John Robert Peoples (Bob Peoples) was born on August 2nd in 1910 and he was never small or weak. He grew up on a farm where he started training at the age of 9, using his father’s 50 pound dumbbells and heavy stuff around the farm he could lift. Until he moved to his own place, Peoples training was limited to this farm.
At the age of 15, Bob Peoples started reading “Strength Magazine” and soon he bought Farmer Burns course which he followed religiously for a couple of years. His first lifts with “real” equipment were 350 pounds deadlift and 160 pounds clean and jerk. Not bad for a first try, right? However, it wasn’t until he stumbled upon an article on barbells in “Physical Culture Magazine” that he started training more seriously.
Bob Peoples showing his great deadlift
He set his first world record in 1946 when he managed to deadlift 651 lbs at a bodyweight of 175. That same year, Bob lifted 710 pounds, but the official record was 700 pounds. His best deadlift result is 728 pounds with 178 pounds in bodyweight.
An official OTSM lift named by Bob Peoples
Andy Bolton created an excellent deadlift program which goes by the name of “Deadlift Dynamite” , so if you are interested in improving your deadlift progression, make sure to check it out.