Tendon and Ligament Training: Chuck Vinci

Tendon and Ligament Training: Chuck Vinci

A "secret weapon" of many strength athletes is specific training for tendons and ligaments using very heavy supports. Here Olympic Champion weight lifter Chuck Vinci does heavy supports in the rack position with 500 pounds. Chuck Vinci set twelve world records in his career so he knew a thing or two about getting strong.

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Kettlebell Crucifix Lift

Kettlebell Crucfix Lift

Walter Donald demonstrates the Crucifix with a pair of great MILO Kettlebells.

"... what the English lifters call "the crucifix lift," and which the European lifters call "holding in the balance." One of the most popular of all strength tests is to hold a weight straight out from the shoulder in one hand; and it is a common thing to see a group of workmen or athletes in an impromptu competition with the object of seeing which one of them can "muscle-out" the heaviest weight. In some parts of the country they allude to this stunt as "off-arming." No matter what you call it, it is a fine test of strength, because anyone can do it without practice, there being little skill required." - Chapter 10, Super Strength by Alan Calvert

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Elephant Lifting

Elephant Lifting

Strongman Joe Ragusa shows one way to lift an elephant: via back lift. Ragusa regularly performed this feat in nightclubs and television shows.

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The Hand and Thigh Lift

The Hand and Thigh Lift

Walter Donald demonstrates the Hand and Thigh Lift from Alan Calvert's Super Strength.

The Hand and Thigh Lift is a short-range deadlift which allows for very heavy weights to be lifted. Calvert highly recommended this exercise for leg development.

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Chuck Sipes Lifting His Truck

Chuck Sipes Lifting His Truck

Chuck Sipes was one of the strongest bodybuilders of all time. Chuck, who won the 1959 IFBB Mr. America, 1960 IFBB Mr. Universe and 1968 Mr. World Bodybuilding titles, could also could perform several incredible feats of strength.

As he was training to accomplish a 600 pound(!) bench press, Chuck used to train using a variety of techniques involving heavy supports and negatives -- he even had a special handle welded to the underside of his pickup truck which he used to lift and support the whole affair.

Sipes would first lift the pickup truck as high as he could with his arms then wedge his legs underneath. In the top position, he estimated that he was supporting 1600 pounds.

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Kurt Saxon

Kurt Saxon

of the Saxon trio, it was often Arthur who got most of the spotlight, but the other brothers were also quite strong. Here's a shot of Kurt Saxon, at 50 years old, supporting nearly half a ton of classic barbells and other weights.

The largest Barbell weighs 330 pounds and the kettlebells on his feet weight 88 pounds apeice, the barbell on his abdomen weighs 200 pounds, the barbell he is holding weighs 100 pounds and another 88-pound kettlebell on each hand.

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Louis Cyr's Backlift

Louis Cyr's Backlift
A rare woodcut of the great Louis Cyr's famous backlift. Cyr astonished the world with a lift of 4337 pounds!

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Orville Stamm - The Boy Hercules

Orville Stamm - The Boy Hercules
A top vaudeville attraction for several decades, Orville Stamm, who performed as "The Boy Hercules" possessed many talents. He would often sing a song to the accompanyment of a piano which he happened to be supporting in the "Tomb Of Hercules".

He could also tear cards, played the violin with a 66-pound bulldog tied to the bow, lifted a horse with one hand and performed acrobatic feats.

Sounds like quite a show!

During World War I, Orville Stamm also served as physical instructor to the Navy and one of his students was president-to-be Franklin D. Roosevelt. After FDR was elected, Orville and his wife were often guests at the Whitehouse.

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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.

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Cyclops and Sampson

Cyclops and Sampson
A rare poster advertising the strongman duo of Franz "Cyclops" Bienkowski and Charles A. Sampson. Sampson's Harness Lift is highlighted.

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Sig Klein's Neck Bridge Feat

The era of Strongmanism, several generations ago, used to feature many strongman stunts that baffled and amazed the public. Here's a rare shot of one of the feats performed by Sig Klein and his stage partner Jack Bier. Here Sig holds a Neck Bridge while holding a globe barbell at arm's length as his partner stands on his chest. -- that's several hundred exta pounds supported by Sig Klein's neck alone. Having accomplished a similar feat, I can say this is NOT easy!

Sig Klein's Neck Bridge Feat

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Milo Steinborn vs. The Motor Car

Milo Steinborn vs. The Motor Car
An unusual feat of strength(?)by Henry "Milo" Steinborn. Milo used to lie down and let a motor car drive over his chest. Impressive -- but it came with a price -- Milo was seriously injured while performing this feat although fortunately he did make a recovery and was eventually able to wrestle again.

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Cannon Lifting with Warren Lincoln Travis

Warren Lincoln Travis

You aren't a real Oldtime Strongman until you lift a Cannon... The great Warren Lincoln Travis shows he's still got it as an old man, Harness Lifting a Cannon and a Globe Barbell - combined weight: over 1500 pounds.

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How did the oldtimers train with Kettlebells?

How did the oldtimers train with Kettlebells? The answer might surprise you. In his book The Textbook of Weightlifting, Arthur Saxon lists a few of the different exercises he used: the crucifix, one arm press, and several grip and forearm exercises. Of course, kettlebells also worked pretty well for Combination feats just like this one. (I think that's Kurt Saxon being pressed overhead.)

Arthur Saxon

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Backlifting with Mac Batchelor

Mac Batchelor was most well-known for his feats of grip strength but he was no one-trick pony -- Mac trained many different lifts and was exceptional in all of them. In this classic shot, "Big Mac" warms up with 30 or 40 reps in the Backlift with half a ton.

Mac Batchelor

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Hermann Goerner's Human Bridge Feat

Hermann Goerner's Human Bridge Feat
A look at Hermann Goerner's incredible "Human Bridge" stunt where he supports a platform on his shoulders while an automobile loaded with passengers drives over it.

It was said that at the heaviest point in this feat, Goerner supported over 3000 pounds on his shoulders.

This may not be quite as heavy or as dangerous as Lionel Strongfort's Human Bridge Feat but it's still very impressive.

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The Tomb of Hercules Feat

The Tomb of Hercules Feat

"A feat of supporting strength that is commonly performed is the one known as "The Tomb of Hercules."

The athlete takes up his position with the hands and feet only upon the floor, and the face looking upwards. The hands are turned back along a line parallel with the body which gives a better arm lock in the elbows.

The body is held up fairly well, but not so high as to have the body level with the line of the knees and the shoulders.

The arms and legs from the foot to the knee must be perpendicular so that no lateral pressure is suggested. Then a platform is placed on the body so that it has four points of rest, both knees and the shoulders.

A number of men are then seated upon the board, which is supported by the athlete for a few seconds. Some athletes make this stunt more spectacular by supporting a whole orchestra while it plays, and others allow an automobile to run over a trestle supported in this manner.

In this latter feat, the machine is only supported a bare fraction of a second, and the fact that the machine is moving across distributes the weight so that actually the entire weight of the machine is not supported all at one time by the body.

But enough weight is supported to make the act very dangerous.

If I remember rightly, Monte Saldo, an English athlete was one of the first to introduce this stunt."

- George Jowett in The Key to Might and Muscle, Chapter 6

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Arthur Saxon's Leg Press Support Feat

Arthur Saxon's Leg Press Support Feat
Heavy supporting feats were very popular with the oldtime strongmen. They could often support incredibly heavy weighst which always impressed the audience.

Here's Arthur Saxon supporting nine men on his feet, and two more (the other members of the Saxon Trio, Kurt and Herman) on a globe barbell held at arms's length.

It's been said that a feat such as this where Arthur Saxon held several thousand pounds was his greates strength feat, even topping his 448-Pound Two-Hands-Anyhow record.

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Archie Vanderpool

Archie Vanderpool
The Mysterious Mr. Vanderpool performs a pretty unusual feat of supporting strength... With his back against a stone wall, Archie braced his legs against a car driven at full throttle for 52 seconds. -- The tires were worn to ribbons!

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Lionel Strongfort

Lionel Strongfort

Lionel Strongfort, (Real name Max Unger) began his strongman career as a pupil of Professor Attila Strongfort went on to thrill audiences all over the world with his incredible and very dangerous Human Bridge feat where he supported over 7,000 pounds in the Tomb of Hercules position. Strongfort was also one of the most successful Mail Order Muscle Barons and his training courses on "Strongfortism," which only required bodyweight and some light dumbbells, were incredibly popular in the early 20th century.

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Monte Saldo

Monte Saldo
As a young man, Monte Saldo apprenticed at one of Eugen Sandow's Gymnasiums and eventually became a performing strongman himself.

Saldo's incredible motor car support feat (which put him in considerable danger if something were to ever get out of hand) made him one of the top earning strongmen of the day.

As you can see, he was pretty rugged.

Saldo went on to become of the great masters of Muscle Control and teamed up with his friend Maxick to establish the Maxalding system.

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The Brothers Marx - Performing Strongmen

The Brothers Marx
John Grunn Marx and his brother Aloysius used to perform together as "The Brothers Marx" - American Gladiators, The Strongest Men Living.

(It was actually brother Al who taught John Grunn the strongman trade.)

As this oldtime strongman poster indicates, their act consisted of the lifting of large globe dumbbells, kettlebells and various supporting feats... And as also indicated on the poster, their apparati was available for inspection.

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Heavy One-Arm Overhead Supports

Heavy one-arm overhead supports were very popular with oldtime strongmen since they could work up to some truly impressive weights which always wowed their audiences. Sandow was able to lift a horse in this manner. Here Anton Matysek supports well over a quarter ton overhead.

Heavy One-Arm Overhead Supports

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Milo and The Bull

Milo and The Bull
Milo of Crotona was one of the greatest athletes of antiquity, winning the wrestling title in the ancient Greek Olympiad six times.

It was said that he built his great strength by carrying a newborn calf on his back each day. As the calf grew larger, so did Milo's Strength. After many days of this, Milo was able to carry a full grown bull on his shoulders -- and thus progressive resistance exercise was born.

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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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G.W. Rolandow

G.W. Rolandow was a Swiss Strongman who publically challenged Sandow to a contest on several occasions only to have Sandow turn him down each time. Rolandow accomplished the following lifts: One Arm Snatch - (Right Arm) 180 pounds Bent Press - 298 Pounds Partial Deadlift 1650 Pounds Tomb of Hercules Support - 3500 Pounds Card Tearing - three card decks at once

G.W. Rolandow

Rolandow could also jump over a table, 36 inches high and 25 inches wide while holding a 75 pound dumbbell in each hand.

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An "Ice Cold" Strength Feat

An "Ice Cold" Strength Feat

Joe Mongelli, a former pupil of Sig Klein, was an iceman by trade. He could carry a 325 pound block of ice on his back, then, using ice tongs, could pick up a 120 pound block of ice with his right hand and a 60 pound block with his left. Joe could walk the length of a city block carrying the entire 505 pound load!

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The Saxon Trio Perform at The Ringling Brothers Circus

The Saxon Trio Perform at The Ringling Brothers Circus
Here's a look at a very rare Ringling Brothers Circus Poster featuring Arthur Saxon and the other members of the Saxon Trio.

The poster shows a few of their feats which included several amazing supporting feats - the most impressive being the "human bridge" supporting over six thousand pounds as a car with several passengers drove over a planks that two of the members of the Saxon Trio held up with their feet.

That must have been a great one to see in person.

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