A Website Dedicated to the Study of Strength, Health, Fitness and Sport Across Centuries, Countries and Contests.
I was flicking through some old strength magazines during the weekend and came across a lift that I doubt many of us are familiar with. Called the 'Seesaw' press, it is essentially a standing dumbbell shoulder press but instead of pressing both dumbbells at the same time, you alternate between reps. As you lower one dumb-bell, you... Continue Reading →
I once wrote a piece for the "Behind the Scenes" section in Strength & Health magazine dealing with the subject of sex before competition. I thought that I was quite obviously tongue-in-cheeking the presentation and made the comment that lifters would do well to lay off sex during the final week before a meet. As... Continue Reading →
The Carnivore Diet - the practice of solely consuming meat products - has grown exponentially in the past few years. As someone who has experimented with a range of diets, everything from all fruit to raw meat, it's remarkable to see an all meat diet gain traction for the lifting community and the general populace.... Continue Reading →
Hundreds of prospective pupils write me to ask how long they will have to train; how much time they will have to spend each week, etc., etc. This seems a good place to answer those questions. The average pupil practices the first course in developing exercises for two or three months. He practices every other... Continue Reading →
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tBgr3bzxMM Admittedly this site has not given Doug Hepburn his due. A Canadian by birth, Hepburn was known the world over not only for his weightlifting and strongman feats. The above video shows Hepburn at the height of his strength prowess. Filmed in 1953, the same year Hepburn won gold at the World Weightlifting Championships,... Continue Reading →
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMXadANmrXc Admittedly a little bit longer than the normal videos I post here, the following film is too interesting to pass up on. Produced in the late 1980s in the final years of the Soviet Union, the film is part propaganda and part instructional exercises. Done to show the training needed to be a champion... Continue Reading →
I frankly confess that when I was young I was just as much hypnotised by professional "strong men" as you are today. I was as strong as the average boy; maybe a little stronger, for I could take a 65 lb. solid iron dumb-bell and push it slowly above my head with my right arm. But... Continue Reading →
I HAVE often been asked what it feels like to press 350 pounds with one hand, and perhaps to my readers the different sensations experienced will be interesting. In the first place, immediately I start to press the weight away from the shoulder I become perfectly oblivious to everything except the weight that I am... Continue Reading →
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 →
