More lessons from the Oldtime Strongmen
I am continually amazed by just how much great training information the oldtime strongmen and physical culturalists knew. I also laugh at those folks who say that they won’t train a certain way because it’s “too old fashioned.”
Even today with all the glitz and glamour of “modern” strength training methods, it is the basics that you can count on to be effective. What worked back in the day will work just as effectively now. Of course, somewhere along the way, lots of people got the idea that “success” comes before “work” (only in the dictionary, Jack.)
At any rate, I just ran across this pretty amazing bit of forgotten lore… Just take a look at what this individual had to say and the experiences and knowledge that he gained through his training. Compare and contrast what you see here with what you will find in the information in the “muscle comics” out there. Examine what is written here and then think about what this gent is really ‘saying.’
Even today with all the glitz and glamour of “modern” strength training methods, it is the basics that you can count on to be effective. What worked back in the day will work just as effectively now. Of course, somewhere along the way, lots of people got the idea that “success” comes before “work” (only in the dictionary, Jack.)
At any rate, I just ran across this pretty amazing bit of forgotten lore… Just take a look at what this individual had to say and the experiences and knowledge that he gained through his training. Compare and contrast what you see here with what you will find in the information in the “muscle comics” out there. Examine what is written here and then think about what this gent is really ‘saying.’
“During these nine years, while endeavoring to promote my physical welfare, I have made the following discoveries:
1st – That whatever increases my strength improves my health.
2nd – That one means of improving my health was to increase my strength.
3rd – The stronger I became, the healthier I became.
4th – That it was easy for me to increase the strength of my body as it was that of a magnet.
5th – That, by developing the body harmoniously, I could preclude the possibility of hernia , or any other serious injury, that otherwise might arise from an extremely violent action of my muscles.
6th – That lifting, if properly practiced, was the surest and quickest method of producing harmonious development; while it was also the most strengthening of all exercises, and consequently the most healthful.
7th – That it was better, while exercising, to perform twenty different feats once than one feat twenty times.
8th – That it was possible for me to take, in fifteen or twenty minutes, all the gymnastic exercises that I should need in twenty-four hours.
9th – That I could gain faster in strength by forty minutes exercises, once in two days, than by twenty minutes of the same day.
10th – That too much exercise is the same as not enough.
11th – That, as my strength increased, any exercise should be more intense, but less protracted.
12th – That increase of the muscular power was attended with increase of the digestive.
13th – That one means of increasing the digestive power was to increase the muscular.
14th – That many articles of food had formerly proved injurious to me, not because they were really unwholesome, but because I was unable to digest them.
15th – That a person may become possessed of great physical strength without having inherited it.
16th – That, by increasing strength, a predisposition to certain diseases may be removed, and diseases already present removed or mitigated.
17th – That increase of strength cannot long continue on a diet exclusively vegetable.
18th – That increasing the strength made excretion take place less from the skin, but more from the lungs and other emunctories.19th – That what benefits a part of the body, benefits more or less, the whole.
20th – That, long before I succeeded in lifting 1100 lbs. With the hands, or in shouldering a barrel of flour from the floor, I had ceased to be troubled with sick, headache, nervousness and indigestion.
21st – That a delicate boy of seventeen need not despair of becoming, in time, a remarkably strong and healthy man.”
1st – That whatever increases my strength improves my health.
2nd – That one means of improving my health was to increase my strength.
3rd – The stronger I became, the healthier I became.
4th – That it was easy for me to increase the strength of my body as it was that of a magnet.
5th – That, by developing the body harmoniously, I could preclude the possibility of hernia , or any other serious injury, that otherwise might arise from an extremely violent action of my muscles.
6th – That lifting, if properly practiced, was the surest and quickest method of producing harmonious development; while it was also the most strengthening of all exercises, and consequently the most healthful.
7th – That it was better, while exercising, to perform twenty different feats once than one feat twenty times.
8th – That it was possible for me to take, in fifteen or twenty minutes, all the gymnastic exercises that I should need in twenty-four hours.
9th – That I could gain faster in strength by forty minutes exercises, once in two days, than by twenty minutes of the same day.
10th – That too much exercise is the same as not enough.
11th – That, as my strength increased, any exercise should be more intense, but less protracted.
12th – That increase of the muscular power was attended with increase of the digestive.
13th – That one means of increasing the digestive power was to increase the muscular.
14th – That many articles of food had formerly proved injurious to me, not because they were really unwholesome, but because I was unable to digest them.
15th – That a person may become possessed of great physical strength without having inherited it.
16th – That, by increasing strength, a predisposition to certain diseases may be removed, and diseases already present removed or mitigated.
17th – That increase of strength cannot long continue on a diet exclusively vegetable.
18th – That increasing the strength made excretion take place less from the skin, but more from the lungs and other emunctories.19th – That what benefits a part of the body, benefits more or less, the whole.
20th – That, long before I succeeded in lifting 1100 lbs. With the hands, or in shouldering a barrel of flour from the floor, I had ceased to be troubled with sick, headache, nervousness and indigestion.
21st – That a delicate boy of seventeen need not despair of becoming, in time, a remarkably strong and healthy man.”
These words were written in 1860 by George Barker Windship, the famous Physical Culturist of the North East. It just goes to show that good advice never gets old.
I find it amazing how insightful those words are. If you never read another piece of training literature besides what is listed there. you would know just about all you would ever need to know. Hard work, perseverance, healthy habits, eating good foods. A balanced approach, the big picture… These are lessons that few people learn. Try to get any amount of training information out of the “muscle comics” and you’ll realize what I’m talking about very quickly.