Curt James
03-30-2014, 02:59 PM
Top 10 Strongmen
By Ryan McKee
While the World’s Strongest Man competition is fun to watch, we cannot help but long for the classic strongmen in history. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, a strongman worked as part circus performer, part power-lifter and part wrestler. Actual strongman competitions existed, but they rarely had real structure. It usually boiled down to, “Hey, see that heavy thing? I can pick it up. Can you?” Or if you became well-known, you wrestled professionally when the sport resembled something between Greco-Roman and a bar fight.
They were quirky showmen with cocky attitudes. They lifted and broke things that no normal person should. If one strongman happened to roll into town when another one was there, they had to fight for the local audience. They wrestled all comers and afterward, they would drink everyone under the table. Here are the top 10 strongmen that we’d travel back in time just to watch.
10. Stanislaw Zbyszko Cyganiewicz
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-UkT3pZ4XJUQ/UzhP0b7XSlI/AAAAAAAAG30/stdqNZ68gGA/s300/sm-stanislaw.jpg
1879-1967
One of the most influential European grapplers of all time, Cyganiewicz fancied himself more of a scholar than a brawler. Naturally muscular and brave, Cyganiewicz earned the childhood nickname "Zbyszko," after a fictional medieval Polish knight. This attitude led him to challenge an experienced grappler on a whim at a local circus around 1900. The bookworm dominated the wrestler and word spread that a new premier badass had arrived. Zbyszko became an international wrestling star, giving the undefeated Great Gama the toughest match of his career. Zbyszko frustrated the Indian legend to a draw after nearly three hours of grappling.
9. Georg Hackenschmidt
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-hfI0VaMGFvk/UzhPyk37LMI/AAAAAAAAG3s/6HGaXDQWbwQ/s300/sm-hackenschmidt.jpg
1878-1968
“The Russian Lion” became the first widely recognized World Heavyweight Champion in wrestling history. He is believed to be the creator of the professional wrestling version of the bear hug. The native Estonian went on to become famous weightlifter, inventing the hack squat, a squat-deadlift with arms behind the body. He also wrote several books on fitness. Those familiar with modern training regimens will recognize a number of lifts Hackenschmidt popularized, including the bench press. Can you imagine a gym-rat not asking, “So how much you bench?” Thanks to Hackenschmidt, we can’t.
8. Eugen Sandow
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-VwOY-qm5IHM/UzhPsv83GhI/AAAAAAAAG3k/8l2nSXeg-Jc/s300/sm-sandow.jpg
1867-1925
The “father of modern bodybuilding,” Sandow first became a phenom by displaying his muscles at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. However, strongmen could not only be strong at that point in history, so he also enthralled audiences by wrapping chains around his chest and breaking them. After his sideshow antics got people saying his name, Sandow moved on to promoting bodybuilding. He held the first major bodybuilding contest called the “Great Competition” at the Royal Albert Hall on September 14, 1901. Just think, without him, the world would never know the Founding Fathers of Beefcake: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Lou Ferrigno and Roland Kickinger.
7. Great Antonio
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-GRw1EpSwZMo/UzhPqssDfDI/AAAAAAAAG3c/sztjaLldafs/s263/sm-antonio.jpg
1925-2003
The adjective “great” is an understatement for Antonio’s stature and personality. Weighting 465 pounds and standing 6-foot-4, his suits were size 90, his shoes size 28 and he often ate 25 chickens or 10 steaks at one sitting. In 1952, the Guinness Book of World Records recognized him for pulling a 433-ton train for 19.8 meters. Guinness also mentioned him again in a later edition for his feat of pulling four city buses loaded with passengers. A noted eccentric, he offered to pull a Boeing 747 down the tarmac provided Boeing gave him a jet for his own personal use, and he approached Don King saying that he would do a fight film for $1 million.
6. Andre the Giant
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-7RnwaE-WRy4/UzhPbRWMTgI/AAAAAAAAG3U/OuDi3f4lcwU/s300/sm-andre.jpg
1946-1993
Billed the “Eighth Wonder of the World,” the 7-foot-4 and 540-pound giant is best-known as a professional wrestler. However, André Roussimoff resembled a classic strongman more than a wrestler. Before exploding on TV, he traveled from town to town taking on all comers. Reportedly, he once took on 10 men in a row and threw them all from the ring. Only his tolerance matched his physical strength. It’s estimated he drank 7,000 calories of booze every day. In Japan, he once drank 16 bottles of plum wine before a wrestling match and seemed unaffected. Ric Flair remembers him drinking 60 beers, then dragging two 250-pound wrestlers from the bar to the beach and throwing them in the water.
By Ryan McKee
While the World’s Strongest Man competition is fun to watch, we cannot help but long for the classic strongmen in history. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, a strongman worked as part circus performer, part power-lifter and part wrestler. Actual strongman competitions existed, but they rarely had real structure. It usually boiled down to, “Hey, see that heavy thing? I can pick it up. Can you?” Or if you became well-known, you wrestled professionally when the sport resembled something between Greco-Roman and a bar fight.
They were quirky showmen with cocky attitudes. They lifted and broke things that no normal person should. If one strongman happened to roll into town when another one was there, they had to fight for the local audience. They wrestled all comers and afterward, they would drink everyone under the table. Here are the top 10 strongmen that we’d travel back in time just to watch.
10. Stanislaw Zbyszko Cyganiewicz
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-UkT3pZ4XJUQ/UzhP0b7XSlI/AAAAAAAAG30/stdqNZ68gGA/s300/sm-stanislaw.jpg
1879-1967
One of the most influential European grapplers of all time, Cyganiewicz fancied himself more of a scholar than a brawler. Naturally muscular and brave, Cyganiewicz earned the childhood nickname "Zbyszko," after a fictional medieval Polish knight. This attitude led him to challenge an experienced grappler on a whim at a local circus around 1900. The bookworm dominated the wrestler and word spread that a new premier badass had arrived. Zbyszko became an international wrestling star, giving the undefeated Great Gama the toughest match of his career. Zbyszko frustrated the Indian legend to a draw after nearly three hours of grappling.
9. Georg Hackenschmidt
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-hfI0VaMGFvk/UzhPyk37LMI/AAAAAAAAG3s/6HGaXDQWbwQ/s300/sm-hackenschmidt.jpg
1878-1968
“The Russian Lion” became the first widely recognized World Heavyweight Champion in wrestling history. He is believed to be the creator of the professional wrestling version of the bear hug. The native Estonian went on to become famous weightlifter, inventing the hack squat, a squat-deadlift with arms behind the body. He also wrote several books on fitness. Those familiar with modern training regimens will recognize a number of lifts Hackenschmidt popularized, including the bench press. Can you imagine a gym-rat not asking, “So how much you bench?” Thanks to Hackenschmidt, we can’t.
8. Eugen Sandow
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-VwOY-qm5IHM/UzhPsv83GhI/AAAAAAAAG3k/8l2nSXeg-Jc/s300/sm-sandow.jpg
1867-1925
The “father of modern bodybuilding,” Sandow first became a phenom by displaying his muscles at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. However, strongmen could not only be strong at that point in history, so he also enthralled audiences by wrapping chains around his chest and breaking them. After his sideshow antics got people saying his name, Sandow moved on to promoting bodybuilding. He held the first major bodybuilding contest called the “Great Competition” at the Royal Albert Hall on September 14, 1901. Just think, without him, the world would never know the Founding Fathers of Beefcake: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Lou Ferrigno and Roland Kickinger.
7. Great Antonio
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-GRw1EpSwZMo/UzhPqssDfDI/AAAAAAAAG3c/sztjaLldafs/s263/sm-antonio.jpg
1925-2003
The adjective “great” is an understatement for Antonio’s stature and personality. Weighting 465 pounds and standing 6-foot-4, his suits were size 90, his shoes size 28 and he often ate 25 chickens or 10 steaks at one sitting. In 1952, the Guinness Book of World Records recognized him for pulling a 433-ton train for 19.8 meters. Guinness also mentioned him again in a later edition for his feat of pulling four city buses loaded with passengers. A noted eccentric, he offered to pull a Boeing 747 down the tarmac provided Boeing gave him a jet for his own personal use, and he approached Don King saying that he would do a fight film for $1 million.
6. Andre the Giant
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-7RnwaE-WRy4/UzhPbRWMTgI/AAAAAAAAG3U/OuDi3f4lcwU/s300/sm-andre.jpg
1946-1993
Billed the “Eighth Wonder of the World,” the 7-foot-4 and 540-pound giant is best-known as a professional wrestler. However, André Roussimoff resembled a classic strongman more than a wrestler. Before exploding on TV, he traveled from town to town taking on all comers. Reportedly, he once took on 10 men in a row and threw them all from the ring. Only his tolerance matched his physical strength. It’s estimated he drank 7,000 calories of booze every day. In Japan, he once drank 16 bottles of plum wine before a wrestling match and seemed unaffected. Ric Flair remembers him drinking 60 beers, then dragging two 250-pound wrestlers from the bar to the beach and throwing them in the water.