Oldtime Strength Blog - www.oldtimestrongman.com

Plate Curls

Posted on Thursday, October 19th, 2017 by John Wood

One of the most effective exercises for developing grip and forearm strength can be done with a simple barbell plate. Just grab it by the lip and attempt to curl it — no swinging, slow and controlled all the way up and all the way down. You’re fairly strong if you can do a 25 lb. plate … really strong if you can do a 35 pounder under the same conditions … and if you can do this with a 45 lb plate, you’d be one of the strongest of all time. The steep strength curve from the leverage involved can impose quite a challenge — even when using a very light plate. You can also “cheat” the plate to the top position and then lower it under control to add a new wrinkle. You can progress incrementally by attaching smaller weights and then increasing or decreasing the leverage based on where they are positioned on the plate. You can expect some pretty sore wrists the morning after. Try it!

Joe Ragusa BackLifts an Elephant

Posted on Thursday, October 19th, 2017 by John Wood

Strongman Joe Ragusa shows one way to lift an elephant: via back lift. Ragusa regularly performed this feat in nightclubs and television shows. You can see another elephant being lifted here.

The Guy On The Float…

Posted on Thursday, October 19th, 2017 by John Wood

The Guy On The Float Who Gets My Vote is The WEIDER-TRAINED MAN!

Ahh, if nothing else, Joe Weider’s advertisements were fun to read… and certainly a tale as old as time: more muscles=more girls. There’s certainly some truth to that from an evolutionary standpoint. This was still when the Master Blaster’s home base was in Union City, New Jersey. The sweet set of weights from the afor-mentioned advert included a barbell, weight plates, dumbbell handles, a set of Iron Boots, some kettlebell handles, collars, a wrist roller, a neck harness, workout charts from the world’s greatest bodybuilders — certainly enough to get the job done and become “a real American He-man, ready for anything!” Remember: a Weider-trained man is ALL ACTION! Thanks Joe!

Saxon Brown ~ The Man They Cannot Strangle!

Posted on Thursday, October 19th, 2017 by John Wood

Saxon Brown clearly has a very strong neck! Here he is in a rare newsreel shot dated April 5, 1929, showing Mr. Brown resisting the pull of five men yanking on a rope around his neck. So well are Mr. Brown’s neck muscles developed that the tugging in no way effected him! Brown’s other hobbies were snapping horseshoes in half with his hands and biting steel chains apart.

Raymond Cazeaux

Posted on Thursday, October 19th, 2017 by John Wood

Born into a family of farmers in the Ossau Valley of Southern France in 1881, Raymond Cazeaux went on to became of the greatest French wrestlers of all time. He fought over a thousand matches, tussling with champions from all over the world, the likes of: Ed ‘Strangler’ Lewis, Constant le Marin, Stanislaus Zbyszko, George Lurich, Dr. Ben Roller, Paul Pons, Jess Petersen, Yussif Hussane, Nikola Petroff, and Ivan Poddubny. During his travels, Cazeaux would happily give free wrestling lessons to police officers wherever he went. Needless to say, he made many friends.

Cazeaux was actually not his real name, his given name was Cazeau but early in his career, a promoter thought the added “X” on the end looked better on a poster, and so it was! Cazeaux stood six feet and weighed around 220 lbs.

Rather remarkably, Cazeaux’s fame did not end a century ago, his likeness, was featured as the exotic boxer who was the namesake of Uncle Pastuzo, in the delightful 2014 children’s movie Paddington.

Novak & Sons: Kettlebell Juggling

Posted on Thursday, October 19th, 2017 by John Wood

After setting over 60 world records over his career, Grigori Novak did what any great former weightlifter would do: he ran off to the circus to become a genuine performing strongman. Eventually, Novak’s two sons Arkady and Roman also joined the act, you can see them above doing a little kettlebell juggling during their act. Kettlebell juggling is pretty impressive on its own, but seeing several lifters doing it at once in tandem is amazing.

Bert Elliott in Action

Posted on Thursday, October 19th, 2017 by John Wood

Another look at Bert Elliott’s excellent bent-pressing ability. This rare shot was at the AAU Southern California Weightlifting Championships, circa early 1960’s. This globe barbell was loaded to 270 lbs. Note how balanced (and therefor stable) Elliott is, you could draw a straight line between the arm holding the barbell and his right foot. — That’s the only kind of form that will allow a successful Bent-Press lift.

Ron Lacy: Wrist Roller Training

Posted on Sunday, October 15th, 2017 by John Wood

How does Mr. America build forearm strength? The Wrist Roller, of course. It was a great method then and still a greta method now. If you could peek into the training log of just about every strength champion throughout history, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll find the wrist roller as a part of their respective programs.

The wrist roller is also a very good choice because it is simple and very effective: Mr. Lacy’s choice here is just a sturdy tree branch with a cord tied to it. You can get more fancy than that if you like but when it all comes down to it, that is minimally all you need.

Dandurand Lifts an Engine!

Posted on Sunday, October 15th, 2017 by John Wood

Many of the oldtime strongmen were famous for their ability to lift heavy, awkward objects. Their reasons were simple: Not everyone can relate to a loaded barbell… but everyone knows that if you can “lift” a piano, anvil, safe or a cannon on your back you must be pretty damn strong.

Here’s a look at the famous Canadian strongman Arthur Dandurand as he supports a 406 lb. Ford engine block on his shoulder. Dandurand was only 5’8″ and 180 pounds but possessed very unusual strength. He was documented as having first accomplished this feat on January 17th, 1930 and could do it any time he was asked. — and perhaps, even more impressivly, no other strongman was ever able to duplicate it! You can read more about Arthur Dandurand in Physical Training Simplified by Mark H. Berry.

York Isometric Model W.W. Power Rack

Posted on Thursday, October 12th, 2017 by John Wood

Here’s another look at the York Isometric Model W.W. Power Rack. Back in the early 1960’s, my Dad and Uncle sent away to Muscletown York, PA for one of these W.W. racks so they could do isometric training which was all the rage back in the day. Then this rack sat in storage for the next few decades until I saw the pieces in the corner and asked if I could take it up to my gym. The crossbeam was lost and the base had rotted away but I had one of our fabricators fashion the necessary pieces to get it back into working order. Initially my goal in refurbishing this piece was more from a sense of nostalgia — a family heirloom of sorts — but eventually, I found it to be invaluable. It was this rack on which I formulated the movements for “The Bone Strength Project” and it’s design is ideal for those. Who would have ever guessed that such a “primitive” rack would end up being exactly what I needed for my training goals about fifty years later?