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.
Wilbur Miller lifting around 1000 pounds
At the age of 23, Wilbur injured his back in a horse riding accident and had to endure long physical therapy. During this time, Wilbur started physical therapy to help him recover and it eventually led to weightlifting. It’s funny how bad things can lead to good things. Since he started lifting as a part of the therapy, he had an outstanding lifting form that allowed him to progress rather quickly and stay injury-free.
Wilbur Miller performing a deadlift
Wilbur Miller set numerous unconventional lifting records, like middle fingers deadlift (320 lb), Jefferson lift (650 lb) and Hack lift (650 lb). Competition wise, Wilbur officially dead-lifted 725 pounds and in the picture below we can see one of the heavy deadlifts he used to perform. Since there was no room for collars, he had to use straps to hold all that weight together. Pretty cool!
Unsupported leg press by the “Cimarron Kid”
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Comments
Knowing that you’ve done your own rack pull of over 1000, this goes to further commend your own legendary strength, Logan. Also, that’s an interesting variation of the leg press that I reckon is much more difficult than using a machine for the same weight.
Wilbur is more impressive than most of the old-time lifters because even at age 79 he still lifted great poundages. I hope he sets some records in the 80+ category as well.