Due to
popular demand I have finally (in respect to the request of my many site viewers
worldwide) I now acquiesce and have prepared a series of personalized articles
in respect to personally meeting, or otherwise, my viewpoints and analysis
involving three outstanding strength athletes in modern times, who, according to
the consensus of the strength world in this relatively late period seem to stand
alone and above in capturing the interest and admiration worldwide of those
intimately involved in the iron game.
No knowledgeable strength enthusiast will ever doubt that Cyr was a man possessed with super extraordinary physical strength. All one need do is
glance at the huge proportions of his body displayed in the rare photos of him
in those early days in strength history.
Unfortunately, he had a failing, a lethal failing culminating in his
premature death after a long period of intense suffering. In short, Louis Cyr,
for want of a better term, expired from overeating, especially those toxic-laden
foods. A common failing, I might add, of numerous strong men in those early
days.
However, in the years of his life beforehand, he was, I believe,
undoubtedly one of the strongest of men. I hesitate however in saying that he
was the strongest man. Cyr’s major claim to fame was his prowess in
backlifting, coupled with one fingered elevating of weights from the floor
level. It would be unfair to base the claim of strongest man in the world on
lifts that very few worldwide would practice. The only bona fide lifts that Cyr
performed that could be put forward to be used as a criteria to lay claim as the
strongest of men was his one and two arm pressing of weights overhead. Of course
there is no way of ascertaining if these lifts were executed strictly. However,
even if they were, they could have been used comparatively to base a claim as
the strongest man of his period, but the pre-mentioned lifts could definitely
not be presented as a platform to lay claim to the strongest man in history or,
for that matter, in our present day and age.
As far as I know Louis Cyr, in his prime, weighed upwards from 300
pounds. But I personally have concluded that his most efficient body weight
would be in the neighborhood of 340 pounds! At this weight he elevated a
dumbbell to overhead weighing 173 pounds. I am very familiar with this dumbbell
as at a demonstration in Quebec, Canada, in 1963, I military pressed it at a
body weight of 280 pounds.
I wish to state here and now that I have in my possession a number of
signed affidavits attesting that I military pressed a 220-pound dumbbell in
their presence in good form.
Cyr has been given credit for an overhead press of 310 pounds.
Unfortunately, as far as I am aware, there are no photos or documentation in the
existence to support any of his feats of strength. If there were I would
certainly like to see them.
As for Cyr’s physical dimensions a record of this has been established
by David Willoughby, now deceased, one of the world’s top authorities, if not
THE WORLD AUTHORITY on strong men of the past. I met Mr. Willoughby in circa
1951 where he took my overall measurements with a steel tape then stated: “you
are larger than Louis Cyr in ALL BODILY DIMENSIONS excepting the neck and calf.
In all other odd lifts such as platform backlifting, holding horses, etc.
performed by Cyr have been duplicated and exceeded substantially by modern
specialists in this field.
The World Elite Weightlifting Association WELCOMES THOSE PARTIES WHO TAKE
EXCEPTION TO ANY OR ALL OF THIS ENTIRE ARTICLE WE WOULD BE PLEASED TO
INVESTIGATE ANY TANGIBLE AND DOCUMENTED MATERIAL THAT WOULD DISCLAIM ANY PORTION
OF THIS ARTICLE.
MARCH 16, 2000
To summarize; Established world experts have unanimously concluded
that in this day and age Louis Cyr would have been incapable of equaling any of
my established world record lifts.
My first encounter with Paul Anderson took place at the USA Junior Nationals in Detroit. I was unaware at the time that he would be competing and I was curious as to his ability. His body weight at this time was well over 300 pounds! I weighed in at 268 pounds. As things went, however, I realized that any concern regarding loosing was unfounded and I won with a comfortable margin.
I met him a second time years later in Los Angeles at his manager’s
home where he was training for a part in the movie “Blazing Saddles”
portraying a blacksmith as a strong man. I was returning from Hawaii after
giving a series of strength demonstrations throughout the island. The heat there
was terrific and being unused to it, I must confess it took it’s toll on my
energy bank. I was picked up by Paul’s manager and taken directly to his home.
Upon arriving I was escorted through the house to the back yard. Paul was seated
at a round table over which was a huge sunshade umbrella sipping on what
obviously was a large tankard of protein. Paul had grown, as evidenced by the
huge bulk of his hips and thighs. I swear that the configuration of his thighs
when seated formed a complete circle. I was then introduced to Paul by his
manager and was seated at the table where we had a lengthy conversation touching
upon various aspects of the strength building game. Then, I suppose you might
say, the inevitable happened. Paul’s manager said “Doug, come on over to the
bench press rack, let’s see what you can do”! You might say that I expected
this would happen as I already had been approached by Paul’s manager to make a
tour with Paul demonstrating our strength together.
I loaded the bar to a warm-up poundage and performed a few reps, Paul
joined in and we proceeded to increase the poundage at each jump doing single
repetitions heading for our respective limits. To make a long story short, we
both succeeded with a limit 500 pound dead stop from the chest in strict form. I
won handily due to the vast differential in our body weight, as is the ruling
competitively. I also wish to state here that Paul was in a rested condition
where I was not. There is no doubt in my mind had I been rested and prepared at
this time I would have pressed upwards from 510-520 pounds.
Another event took place strength-wise between the two of us that amazed
me. There was a crude regular training bar on the ground with a thick handle
loaded to 160 pounds. On an impulse I picked the bar up and performed a strict
two-hand slow curl with it easily. Paul, as before, stepped in and picked up the
bar to curl it as I did. I couldn’t believe it! He tried with everything he
had, the bar didn’t even move. Paul undoubtedly had underestimated my curling
ability in a big way.
One thing more that surprised me at this time. Paul had a pair of squat
stands in his training area, upon which was a bar loaded to 420 pounds. Without
a word he approached the bar, shouldered it in front, and attempted to press it
overhead. He tried three times but failed. Even so, in all fairness, Paul is
offered the opportunity to lay claim to the title of the strongest man by this
writer and our organization, the WEWA. If those persons associated and surviving
Paul will oblige and assist and will cooperate in providing access to all
essential information verifying his validity to lay claim to the strongest man
in history.
CARL NORBERG
I have never met Mr. Norberg personally. Obviously, according to numerous articles in various publications, he must have been an extraordinary man strength-wise. On numerous occasions I have given strength demonstrations in his own “stamping grounds”, surprisingly, he never appeared at any of my performances as it has appeared in many strength journals that he was prone to appearing, and on occasion, would attempt to duplicate the lifts performed on stage as he did during a strength demonstration in San Francisco by the late and immortal close friend of mine, John Grimek. Incidentally, I wrote John regarding this and the article involving John and Norberg in their meeting on stage describing the affair to him. He stated point-blank that the article was incorrect regarding the lifts that took place there. There is no doubt that Norberg had extraordinary strength for an untrained man. But he certainly would never hold his own against the elite super-champions of the world! He certainly would, however, more than hold his own against almost all-older men of his age. Unfortunately, Norberg possessed an unbalanced distribution of bodily strength. As evidenced by the comparative under-development of his lower body.
In short, when it came to squatting and other allied strength movements, he simply “didn’t have it”. This, in itself, would prove his nemesis in a contest with the strongest of senior strong men in history. However, in closing, the World Elite Weightlifting Association, as is their policy, extends an invitation to any or all individuals who were close to Mr. Norberg to present any official documents as to poundages elevated in the presence of the AAU or similarly qualified representatives regarding weight and correct performance of the lifts. We will be more than happy to oblige with the complete investigation of the authenticity of documents presented preparatory to final comparison of Mr. Norberg to the all-time greats in history.
ED N:
Thanks for your support. Any record lift performed since 1950 and not validated by polygraph to prove that the lift was performed lifetime drug free allows for the possibility of drug ingestion and is therefore "questionable" and could not be presented comparatively in respect to a proven lifetime drug free record holder.
Thanks again,
Doug
TONY E:
Thanks for your support. Firstly if I did what the present world record holders did I would not have set any records at all, as when the truth is faced drug induced levels of record strength fall into the category of "illusion" "fake" "facade" etc. They do not exist in reality, any more than believing the magician who pulls a rabbit out of a hat.
Yours in strength,
Doug Hepburn