Bob Hoffman

If you like the ways of old strongmen and you haven’t heard about Bob Hoffman, you must’ve been living under a rock. Bob Hoffman was a weightlifter, athlete, nutritionist born in 1898 on a farm in Tifton. His father liked to show off his muscles and definitely had an influence on Bob’s lifestyle choice. As a child, Bob was very successful in water sports with canoeing being on a top of the list. Hoffman published dozens of books, on everything from hand balancing and isometrics to weight lifting, barbell training, swingbar training and many other forms of training. He was a founder of York Barbell Company and he practically led bodybuilding and weightlifting for about fifty years.

In the picture below Bob Hoffman is doing a 245 pounds bent press.

The Bent Press, a popular feat of old strongmen by Bob Hoffman

The exercise below if called deep knee bend on toes and it’s useful for developing many muscles at once while improving your balance at the same time. Instructions for this exercise from Bob’s book Simplified System of Barbell Training are as follow:

Stand close to barbell, feet 12 to 18 inches apart. Grasp barbell with both hands slightly more than shoulder width apart. Lift barbel to chest, lift barbell overhead and place across back of neck. Raise on toes. Lower body into full squat position, come to erect position and repeat movement for 10 to 15 repetitions.

Deep Knee Bend on Toes by Bob Hoffman

Bob Hoffman

Abdominal vacuums by Bob Hoffman