WITH regard to the routine of training, I again repeat, my idea is not to develop muscle at the expense of either health or strength. It is really impossible for me to prescribe special exercises with fixed time limits for same, and fixed days for each individual who may ready this book, as we are… Continue reading Arthur Saxon, ‘Routine of Training’, The Development of Physical Power (London, 1906)
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 Who Invented the Assisted Pull Up Machine?
Earlier this month I had the privilege of speaking on the Iron Culture podcast about what strength means within the context of fitness. This comes off the back of an article myself, Eric, Adrian and Walter wrote (which is available here). Hopefully you enjoy 🙂 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXoForHmHOQ
Who is the strongest man or woman in the world? A more important question to ask is how do we test them? Do we rely on the Olympic lifts (snatch and clean), or the powerlifting lifts (Squat, bench and deadlift)? What about strongman/strongwoman events like timber carries, max deadlifts using straps, Atlas stones or yoke… Continue reading What is Strength? A Question of Philosophy
I shouldn't get into fights on the internet. Or in real life for that matter. But I just can't help myself sometimes, especially on trivial stuff. Every time I leave the sanctity of my home gym, I seem to drift into unwanted fitness territory. I stumble over an influencer's tripod, gasp at some inane exercise… Continue reading How Strict Should Your Form Be?
So much has been written of the great old timers, that I will barely touch upon their deeds and confine most of this article to the strongest men of the present. If all the great strong men of the past, many of whom have gone from this earth, could meet in a contest, what a… Continue reading Bob Hoffman, ‘The World’s Strongest Man: Past & Present,’ Strength & Health, 5, no. 10 (1937), 32-34 & 42-45.
In 90% of the training you do the emphasis should be on picture-perfect form AND heavy weights. Cheating is undesirable, and while it SEEMS that you are working harder because you are lifting moreyou are, in fact, working less intensively since the “heavier” work is being distributed over many hefty muscle groups – instead of… Continue reading Bradley Steiner, ‘Partials, Rack Work And Isometrics’, POWERLIFTING (1972), 16-17
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 How did Doug Hepburn Train in 1953?
If you haven't read part one of this history please do so here, as I'll be referencing quite a bit from the earlier piece. Now... where were we? Last time I discussed the history of Olympic weightlifting in the United States, I mentioned the early strongwomen, Minerva's weightlifting belt (awarded in the 1890s by Richard… Continue reading Women’s Olympic Weightlifting in the United States: Part Two
Olympic weightlifting for men dates to the very first Olympic games in Athens in 1896. The first iteration for women came in 2000 at the Sydney Games. It took until 1987 for the first world weightlifting championship for women versus 1891 for men. Likewise, the first recognizable meets for women only came in the 1970s… Continue reading Women’s Olympic Weightlifting in the United States: Part One
