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Görner the Mighty and his Incredible Kettlebell Two Hands Anyhow Record

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At Dresden on 25th July, 1920, Görner lifted the enormous weight of 430 lb. (a little more than 195 kilos) overhead in the Two Hands ‘Anyhow’ style, performing the feats with four kettleweights in the following manner. He first of all swung with the right hand two kettleweights, one weighing 110¼ lb. and the other 99¼ lb.

John Grimek Meets Sig Klein: “A Good Strongman Never Makes Excuses”

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Many years ago when I first walked into Sig’s gym (around 1930) he stumped me with a pair of dumbbells… his100s. He asked whether I could clean and press a pair of 100s. I had not used heavy dumbbells until then so was not sure and told him so. He asked me to try and brought forth and awkward pair of dumbbells, each differently shaped.

Legendary Old-Time Strongmen: Ernest Cadine Swings 198,42 Lbs. Dumbbell

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In 1925, as a professional swung 90 kilos or 198.41 pounds, which was 3.4 pounds more than his own bodyweight at the time. Cadine’s best muscular bodyweight, however, was probably not over 180 pounds… Cadine was a fine, polished, all-around lifter, and would have shown to even greater advantage had not his famous rival, Charles Rigoulot, come along at the same time.

Eugene Sandow Teaches the Kettlebell Swing/Snatch (1894)

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This is an effective as well as graceful exercise, calling into play the chief muscles of the trunk and limbs, and imparting litheness and elasticity to the movements.

The bell is placed on the floor a little in front of the feet, ring to the right, heels in line, and about ten inches apart.

Side Push Press? From Alan Calvert’s Book The Truth About Weight Lifting [1911]

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In this lift the athlete is privileged to stand in any position he chooses, but generally he takes a position with the feet about 15 inches apart. He is not allowed to bend the legs at the knees while making the lift.

Siegmund Klein, The Kettlebell (1932)

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The “kettle-bell” has been for years a very important factor in developing strength, yet the modern weight-lifter rarely, if ever, uses it. This is partly the fault of the governing body of the International Weight-Lifting Association, for kettle-bells are not used in any contests under their auspices, hence contestants feel that it is useless to train with this “obsolete” article.

Edward Aston: How to Gain Strength

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The only foundation of lasting strength is perfect health, and that condition is to be gained by careful attention to the needs of the body.

Live an orderly life. Do not abuse your constitution by overindulgence in anything – food, drink, sleep, rest, exercise, pleasure-seeking, may all be overdone. There is a time for all the things; and recreation in just proportion is as necessary to the body and end as are sleep and exercise, also in proportion.

Sandow’s Straight Leg Situp: Oldschool Low Rep Abdominal Exercise

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Lie flat on the back on the floor, couch or bench, covered by a rug, at full length, the arms close by the sides, the feet pushed under the bureau, weighted or strapped to the floor, to give purchase to the body; then alternately raise the body on the hip joints, from the supine to the sitting position, and slowly lower it again to the horizontal position, repeating the movements until the abdominal muscles feel the tiring effect of the exercise.

Joe Bonomo: Detailed Training Instructions for “One Hand Get Up” (1970)

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Training routines such as this bring every muscle into play, each group picking up the work smoothly from other groups as the body position changes. Routines such as this train the body muscles to work as a team, each passing the task to the next in graceful coordination.

STARTING POSITION

Stand erect, hold weight overhead with one hand. Position A

Siegmund Klein’s Exercise for Developing a Powerful Neck

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Neck strength – important or not?

Renowned exercise scientist Bret Conreras writes: “It is my opinion that targeted neck training for collision sport athletes is a wise idea and should be implemented for maximum neck strength, which could decrease the likelihood of injury and increase performance.”

Russian Lion’s SIMPLEXSTRONG Lessons: How to Choose Starting Weight, Reps, and How to Increase the Weight

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FAQs and SIMPLEXSTRONG answers from one of the strongest athletes who ever lived, legendary wrestler and strongman George Hackenschmidt (1877 – 1968), also called “Russian Lion”.

Here are some excellent tips from his book The Way to Live (1908).

Yes, more that 100 years ago.

When to Begin to Practice with Heavier Weights?

In This Year, I will Start to… Scratch it, I Will Continue to…

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My New Year’s resolution: Keep doing what I am doing.

Better.

The plan is simplex:

Do my breathing & joint-mobility exercises every morning.
Enjoy good Pu-Erh tea with my wife and our cats before the work.
Do my swings and get-ups. Sinister – coming soon. Sooner or later.

Kettlebells in the Movies: “Ivan the Poweful”

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“Ivan the Poweful” is a film telling an outstanding life story of Ivan Firtsak who was born in June, 1899 in a Ukrainian village Bilky, Irshava district in Zakarpattia Oblast.

At the age of 18 he became a performer with a Czechoslovak circus and traveled to 64 countries of the world, astonishing everybody with his victories. He was a weightlifting champion of Czechoslovakia, a bodybuilding champion of Europe.

How to Keep your SFG Skills Sharp

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I am currently practicing Simple & Sinister, i.e. Get-Up and Swing.

I have divided the remaining skills into 2 groups:

Grinds: Military Press, Front Squat, Windmill, Bent Press
Ballistic: Snatch, Clean, Push Press, Jerk

Two Hands Anyhow

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Two Hands Anyhow, a magnificent feat of strength, usually performed with a barbell and a kettlebell (like the legendary Arthur Saxon’s world record of 203 kg), two kettlebells, two dumbbells (Thomas Inch used to show this variation with his Inch Challenge dumbell), or 4 kettlebells (Hermann Goerner’s incredible 195 kg).

Thomas Inch, Secrets of Strength: A Dumbbell Get-up

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Lying down and rising with dumb-bell. Hold the bell overhead, right hand. Bend both knees, place left hand on the floor a little to the rear, extend the left leg forward and sit down. Now extend right leg, bending left arm until you are resting on the elbow. Lean slowly backwards to prone position.

A Few Words of Gratitude

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It is said that the key to the success in practice is a good method, a good teacher, and a good student. I am very lucky to have the best teachers and a great method. I am patiently working on being a better student, a better teacher, a better person.

StrongFirst – the School of Strength – is a school of personal development, hidden behind lifting iron. The principles, skills and values that I learned in StrongFirst, literaly changed my life.

Kettlebell Swing Tip: 4-Count Movement, not 2

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Most people do the swing wrong because they think it is a 2 count movement:

1 – down (= evading to soon, which leads to all kind of troubles like the weight pulling you forward, ending too low between the legs etc.)
2 – up (= lifting with the hands)
Think of the swing as 4 count movement (let’s start form the top):

Hermann Görner and Kettlebells

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Each training session of Hermann’s contained a mixed programme of kettlebell, dumb-bell and barbell lifting. Sometimes a workout would also include the supporting feats.

For instance, hen Hermann trained three times per week, he might in the first training session give preference to kettlebell exercises, but he would also include barbell and dumb-bell lifts too.

The Stronger Person Will Win

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I am working on some stuff regarding Chinese martial arts. I have found an interesting saying from our tradition (Southern Chinese Hung Ga Kyun), written by Grand Master Lam Sai Wing in his “Taming the Tiger in Gung Pattern Manual”, regarding the combat applications of the system: