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, …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
Ronald Walker
Ronald Walker was a lifter born in 1909 in England with an incredible all around capacity. Ronald never really cared much for showing off with awkward feats of strength, but instead focused on forty two strength tests set by British Weightlifting Association. At his prime from 1931 to 1937, Ron …
Luigi Borra
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 …
Harry Griffin
Not much is known about Harry F. Griffin, as he wasn’t that famous around the world, but only locally. Harry was a firefighter from Los Angeles and well-known throughout the west coast and especially his home town. He was a great firefighter, but he often performed as a strongman. Harry …
Bert Assirati
Bartolomeo “Bert” Assirati was a British Heavyweight Champion in wrestling born in 1908 in England. Aside from his impressive professional wrestling career, Assirati very much enjoyed various feats of strength. He set a British record in 1938 when he pulled over a 200 pound barbell at arms length while lying …
William Bankier
William Bankier was a strongman and bodybuilder born in 1870 in Scotland. He was attracted by the idea of becoming a circus performer at an early age, so when he turned 12 he ran away from home to join a circus. His father found him few weeks later and brought …
Angus MacAskill
Angus MacAskill was one of the tallest man in history (without growth abnormalities) born in Scotland in 1825. He was officially added to the Guinness Book of Worlds Records in 1981 as the tallest man in recorded history (7ft 9in) and a man with the biggest chest measurements (80 inches!). …
Donald Dinnie
Donald Dinnie was a famous strongman and athlete from Scotland born in 1837. During his 50 years long career, Dinnie took part in more than 11,000 competitions. His career started during 1853 when he won a wrestling competition along with £1 in prize money. Seven years later, Dinnie successfully carried …
The Great Sandwina
To spice things up, today we’ll learn more about Kate Brumbach, better known as The Great Sandwina. She was a strongwoman born into a circus family in 1884 in Austria. Her parents were well-trained circus performers with their own qualities, both in terms of strength and muscle proportions. Sandwina started …
Warren Lincoln Travis
Warren Lincoln Travis was one of the first famous strongman on the US soil during the beginning of 20th century. He was most popular for back and hip lifting, apart from finger lifting and an incredible grip strength he had. With just about 200 pounds in bodyweight, Travis demonstrated amazing strength as …
Unilateral Bodyweight Exercises
If I was to ask you to provide me with a strength training related exercise, you would probably say something along the lines of a bench press or some form of a squat considering their common place within traditional workouts. In this particular article we are going to take a …