I’ve been reading through Mihaly Csikzentmihalyi’s Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. This book has been gracing my bookshelf for years now, yet I hadn’t read it. I was dissuaded as I heard it is a tough read, something like a textbook. Well, some textbooks are worth reading… The flow …
The Mighty Atom
Joseph Greenstein, better known as The Mighty Atom, was a strongman from Poland born in 1893. He weighed only 4 pounds at birth, born prematurely with additional health issues which made doctors believe he won’t live longer than a couple of hours. Against all odds, Greenstein survived this ordeal, only …
Louis Attila
Ludwig Durlacher, better known as Louis Attila was a German strongman born in 1844 and one of the greatest men in the history of physical culture. Professor Attila wasn’t just a strongman, but an accomplished pianist who spoke five languages fluently. He was very well educated and didn’t really trained …
Edmond Desbonnet
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 …
Reg Park
Reg Park was a strongman, bodybuilder and an actor from England, born in 1928. He was very active as a kid and he specialized in football, until he met David Cohen in 1944. David was a muscular guy who trained at his friend’s house, so Reg wanted to see what’s …
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 …
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 …
Karl Morke
Karl Morke was a German strongman and world champion weightlifter born in 1893. Both of his parents were sports enthusiasts, so Karl started training with different objects at a very early age. His family couldn’t afford real weights, so he had to train with odd objects at that time. When …
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 …
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 …
Don Athaldo
One of the most famous Australian strongmen was Walter Joseph Lyons, better known as Don Athaldo. He used to perform as a circus strongman, but his mail-order offering “The Athaldin System” was the one that bought him real fame. As a circus strongman, Don Athaldo was involved in a variety …
Pat Casey
Pat Casey is probably more famous for the record in 1967 when he managed to bench press 615 lb. Pat also broke another record when he squated more than 800 lb in another official contest! Imagine someone of his size doing a weighted dip with 380 extra pounds…Well, that’s exactly …
Harry L. Good
Harry L. Good started training in 1924 and by 1930 he had turned professional. Only a couple of years later, in 1934, he won the World’s Strongest Professional Strongman title. Harry worked for Bob Hoffman for some time, but he decided to open his own barbell company afterwards and kept it running …