T Nation

A True T-Man

Powerlifting
#1

http://www.sandowplus.co.uk/Competition/Hackenschmidt/wtl/wtl-intro.htm

A complete strength development manual by a great wrestler, weightlifter, cyclist, philosopher and all round t-man George Hackenschmidt. He has been mentioned by members of this forum before and I believe both Coach John Davies and Mike Mahler are admirers of him.
To me this is the ideal athlete, a man with world records aplenty, who even challenged Albert Einstein on the theory of relativity (but then in the early 20th century many did).

#2

His physique was ahead of his time. He is rugged, and could probably make today’s puffed up bodybuilders cry for momma in the gym.

#3

haha! this is a great book, thanks

#4

Kind of a weird book, though. His section on not doin’ it concerns me.

#5

Great post. That whole site is awesome.
I’ll probably devour every page of it when i get the chance. Those guys can teach us everything we need to know about being strong and functional athletes…and they built themselves before drugs and “scientific” supplements.

#6

What u mean by section on not doing it?

#7

Awesome book, thanks for the link. Much of it still topical and useful today.

Also, brilliant quote on page 12 in response to being asked why you would go to the trouble and exertion of struggling with heavy weights:

“To that I reply by asking why a man should desire to be weak?”

#8

There is a part where he reccommends not having sex.

#9

[quote]Matgic wrote:
There is a part where he reccommends not having sex.[/quote]

That is no way to live.

#10

Okay I’ll ignore his advice on erotic literature and not having sex. Much of the rest I will copy though.

#11

Hey be careful! He backs it up by saying a friend of his thought abstinence was stupid . . . and he never got as strong as Hack.

Kind of reminds me of Family Guy:

“I don’t know Lois. I knew a guy who bought an electric hybrid. Ten years later, BAM! Herpes.”

#12

There really are a LOT of books on that site. There’s another site or link attached to it somewhere with olde tyme videos of people like Thomas Inch lifting the infamous “Inch Dumbell”.

Some of those bent press type numbers people put up in those days are nuts.

#13

[quote]Springcoil wrote:
http://www.sandowplus.co.uk/Competition/Hackenschmidt/wtl/wtl-intro.htm

A complete strength development manual by a great wrestler, weightlifter, cyclist, philosopher and all round t-man George Hackenschmidt. He has been mentioned by members of this forum before and I believe both Coach John Davies and Mike Mahler are admirers of him.
To me this is the ideal athlete, a man with world records aplenty, who even challenged Albert Einstein on the theory of relativity (but then in the early 20th century many did).
[/quote]

Springcoil:

I purchased this book several years ago and really enjoyed it.

This guy was not only strong, but also understood how to apply that strength. He was a world renown wrestler as well as weightlifter. He battled world champion grappler Frank Gotch on three different occasions. This was around the turn of the century when Wrestling was still a legitimate sport.

I would think that “Hack” as he was called by friends, could easily cut through today’s puffed up bodybuilders pretty easily if it came to an actual fight.

Here’s another page for those who are interested in muscle history:

http://www.sandowplus.co.uk/Competition/compindex.htm#burns

#14

Here’s something cool: If you follow ZEB’s link you can read, for free, the Farmer Burns 12 chapter course on wrestling and conditioning that Matt Furey sells for fifty bucks. Ha!

#15

[quote]NateN wrote:
Here’s something cool: If you follow ZEB’s link you can read, for free, the Farmer Burns 12 chapter course on wrestling and conditioning that Matt Furey sells for fifty bucks. Ha![/quote]

Nate:

I have purused that course before. Very interesting stuff.

Actually, Furey sells a few other “old time” strongman courses that are also found on that site. I have no idea how Furey got the rights to these courses. I hope he didn’t pay much for them. Then again, because of their age, they may have entered into what the lawyers call “eminent domain”(Help BB is that the proper term?) This simply means that they are so old they are not considered worth anything, therefore anyone can sell them, if there is a buyer.

#16

I think Furey even did a seminar on finding old information and getting the rights to it so you can make a profit. What other courses are on the site that Furey sells? I know he sells a Jowett course “Unrevealed Secrets of Man” but I don’t think that one’s on the Sanow site.

[quote]ZEB wrote:

Nate:

I have purused that course before. Very interesting stuff.

Actually, Furey sells a few other “old time” strongman courses that are also found on that site. I have no idea how Furey got the rights to these courses. I hope he didn’t pay much for them. Then again, because of their age, they may have entered into what the lawyers call “eminent domain”(Help BB is that the proper term?) This simply means that they are so old they are not considered worth anything, therefore anyone can sell them, if there is a buyer.[/quote]

#17

He also sells a “Gamma” course. He was an Indian (from the country India) Wrestler about 100 years ago, I believe.

#18

I didn’t see anything about Gama on the site but that would be really cool. From what I’ve read, he did several hundred hindu squats and pushups a day, wrestled for maybe 3 hours, and ran maybe 10 miles. Not to mention ate a couple chickens, downed half a gallon of ghee, and lotsa bananas.

#19

http://www.aafla.com/SportsLibrary/IGH/IGH0402/IGH0402c.pdf
Information on the training and diet of the great gama.
20 Litres of Milk a day!!!

#20

[quote]NateN wrote:
I didn’t see anything about Gama on the site but that would be really cool. From what I’ve read, he did several hundred hindu squats and pushups a day, wrestled for maybe 3 hours, and ran maybe 10 miles. Not to mention ate a couple chickens, downed half a gallon of ghee, and lotsa bananas.[/quote]

Yea, that’s the guy! About 5’ 8" and 220lbs. I think.