They Solved the Riddle of Steel…

Dear Friend,

Today we are going to go back, way back, back through the annals of time to re-visit some of history’s great steel benders. This is going to be some wild, crazy stuff so hang on to your hat…zip sip and away we go!

- The first great steel bender? Leonardo Da Vinci. Yes, that’s right the prototypical Renaissance man--artist, sculptor, architect, inventor, astronomer, vampire hunter (still paying attention?) also had the physical strength to match his genius level intellect. Born April 15, 1452, in Vinci, Italy, in his prime Leo could also bend horseshoes and was well known for his jumping ability. Mens sana in corpore sano? You betcha!

- Thomas Topham, the famous eighteenth century English Strongman could hold a fireplace poker in one hand and strike his other forearm with such force that the poker would bend at a 45 degree angle. He also rolled up a thick pewter dish using just the strength of his fingers and lifted an 800 lb millstone fastened to a chain (not at the same time of course.)

- John Grunn Marx, “the Luxembourg Hercules” broke three horseshoes in the short span of 2 minutes and 15 seconds at an exhibition in Paris around 1905.He came from a family of blacksmiths

- Charles Vansittart, known on the Vaudeville circuit as “Vansart, the Man with the Iron Grip” was able to bend a 3/8 inch square, by 7 inch long wrought iron spike into a U-Shape. Let me tell you, as tough as regular round steel bending is, it’s a whole new ballgame with square stock.

- The Great Russian Strongman Alexander Zass was able to “U” a piecee of steel comparable to a modern railroad spike. He was also a great nail driver.

- Joe “The Mighty Atom” Greenstein at a bodyweight of only 140 pounds could bend or drive nails with the best of them. The feat he was most well know was biting (yes actually biting) nails in half. To this day you can still see a nail which the Atom bit in half on display in the York Barbell Museum.

- Ben Read “The King of the Nail Benders” According to David Horne’s Iron Grip Course, Ben could bend 100 six-inch long nails in 10 minutes and 3 seconds (among his many other feats.)

- Stefan Siatkowski “The Man of Iron” Actually I know nothing of Stefan other than the incredibly cool postcard of him that I have where he is bending a huge piece of steel clenched in his jaw!

Keep in mind, these are just a handful of the great steel benders of history. There are many more and they are just as impressive.

We will be focusing on some more of them in our upcoming materials. Even if you are like me and have no interest in actually partaking in bending, it is still a fascinating journey and the accomplishments of some of these men cannot be overlooked.

Needless to say, the levels of hand strength that are necessary for steel bending are out of this world. It take a very special person to bend at these high levels.

I do know one thing, however, as impressive as these feats are, we have a few modern day steel benders that could give the Old Timers a run for their money. Dennis Rogers, who you all know by now and who is no slouch in the strength department puts Pat Povilaitis right up there with the great ones and I would agree.

I was just talking with Pat the other day and he told me he was actually able to bend…well I won’t ruin the surprise but let me say, forget pound-for-pound, Pat is bending some pieces of steel that simply should not be budged by human hands, regardless of the sized body they are attached to (Pat only weights 168 pounds BTW.)

Pat and Dennis have some VERY interesting projects coming up very soon and you heard about it here first on functionalhandstrength.com

Train hard,

John Wood signature

John Wood

P.S. If you want to learn how to bend steel you are going to want to check this out.