Lorenz Geer – King of The Snatch

Posted on Tuesday, August 14th, 2018 by John Wood
Lorenz Geer, the popular oldtime strongman from Munich, Germany, was known as “King of The Snatch” in the later part of the 19th century. He achieved a right-hand snatch of 165 pounds and 9 reps with 142 pounds. Geer was particularly fond of working with thick-handled equipment.

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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.

Al Tauscher

Posted on Monday, August 13th, 2018 by John Wood
Here we have Al Tauscher, the Oregon Strongman, getting in a quick kettlebell workout back around 1916. Though he only weighed 162 pounds, Tauscher was incredibly strong. In this classic shot he presses a 105 lb. kettlebell with the left hand while simultaneously curling a 75 lb. ‘bell in the right… This feat was said to be ridiculously easy for Tauscher by those who witnessed it. He could also one-arm snatch 157 pounds and one-arm clean and jerk 210 pounds, both of which were American Amateur records at the time.
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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.

Ernest Cadine

Posted on Monday, August 6th, 2018 by John Wood
Another great shot of the champion French Weight lifter Ernest Cadine at the conclusion of a heavy one-arm snatch. Even though the quality of this old picture is not perfect, Cadine’s incredible muscle density is evident.

It’s not hard to see why he won the gold medal at the 1920 Olympic Games, likely around the same time this picture was taken.

Note the cannon on the wall behind him. Yes, it was used specifically for lifting purposes.

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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.

Eduard Danzer

Posted on Monday, August 6th, 2018 by John Wood
At the 1908 World Weightlifting Championship, won by Josef Grafl, the second place winner was Eduard Danzer of old Vienna.

Danzer lifted as follows:

* Right-Hand snatch: 176 lbs.
* Left-Hand snatch 149 lbs.
* Two-Hands press: 231 lbs.
* Two-Hands snatch: 209 lbs
* Two-Hands jerk: 330 lbs.

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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.

Eugene Caouette

Posted on Friday, April 20th, 2018 by John Wood
Eugene Caouette is another name in the great Quebec Strongman Tradition. The giant French Canadian stood well over six feet and tipped the scales at 460 pounds! His best lifts were a Crucifix with a pair of 76-pound dumbbells, a Kennedy Lift with 1354 pounds, one-arm snatch 173-3/4 pounds (with either hand) and a one-arm clean and jerk of 213 pounds.

Otto Arco

Posted on Wednesday, April 18th, 2018 by John Wood
Otto Arco on the cover of the November, 1925 issue of Bernarr MacFadden’s Muscle Builder Magazine. In 1907, Arco became the second man in the world to hoist double bodyweight overhead with a 278-1/2 pound lift at 138 pound of bodyweight. He was also the first to one hand snatch over bodyweight with a 145-pound lift. Arco was a great wrestler, gymnast and hand balancer. He and his brother Pete performed with several different circuses in the US and abroad. Arco achieved his tremendous form through a variety of training methods, traditional weight lifting, gymnastics and Muscle Control.
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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.

Alexeev’s One Arm Snatch

Posted on Tuesday, April 17th, 2018 by John Wood
To say that many unusual things have happened in Las Vegas is an understatement but it certainly wouldn’t be off base to say that about this little known event in Iron Game history. It was 1977, and made-for-tv sporting “events” were starting to become a thing. Some network executive had an idea for a weightlifting contest which gathered a group of champion weightlifters together for the express purpose of breaking various records and which could be shown on both network and closed-circuit television (ideally for “big bucks”.) The contest, appropriately called “Record Makers” was to take place at the Aladdin Hotel and Casino. The shining star of the group was the great Russian champion Vasily Alexeev who, at the time, had set 82 World Records over the course of his 17 year career.

What happened next was what could only be described as a series of unfortunate events: a few days before, Alexeev contracted a severe case of hives, owing to ether chowing down desiccated liver tablets, or perhaps a some kind of allergic reaction to pineapple which Alexeev had been eating a lot of during his stateside appearance — either way, he developed giant welts all over his body and his hands swelled up so much he could scarcely grip an Olympic barbell..Thankfully the hives resolved themselves, but no sooner had that happened when another stroke of bad luck took place. A tussle with Bruce Wilhelm over a copy of Iron Man Magazine (as the story goes), left Alexeev with a tendon injury in his right hand. But as stipulated by the contract between the USSR and the AAU, Alexeev still had to lift — and lift he did. It was decided that instead of the traditional Olympic movements, Alexeev would instead go for a personal record in the one-arm snatch. With one hand bandaged, Alexeev easily made 198 lbs. on his first attempt, then 220 lbs on his second (shown above). A third attempt with 231 was not to be that day, but overall, Alexeev’s efforts did lead to a colorful write up in Sports Illustrated.

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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.

Fred Winters

Posted on Tuesday, December 26th, 2017 by John Wood
It is fairly well known (at least around these parts) that Fred Winters won the Silver Medal at the 1904 Summer Olympics — the rarely seen shot above is a one-arm lift from that performance. what most people don’t know is that a few weeks before the Olympics, August 8th, 1904, Winters set a new world record in what would today be called the one-arm snatch. Winters successfully lifted a 141 lb. dumbbell from the ground to overhead, beating by three pounds the previous record set by G. W. Stoesset at Madison Square Garden, December 17, 1897.
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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.

Heinrich Rondi

Posted on Sunday, December 10th, 2017 by John Wood
Shown here is a rare picture of the German strongman Heinrich Rondi, one of the strongest men of the early 20th century. Rondi had a good year in 1906: he won the the European Lifting Championships, a World Greco-Roman wrestling title and a Gold Medal in the Tug O’ War at the 1906 Olympics (where he also won two Bronze Medals in the weight lifting events.) In 1907, he added World Lifting Championship by besting his countryman Heinrich Schneidereit. In 1910, Rondi set two Amateur records with a right hand snatch of 203-1/2 pounds and a left hand snatch of 186-3/4 pounds.

Charles Rigoulot’s One-Arm Snatch

Posted on Sunday, October 22nd, 2017 by John Wood
History’s greatest performer of the One-Arm Snatch was the French weightlifter Charles Rigoulot. His one-arm snatch of 261 pounds will likely never be surpassed. Here, Rigoulot prepares to one-arm snatch only 220-1/2 pounds in Paris in 1925 while still an amateur .
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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.