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Edward Aston, The Bent Press: The Wrong Way & The Right Way [1948]

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It is my opinion that the correct name for this lift should be the “Body Supporting-Arm Extending” lift. If you carefully analyze this title while looking at the photograph of the correct lifting method, you may easily see the reason for this name. The name “Bent Press” implies, pressing while bending. This, however IS NOT the case. First, the “bent” position is assumed and only then does the pressing begin.

George F. Jowett: Dumbbell Swing – Master Key to Might and Muscle [1926]

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It is a fast lift, and calls for quicker thinking, faster action, and more vigorous strength in one combined effort than any other lift. Greater skill is required, and the man who excels on this lift with a good poundage hung up as his record is apt to be a good, all-round lifter.

A Secret “Muscle Control” Bent Press Tip from Thomas Inch [1958]

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One of the secrets of the late Arthur Saxon’s enormous Bent Presses was that he relaxed his muscles as he leaned away from the bell. One gets so much further down that way, and the contraction of the arm and Latissimus, etc., comes in much later than the beginner ever realises.

[CHALLENGE] #GGP108 Sun Salutations

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In many yoga schools, it has been customary to celebrate these key milestones of the year on the solstices and equinoxes by practicing 108 repetitions of Surya Namaskar, the "Sun Salutation" - and that's exactly what we will do. Ladies & gentlemen, please join our...

York Barbell System of Training: The Bent Press

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Through this lift you can make a better showing than with any other. You can easily learn to press a person weighing as much or more than yourself, and press other heavy objects as well as a barbell.

Let’s Revive the Bent Press [1962]

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The most important thing for a beginner is this, and bear this well in mind: When doing a bent press lift, there is absolutely no thought to be used in pushing the bell with arm power. The bell must remain at the same level in pushing as when it was first placed at shoulder height. The palm of the hand must face the head at this point, and the body must be pressed AWAY from the weight.

Daily Exercises and Home Development [1922]: Part 3 – Foot Exercises & Leg Exercise

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Foot Exercises Stand erect, feet together, raising the body on the toes and permitting it to come down gently on the outside of the feet, giving a sort of a rolling motion to the feet. This exercise can be done 50 times, or less if found too strenuous. NOTE: This...

Daily Exercises and Home Development [1922]: Part 2 – Dipping + Chinning the Bar

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Take two stout chairs, or the foot-board of a bed and a chair, and bring them together so that you can stand comfortably between them with your hands at your sides. Now, place your hands upon them, raise your feet from the floor and lower the weight of the body by means of bending the arms until your knees touch the floor. Then raise your body until your arms are extended fully, drawing your knees up as high as you can. Continue this motion for not more than eight counts at a time.

Daily Exercises and Home Development [1922]: Part 1 – Intro + Bridging

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These four exercises are the best that have ever been presented for muscle, for bodily health and for the retention of youthful agility and sense of orientation, and also the training and coordination of brain and muscle.

Before starting them please do one thing: Determine upon regular routine exercise. Get the habit.

All-Round Female Athlete Diploma of the Attila System of Strength Building [1910]

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This is to Certify that Caroline Baumann has completed a regular Course of the Attila System of Strength Building, passed a highly satisfactory examination in Feats of Strength, Boxing, Bagpunching, Wrestling, etc.etc., displaying thereby extraordinary qualifications as an all-round Athlete, Instructor, and Performer.

Some Exercises to Test Your Strength [1923]

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Here are a couple of exercises that you can do to test your strength, but which also will give you strength and muscle if you practice them regularly.

Get the strongest chair handy for them, you will then be least likely to damage either the chair or yourself.

Tough Muscle Building Work of Advanced Non-Apparatus Training [1955]

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Even the most ardent heavy-apparatus man can use his muscular system to the limits of its powers when he is removed from his weights, squat racks, etc., by circumstances such as National Service, traveling, conditions at home demanding silence, etc., and if weight trainers reading this are inclined to doubt the powerful effects of these exercises, then I would earnestly suggest that they try them. They will then have a very different opinion!

Baithaks aka Hindu Squats [1950]

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This exercise is supplementary to Dands [Hindu pushups]. Dands give a prominent shape particularly to arms and chest while Baithaks shape calf muscles and thigh-muscles, tending to develop wonderful stamina of the performer. These two exercises enable Indian Wrestlers to become invincible in obtaining strength.

The Incomparable Arthur Saxon [VIDEO]

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“In all annals of Strength, Pride of place must be given to Arthur Saxon, the weightlifter who was always able to lift more than he claimed.”

– W. A. Pullum

What Makes the Oriental Strong? The Indian Dands [1911]

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The best method for a beginner is to start with five dands the first day and go up to ten at the end of the first week… You will be quite surprised to hear that when last year I went to see Gama performing this exercise I began to count, and saw that he went on doing over 2,000 dands within three hours time.

Thomas Inch’s Dumbbell Get-Up Tutorial [1905]

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This is so far the oldest oldest get-up tutorial I have been able to find, from Thomas Inch’ Scientific Weight Lifting, published in 1905. The book opens with following motto:

“The Glory of a Man is in his Strength. Be Strong.”

…and as all Kettlebell Simple & Sinister practitioners know, the get-up is one of the best means to move well, and move STRONG!

Inch teaches a common old-school strongman variation of get-down to get-up, and with a dumbbell.

Siegmund Klein: How Much Can You Bent Press? [1936]

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I believe that the greatest mistake weight lifters have made is their ignoring of the Bent Press. There is no lift that calls forth the admiration of athletes as does this lift. It is more fascinating than any in the 40 odd lifts weight men have been practicing for the past 50 years, yet it is seen so little today that unless something is done to revive interest in the bent press it will soon be nothing but a faded memory.

The Ancient Art of Club Swinging

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Say Indian clubs and most people will think of small bottled shaped wooden clubs. But there is more to it than that, including a rich and ancient tradition of strength and skills by strongmen of the East. Club swinging is as old school as it gets!

The original Indian clubs were big and heavy, with the goal of building strength for war, wrestling and status.

The Bent Press by Arthur Saxon

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The above photograph is the only one which has been published showing me with the bell at the shoulder in the act of pressing. In it I show how to take up a firm position with the feet, and it will be noticed that the right leg is straight contrary to the position generally assumed by the beginner attempting to learn the body press, and even by many a lifter who has had years of experience. In the photograph I show exactly where the elbow should be placed, and it does not require much imagination to gain a correct idea of how the body should fall in the downward direction.

Harold Ansorge: Systematic Practice the Bent Press – 21 Pointers [1943]

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In practicing the bent press, I would recommend that you start at a low poundage and work up to near your limit: Each time you lift, think of only one pointer and do that correctly. Forget about all the other ones. This will make it so you will be able to perform this one pointer without thinking of it. Then, take another one, etc.

I am listing a number of pointers that you should master before you consider your style correct: