Feats of Strength Archives - www.oldtimestrongman.com

Secrets of Strong Man Feats by Ottley R. Coulter

Posted on Wednesday, July 3rd, 2019 by John Wood

Ottley R. Coulter wrote this interesting course in 1942. In it, he covers many classical feats of strength: how to rip a newspaper in half, card tearing, nail driving,how to break rocks with your fist(!), spike bending etc. All those are interesting, but to me, the real value is the excellent abdominal development course that appears in the last few pages.

P.S. This course in full is posted in The Iron League.

Breitbart’s Motorcycle Race

Posted on Wednesday, July 25th, 2018 by John Wood

Siegmund Breitbart was a master of many traditional strongman feats (horseshoe bending, Nail driving, steel scrolling etc) but he also came up with a number of his own unique feats. Here’s a shot of Breitbart supporting a full-blown motorcycle race on his chest!

Apollon – “Le Roi des Athletes”

Posted on Tuesday, July 24th, 2018 by John Wood

An extremely rare posterof the great French Strongman Apollon. he was called “Le Roi des Athletes” (The King of Athletes) for good reason, even a hundred years later no one has even come close to bettering any of his feats. Apollon is shown performing a Muscle Out with a ring weight and a small horse! Apollon’s famous wheels are pictured as well.

Hermann Goerner

Posted on Saturday, June 16th, 2018 by John Wood

Hermann Goerner was never too far from the weights, even when he was on vacation. Here he snatches 190 pounds with one arm, in street clothes, and standing ankle deep in loose sand. — Now that’s strong.

Clevio Massimo Strongman Poster

Posted on Friday, February 2nd, 2018 by John Wood

An old poster of the strongman Clevio Massimo during the time he appeared on the stage throughout the country, depicting some of the feats of strength he included in his act: harness lifting, the One Arm get Up, Kettlebell Crucifix, card ripping, hand balancing etc. He included quite a variety; many not illustrated here, and his ability as a showman only enhanced his fine performances. Massimo also played the violin in one portion of his act to prove he was a capable musician as well as a genuine strongman.

John Holtum: The Cannon-Ball King

Posted on Monday, December 25th, 2017 by John Wood

John Holtum, originally of Denmark, was aptly known as “The Cannon-ball King” from his act where he actually did catch a cannon ball fired from a real cannon. This took a bit of practice though, he had a couple fingers blown off the first few times he tried it. After catching the cannon-ball, Holtum would once again load the projectile into the cannon and hit a target some yards away, showing everything was on the level. It was said that the cannon he used was a relic from the Crimenan War.

In addition to his cannon-ball catching feat, Holtum’s performance also consisted of various strength feats which usually involved either lifting, balancing or juggling cannon balls. Remarkably, Holtum retired from the cannon-ball catching business on his own terms without serious injury, and later partnered with his brother Fred to become successful wine merchants.

Tullus Wright – The American Sampson

Posted on Tuesday, December 12th, 2017 by John Wood

Tullus Wright, from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, traveled the country in the late 1800’s, performing in fairs and carnivals as “The American Sampson”. Wright performed a number of traditional feats of strength but his specialty was The Human Link as shown here at “Chas Lee’s Great Museum of Living Wonders,” circa 1892.

Feats of Strength and Dexterity by Charles MacMahon

Posted on Monday, November 27th, 2017 by John Wood

Feats of Strength and Dexterity

And How to Perform Them

by Charles MacMahon

“Nearly everyone likes to try stunts that test their strength and dexterity. Even those who will not exercise for health, strength or development are no exceptions when it comes to trying feats of strength and physical cleverness. Wherever there is a bar bell or any 9ther type of apparatus there is always the desire among men to see how strong they are or how much stronger they are than the other fellow.

Having noticed this fact for years I believed a book of this kind would be of wide interest, and having at last started it I decided to make it the best I possibly could. After finishing it I believe I have succeeded and I hope you will agree with me.

My main desire, however, is that the feats in this book will be the means of improving, in a physical sense, those who will not exercise. If you are one who does not like exercises that develop your body, strength and Health I hope you will find many of the feats in this book interesting enough for you to substitute for exercises. If you practice a good number of these feats I know they will serve the purpose of exercise to some extent at least and you will be reaping the benefits of exercise without going through a routine that you dislike.

Feats of strength of all kinds are always live topics whenever strong men are gathered. Consequently, by reading and practicing the feats in this book you will be just as familiar with practically all feats of strength known to strong men the world over as they are.”

Feats of Strength and Dexterity by Charles MacMahon was originally published by the Milo Bar Bell company in 1927. This modern reprint edition is faithful to the original version: a 5×7½ softcover with 220 pages and over 100 rare photos and illustrations.

Feats of Strength and Dexterity by Charles MacMahon
__________________ $19.99 plus s/h

Charles MacMahon

Posted on Monday, November 13th, 2017 by John Wood

Charles MacMahon, of Camden, New Jersey, was a famous performing strongman during the early 20th century. He was a student of Alan Calvert and was regularly featured in Strength Magazine and other literature for the Milo Barbell Company. In 1927, he wrote a tremendous book “How to Perform Feats of Strength and Dexterity,” which is now available on our products page.

Harry Luft: The Brooklyn Samson

Posted on Friday, November 10th, 2017 by John Wood

Shown here is Harry Luft, age 17, performing his own specialty of tearing not one but TWO 2000 page telephone directories in half. Harry, who weighs but 142 pounds, stand 5 feet 4 and does other strongman feats such as bending iron bars in his teeth, is one of the “Samson Twins” of Brooklyn, New York. The other twin is his 15 year old brother Sol who also bends iron bars in his teeth and who emulates his older brother’s book tearing stunt by destroying Red Books, which are about 1/3rd as thick as the directories. Harry elected to tear these phone books lengthwise instead of the more common method of breaking the spine ~ impressive! Harry was inspired to become a strongman by Siegmund Breitbart. Luft was also a vegetarian.