“Something NEW for your Gym Wall!”
Give your weight room an OLD SCHOOL look with the Mark Berry Bar Bell Course training posters:
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Here’s something you don’t see every day, an actual Russian Kettlebell contest. This one was held in Moscow, circa 1965. In these types of contests the object is to get the kettlebell (or bells, when a pair is used – look closely, there’s a pair on the platform here.) overhead as many times as possible in a 10:00 time period. Usually the one-arm snatch or two arm jerk is contested and, as you can see there is certainly no lack of willing participants.
Did the oldtime strongmen understand some things about training that we don’t today? I would say so, otherwise, we would see more feats like this one. Al Tauscher was one of America’s greatest lifters and strength athletes at the start of the 20th century. He was one of the first lifters of any bodyweight to lift 300 lbs. to the shoulders and jerk it overhead. At a bodyweight of 165 lbs, here’s Al in mid-lift of a “bottom up press” with a 122 lb kettlebell – now that’s strong!
The view from a Latvian Sport Club, circa 1970. Not that it’s any great revelation but kettlebells were (and are), very popular in eastern Europe countries.
