The Good Brothers

Posted on Friday, November 10th, 2017 by John Wood
The Good Brothers, Harry, Walter and Bill, were a trio of weightlifters and Strongmen from Eastern Pennsylvania. Bill was the strongest of the three, winning seven Senior National Weightlifting Titles (1930-1937) and competing in two Olympic Games (1932 Los Angeles, 1936 Berlin). Bill Good was the first American to Clean & Jerk 350 Pounds. Walter Good competed in the 1936 Olympics as well. Harry was the U.S. Professional Champion in 1933 in addition to writing training articles for a number of different strength publications and training courses. Harry Good went on to establish the “Good Barbell Company” in the late 1930’s. Mark Berry also used the Good Brothers to demonstrate several of the exercises in his book Physical Training Simplified (1930).

Charles A. Sampson

Posted on Monday, February 27th, 2012 by John Wood

Charles A. Sampson

Charles A. Sampson was a turn-of-the-century strongman who, unlike any of his contemporaries, claimed his great strength came not from physical training but a result of having been struck by lightning as a small child!

As noted in Physical Training Simplified by Mark Berry, Sampson could perform a Harness Lift with 4008 pounds and frequently collaborated with the famous coin breaker Franz “Cyclops” Bienkowski.

Sampson and Cyclops were both handily defeated by Eugen Sandow in a famous challenge match in 1889.