Pat Casey Archives - www.oldtimestrongman.com

Russian Olympic Set

Posted on Saturday, June 18th, 2016 by John Wood

One of the interesting things that you would find in the old strength magazines was Olympic sets from some of the different countries – and they did a fine job. pictured here is a famous Russian Olympic set brought in by Leo Stern for use in his gym. Oh yeah, that’s also Pat Casey ‘unofficially’ bench pressing 525 pounds.

Rekordnaia Stanga

Posted on Wednesday, August 19th, 2015 by John Wood

How about this thing of beauty? Known as Rekordnaia Stanga or ‘World Record Barbell,” these Russian sets were imported by Chester O. Teegarden’s STRONG Barbell Company of Sacramento, California back in the 1960’s and advertised for sale in Iron Man or Lifting News. They were steel with nickel plating and as you might guess, they were not cheap to bring over. Hard to say how many of these sets were ever sold but we know of at least one, Pat Casey did a lot of lifting and set many records on one of these beautiful sets.

Pat Casey’s Squat

Posted on Thursday, December 11th, 2014 by John Wood

Pat Casey Squats

Much of what has been written about Pat Casey focuses on his bench pressing… Pat was the first man to surpass the 600 pound mark bench press but he was an equally impressive all-around lifter. Above you’ll see Pat Casey’s 774½ lb. squat at the San Diego Invitational Power Lifting Contest which took place on May, 21, 1966. This was the contest where Pat became the first man to officially surpass the 2000 pound total. His other lifts were a 592 lb. bench press and a 635 lb. deadlift for a 2001½ lb. total.

Pat Casey’s 210 Pound Dumbbell Incline Press

Posted on Saturday, August 18th, 2012 by John Wood

Pat Casey 210 Pound Dumbbell Incline Press

On March 25th, 1967 Pat Casey became the first man to break the 600 pound barrier in the bench press with an official lift of 615 lbs. — Keep in mind that was without a bench shirt, elbow wraps or other nonsense that typically goes on these days.

Casey was no one-lift specialist either, as he was also the first man to squat over 800 pounds and total over 2000 pounds in an official contest.

For his workouts, Casey used to grab a pair of 210 pound dumbbells, haul them over to the incline bench, get the dumbbells into position, perform his reps, then return the dumbbells to the rack — all unassisted — quite an impressive feat of strength in its own right.