Muscle Control Routines by Otto Arco

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I just put up another article in the Strongman Profile series at Breaking Muscle featuring another small framed strongman – Otto Arco. Strongman Profile: Otto Arco Teaches Us About Muscle Control Techniques Otto Arco was a Polish strongman and wrestling champion. Born in 1881 as Otto Nowosielsky, he didn’t have the …

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Victor DeLamarre

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French Canadian strongman and weightlifter Victor DeLamarre was born in 1888 in Quebec and he stood at just 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighted only 150 pounds. DeLamarre is best known for bent pressing 309.5 lb in a theater in Montreal, breaking Louis Cyr’s record and setting a new …

William Pagel

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William Pagel was a circus strongman born in 1878 in Germany. Like many men of his time, Pagel was a sailor in his young days and enjoyed traveling around the world. During one of those journeys Pagel decided to leave the ship and settle in Australia. When he turned 19, …

David Blazer

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David Jacob Blazer was a sailor and strongman born in 1886. He was most popular between 1914-1918 as a strongman performer, but David also for appeared in numerous ads for the Maxalding course as Seaman Blazer. Furthermore, David Balzer was featured in “History of the Iron Game” by a well-known …

Galen Gough

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Galen Gough was a strongman born in 1899 in Kentucky, at his grandparents’ home. Even as a child, Galen was bigger and taller than his coevals and most people believed that genes are to blame, since Galen’s father was quite large man as well. Early days Not many of us …

Clevio Massimo

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Antonio Clevio Massimo Sabatino was a strongman performer better known as Clevio Massimo on the stage. He was born in 1895 in Italy with good genes, since his father and two uncles were quite large men, known as “the three giants”. Antonio grew up in Buffalo, NY where his family …

Maxick on Muscle Control

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Strongman Profile series on Breaking Muscle wouldn’t be complete without Maxick, the master of muscle control. Strongman Profile: Maxick Teaches Us the Lost Art of Muscle Control Muscle control is for the most part a lost art that is no longer widely applied today. Yet a hundred years ago there …

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Max Sick

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Max Sick was a strongman and gymnast from Austria born in 1882, most famous for developing the Maxalding system with Monte Saldo. But he did much more than that. Early Life Born to Swiss parents, Maxick developed rickets and dropsy along with lung problems at a very young age. This …

Edmond Desbonnet

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Edmond Desbonnet was a French physical culturist, photographer and academic born in 1867. Due to his poor health, he was forced to perform gymnastic exercises from the age of seven. Five years later, Edmond discovered photo of a strongman which he soon started collecting on a regular basis. Professor Desbonnet …

Chuck Sipes

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Unlike most old time bodybuilders, Chuck Sipes who was born in 1932 in Illinois was deeply involved in feats of strength as well. While he was still a teenager, Chuck’s family moved to California where he wanted to join a school’s football team. Unfortunately, he was too skinny to be …

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John Davis

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John Davis was a weightlifter born in 1921 in Long Island. He was more into bodyweight training than weightlifting as a kid, and he was quite good at it. He was even able to hold a chin-up with 25 lb weight in the other hand, plus he could complete this …

Wilbur Miller

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Wilbur Miller, the “Cimarron Kid”, is a strongman and bodybuilder born in 1932 in Kansas and he didn’t show any interest in weightlifting until the age of 24. Before that, Miller was quite successful in running the mile and once he even managed to finish 3rd in the state finals. …

Luigi Borra

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Luigi Borra was a strongman, weightlifter and gymnast born in 1866 in Italy. He worked as a telegraph instrument maker until the age of 23, when he decided to join a circus and perform as a wrestler. Throughout many European tours, Luigi performed various strength and gymnastics feats, aside from …