The Human Link Archives - www.oldtimestrongman.com

Kodi Rammurthy Naidu – The Indian Hercules!

Posted on Thursday, October 11th, 2018 by John Wood

Kodi Rammurthy Naidu “The Indian Hercules” was a renowned strongman from Veeraghattam. India — a small town, a short distance from Vizianagram in the Madras Presidency. Like many other strongmen, he was a sickly youth, having been stricken with asthma as a young man. Naidu turned to physical training to cure himself and keep right on building from there. He performed many amazing and unusual feats — lifting four men by means of a chain over his shoulder, allowing heavy wagons to drive over his body, “the human link” — stopping two motor cars being driven in opposite directions, chain breaking, etc., etc. His most remarkable feat, however, and the one that rightfully earned his nickname, was to support a four-ton elephant standing on his chest, shown above. It was said that Naidu was able tyo concentrate all his life forces — as he called them — at one or more points in is body so that great weight imposed upon them will not crush his bones or strain his muscles.

Max Hartmann

Posted on Sunday, August 19th, 2018 by John Wood

We feature all kinds of famous strongmen and their exploits, but we also like to showcase some lesser-known strongmen too.

Case-in-point: Max Hartmann of Heidelberg, Germany, who performed the “Human Link” feat with a pair of US Army jeeps at the Bamberg headquarters of the 85th Infantry Division. Hartmann used canvas straps and bath towels to hold the vehicles while the drivers spun the wheels in a futile effort to budge him. Hartmann requested only that the drivers let the clutch out slowly while he held the cars firmly in place. This was in 1957 but Hartmann performed the human link feat for many more years.

Galen Gough – “The World’s Miracle Strongman”

Posted on Sunday, May 15th, 2016 by John Wood

Billed as “The World’s Miracle Strongman,” Galen Gough from Howard’s Grove, Kentucky certainly lived up to his title. Gough was injured while serving in World War I but built himself back to health and strength through physical training methods. His results were so dramatic that a career as a performing strongman soon followed.

Gough performed feats of strength in carnivals, fairs and vaudeville houses all over the country. In addition to “traditional” strongman feats such as The Human Link, Nail Driving, and bar bending, Gough came up with many of his own including dangling from a rope tied to an airplane by his teeth, with a 50 pound weight in each hand, biting keys in half, and juggling a 300-pound anvil!

One of his many adventures was to perform feats of strength as publicity stunts for the Louisville, Kentucky-based Oertel Brewing Company which is the origin of the ‘Barrel’ barbell pictured here.

Lurich, The Human Link!

Posted on Thursday, January 23rd, 2014 by John Wood

Lurich The Human Link!

Of the thousands of posts that I have put up on this site, I have to say that this one is one of my absolute favorites: a rare picture of the Estonian strongman Georg Lurich performing the Human Link with a pair of ill-tempered camels!

Milo Barus

Posted on Wednesday, May 16th, 2012 by John Wood

Milo Barus

Milo Barus was Germany’s greatest strongman in the time period between the World Wars. Barus performed a number of spectacular strength feats in his act: Nail Driving, The Human Chain, Teeth Lifting, Steel Bending, Harness Lifting, The “Leg Press”, Horse Lifting etc. Here, he has a crowd of ten people bend a heavy steel bar over his head (which sure doesn’t look comfortable.)

In 1983, a movie was made about his life. Today, a strength competition in his honor takes place in front of his old house at Mühltal Eisenberge and the winner receives the “Milo Barus Cup. Press clipping list Barus at seven feet tall, though it’s hard to tell by the photos if that is the case.