Eric Helms Post, Achievements of Old School Lifters/Bodybuilders

Good Stuff

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bgwa0VyhMdu/?taken-by=helms3dmj

Left to right, top to bottom (all from 1890s-1920’s): Eugene Sandow, Herman Goerner deadlifting 360kg/793lbs at 100kg/220lbs, then 4 shots of Bobby Pandour (Wladyslaw Kurcharczyk), and finally Ernest Cadine.

Insane stuff, given Herman’s deadlift would place him among the top ~3 deadlifters of the IPF in the 105 division today while being 5kg under the class limit AND given there was only 1/7th the worlds population at that time! Also insane considering Bobby Pandour achieved such muscularity while walking around in contest condition all the time, primarily WITHOUT LIFTING WEIGHTS. You heard that right, dude did some very light dumbbell training but primarily did bodyweight work, hand balancing etc and lifted/carried his brother around to train/perform.
Incredible stuff at least a decade before the word testosterone was even invented in 1935 then another 1-2 decades before steroids were being used by strength and physique athletes.

What’s my point? It should alarm you if your immediate reaction is “roids!” when you see a “questionable” physique or an insane feat of strength displayed by someone claiming natural…not because you might be falsely disparaging a fellow human being who has achieved something inspiring (although this is true as well), but rather because that immediate thought should be an alarm bell for you. Your knee jerk dismissal of something amazing (“bbc genetics”, “not natty”, “filter and photoshop”, “fake plates”) should concern you. Part of that might be you needing to make your own accomplishments “okay” by downplaying others. Even when you’re right, this knee jerk reaction should alarm you. If no worthwhile feats exist without genetics you don’t have, drugs you don’t take or without deception, part of you is protecting your feelings because maybe you don’t think you can accomplish anything comparable. I get it, we’re human, I’ve done it too. But, that belief and fear is holding you back from whatever your potential might be. Are there fake natties? Of course! I’m not saying you shouldn’t be skeptical. But skepticism is NOT jumping to a conclusion. When you do, use it as a reminder to look inward and make a change so you can progress

If someone were to post these images on Reddit (Home of the experts! -lol), the majority wouldn’t know who they were and would be screaming fake natty or whatever the latest battle cry of the wanna-be is at the time.

S

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