Hand Strength Archives - Page 2 of 2 - www.oldtimestrongman.com

Young Thomas Inch

Posted on Thursday, April 4th, 2013 by John Wood

Young Thomas Inch Tearing a Deck of Cards

Here’s a rare look at a cabinet card featuring a young Thomas Inch, demonstrating his card tearing ability. Inch won the title of “Britain’s Strongest Youth, at sixteen years of age, so this cabinet card from 1899 would make him around eighteen. Of course, Inch also went on to hold the title of “Britain’s Strongest Man” and it’s certainly not hard to see why.

Rocket Richard Hand Gripper

Posted on Wednesday, March 27th, 2013 by John Wood

Rocket Richard Hand Gripper

Maurice “Rocket” Richard was one of the all time great hockey players. With the Montreal Canadiens, he was the first to score 50 goals in 50 games, the first to score 500 goals in a career and likely the first (and perhaps only) hockey player with a signature hand gripper. Whether this particular gripper helped his hockey prowess is anyone’s guess, but there’s no doubt that extra hand and grip strength certainly does help out on the ice.

Hammer Strength/Tim Krumrie

Posted on Tuesday, June 19th, 2012 by John Wood

Tim Krumrie, Hammer Strength and a classic Globe Dumbbell

Tim Krumrie, the Cincinnati Bengals All-Pro nose tackle is shown here with a classic globe dumbbell in this early advertisement for Hammer Strength equipment. The dumbbell shown (yes, it was a dumbbell) once belonged to the great French strongman Apollon.

Krumrie was well-known for his incredible hand strength, which should be an essential part of training programs for the game of football. Krumrie’s specific grip routine can be found in The New Bodybuilding for Old-School Results by Ellington Darden.

The Killer Karate Krusher!

Posted on Wednesday, June 13th, 2012 by John Wood

We have long been making the case that grip strength is a valuable commodity to all athletes, case in point: The Killer Karate Krusher! If you have ever wanted ‘A Bone-Crushing Grip”, “Fingers as Tough as Steel”, and “A Fist as Tough as a Sledge Hammer” then the ‘Killer Karate Krusher’ is one to check out. The Killer Karate Krusher is the only exercise which permit full “finger bombing” for an extra-powerful grip — or at least that’s what is said in the ad. Who knows how many of these were ordered from outta the back of comic books?

Demonstrating is IFBB Mr. America, Mr. Universe and Mr. World, Chuck Sipes, who was clearly no stranger to forearm work.

John Grunn Marx: The Luxembourg Hercules

Posted on Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011 by John Wood

John grunn Marx

At an exhibition in Paris, in the year 1905, ‘The Luxembourg Hercules’ John Grunn Marx bent and broke three horseshoes in the span of 2 minutes and 15 seconds. One of these horseshoes is shown above. Marx was descended from a long line of blacksmiths and was famed for his grip and forearm strength. More of Marx’s strength feats will be covered in subsequent posts.