Hand and Thigh Lift Archives - www.oldtimestrongman.com

Samson Champagne’s Rack Pull

Posted on Thursday, December 16th, 2021 by John Wood

Another rather incredibly feat by Quebec strongman Claude “Samson” Champagne, (who we have featured previously.) Count up all that weight and you’ll arrive at a total of 1369 pounds for a three-inch “rack pull” — or what at one time might have been called a hand and thigh lift. Double overhand grip, no straps, just pure strength — bravo! Noted bodybuilder Rick Wayne also looks on in amazement.

Charles Phelan and His GIANT Kettlebell

Posted on Wednesday, December 5th, 2018 by John Wood

How about that kettlebell? Charles Phelan billed himself not as the World’s strongest man but the World’s most entertaining strongman as he told jokes between his strength feats while he performed at Coney Island. He weighed only 140 pounds but held five world records: a one-finger lift of 506 pounds, 700 pounds with two fingers, a hand and thigh lift of 1125 pounds, a hip lift of 1600 pounds and a backlift of 2500 pounds. Phelan was taught how to be a strongman by Warren Lincoln Travis and was a good friend of Vic Boff.

Archie Vanderpool

Posted on Tuesday, August 23rd, 2016 by John Wood

If you want to practice heavy partial deadlifts or hand-and-thigh lifts, you’ll want a setup like Archie Vanderpool here. The strongman (and proud member of the York Barbell Club) from Woodbine, Iowa, specialized on a number of unusual — and very heavy — lifts. For example, his record in the lift shown was 1840 pounds. He also liked to do things like shouldering a 1100 pound railroad rail and then going for a walk.

He also reported carrying a barbell loaded to 400 pounds for a distance of 80 feet. If this looks and sounds familiar, it’s because Archie was good friends with Steve Justa’s father.

Paul Von Boeckmann’s Breathing Gymnastics

Posted on Saturday, July 21st, 2012 by John Wood

Many people think “Strength” only comes down to the muscles – it doesn’t. One Oldtime Strongman who understood this concept very well was Paul Von Boeckmann from New Braunfels, Texas whose “Breathing Gymnastics” course focused on building lung power along with great strength and development.

Von Boeckmann was certainly on to something as he won many championships in both wrestling and weightlifting. He could bent-press of 201 pounds, do a “hand and thigh” lift with 1652 pounds and has an immense “challenge” Indian club that no one could shoulder.