifts anything he can get his hands on -- barrels,rocks, scrap iron, even trucks. He will push, pull, carry and drag the heaviest weights he can, and regularly moves half a ton, if only a few inches, its still impressive.

Steve Justa is his name and his training philosophy is anything but conventional...

"Don't Have a Weight Set? - Get a Tractor!"

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The Mysterious Mr. Vanderpool

Steve Justa (Top), Archie Vanderpool (Below)

If you have had a chance to read Steve Justa's book ROCK IRON STEEL you've had a chance to see many unusual training techniques and pieces of equipment that Steve Justa uses in his workouts... You probably wonder where he got some of these training ideas -- well it just so happens that Justa's father was a friend of a guy named Archie Vanderpool who was featured in several of the lifting mags during the 1950s with some very interesting equipment and ideas on super-heavy partial movement training.

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Barrel Lifting Strength Feats

Barrel Lifting for Unusual Strength
It has been well written that many so-called "feats of strength" had their roots in manual labor. Back in the beer halls of Bavaria and old, Old, OLD Vienna I'm sure a couple of robust beirmeisters once sat around shooting the breeze when one bet another that he could lift the biggest barrel -- and it's all been down hill from there.

Many of the old timers were well-known for their barrel or keg lifting feats, including Louis Cyr (who was said to have been able to lift a 400 lb. barrel to his shoulders) and George Jowett who included a Barrel Lifting Course in his Molding a Mighty Grip training guide.

I would imagine the "Cincinnati Strongman" Henry Holtgrewe lifted a few barrels and kegs in his time. He owned a tavern down in the neighborhood of Northside in Cincinnati just after the turn of the century.

Several modern day strongmen have included barrel lifting in their training. Probably the two most well known are Steve Justa and Brooks Kubik who wrote extensively about barrel lifting in Dinosaur Training. Keep in mind that lifting a 200 pound FULL barrel is actually easier than lifting a 150 pound HALF-filled barrel.

Brooks Kubik

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