A Website Dedicated to the Study of Strength, Health, Fitness and Sport Across Centuries, Countries and Contests.
Now admittedly this is not the catchiest title I'm ever going to use but it hopefully conveys the purpose of today's post. Back when I started training, assisted pull up machines were a thing of scorn. Who, we would wonder, would bother with such an oddity? Couldn't individuals muster a solitary pull up by themselves?... 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 →
Although unknown to the modern olympic lifter, Abele was one of America’s finest lifters during the 1940s and 1950s. Unfortunately he was overshadowed by fellow US lifters John Grimek, Steve Stanko, and John Davis during the course of his career. Similarly the outbreak of the Second World War denied Abele the chance to lift at... Continue Reading →
There are some exercises so basic, so ubiquitous and so difficult that their origins are often taken for granted. Previously when detailing the history of the squat, we encountered the difficultly of tracing a movement found in every culture and arguably every human movement. The Chin Up and the Pull Up exercises offer a similar... 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 →
Admittedly a strange name for an even stranger looking exercise, the Butt Punch came to the weightlifting community's attention in the late 1990s thanks to the late Jerry Telle. Telle, for those unaware of him, was briefly touted as one of the freshest thinking minds in the Iron Community. Bursting onto the scene with a... Continue Reading →
It happened to Rocky Balboa. He got soft. He earned all that money, got used to the good life, and lost his competitive edge, his "eye of the tiger." His old fart of a trainer told him, " The worst thing that could happen to a fighter happened to you - ya got civilized." Rocky... Continue Reading →
How do I train my back? A common concern for weightlifters, bodybuilders and the average Joe or Jane seeking to get the most from their training. We all know the basics: chin ups, rowing movements, pulldowns and of course the deadlift. But what else can be done to throw some variation into our training systems.... Continue Reading →
Lower back pain is an all too common problem these days for the average office worker. Long stints in the chair, hunched over, with poor posture. It's little wonder back ache is one of the leading complaints for desk jockeys. If just sitting for extended periods of time causes such pain, imagine what lifting hundreds... Continue Reading →
The following article comes from Dale Adrian, the 1975 Mr. America Champion. Known for his impressive back development, Adrian's article is not only effective but to the point. A timely reminder for both novices and veterans alike to avoid mirror training! Bodybuilders usually can't see their backs in a mirror very well, so they tend... Continue Reading →