A Website Dedicated to the Study of Strength, Health, Fitness and Sport Across Centuries, Countries and Contests.
I... dear reader. Am getting older, and crankier. The latter attribute isn't important, although it does explain quite a lot about me. The joy of getting older is that my body is getting more snaps, crackles, and pops than I care to admit. This has encouraged me/forced me/confined me, to taking more interest in both... Continue Reading →
An absolute goliath in the training world, Douglas Ivan Hepburn or Doug for short, was one of the most respected athletes of the mid-twentieth century. Winning gold medals at the 1953 World Weightlifting Championships, the 1954 British Empire Games and a series of other contests, Hepburn is perhaps best known for his incredible power. Indeed, the Canadian... Continue Reading →
In a former life as a teenage rugby player we did some dumb stuff in the gym. Heavy squats with bad form? Yup. Olympic lifts with rounded backs? You betcha. I trained around the time that 'functional training' was all the rage so I even have memories of friends back squatting on Swiss balls! Yes... Continue Reading →
For my sins, I enjoy writing articles. I probably do it more often than I should for my eternal damnation. I'm currently writing an article on the evolution of the back squat, a history I've previously discussed on this website and elsewhere. As part of this research, I've been deep-diving the history of squat stands,... Continue Reading →
Well, I am still energized from the 2024 Arnold Strongman Classic and it did not disappoint. Thor returned with an earth-shattering performance on the deadlift, Mitch Hooper proved himself as a Strongman yet again and Angelica Jardine went from being the new kid on the block to winning the women's division outright. I love strength... Continue Reading →
You cannot spend a third of a century around physical culturists and barbell men without coming to a few conclusions. You see many enthusiasts who thrive on their training schedules and attain a perfectly satisfactory degree of physical development. You see others work and strain without noticeable improvement for months or years. Quite often these... Continue Reading →
Earlier this week I was given a very generous gift. The gift in question was a complete set of Wills' Cigarette Cards. Produced for an Irish and English audience in 1914, the cards depicted various physical culture exercises one could engage in to keep fit and healthy. The irony that the cards could only be... Continue Reading →
Ed Coan entered his first powerlifting competition at 16 years old, he went on become one of the best (if not THE best) powerlifters in the world. Here is my candid conversation with The Legend, Ed Coan. POWER: How did you get into powerlifting? ED: I saw Kaz [Bill Kazmier] on TV. That was the... Continue Reading →
Earlier this year I had the great fortune to visit the H.J. Lutcher Stark Center for Physical Culture and Sports in Texas. Founded by Jan and Terry Todd, the Stark Center is a playground for anoraks like me. Containing the collections of Bernarr MacFadden, Professor Atilla, Bob Hoffman and several other Iron Game legends, Stark... Continue Reading →
As a Weider student you should be interested to know that the Weider System is the most popular and successful bodybuilding course in the world. Because of my 50 years of involvement in the sport, the Weider System is the basis of all modern bodybuilding and weight-training techniques. Literally everything in bodybuilding has sprung from... Continue Reading →