Rubber Chest Expander Archives - www.oldtimestrongman.com

The Reg Park Muscle Builder Ad

Posted on Wednesday, January 6th, 2016 by John Wood

You used to be able to find ads for ‘The Reg Park Muscle Builder Set’ on the back of Reg’s magazine “The Reg Park Journal.” If you saved up your allowance for one of these sets, you got quite a haul: a 10-strand cable exerciser, a wall pulley attachment, a head strap, foot stirrups, two hand grips (for a mighty, he-man grip) a cable exercise and rowing machine and, of course, several free courses to show you how to use it all.

Desbonnet’s Expander

Posted on Monday, April 27th, 2015 by John Wood

You can add Professor Desbonnet’s name to the long list of strength champions who have used chest expanders to build size and strength. Expander training has always been popular, this pictures dates to 1891. This particular exercise, performing a 1-arm curl with one end of the expander underfoot, is one of the all-time best methods for building arm strength and why you’ll find it in just about every expander course ever written.

The One-Arm Expander Press

Posted on Thursday, December 18th, 2014 by John Wood

Earle E. Liederman was a big fan of chest expander training, and featured chest expanders prominently in his courses. This was certainly with good reason. You won’t find a better movement for building shoulder mass and strength than the one-arm expander press shown here.

Lou Thesz & Expander Training

Posted on Friday, September 5th, 2014 by John Wood

Expander work has always been popular with wrestlers since they offer a workout that is both portable and effective. Here is the great champion Lou Thesz, the man who held the NWA Championship belt longer than anyone else is history, doing a couple curls with what looks like one of Roy Noe’s Graduated Xercisors. This is a really fantastic exercise and the tension can be adjusted based on foot placement.

Mr. John

Posted on Friday, February 8th, 2013 by John Wood

Mr. John. Vaudeville

Now THAT’S a chest expander! “Mr. John” was a vaudeville performer in the teens who worked feats of strength into a slapstick comedy routine. As you might guess, many of these feats involved prodigious strand pulling feats.