Earle E. Liederman

Earle E. Liederman

Earle E. Liederman pretty much did it all as far as strength training: he traveled the Vaudeville circuit for eight years as a performing strongman, he wrote a number of books and courses (which are just as effective today), he wrote an untold number of training articles, he sold his own equipment, he was the editor of "Strength" Magazine and even boxed professionally for a few years. He was well known as one of the first and most successful of the mail order muscle stars.

York Deep-Dish 45-Pound Barbell Plates

York Deep-Dish 45-Pound Barbell Plates

This is what 45-pound barbell plates looked like way back in the day. If you have some, count yourself lucky, they started disappearing in the 1960's when York came out with a more streamlined plate (they could only fit so many of these on a bar with guys like Wilbur Miller around). A great grip challenge then and now is to lift one of these plates by the hub.

The BIG Wheel at Zuver's

The BIG Wheel

At Zuver's Hall of Fame Gym, everything is BIG, including the unique piece of equipment seen here: The BIG Wheel. That's a heck of a way to do pulldowns. Check out the handle, and that's a pretty good sized anchor chain too.

John Y. Smith

John Y. Smith

The great strongman John Y. Smith is shown here in mid-bent press with a 185-pound dumbbell. In 1926, Smith won the "Strongest Man in New England" contest against all comers -- he was 60 years old at the time. His best lift in the contest was a right hand deadlift of 415 pounds, at a bodyweight of only 170 pounds.

The Bow Mill Exercise

The Bow Mill Exercise

If you were looking for dumbbell exercises back around the time of the Civil War, here's one you might have run across: "The Bow Mill Exercise," as discussed by Dio Lewis in 1864:

"The Bow Mill Exercise: The apart position is taken from which the dumb bells are made to describe a circle, the circumference of which shall be as near as possible to the floor, and as high up on the right as possible, and thus is followed by another circle of the same description to the left."

Wilbur Miller Stalks The Bar

Wilbur Miller Stalks The Bar

Wilbur Miller was a Kansas farmer who was probably the best amateur deadlifter in the world back in the 1960s. At the first National Powerlifting Championship Contest, held in 1965 (fittingly) in York, Pennsylvania, Wilbur Miller deadlifted 725 pounds and narrowly missed a lift of 745. Not surprisingly, he was also a very good Olympic weightlifter.

"Mr. Deadlift" Bob Peoples

"Mr. Deadlift" Bob Peoples

Bob Peoples shows why he came to be known as "Mr. Deadlift". Although he did a few other things, he specialized on the deadlift... nothing but hard, heavy and basic training... I would say that the results speak for themselves.