John Holtum was an oldtime strongman and circus performer born in 1845 in Dernmark. He lived an ordinary life until the age of 15, when he decided to become a sailor. Young John Holtum worked hard in shipyards and on deck, where he developed a strong, muscular body which he …
Max Sick
Max Sick was a strongman and gymnast from Austria born in 1882, most famous for developing the Maxalding system with Monte Saldo. But he did much more than that. Early Life Born to Swiss parents, Maxick developed rickets and dropsy along with lung problems at a very young age. This …
John Y. Smith
John Y. Smith was a strongman born in 1866 who lost both parents at the age of four. He spent next 25 years working on ships where he grew up, only to retired at the age of 29 and start weightlifting a year later. Unlike most oldtime strongmen, John Y. …
George Barker Windship
George Barker Windship was a physical culturist born in 1834 in Massachusetts who invented many exercises machines and the first adjustable dumbbell. Like his father and grandfather, George entered Harvard and that’s where he started working out. George was only sixteen when he started training in a gymnasium and with …
Henry Steiborn
Henry “Milo” Steinborn was a German weightlifter and strongman born in 1894. He grew up near Dusseldorf and fell into British captivity during the World War I, where he started weightlifting. Luckily, some of the prisoners had already built some basic equipment using concrete blocks and hard wooden bars, which …
Strongman Film with Stanless Steel
Strongman was named one of the best documentaries of 2011 by Roger Ebert, and selected as a New York Times Critics’ Pick, STRONGMAN documents the life of strength performer Stanless Steel over the course of ten years. Official synopsis: Stanless Steel—“The Strongest Man in the World at Bending Steel and …
What It Takes To Be A Strongman
The following is a guest article from Jarell Lindsey. As an athlete, you can have many goals. A soccer star may wish to be the best defensive mid, so focus on some speed, some blocking accuracy, and a strong leg to send the ball back up the field. A competitive …
Wilbur Miller
Wilbur Miller, the “Cimarron Kid”, is a strongman and bodybuilder born in 1932 in Kansas and he didn’t show any interest in weightlifting until the age of 24. Before that, Miller was quite successful in running the mile and once he even managed to finish 3rd in the state finals. …
Georg Lurich
Georg Lurich was a famous strongman and wrestler from Estonia, born in 1876. His countryman Georg Hackenschmidt and Aleksander Aberg were trained in wrestling and weightlifting by Lurich. Lurich started training regularly after he moved to Russia in 1895 where Dr. Wladyslaw Krajewski coached him in wrestling and weightlifting. The …
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 …
The Great Antonio
The Great Antonio was a strongman born in 1925 in Croatia as Anton Baricevic. He was quite an eccentric figure, so it’s not a wonder that there are many anecdotes about him – like the one where he was able to uproot trees using a cable around his neck, at …
John Grun Marx
John Grun, better known by his stage name Herkub Grun, was born in Luxembourg in 1868. Even though he was born into a family of blacksmiths, he decided to emigrate to the United States at the age of 21. It was there that John came across a professional strongman Aloysius Marx, who …
5 Steps to Becoming a Strongman
Here are five steps to becoming a strongman. 1) Strength – To be a strongman you must be strong. No surprise there but you might be surprised at in what way. By going outside the box you can become well known for one feat of strength, without competing against the …
Maurice Deriaz
Maurice Deriaz was a famous Swiss strongman and a wrestler. Apart from various feats of strength he used to perform, Deriaz also won a wrestling tournament once where he beat 44 opponents. In the picture below, we can see Deriaz showing one arm clean and jerk using 228 pounds weight. …
Edward Aston
Edward Aston is yet another oldtime strongman who retired undefeated, after he won the Britain’s Strongest Man title in 1911. He actually defeated Thomas Inch in a challenge match and kept his record for the next 23 years! Aston’s grip strength was out of this world, as he managed to …