Kim Wood's Gym

Kim Wood's Gym

No, it's not Professor Desbonnet's Paris Gym or Professor Attila's Health Studio but the private gym of Kim Wood. Look closely and you'll see a barbell that once belonged to Warren Lincoln Travis a Jackson Barbell Set an oak climbing ladder from the Narragansett Machine company and more than one Milo Kettlebell. There's no finer gym in the land.

---

The Crusher

The Crusher

Here's one from way back ... although you've probably seen one somewhere along the way. "The Crusher" -- or a simple metal spring with handles -- is a great way to "bomb and blitz" your muscles. Yow! Be careful when using it, wouldn't want to get too strong...

---

The Human Vise's Engine Block

The Human Vise's Engine Block

Many Oldtime Strongmen were famous for their Challenge Weights with which they performed feats of strength. Pat "The Human Vise" Povilaitis has several unique pieces of equipment which he uses in his strength act; among them this engine block.

---

Heavy Metal

Heavy Metal

Barbells are nice... but there's plenty of other fun stuff to lift too. Here's some things you'll find back at my place. Dr. Ken's Iron Suitcases (which you may have seen before in one of Brooks Kubik's videos), an anchor chain, and various other heavy, rusty chunks of metal.

---

Strongman Hammers

Strongman Hammers
Hammers of various kinds have a long tradition in strongman training -- and they are a lot of fun to train with, in fact, I have a collection of several unusual hammers. These huge wooden hammers were originally used by the military for driving tent pegs and re-aligning tank treads.

---

Sig Klein's Roman Column

A look at Sig Klein using the Roman Column at his famous gym. It was actually Sig's father-in-law Professor Attila who invented the Roman Column. The Roman Column was actually used more as a demonstration of strength than as a means of developing strength. When used for strength feats, the performer would lower his body directly to the ground, pick up a weight and then sit up with it. Eugen Sandow was a master at this strength feat.

Sig Klein's Roman Column

---

George Jowett And The Bent Press

George Jowett And The Bent Press

The great oldtime strongman and strength author George Jowett as he prepares to bent press a heavy globe barbell. Jowett was a master of many different strength feats, most notably, lifting a 168-pound anvil by the horn and other feats of grip strength Jowett's best bent press performance was 304-1/2 pounds. Note the great Milo Kettlebells in the background.

---

Another Look At Sig Klein's Gym

Another Look At Sig Klein's Gym
What a place to train! -- Here's another look at Sig Klein's Gym located in Times Square, downtown New York.

The thing that makes a gym truly great is the atmosphere -- and Sig's place had it. You can just tell that many great workouts took place here.

---

Alan Calvert

Alan Calvert
A very rare picture of Milo Barbell Company founder and noted strength author Alan Calvert.

Calvert established the Milo Barbell company in 1902, one of the very first training publications "Strength" Magazine in 1914, wrote several training books and courses and helped pave the way for thousands of trainees to develop size and strength.

Gotta love those classic 'bells!

---

1938 Mr. America Bert Goodrich With Strongman Stage Weights

1938 Mr. America Bert Goodrich With
Strongman Stage Weights
One of the great things about the history of strength training is that many of the early strength athletes had their own personal training equipment made up which lent quite a bit of character to their training.

Here is a very rare picture of 1938 Mr. America Bert Goodrich with some very interesting oldtime equipment, a globe barbell and kettlebell.

---

The Famous Rolandow Dumbbell

The Famous Rolandow Dumbbell
The Rolandow Dumbbell has a very interesting history. It was originally cast by the McLoughlin Iron Foundry in Brooklyn, New York in 1896 at the request of Warren Lincoln Travis who wanted to use it in his act.

The dumbbell was supposed to be 200 lbs. but came out of the mold just over it at 209lbs.

A few years went by and fellow strongman G.W. Rolandow offered to purchase it from Travis, on the condition that Travis deliver the bell himself.

Travis grabbed the bell, hopped on the nearest street car, transfered twice and carried the bell two blocks and up two flights of steps to Rolandow's office.

Rolandow then stated that unless he could lift the dumbbell, there would be no sale. And with that, we walked over to it, hefted it to his shoulder and commenced to bent-press it no less than seven times!

After several decades, Rolandow closed his gym and his famous dumbbell eventually became acquired by Sig Klein who featured it as a challenge weight in his gym.

If someone could succeed in bent-pressing the Rolandow Dumbbell, Klein put their name on an Honor Roll, here's how it looked:

(1) G.W. Rolandow...................1900
(2) John Grimek.........................1934
(3) Bob Hoffman........................1936
(4) Wally Zagurski..................1936
(5) John Davis............................1936
(6) Jack Kent..........................1937
(7) Frank Bates........................1937
(8) Bob Harley.........................1937
(9) Siegmund Klein...................1939
(10) Aurele Velleux..................1939
(11) George Hobby...................1940
(12) Elwood Holbrook...............1941

---

John Y. Smith and a Unique Barbell

John Y. Smith

Gotta love some of the unique and usual weights that many of the strongmen found to lift. Here's a rare shot of the great Oldtime strongman John Y. Smith as he shoulders an unusual barbell, in his later years. Smith was a very good bent-presser (with a lift of 275 lbs. at a bodyweight of just 160 lbs.) so that is probably what he is getting ready to do.

---

John Grimek Bent-Presses the Louis Cyr Challenge Dumbbell

John Grimek had his eye on lifting the Louis Cyr Challenge Dumbbell for a long time. Needless to say the ponderous weight defied his attempts to lift it, just as it had for the better part of nearly a century. Finally, Grimek succeeded in bent-pressing the thick-handled dumbbell overhead and added his name to a very short list. You can currently see the Cyr Challenge dumbbell at the York Barbell Hall of Fame in York Pennslyvania.

John Grimek Bent-Presses the Louis Cyr Challenge Dumbbell

---

"Good" Dumbbells

"Good" Dumbbells

Harry Good (of Good Brothers fame) established the Good Barbell Company in the late 1930's and ran it all the way into the 1970's. With the nature of the business back then, the "Good equipment" was more prominent locally. These 75-pound Good Dumbbells sat in a cental Pennsylvania YMCA for the last 50 years.

---

Louis Cyr Strikes a Classic Pose

Louis Cyr Strikes a Classic Pose
This picture was taken in the late 1800's, a time when the subject of a photograph had to stand still for long periods of time -- which means the globe dumbbell that Louis Cyr is holding aloft here is likely just a prop.

Cyr did, however, did possess the ability to move such huge weights.

He once jerked a 132 pound dumbbell for 36 reps and his bent press of 273 pounds beat Eugen Sandow's mark. Also note the rather impressive Ring Weight.

---

Milo Triplex Kettlebells

Milo Triplex Kettlebells
Many people think kettlebells are uniquely Russian, but while they certainly have a long history in Russia, kettlebells also have a long tradition in America as well.

In 1902, Alan Calvert established the Milo Barbell Company and kettlebells were among his first products.

He went through several different designs, the patent shown above is for the Milo "Triplex" Kettlebell which was patented in 1919.

The Milo Triplex shown did not have a shot-loaded compartment but instead had globed plate "slices" inside the outer shell.

The rotating handle should also be noted.

---

The Roman Column

The Roman Column
As mentioned several times on this blog, it was Professor Attila who invented the Roman Column.

Shown here, the Roman Column is an actual column in which the traineee hangs suspended vertially and moves to a horizontal position using the power of his legs and abdominal muscles.

Eugen Sandow used to perform this feat either holding a heavy barbell or a human being.

On the left is the original Roman Column, in one corner of Sig Klein's Time's Square Gym.

---

Barrel Lifting

Barrel Lifting

Lifting Barrels and Kegs has long been a Oldtime strongman Tradition since it builds a unique kind of strength -- especially is the barrel is only partially filled... If water (or beer) is sloshing around inside the barrel, it becomes a "live" weight, and a tremendous test of strength -- and it takes a lot less weight than you think. A partially-filled barrel weighing as little as fifty pounds can give you a tremendous workout. Suggested barrel lifting exercises include: Curls Overhead Pressing (shown) Shouldering Bear Hugs Carrying Throwing (steel keg only!)

---

The Swingbell

The Swingbell
A piece that you used to see all the time in the old magazines that has all but disappeared these days is the Swingbell -- essentially a combination of traditional free weights and medicine ball training exercises.

As you can see, a swingbell consists of a dumbbell bar loaded in the middle rather than the ends. It is grasped at either end and used for a variety of rotational and "circular" movements.

---

The 20 Official Strand Pulling Movements

In the U.S. we call it chest expander training but over across the pond it's referred to as "Stand Pulling" and there have been a number of books and courses, contests, and even more than one federation that keeps official records.

Here's a look at the 20 official Strand Pulling "pulls":

1. Right Arm Chest Pull 2. Left Arm Chest Pull 3. Two Arms Chest Pull 4. Front Lateral Raise 5. Back Lateral Raise 6. Press Behind Back 7. Press Behind Neck 8. Dislocation (attention) 9. Downward Pull - Knuckles In 10. Downward Pull - Knuckles Out 11. Upward Chest Pull 12. Left Arm Press 13. Right Arm Press 14. Left Arm Push 15. Right Arm Push 16. Left Arm Chest Pull Anyhow 17. Right Arm Chest Pull Anyhow 18. Two Arms Chest Pull Anyhow 19. Dislocation 20. Press Behind Back Anyhow

Strand Pulling All About Strand-Pulling by Syd Devis

---

Iron Man Hand Grippers

Iron Man Hand Grippers
There are advertisements for hand grippers going back as far as 1901, but the tradition of the heavy-duty steel hand grippers began in back in 1964 when Warren Tetting's grippers first appeared in the pages of Iron Man Magazine.

These grippers challenged many strongmen and there were four Strengths: "Light", "Heavy", "Extra Heavy" and "Super Heavy". Only the strongest hands could close the "Extra Heavy" gripper and it is unknown weather anyone actually closed the "Super Heavy" gripper level.

The Iron Man Grippers would be advertised for the next 79 issues and eventually became the inspiration for the Iron Mind Captains of Crush Grippers.

---

Globe Barbells at the 1924 Olympic Games

Globe Barbells at the 1924 Olympic Games
Here's a look at the Globe Barbells that were lined up and ready to be used at the 1924 Olympic Games held in Paris France.

This was the last year that lifters were given the choice between lifting with shot-loaded globe barbells or barbells loaded with the iron disc plates that we use today.

The only lifters to choose the shot-loaded globes at the 1924 Olympic Games were the French Weightlifting team, of which great strongman Charles Rigoulot won the gold medal in the heavyweight class and his teammate Edmond Decottignies took home the gold in the light-weight Class.

---

Squatting With Paul Anderson

Squatting 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.

---

Wood's Wood

Wood's Wood
Wood's Wood is one of the Original Wooden Log Bars which was a gift from Dr. Ken Leistner many moons ago. It's called "Wood's Wood" because that's what is carved into the side of it. -- A Pretty Fitting Name

This is the same Log that appears in Brooks Kubik's "Bags, Barrels and Beyond" training video.

As you can see, this Log is a beast and nearly as tall as I am. It's still good for a workout every now and then but I much prefer the updated model for training.

---

The Thomas Inch Dumbbell Replica

The Thomas Inch Dumbbell Replica
In the late 90s, the Staver Foundry of Minnesota produced replicas of the famous Thomas Inch challenge dumbbell. These solid globe dumbbells weighed 172 pounds but the handle is slightly thicker (2.47" vs. 2-3/8" on the original.)

172 Pounds may not seem like much of a challenge to lift but the thick handle makes it nearly impossible. Thousands of athletes have tried to lift the Inch Dumbbell but only a few have succeeded. You'll need a very strong grip if you want to add your name to the list.

---

Al Gerard

Al Gerard

Two decades ago, Al Gerard, a Powerlifter from North Carolina invented a piece of training equipment that would change strength training forever. His Gerard Trap Bar allowed trainees to train their legs without overtraining the lower-back. The Trap Bar became the piece of equipment for every gym. Al was able to deadlift over 725 pounds using his invention.

---

Harry Shafran

Harry Shafran

Harry Shafran was an oldtime lifter who ran two gyms (one in Brooklyn and one in greater New York City) in the 1920's. Eventually Harry got tired of big city life and moved to a farm near Scranton, Pennsylvania where he converted a large barn into a gym. His collection of oldtime strength equipment was quite impressive, you can see a bit of it in the picture to the left where Shafran is harness lifting 1500 pounds (at 72 years old!)

---