Results matching “Old-Time Strength”

This month's collaboration with Run to Win's Blaine Moore - Great sources of training information - continues with a look at the many superb old strength-training books. Love them.

For as long as I can remember I've been surrounded by books and periodicals - shelf after shelf of hardcovers, paperbacks, magazines and newspapers. When it came time to learn a few things about the world of strength training; the starting point was clear.

Before I go any further, there is just one thing I'd like to point out : as important as it is to learn about something, it's always secondary to actually doing it. Spending time under the bar is absolutely critical.

With that in mind, back to books. These can generally be sorted into a few categories, according to both the content and their availability. These are :

Old-time strength

When it comes to the process of getting stronger, very little has changed over the past few centuries. Sure, exercises have come in to and gone out of favour (think of the barbell squat and the overhead press in Olympic Weightlifting); but the underlying mechanics are, of course, the same. After all, we're still talking about people lifting a variety of heavy objects to become bigger, stronger and faster.

Many of the books that have been written over the past century or so (any older than this, and they're a little difficult to find - although often still quite relevant) have been reprinted numerous times, are still available and still make excellent reading. A few personal favourites :

• Super-Strength : Alan Calvert
• Key to might and muscle : George F. Jowett
• Developing the Grip and Forearm : Thomas Inch

Where do you get them?

Online : the best sources are Amazon and suppliers such as Bill Hinbern's superb Super Strength Books site.

Offline : Although they're a little difficult to find in the offline world, larger bookstores (particularly Borders) occasionally carry them.

The golden era - 1970s

Although some people may dispute my claim that the 1970s encompassed 'the golden era', it certainly did for me. After all, it's when Arnold Schwarzenegger was making a real name for himself. Bruce Lee was fighting athletes such as Chuck Norris. Arthur Jones was creating a stir with his Nautilus machines.

And - most importantly - people the world over began to join gyms. To become big, to become strong; or simply to get into shape. Very little has changed.

One of the greatest by-products of this period can be seen at a glance of my bookshelves. Catering to the throngs of new gymgoers were a number of great books, including :

• Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding : Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bill Dobbins
• Winning Bodybuilding : Franco Columbu and George Fels
• Bruce Lee's Fighting Method, Vol. 2 : Bruce Lee

The magazines of this time - notably those which focussed on bodybuilding - were actually worthwhile reading in many cases (ah, the days when magazines had more content than advertising); containing specific routines, interviews with strength athletes from a variety of sports (not just bodybuilders) and simple nutritional information. The good stuff.

Where do you get them?

Online : Once again, Amazon is a great place to start. For the magazines, eBay is your friend. There are always plenty of them on there.

Offline : As you may have guessed, I love wandering around second-hand book stores. For books such as these - particularly the heavier, hardback varieties - second-hand shops are a great resource. Definitely a good place to start.

1980s - now

Although things have definitely started to settle down in the few decades since the 'golden era', there have been several great books to add to the shelves. Among these are a few which stand out for all the right reasons, including :

• Combat Conditioning : Matt Furey
• Kelso's Shrug Book : Paul Kelso
• Ironmind: Stronger Minds, Stronger Bodies : Randall J. Strossen

Where do you get them?

Online : Many of these books are now available through the websites of their authors or publishers; although Amazon is still a good bet. For slightly older volumes, eBay often comes in handy.

Offline : For some reason, many of the larger bookstores shy away from recent strength-training books. Notable exceptions are stores attached to universities or colleges; and those catering largely to students.

Other recommendations

Of course, I'm not exactly alone in my love of strength-training books. To get an idea of those which other Straight to the Bar writers hold in high regard, take a wander over to Good Reads. There are several excellent volumes there.

Final thoughts

With so many great strength-training books and magazines available, it's almost assured that I've overlooked something along the way. What are your own recommendations for the 'perfect' strength-training book?

The Inch Dumbbell is named after the inventor of the implement, an old-time performing strongman named Thomas Inch, from Scarborough England. He would travel about the country challenging bystanders to lift the globe dumbbell, offering prize money to anyone who could do so.
To read more about the history of this tremendous test of Grip strength, check out Joe Roark's excellent read on the Bodybuilding.com site on the history of the Inch Dumbbell, INCH 101. Again, much respect and appreciation to Joe Roark for his excellent website, Iron History.

Eventually, companies like IronMind and Sorinex began to understand the allure of the Inch Dumbbell and began producing replicas of this extraordinary test of Grip strength. Now, many Grip enthusiasts have their own Inch Dumbbell replicas.

In my opinion, one of the most impressive feats of Grip strength is lifting the Inch Dumbbell. This dumbbell weighs 172 pounds.

172 pounds doesn't sound too heavy, does it?

If you train at a gym where they have heavy dumbbells, they may have some dumbbells that weigh this much or very close. No problem.

In fact, I bet most people reading this can load 172 pounds on a normal weight lifting bar and pick it up with one hand fairly easily.

However, the Inch Dumbbell is a different story altogether.

The Inch Dumbbell, weighing in at 172 pounds, has a handle 2.38 inches thick! Compare that with the handle size of the run-of-the-mill dumbbell and the deadlift bars at your gym, which are about one inch thick, and you'll understand right away why it is so difficult to lift. In all my years of Grip training, I have never seen anyone that could wrap their fingers around the handle and touch their thumb. Not even me, and my hands are close to nine inches in length!

Take a look at the dumbbells in your gym next time you are there. Some dumbbells at your facility probably have weights that are loaded over a handle and tightened so they do not shift around while you are using them. You will notice that when you do curls or presses, the weights my spin, but they do not change their position on the handle. The weights rotate freely, completely separate from the handle, and so then do not torque your wrist too aggressively while you are training with them.

If you have dumbbells at your gym that are indeed solid, remember that the handles are still only one inch thick, so you are able to wrap your fingers completely around them and pin your thumb down on top to secure your grip. Even the most violent and explosive lifts, such as the one-hand snatch, do not pose much of a challenge for maintaining a grip on them because of the small handle size.

However, the Inch Dumbbell is made of solid cast iron. The handle and the bells at the end are not separate. Conversely, the bells and handle make up one unit.

Combine the challenge of the handle size with the fact that the Inch Dumbbell is one huge chunk of cast iron, and you have a grip implement that literally tears your grip open when you try to lift it.

When you apply your grip on the handle, as I mentioned, there will inevitably be a space between your thumb and fingers. This space means your control of the implement is hindered.

Upon trying to lift the Inch, it may indeed begin to leave the ground, but the lifter soon finds out just how nasty this piece of iron history is. Quickly the globes, whose mass lies far out beyond the edge of the handle, start to turn downward away from the thumb, out of control. If you do not have mighty thumb strength to suppress this spinning action, you are not going to be able to break this implement more than a couple of inches off the ground. On numerous occasions, at the World Series of Grip, a strength challenge Diesel Crew often holds at strongman contests, athletes of all shapes and experience levels have tried to pull this piece of iron to lockout only to find out that they are lacking the power needed to fully lift the Inch.

The Inch Dumbbell is named after the inventor of the implement, an old-time performing strongman named Thomas Inch, from Scarborough England. He would travel about the country challenging bystanders to lift the globe dumbbell, offering prize money to anyone who could do so. To read more about the history of this tremendous test of Grip strength, check out Joe Roark’s excellent read on the Bodybuilding.com site on the history of the Inch Dumbbell, INCH 101. Again, much respect and appreciation to Joe Roark for his excellent website, Iron History.

Eventually, companies like IronMind and Sorinex began to understand the allure of the Inch Dumbbell and began producing replicas of this extraordinary test of Grip strength. Now, many Grip enthusiasts have their own Inch Dumbbell replicas.

In my opinion, one of the most impressive feats of Grip strength is lifting the Inch Dumbbell. This dumbbell weighs 172 pounds.

172 pounds doesn’t sound too heavy, does it?

If you train at a gym where they have heavy dumbbells, they may have some dumbbells that weigh this much or very close. No problem.

In fact, I bet most people reading this can load 172 pounds on a normal weight lifting bar and pick it up with one hand fairly easily.

However, the Inch Dumbbell is a different story altogether.

The Inch Dumbbell, weighing in at 172 pounds, has a handle 2.38 inches thick! Compare that with the handle size of the run-of-the-mill dumbbell and the deadlift bars at your gym, which are about one inch thick, and you’ll understand right away why it is so difficult to lift. In all my years of Grip training, I have never seen anyone that could wrap their fingers around the handle and touch their thumb. Not even me, and my hands are close to nine inches in length!

Take a look at the dumbbells in your gym next time you are there. Some dumbbells at your facility probably have weights that are loaded over a handle and tightened so they do not shift around while you are using them. You will notice that when you do curls or presses, the weights my spin, but they do not change their position on the handle. The weights rotate freely, completely separate from the handle, and so then do not torque your wrist too aggressively while you are training with them.

If you have dumbbells at your gym that are indeed solid, remember that the handles are still only one inch thick, so you are able to wrap your fingers completely around them and pin your thumb down on top to secure your grip. Even the most violent and explosive lifts, such as the one-hand snatch, do not pose much of a challenge for maintaining a grip on them because of the small handle size.

However, the Inch Dumbbell is made of solid cast iron. The handle and the bells at the end are not separate. Conversely, the bells and handle make up one unit.

Combine the challenge of the handle size with the fact that the Inch Dumbbell is one huge chunk of cast iron, and you have a grip implement that literally tears your grip open when you try to lift it.

When you apply your grip on the handle, as I mentioned, there will inevitably be a space between your thumb and fingers. This space means your control of the implement is hindered.

Upon trying to lift the Inch, it may indeed begin to leave the ground, but the lifter soon finds out just how nasty this piece of iron history is. Quickly the globes, whose mass lies far out beyond the edge of the handle, start to turn downward away from the thumb, out of control. If you do not have mighty thumb strength to suppress this spinning action, you are not going to be able to break this implement more than a couple of inches off the ground. On numerous occasions, at the World Series of Grip, a strength challenge Diesel Crew often holds at strongman contests, athletes of all shapes and experience levels have tried to pull this piece of iron to lockout only to find out that they are lacking the power needed to fully lift the Inch.

I too was unable to lift the Inch Dumbbell on my first attempts in September of 2003 at Rick Walker’s battle for Grip Supremacy. After my first attempts on the Inch Dumbbell, I quickly became obsessed with lifting it. I fashioned my own thick-bar implements from house-hold items with hopes that I could at the very least build my grip strength levels so that the next time we crossed paths, I could lift it. Unfortunately, the various things I tried were not enough, and again I fell to my knees in defeat the next time I attempted to lift the Inch.

However, I never ever give up.

Just as the Wright brothers tried for years to perfect the design of their aircraft and finally persevered by getting their airplane to fly, eventually I too was able to get the Inch Dumbbell aloft.

But this accomplishment was slow in coming, and did not happen until I was able to purchase the very Inch Replica that gave me so much trouble all those times. Specific training was the key to success in lifting the Inch for me.

In future installments of this series, I will discuss training methods that I have used in order to fully lift the Inch Dumbbell. There are many tactics that grip athletes have used in order to replicate the replica. You will soon understand why some of these strategies are more successful in developing a grip strong enough to lift the inch and why some are not very successful at all.

casual (adjective): lacking a high degree of interest or devotion
Source: Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

Hello, Mr. Casual Lifter. You might not enjoy hearing this, but trust me, it needs to be said. I kept my mouth shut for too long.

I see you, over there in the squat rack, doing your partial-rep cheat curls, not realizing that the biceps is one of the smallest muscle groups in the entire human body. I notice when you gawk at me like I have three heads, while you are wasting your time in the leg press machine and I am getting stronger doing the basic, compound lifts, like the deadlift, squat, standing press, and power clean.

You are the one who wears workout gloves while my hands get tougher from using just chalk. Yes, my callouses sometimes rip and my hands bleed, but that's O.K. because what does not kill me, makes me stronger. You are the guy who cannot comprehend doing a workout without wearing a tanktop or wifebeater, even during the coldest day of the winter, to show off the "guns".

You lift to impress other people and get laid, while I lift to challenge myself and get strong. You enjoy staring at the sexy girls on the treadmills, whereas I primarily consider them a distraction.

You tend to be a seasonal lifter, mainly going to the gym when it is warm so you can prepare for spring break in Cancun. I, on the other hand, do not differentiate between the seasons; I train at the gym or outside my house when it is hot or cold, summer or winter, and anything in between.

You choose exercises and lifts that are easy, painless, and do not really tax the body; I choose those which are difficult, painful, and brutal. When using weights, you almost always do everything either prone or seated rather than standing. If it is a choice between a machine or free weight, you will opt for the machine. You do not see the point in training anything except your chest, abs, and biceps, because they are the muscle groups visible in your mirror.

Mr. Casual Lifter, I know I was a little hard on you, but now I have a few simple bits of advice for you so you do not continue to waste your time in the gym. Read a few good books on the subject of strength training, like Dinosaur Training, written by Brooks Kubik, and MILO, the quarterly strength journal, published by IronMind. Do a little research on what worked for the old-timers like Saxon, Sandow, Steinborn, Breitbart, Inch, and Hackenschmidt. Ask questions when you see a more experienced guy in the gym. Experiment with different types of lifts, training methods, and routines. Go online to websites such as EliteFTS, CrossFit, and Straight To The Bar.

The above advice applies not only to the casual lifter, but to everyone. Never stop learning and stay strong.

casual (adjective): lacking a high degree of interest or devotion
Source: Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

Hello, Mr. Casual Lifter. You might not enjoy hearing this, but trust me, it needs to be said. I kept my mouth shut for too long.

I see you, over there in the squat rack, doing your partial-rep cheat curls, not realizing that the biceps is one of the smallest muscle groups in the entire human body. I notice when you gawk at me like I have three heads, while you are wasting your time in the leg press machine and I am getting stronger doing the basic, compound lifts, like the deadlift, squat, standing press, and power clean.

You are the one who wears workout gloves while my hands get tougher from using just chalk. Yes, my callouses sometimes rip and my hands bleed, but that's O.K. because what does not kill me, makes me stronger. You are the guy who cannot comprehend doing a workout without wearing a tanktop or wifebeater, even during the coldest day of the winter, to show off the "guns".

You lift to impress other people and get laid, while I lift to challenge myself and get strong. You enjoy staring at the sexy girls on the treadmills, whereas I primarily consider them a distraction.

You tend to be a seasonal lifter, mainly going to the gym when it is warm so you can prepare for spring break in Cancun. I, on the other hand, do not differentiate between the seasons; I train at the gym or outside my house when it is hot or cold, summer or winter, and anything in between.

You choose exercises and lifts that are easy, painless, and do not really tax the body; I choose those which are difficult, painful, and brutal. When using weights, you almost always do everything either prone or seated rather than standing. If it is a choice between a machine or free weight, you will opt for the machine. You do not see the point in training anything except your chest, abs, and biceps, because they are the muscle groups visible in your mirror.

Mr. Casual Lifter, I know I was a little hard on you, but now I have a few simple bits of advice for you so you do not continue to waste your time in the gym. Read a few good books on the subject of strength training, like Dinosaur Training, written by Brooks Kubik, and MILO, the quarterly strength journal, published by IronMind. Do a little research on what worked for the old-timers like Saxon, Sandow, Steinborn, Breitbart, Inch, and Hackenschmidt. Ask questions when you see a more experienced guy in the gym. Experiment with different types of lifts, training methods, and routines. Go online to websites such as EliteFTS, CrossFit, and Straight To The Bar.

The above advice applies not only to the casual lifter, but to everyone. Never stop learning and stay strong.

Here's an unusual mix - old-time strongman show blended with a motivational speech. Russell Jones at work.

Here's an unusual mix - old-time strongman show blended with a motivational speech. Russell Jones at work.

Brian Carson posts part 18 of his excellent 20-part series on Old-Time Strength - this time looking at the inimitable John Grimek. Grimek was undoubtedly a man ahead of his time.

Brian Carson posts part 18 of his excellent 20-part series on Old-Time Strength - this time looking at the inimitable John Grimek. Grimek was undoubtedly a man ahead of his time.

Brian Carson takes a brief look at bodybuilder Angelo Siciliano, better known by his stage name Charles Atlas (pictured here pulling a Pennsylvania RR car). Very interesting man.