Strongman Profile series on Breaking Muscles continues with another prominent oldtime strongman – Alexander Zass. Strongman Profile: Alexander Zass Teaches Us About Isometrics Alexander Zass was a strongman in the circus, traveling around Russia for many years back around the beginning of the twentieth century. He was born in Vilnius, …
PR Report 10-12-13
Not a whole lot of action this week, as I was busy filming for the new Strengthen Your Structure course, which will be coming as part of the new Strength Health Mind Power Inner Circle. (If you’ve never filmed exercise videos before it can be quite intensive even just demonstrating …
Chuck Sipes
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 …
Bruce Randall
Bruce Randall was a professional bodybuilder born in 1931, most famous for losing an extraordinary amount of weight for the Mr. Universe contest in 1959. Bruce started weightlifting at the age of 21 as a marine during his service at Norfolk Naval base. He was trained by a weightlifting coach …
1000 lb. Neck Bridge
I did it! I’ve had this goal in mind for several years now, ever since I really got started with weighted bridging. Over 1000 pounds! As you’ll see pointed out in the video the total is 1003 lbs. (about 456 kg) 275 lb. barbell lifted overhead 495 lb. barbell placed …
Oscar Marineau
Judging from his physical appearance, we can conclude that Oscar Marieau from Canada belongs to the category of old time strongmen who were small framed, but incredibly strong. At height of 5 feet and 4 inches, Oscar weighed 142 pounds at his strongest but still managed to perform amazing feats …
How to Combine Weights and Bodyweight Training
This is a common question among trainees that isn’t answered real well in a lot of places. But its not difficult if you understand a few critical things. When you do effectively combining weights and bodyweight is easy to do. There are some people that only lift weights. And there …
My First Strongman Competition
This past weekend I competed for the first time in a strongman competition. I enjoy competing but haven’t done all that much of it (for the reason that there isn’t really competitions in most of the stuff I do). Even though “strongman” isn’t something I’ve done a lot of, I …
Elephant Wrestling and Deadlifting by Hermann Goerner
Another article in the Strongman Profile series has been put up on Breaking Muscle. Strongman Profile: Hermann Goerner Teaches Us the Deadlift (and Elephant Wrestling) Hermann Goerner is not a household name, but he could easily be considered once of the strongest people of all time. Even amongst old-time strongmen …
PR Report 9-28-13
No major PR’s this week, just minor ones. Hit a 425 sumo deadlift for a triple which beats out my previous best of a single with that weight. Also did 455 lbs. in conventional deadlift for four reps. Broke the 300 lb. mark with 305 in an overhead lockout. This …
Arthur Saxon’s Dumbbell Swing
Check out my newest article on Arthur Saxon’s Dumbbell Swing on Breaking Muscle. Strongman Profile: Arthur Saxon Teaches Us the Dumbbell Swing In the coming months I am planning to write a series of articles on some of my favorite old-time strongmen. This will include how they trained, their amazing feats …
How to Build a Bigger Neck
What is the best way to build a bigger and stronger neck? In my regular training for neck strength, I prefer numerous variations of the wrestler’s bridge – which can be found on my YouTube channel or here on the website. However, there is another exercise which is very effective …
Balance and Symmetry in the Body
A great question came in from AJ the other day regarding balancing and symmetry in the body. “What is the most direct approach to creating a balanced body? by that I mean a body with symmetry, structural integrity, and the ability to produce equal amounts of force from opposing limbs.” …
Full Standing Rollout (PR Report 9-21-13)
In the past I’ve talked about how the first time you achieve something it is often times very ugly. Your form is far from perfect but that’s okay. As long as it won’t hurt you, and there is a difference between ugly form in achieving something and ugly form that …
Vasily Alekseyev
Russian weightlifter Vasily Alekseyev was born in 1942 in a small village in the Soviet Union. During his somewhat short professional career he won two gold Olympic medals and set eighty world records in weightlifting. Vasily’s started lifting in 1960 at the age of 18, at which time he was …