New Blog

Keeping very much in line with the motto "A strong mind in a sound body", in 1908, Archbold Gymnasium on the campus of Syracuse University opened its doors... It was the finest physical training facility in the world at the time, and featured an elevated track, climbing ropes, gymnastic equipment as far as the eye could see, a swimming pool and even several bowling alleys. They actually used to hold entire indoor track meets there. Also of note is the large glass-domed roof which let in plenty of natural light.

An unusual feature that could be found in the basement was an indoor rowing tank, installed so that the crew team could get in some much needed practice in the early spring before the ice melted.

This fabulous gymnasium was named for the oil magnate John D. Archbold, who gave the university the funds to complete the building. Look closely at the top image and you'll also see the top few rows of Archbold Stadium, once one of the largest open air football stadiums in the country and the current site of the Carrier dome.

A look at a German kettlebell club from the turn of the last century and a selection of their awesome equipment.  German strength athletes were particularly fond of juggling their kettlebells, hence "German" kettlebells had much larger and more pronounced handles.  Also of note is the fact that most of the barbells have thick handles.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words...  if you are paying attention to this one, your take away should be that the overhead dumbbell press is an exercise worth adding to your training.  Core strength? Yeah, you can see his abs through his shirt. The man at the other end of those awesome dumbbells is Hans Zdrazila, a  Czechoslovakian weightlifter who took home the gold medal in the middleweight class at the 1964 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan (with a 445.5 kg total).

Ahmed Madrali was actually the second well-known wrestler with the nickname "The Terrible Turk" (The first being Yusuf İsmail about a decade prior.) In one of the biggest matches of the time, on January 30, 1904, Ahmed Madrali took on "The Russian Lion" George Hackenschmidt at Olympia Hall in London, England.  Anticipation for this match was high... not only were these two great competitors, there was also more than a little bit of bad blood as Madrali was managed by Antonio Pierri, who Hackenschmidt had previously defeated in 1902.

A record crowd of 20,000 people were in attendance (which also caused the largest traffic jam ever recorded up to that time.) Unfortunately the match did not end decisively... less than a minute after opening bell Madrali dislocated his elbow after being "thrown" by Hackenschmidt and could not continue.  Though not ideal, this victory put Hackenschmidt's name on the map in the wrestling world and increased his fame considerably.

Also, fortunately, Madrali's injury was not serious and he was back wrestling again three months later. In 1905, Madrali made up for this defeat by winning the wrestling championship of southern France defeating "The German Oak" Ernest Siegfried.  As evident in this rare picture taken from around that time, "The Terrible Turk" was also clearly a big fan of kettlebell training.