Iron Man Lifting News – Vol.4, No. 4 – December, 1959

Posted on Sunday, January 31st, 2016 by John Wood
Iron Man Magazine was mostly oriented towards bodybuilding so Peary Rader started up another side-publication oriented towards heavy weight lifting and what would eventually become Powerlifting. “Iron Man Lifting News” started out in 1954 at brochure size and eventually grew to a full fledged magazine. Issues are pretty rare as they were only available by subscription and never appeared on the newsstand. As a result, a number of incredible training articles flew under the radar. To give you a great example, this issue — Vol. 4, No 4. from December, 1959 — was devoted specifically to how to clean and jerk maximum poundages. As you can see, the techniques of several great champions, Schemansky, Kono, Louis Martin, and others were analyzed in great detail.

Copies are extremely hard to come by but in case you are interested, this issue of Lifting News is posted in its entirety in THE IRON LEAGUE.

All Contents, Including Images and Text, Copyright © 2005-2021 by John Wood and Thunderdome Media Inc., Not to be reproduced without permission, All Rights Reserved
Author: John Wood. All contents, including images and text, copyright © 2005-2021 by John Wood and Thunderdome Media Inc. Not to be reproduced without permission. All rights reserved. We will most likely grant permission but please contact us if you would like to repost. IMPORTANT: Equipment and books, courses etc. pictured in blog posts are generally not available for sale unless specifically noted.

Iron Man Lifting News

Posted on Saturday, March 30th, 2013 by John Wood

Iron Man Lifting News October 1968

Peary Rader’s Iron Man magazine covered many different lifting topics but focused primarily on bodybuilding.  For those who were more interested in heavy lifting of other types, in June of 1954, Iron Man started “Lifting News” which covered competitive Olympic weightlifting and what would eventually become the sport of Powerlifting. Lifting News ran for 142 issues.

Above, you’ll find the cover of the October, 1968 issue featuring Mel Hennessey, lifting in the 242 lb. class (at a body weight of 217 pounds!), bench pressing 560 pounds at the Northwest Invitational Power Meet held June 22nd of that year in St. Paul Minnesota.