Planetmuscle.com - The Strongest Man in History

[webmaster]

The subject of the strongest man in history is controversial, but, with the zillions of people in this world, logic suggests that the strongest man in the world is among us right now, but we know nothing about him.

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/planet28.htm

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Dear Jeff,
Thanks for the information you compiled on this site. I am sure I know you as Corry's first husband. I think you divorced if I'm not mistaken. Could be wrong. Sorry if I am.
I am in the midst of writing a manuscript Titled "Fit Over Forty." I use the first four to five chapters going over the history of bodybuilding and fitness. Of course, it's impossible to skip over Cyr and Sandow. I'm just happy that you put this site up for educational purposes. I didn't know some of the information that you put in your site and it was really helpful and it made me think more deeply about strength--Thank you for pulling that out of me. I was particularly interested in your thoughts about what made someone strong. Cyr must have really been something! I guess when you come right down to it; it is a slow deliberate type of motion that cannot be overlooked as being more difficult than technique lifting, or jerking something quickly.
I met Kaz many years ago when I was stationed in England in the USAF. He was at a "Strongman" Contest. I was an arm wrestling champion before I got into body building so I used to go to all those things back then. I had the largest measured forearm in the world for my wrist size at the time. My forearm was 16" non-flexed, and my wrist is 8" (biceps 20" low body fat-no steroids). I was never beaten armwrestling in a "lock-up," but lost National and World Titles to people who "snapped" the start and I always felt that was unfair because if I locked up with anyone, I was tough to beat, but if I lost the start, then I got smoked--and the start is a big deal in AW. You bring up a key point: How is strength measured? And, how should it be measured (in the future)? My father was an enormously powerful human being. He had a 9" wrist and he wouldn't let anyone measure anything else. I got that wrist measurement when he was passed-out on the couch when I was about 12 years old. His forearms and biceps where huge! I think he could have been one of the strongest men who ever lived. He grew up on a farm and just had incredible strength. Tragically, he was an alcoholic and he drank away a good portion of his adult life, but when I was young he used to teach me to squeeze a man's hand when I shook hands. All my life, that stuck in my mind and I often times forget and hurt someone even now at 48. He was the only person I could never squeeze hard enough so that he even felt it. He could rip a barn board in half with his hands as if he was ripping paper. He never lifted weights and thought muscles were meant to work with, not to at. He made fun of my brother and I for having "all this big muscles fro nothing." I was one of the strongest body builders around back in the 80's. I could curl the 110's, seated, without cheating for 6 reps each arm. I coud do barbell rows with 315, low cable row with 450, as on triceps to the forehead with 300. I owe all that power to my dad. One day he came into a gym I used to workout in, in Falmouth on Cape Cod. I think I was incline pressing the 120's. My father came over and picked them up and moved them around with his wrist, while asking me, "What the hell do you do with these things?," as he asked this, he was half pressing them oveerhead, half pushing them outward with his triceps. I laughed to myself as I watched him. He put the weights down and said, "Well, I guess I don't need to be doing that, I've still got plenty of strength there." He moved his three hundred pounds on a 5' 10" frame up the stairs bidding me goodbye. He was 58 at the time. Sadly, he only lived a few more years. Booze killed him, but stories still bounce off of various walls where he had worked growing up. It's hard to put into words how strong he was, but had he ever worked at it the way we all did, well, then again, he did, just in a different way. Thanks for the article Jeff.
Sincerely,
Paul T. Burke, M.Ed.

This looked interesting but I could not finish the article due to the annoying style. It is unreadable and gave me a headache.

jeff i was unable to finish the artical because of the limited time i have but one name was missing a name that should have been right at the top .....paul anderson you remember him dont you .... in fact if recall corevtly joe weider considers him the strongest man that ever lived as do many others.. a 675 bench the back lift of over 3 tons a squat of 1200 who can disagree with that

Well, there's actualy nothing new to say. Records are set and people breaks them. There will always be someone who will break some record. I'm more fascinated with the hypothetical possibilities of human cappabilities. Cyr did some incredible feats. We have Antonio Krastev who snatched aproximately 220 kilos and Leonid Taranenko who cleaned and jerked 266 kilos, that still stands today even they are set in the mid eighties. But that doesn't mean that someone can't lift more. Someone can and will. The best measurements of strenght and power aren't always the most fascinating, and that's why I think that we are all somewhat fascinated with that old time strongmen. We would like to find some lost article or testimonial about some old, mustached, forgotten hulkster of the past, against whom, Kazmaier, Cyr, Anderson , Taranenko and Krastev would look like dwarfs. We want our most powerfull giant from the fairy tale to became real, and that's what fires us to train, research and collect informations about those titans.

[rjburns99]

I was happy to see your mention of Jack Walsh as the "Strongest Man in the World".
Jack was my Fathers cousin. Pound for pound, he was the strongest man in the world. 190 lbs.
I remember meeting him when I was a young kid. He sure impressed me. I also watched him on TV, The Sullivan show and other shows having to do with 'feats of strength'. He was "The Man" of his day and I still believe he was the strongest man ever.

[Arlecchino]

I generally do not reply to these, but this time I am. Directly quoted from the article:

"Powerlifting: This includes innovators such as Terry Todd and Pat Casey. Todd was an all-around strong man, noted for tremendous hand, back and grip strength. Pat Casey was the first man to bench 600 lbs., to squat 800 lbs. and to total 2,000 lbs. I do not include Hugh Cassidy, Jim Williams, Ed Coan (recognized as the all-time best powerlifter ever), OD Wilson and Garry Frank. (Frank has the highest all-time powerlifting total and he also was a great all-around athlete.)"

Ed Coan as the best powerlifter ever is a matter of opinion. There are other US lifters with a far greater number of IPF championships, including Lamar Gant, winningest of all-time (15) from the US. Greatest number of IPF world championships is Inaba from Japan, with 18 victories.

Garry Frank does not have the highest total, or even the second highest.

"Olympiclifting: Yuri Vlasov (1960 Olympiclifting champion), Leonid Zhabotinsky (1964 and 1968 Olympiclifting champion. He was 6'5" and 360 lbs.), Sultan Rachkmanov and Mario Martinez."

Highest three-lift total of all time: Alexeev. His record will stand forever, unless they bring back the press.