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Welcome to the World's Strongest Blog!
This is THE PLACE for incredible feats, classic and unique equipment, advertisements, magazine covers, Olympic Champions, gymnastics, myths and legends, oldtime physical culture and everything else you can think of having to do with the history of physical training! -- There aint nothin' like it anywhere else! You'll want to check back several times per day, we update often.
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Siegmund Breitbart Newspaper Clipping
 Siegmund Breitbart |
The great strongman Siegmund Breitbart
Here's a clipping from the Chicago News, October 22nd, 1923, showing Breitbart demonstrating his nail driving ability -- pounding a nail through a one-inch thick oak board with nothing but his bare hand. Nail Driving
every time but also one that builds tremendous strength in the shoulder and upper body. Several "oldtime" boxers actually practiced nail driving in order to build striking power. |
Luigi "Milo" Brinn
Milo Brinn (born Luigi Borra) performed feats of strength and took on all comers as a wrestler at the famous Folies Berger in Paris. Brinn's act at the Folies consisted of tumbling and gymnastics, hand balancing,
As a wrestler, Brinn won the amateur world's title in 1887 and supposedly once defeated Sandow in a match. |
You Can Banish Weakness...
 Lionel Strongfort
His "Strongfortism" system, which involved mostly body weight movements and light dumbbells, was incredibly popular in the early 20th century. Strongfort was originally a pupil of Professor Attila.
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The Gymnasium of the Romania College of Physical Education
Here's a quick look at The Gymnasium of the College of Physical Education in Bucharest, Romania. Their most well-known graduate is the famed gymnastic coach Bela Karolyi.
Sandow and Goliath
Rene Duverger
The French weightlifter Rene Duverger won the Gold in the lightweight class (67.5kg) at the 1932 Olympic games in Los Angeles, California. Duverger's total was 325kg on the day and comprised of a 97.5 kg press, a 102.5 kg snatch and a 125 kg clean and jerk.
Thomas Inch and The Evolution of A Biceps
I believe that advertisements tell as much about strength history as the books and courses, hence the reason I reproduce many of them here -- (and you sure won't find them anywhere else!) Here's a fantastic ad from deep in the archives: Thomas Inch's "Evolution of a Biceps."
The Billard Golden Triumph Barbell Training Manual
The Billard Barbell Company, out of Reading, Pennsylvania, hit the scene in the early 1960's and featured their equipment primarily in department and sporting goods stores. If you got one of their weight sets, you also received this nifty training manual featuring Bruce Randall., the 1959 Mr. Universe winner. Randall made appearances at sporting good stores promoting and demonstrating Billard equipment.
Billard was actually the third barbell company based in Reading, PA (after the Good Barbell Company and the Reading Barbell Company.) In addition to weights, the Billard Barbell Company also boasted a national championship calibre softball team.
Tonitoff The Strongman
The great French strongman Tonitoff was the talk of the town when he performed in the Grand Circus Lenka during the 1896 season. He was billed as "The World's Strongest Man" and easily supported several thousand pounds on his shoulders as he walked around the arena.
1956 Olympic Weightlifting: The Bantamweights
A look at the medal platform for the 1956 Olympic Weightlifting Bantamweight class: American lifter Chuck Vinci took gold (with a 342.5 kg total ~ an Olympic record), Vladimir Stogov from the Soviet Union took the silver medal (with a 337.5 kg total) and Mahmoud Namdjou of Iran, took the bronze (with a 332.5 kg total).
