Josef Grafl

Josef Grafl

It doesn't get much more "Oldtime" than this - Josef Grafl, the great strongman from Vienna, Austria, competes in a historical contest. Quite a contrast to today's modern weightlifting meets. Note the chalk ring that the lifter stood in to perform the lifts and the outdoor location. Grafl was the World heavyweight weightlifting champion from 1908 to 1911 and again in 1913.

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Clyde Emrich Front squattting

Clyde Emrich Front squattting

Weightlifting great Clyde Emrich front squatting at a sport school just before the 1955 World Championships in Munich, Germany. The front squat is a great power builder. Some men prefer to do this exercise with a 2-inch board under the heels. Regardless, it is an exercise that must be mastered if you want to become an Olympic weightlifter.

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Russ Knipp

Russ Knipp from Pittsburgh, Pensylvania pressing 355 at the 1969 Sr. Nationals ( An American & National meet record.)

Knipp never did medal at the Olympics but he did compete at two Games (Mexico City - 1968. Munich - 1972), won seventeen medals in international competition, was a three-time U.S. National Champion and set nine worlds records.

Russ Knipp

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Launceston Elliott

Launceston Elliott

Already a strength star in his teens when he won the British national Championships, in 1896, Launceston Elliott traveled to Athens, Greece to represent England at the very first modern Olympic Games. Elliot had been trained by Eugen Sandow and bared quite a resemblance to his mentor, and, as I have mentioned before, things were a bit different back then -- in weightlifting they contested two events: the "one-hand lift" and the "two-hands lift" (i.e. the "clean and jerk.")

In the first contest, the "two hand lift" Launceston tied with Viggo Jensen of Denmark when each lifted 111 kg (244-1/2 pounds). The Gold medal, however, was awarded to the Dane because the judges thought he lifted the weight "in much better form" than his English competitor.

In the one-hand event, Elliot lifted 71 kg to the Dane's 57 and thus Britain's first Olympic Gold Medal winner was crowned!

At those games Elliott also competed in the 100 m dash, wrestling, and rope climbing although he was not as successful in the other events as he was in weight lifting. After his Olympic success, he returned home to England, won the first major physique contest ever held and toured the country as a performing strongman.

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Walt Marcyan

Walt Marcyan
Walt Marcyan was a great lifter, bodybuilder and hand balancer during the early Santa Monica Muscle Beach days. Walt first picked up a barbell and started training when he was 19 years old and shortly afterwards won the Central AAU Light Heavyweight Lifting Championship.

He followed that up by winning the northwest, Pacific, California, Pacific Coast and Illinois State lifting titles. Walt possessed unusual strength in a number of lifts, above he just missed a one-arm snatch of 210 pounds (at a bodyweight of only 180.)

Marcyan was also the inventor of several pieces of training equipment and his "Marcy Gym" line is still going strong today.

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"Train for Strength" says Doug Hepburn

Doug Hepburn

"If a man's temperament is suited to it, I believe he will make better progress in weightlifting by training for strength primarily and style secondarily than if he puts great emphasis on learning form."

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Bert Elliott's Bent-Press

Bert Elliott Bent-Press

The great weightlifter Bert Elliott was also a specialist in the bent-press. He had a special 201-pound globe "Challenge" Dumbbell that few could budge but which he could lift with ease. It was thought by many "old time" weight lifters that due to the incredible midsection strength that was developed by the bent-press, improving that lift would also improve one's total. Sure looks that way here.

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John Grimek

John Grimek

This photograph was taken on May 25, 1940 as John Grimek competed in the Heavy weight class (weighing 183 pounds!) at the weightlifting Senior Nationals at Madison Squar Garden, New York City. In the afternoon he placed 3rd by totalling 860 pounds (including the 285 pound press shown here) Later that day he beat Frank Leight to win the AAU Mr. America bodybuilding title, including the "Most Musclular" and "Best Arms" subdivions.

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Chuck Vinci

Chuck Vinci
Chuck Vinci was another great olympic weightlifter from York, Pennsylvania. Though he stood only 4'11" and weighed 123 pounds, he could clean & jerk well over 300 pounds and snatch 220+.

Vinci was a Two-time Olympic Gold Medalist (1956 and 1960), Seven-time world Senior National Champion (1954-1956,1958-1961) and set Twelve World Records during his career.

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Ike Berger

Isaac "Ike" Berger
Ike Berger is one of America's most successful Olympic Weightlifters -- he was the first featherweight in history to lift more than 800 pounds and the first to press double body weight.

Over his career he was the owner of 23 world weightlifting records, a 12-time United States national titleholder, 2-time World Champion and Olympic Gold Medalist at the 1956 Games in Melbourne Australia (along with two more Silver medals at the next two Olympic Games.)

At the 1964 Olympic games, he estabilished a record of 152.5 kg (336 lb) in the jerk, at a bodyweight of only 130 pounds (59 kg). This lift made him pound-for-pound the strongest man in the world, a record that stood for nine years.

Ike Berger was elected to the United States Weightlifter's Hall of Fame in 1965.

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David Willoughby

David Willoughby

Strength author and historian David Willoughby gracing the cover of the January, 1936 edition of the British physical culture magazine "Superman." Willoughby was the AAU Southern California AAU weightlifting champion from 1923-1926 and eventually went on to author countless books, articles and training courses. He also owned a successful gym in the Los Angeles area, the same gym where Bert Goodrich got his start.

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Paul Anderson Winning the 1956 Melbourne Olympics

Paul Anderson Winning the 1956 Melbourne Olympics
With this lift, Paul Anderson won the Gold Medal in the heavyweight class at the 1956Olympic Games held in Melbourne, Australia.

It sure didn't come easy...

Big Paul was suffering from an ear infection at the time which caused him to lose his balance and stagger once he had the weight overhead, thus missing several lifts he would normally make with ease.

Here's how he ended the day:

Press - 369 pounds

Snatch - 319 pounds

Clean and Jerk - 413 pounds

Though he totaled, 1101 pounds, it was far from his best. Still, it was a gold medal winning performance, and one that cemented his name in the history books.

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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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Dave's Gym - South Bend, Indiana

Dave's Gym - South Bend, Indiana
Dave Bjoraas, (pictured far right) the legendary "Dave" of Dave's Gym and Dave's Barbell Club of South Bend, Indiana... for many years the center of strength activity in the Mid-Western United States.

Dave's Gym in South Bend, Indiana produced many Iron Game champions: 1956 Mr. America Ray Schaefer trained there. So did Jr. Mr. America Doug Lindzy (pro-wrestling's original "Doug Gilbert").

Dave's Barbell Club Weight-lifting team produced champions like Winston Binney and Mike Burgener. And, most importantly, many of the top football players on Notre Dame's great Irish teams trained with Dave.

Dave's Gym... one of the top gyms ever... Dave Bjoraas, a fine man and a giant in the world of weights.

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Scientific Weightlifting by Thomas Inch

The great British Oldtime Strongman Thomas Inch wrote a lot of training guides you probably never heard of. This one, Scientific Weightlifting was published in the 1920's and covers the finer points of heavy lifting. As you might expect, lots of useful training information is contained within these covers. This particular copy is actually autographed by Thomas Inch himself (No, it's not for sale.)

Scientific Weightlifting by Thomas Inch

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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.

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Kettlebell Training with Sig Klein

Sig Klein

It was through Sig Klein's Kettlebell course that I first learned how to train with kettlebells -- and that was over a decade and a half ago -- a long time before "kettlebell" became a household word. I think Sig had the right idea -- he was very proficient in a number of different strength "disciplines" - weight lifting, kettlebell lifting, gymnastics, hand balancing, and all along with an incredible physique to match his great strength.

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John Terpak - Eleven Time Senior National Weightlifting Champion

John Terpak - Eleven Time Senior National Weightlifting Champion
John Terpak was a member of the "York Gang" and one of America's best Olympic-style weightlifters, winning eleven Senior National Weightlifting Titles (1936-1945 & 1947).

Over his career he lifted in three different weight classes (148, 165 and 181.) His best performance occurred winning the 1947 Worlds as a light-heavyweight:

Press - 253-1/2 pounds
Snatch - 264-1/2 pounds
Clean & Jerk - 336-1/4 pounds
Total = 854-1/2 pounds

He also one-hand snatched 154 pounds and one-hand jerked 170-1/2 pounds in some early weightlifting contests when those lifts were still contested.

Terpak was a three-time Olympic Team Member (1936, 1940, & 1948) and a part of nine total Olympic teams and sixty consecutive National Championships as a lifter, judge or coach. He eventually served as an executive for the York Barbell Company.

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Tommy Kono: Weightlifting and Bodybuilding Champion

Tommy Kono: Weightlifting and Bodybuilding Champion
With thirteen Senior Nationals titles, eight consecutive World Championships (1952-1959) and two Olympic gold medals (1952, 1956), Tommy Kono is arguably America's greatest Olympic Weightlifter.

In addition to his weightlifting exploits, he was also a very successful bodybuilder, winning the Mr. Universe bodybuilding title in `1954, 1955, 1957 and 1961.

It is unlikely that the World will never see another champion Weightlifter and Bodybuilder who are one in the same.

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Strength and Health Magazine #1

Strength and Health Magazine #1

Just in case you ever need to know who was on the cover of Strength and Health #1, the answer is Walter "Wally" Zagurski. Zagurski was an original member of the "York Gang" who lifted back when it was called the "York Oil Burner Athletic Club." He competed in the 1932 Olympics, won the 1933 Sr. National Weightlifting title at 165 pounds and was a very good all-around strength athlete. He was also one of the few men who could lift the Louis Cyr Challenge Dumbbell overhead.

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John Grimek: Dumbbell Curls

John Grimek: Dumbbell Curls

A workout without curls is like a day without sunshine. As a champion in bodybuilding and weightlifting, John Grimek understood the importance of "all around" strength and trained his arms just as hard as everything else. Bicep training helps balance out the triceps in heavy pressing movements and should always be a part of your program.

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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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Schemansky Stalks the Bar...

Norb Schemansky
From the late 1940s to mid-1960s, Norb Schemansky was America's most successful Olympic Weightlifter and the first weightlifter to medal in four Olympic Games, (despite missing the 1956 games.)

Do you think he means business in the shot above?

Here's a look at Norb Schemansky's achievements over the course of his career:

Olympic Champion - 1952 Olympic Games, Helsinki

Silver Medal - 1948 Olympic Games, London

Bronze Medal - 1960, Rome, 1964, Tokyo

World Champion (1951, 1953, and 1954)

1955 Pan American Games Heavyweight Champion

Silver Medal - Senior World Championships (1947, 1962, 1963)

Bronze Medal - Senior World Championships (1964)

And best career marks:

Press - 415 lbs.
Snatch - 363 3/4 lbs.
Clean and Jerk - 445 lbs.
Total - 1200 lbs. (400-335-445)

In addition to his weightlifting exploits, he also famously cleaned, then thrice jerked the Apollon Wheels.

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The Strength of Paul Anderson

The Many Strength Feats of Paul Anderson
Back in the mid-1940's, Paul Anderson started lifting weights to get bigger for football and just kept growing. He eventually became one of the strongest men of all time while establishing many strength records and winning the Gold Medal at the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia.

Paul Anderson was also a Senior World Champion and a 2-time Senior National Champion in Weightlifting. He set nine World Records and Eighteen American records during his career and retired undefeated.

He was also incredibly strong in what would eventually become the three Power Lifts: the squat, bench press and deadlift.

Here's a look at some of Paul Anderson's record lifts:

Squat: 1185 lbs. Bench Press: 625 lbs. Deadlift Record without Straps: 780 lbs. Deadlift Record with "Hooks": 820 lbs. Clean & Press: 485 lbs. Clean & Jerk: 485 lbs. Snatch: 375 lbs. Push Press: 545 lbs. Back Lift: 6270 lbs. Dumbbell Side Press: 240 lbs. x 40 / 300 lbs. x 11

Paul Anderson Deadlifting

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Oldtime Strongman Joseph Steinbach

Joseph Steinbach Austrian Strongman
Joseph Steinbach of Vienna, Austria, officially performed a Two Hands Continental Jerk of 387 pounds, a Two Hands Snatch of 264 3/4 pounds and a Two Hands Continental Press of 335 pounds (besting Louis Cyr's mark by 34 pounds.)

At the same time, he held the world's records on lifts performed with two dumb bells and narrowly missed winning a gold medal at the 1904 Olympics.

You can read more about him in Physical Training Simplified by Mark H. Berry or The Truth About Weight Lifting By Alan Calvert

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Weightlifting at the 1904 Summer Olympics

Here's a classic shot from the 1904 Summer Olympics held is St. Louis, Missouri. Back then they contested "weightlifting" i.e. with a barbell in events with both one and two hands. Interestingly enough, they also had a seperate Dumbbell contest.

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