Neck Strength Archives - www.oldtimestrongman.com

Johnny Silvi

Posted on Tuesday, October 12th, 2021 by John Wood

Johnny Silvi was a professional wrestler from Canada who, in order to drum up interest for his matches, used to pull a call down the street in front of the arena with his teeth. As his impressive neck development would indicate, clearly he made a habit of this practice. Above, Silvi pulls a 1949 Ford Tudor as onlookers are amazed.

Raicevich’s Neck Bridge

Posted on Thursday, June 17th, 2021 by John Wood

We’ve covered Giovanni Raicevich before. Raicevich was known for his thick, strong neck — which is obviously of great use in the mat game for a variety of reasons. Here, Raicevich performs a wrestler’s bridge with at least 200 lbs.

Theodore Lang

Posted on Thursday, May 23rd, 2019 by John Wood

Here we have Mr. Theodore Lang of Macassar, Dutch Indies, showing his stuff circa 1930. It was said that two buddies and another 160 pounds of fully-loaded barbell totaled around 400 pounds which he held in a top-of-the-head bridge — not bad!

Harry Ekizian

Posted on Sunday, May 19th, 2019 by John Wood

As a boy, Harry Ekizian escaped the Armenian Genocide. As if that wasn’t bad enough, a short time later he was sold as a slave to Arabs. After four years of hard labor, he escaped and eventually made his way to the United States and joined the Navy where he worked as a fireman. There, he learned wrestling and won the Fleet Championship in the middleweight, light heavyweight, and heavyweight divisions and after an international match in Copenhagen, Ekizian was awarded the title of World Champion Navy Wrestler. Here, Harry exhibits his immense strength on the deck of the airplane carrier Lexington as he resists twelve sailors pulling a thick rope around his neck. Harry had an unusual diet: he ate eight pounds of onions a day!

Ekizian eventually retired from the Navy in 1932, shaved his head, and became the well known “heel” wrestler “Ali Baba.” He wrestled all the greats of the day, including Milo Steinborn on one occasion. On April 24, 1936, Ekizian defeated World Heavyweight Champion Dick Shikat in front of over 8,000 spectators in Detroit, Michigan and was formally declared the World Heavyweight Champion a month later when he defeated Shikat a second time at Madison Square Garden.

Henry Cooper’s Bridge

Posted on Thursday, March 28th, 2019 by John Wood

British Heavyweight Boxer Bert Cooper is shown here doing neck bridges during a workout in December of 1960. Less than a week later, Cooper defeated Alex Miteff on points after 10 rounds at Wembley Arena. You’ll find other boxers similarly training their necks here and here.

Jean Baillargeon’s Bridge

Posted on Thursday, February 28th, 2019 by John Wood

Jean Baillargeon was one of famed Brothers Baillargeon, (and perhaps the strongest of them all, which is really saying something.) Looks to be about 230 pounds on the bar. It is unclear whether he pulled the weight over, bounced it off his belly or chest, or if the barbell was handed to him, but either way, simply holding this amount of weight in this position (all of it supported by the neck musculature) is VERY impressive. Jean was also a professional wrestler so the ability to bridge with a substantial amount of weight I’m sure came in very handy.

Neck Training With Sonny Liston

Posted on Thursday, November 29th, 2018 by John Wood

The great boxer Sonny Liston used to strengthen his neck by doing a headstand on a table and working his body back and forth then left and right, in order to hit all four “sides” of the neck. I can say from experience that this method is simple but very effective.

This picture was taken in May of 1963 while Liston was in training to face Floyd Patterson for the second time. Liston knocked out Patterson in the first round just like he did the first time they fought. With this victory Liston retained the WBA, The Ring, and lineal heavyweight titles and won the vacant inaugural WBC heavyweight title.

Neck Stands

Posted on Monday, October 22nd, 2018 by John Wood

The oldtime boxers seem to “get” why neck strength is important a lot more-so than they do today. Here, Mexican boxer, Ignacio “The Pineapple Bomb” Pina does a highly underrated exercise for building neck strength: a simple head stand. This picture was taken in 1960 at Joe Bloom’s gym in London in preparation for his match with Freddie Gilroy. (The Pineapple Bomb went on to win on points after 10 rounds in what was considered a major upset.)

Farmer Burns: The Hangman’s Drop

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

Farmer Burns built his neck strength to such an advanced level that he could literally “hang” himself with a noose, including the drop, — and live (all the while whilst whistling Yankee Doodle!) That’s pretty intense as this rare photograph shows (DO NOT try this at home.) His theory was simple — one of the most important physical training goals of any combat athlete is to build the neck to the point that no one can choke you out. The “Old Farmer” built up his neck strength with his favorite exercise: The Wrestler’s Bridge.

The Iron Jawed Man

Posted on Monday, June 18th, 2018 by John Wood

Another look at Signor Lawanda: The Iron jawed Man. The top picture shows Lawanda at 20 years old and his neck and jaw development is quite dramatic.