These two sites are the benchmark internet repository for the huge amount of material that was written both by and about the great strongmen who lived between the close of the 19th century and the start of the modern era and the popularisation of bodybuilding (i.e. the rise of Arnold).

One of the most prolific authors both in and about that period is the British author, David Gentle.

So who is David Gentle, exactly? 

David Gentle is an internationally recognised author and historian of physical culture. For several decades, he has been a regular contributor of over 25 of the world’s top muscle magazines.  His prolific writings include over 2,000 articles published in the World Muscle Press.

He was born in 1933 and was a successful bodybuilding and Maxalding practitioner, winning awards for both his physique and muscle control abilities.  He wasn’t a slouch in the strength stakes, either, hitting a double bodyweight bench press of 136kg (300lbs).

David received the John Grimek Life-Time Achievement Award in Italy in recognition of his extraordinary contributions to physical culture and was also awarded the Outstanding Contribution to Physical Culture Award by the Oscar Heidenstam Foundation for services to bodybuilding.

You can see my round-up of some of my favourite articles by David here.

David Gentle’s new website

Recently, I was contacted by the site administrator to let me know that David has a new website.  Please go and check it out.  It has a more complete articles section, which is intended to be updated continually.  It contains David’s extraordinary collection of iron works including articles about:

• Muscle groups – David’s insights into training abs, arms and forearms
• Legendary bodybuilders – Marvin Eder, John Grimek et al.
• History of physical culture – a century of muscles
• Bodybuilding – an encyclopaedia
• Insights and reflections – David’s personal thoughts on the iron game
• Weight training – dumbbells, barbells and more
• Unusual feats of strength – tough teeth and other strange things
• Profiles of the greats – Sandow and his friends

Please visit David Gentle and enjoy the writings of one of the most prolific writers of physical culture of his time!

If you’ve been bitten by the bug that gets some of us sometimes and feel the need to hoist a heavy weight without the safety and predictability of a barbell, then check out these tips that I’ve learned the hard way.

Tip #1: weigh your sandbag regularly

This applies most to those of us who keep our sandbags out of doors.  I use a piece of tarpaulin to keep it (mostly) dry but it still gets a bit damp occasionally.  The extra water in the material (I use an army surplus bag to hold my sand) makes it heavier and the amount that the bag can vary will surprise you.

Tip #2: use small weights plates to increase the load incrementally

There is nothing sadder than training with the same weight implement day after day after day.  For improvement to happen, we usually need to increase the load carried.

However, adding extra sand to your sandbag is both time-consuming and tedious.  I’ve found that it’s perfectly possible to use a few spare weights plates to bump the weight up by 5kg (10lbs) or 10kg (20lbs) before adding extra bags of sand.  That way, I can programme sandbags into my routine and steadily work the weight up from week to week.

One extra tip, though, if you are going to use weights plates as extra ballast.  Don’t forget where the plate is in the bag.  I tend to use quite tightly packed sandbags and if I put the weight plate on the side that I approach the sandbag to pick it up , it digs into my chest.  It’s an easy solution: just turn the sandbag around and grasp it from the other direction!  Not what you want, though, if you’re working to the clock!

Tip #3: decide what you want to use your sandbag for most and set it up to do that

I have used my sandbag for a number of different exercises, including:

• Lifting and carrying;
• Lifting and loading; and
• Cleaning to the shoulder

I found that I preferred the sandbag to be quite solid for lifting and carrying but I liked the bag to have a bit of material free to hold onto for lifting and loading.  On the other hand, for cleaning to the shoulder, it’s easiest if the bag is nicely floppy.  I decided that I probably benefited most from the lifting and carrying, since I could use most weight that way, so I’ve set my sandbag up so it behaves more like an oddly-shaped Atlas stone.

Wrapped tightly and tied off for easy lifting

World’s Strongest Man: 1980s

• World’s Strongest Man: the 1980s - Bill Kazmaier, Jon Pall Sigmarsson and Geoff Capes make this decade a legend in World’s Strongest Man.  But don’t miss out on some of the other great characters, including Tom Magee, Dave Waddington and the fastest strongman in the world, Ab Wolders.
• World’s Strongest Man: 1980 and 1982 - Bill Kazmaier stamps his unmistakable brand of confidence upon the newly-formed World’s Strongest Man competitions and declares himself “the Strongest Man Whoever Lived”.  Just brilliant.
• World’s Strongest Man: 1983 and 1984 - The competition moves outside of the USA and Bill Kazmaier doesn’t compete.  Geoff Capes and Jon Pall Sigmarsson start their duel.  Capes takes the first round and Sigmarsson the second.
• World’s Strongest Man: 1985 and 1986 - Still overseas, Capes and Sigmarsson battle it out furiously but the best of friends.
• World’s Strongest Man: 1988 and 1989 - After missing a year, the competition returns and now Sigmarsson and Kazmaier are both in attendance.  Capes has retired and a new Brit has stormed onto the scene, brusque Yorkshireman Jamie Reeves.

World’s Strongest Man: 1990s

• World’s Strongest Man: the 1990s - A new chapter in the lifetime of World’s Strongest Man.  While the last decade arguably belonged to the great Icelandic strongman Jon Pall Sigmarsson, this decade definitely belonged to his spiritual descendant, Magnus Ver Magnusson.  But don’t miss out on some of the other great characters, including the giant Ted Van Der Parre, the jovial Gerrit Badenhorst and the colourful Manfred Hoeberl.
• World’s Strongest Man: 1991 and 1992 - The new champion, Magnus Ver Magnusson comes out of nowhere to win in 1991 and then dramatically loses on home turf in 1992.
• World’s Strongest Man: 1993 - The greatest year for the UK as Gary Taylor obliterates the competition and wins in one of the most dominating performances seen since Kazmaier.
• World’s Strongest Man: 1994 and 1995 - the Iceman returns and claims his crown, which he holds for three years in a row.
• World’s Strongest Man: 1996 and 1997 - a new era begins, as Jouko Ahola, the small but powerful Finn and his nemesis the giant Swede, Magnus Samuelsson, battle it out against a backdrop of warm and sunny locations.
• World’s Strongest Man: 1998 and 1999 - Jouko Ahola and Samuelsson continue to battle it out.  New faces appear, including the future champion Svend Karlsen,along with old ones, like Hungarian stone lifting champion Lazslo Fekete, noticably chunkier than in his 1980s appearances.

My favourite moments

If the above snippets whet your appetite for more, then check out my favourite moments for more highlights of the World’s Strongest Man.

• World’s Strongest Man: my favourite moments in the 1980s
• World’s Strongest Man: my favourite moments in the 1990s

I hope you enjoyed them as much as I did and I’ll keep you guessing as to what I’ll do as my next series!

Here are some of my favourite moments:

• 1991: Gregg Ernst being the first to lift the fifth McGlashan stone.  He said at the time that his motivation to lift it came from knowing how happy his wife would be when he did. 
• 1992: Ted Van Der Parre overcoming the problems caused by incompetant officials to win the truck pull at his second attempt, despite being yanked backwards during his first attempt as the truck ran over the starting block.
• 1993: Gary Taylor going first in pushing Samson’s barrow, breathing fire with sheer concentration, giving it everything he had, and setting too fast a time for anyone else, not even Magnus Ver Magnusson, to catch him.
• 1994: Gerrit Badehorst setting a new world record for the rock lift with 140kg (310lbs) in his home country of South Africa and then standing on one leg to show everyone how easy it was.
• 1995: Gary Taylor anihilating everyone on the behind-the-neck rack press using stone weights like something out of the Flintstones, and Magnus Ver Magnusson defeating everyone on the block lift despite being one of the lighter competitors.
• 1996: Gerrit Badenhorst showing everyone that he is a world class deadlifter by pulling a weight that no-one else could pull, barely even slowing down as he did so.
• 1997: Magnus Samuelsson winning the Husafel stone, holding it high on his chest but still managing to peer over the top because of his great height.  More amazing still is that he won despite some great performances from the other competitors and despite the fact that he had only just won his first event immediately beforehand.
• 1998: the first event, the farmers’ walk being an incredibly dramatic start to the competition.  Joako Ahola set the pace but Magnus Samuelsson and the crowd-pleasing newcomer Wout Zijilstra stayed with him.  However, just at the finishing line, both Wout and Magnus dropped their implements and while Jouko still took first place, Riku Kiri walked, astonished, into second place.
• 1999: Laszlo Fekete, an unassuming and modest man, ruling the McGlashan stones despite an all-star line up.  He made a slow start as his first stone wouldn’t settle onto the platform and came back to bash him on the nose.  However, despite the blood pouring down his face, he brought considerable experience to bear and proceeded steadily through to the final (160kg) stone in a fast time overall. 

It’s been a great couple of weeks watching these finals and it’s been fun to analyse them and think about what happened.  I’ve definitely found a lot of inspiration in watching these remarkable athletes and I hope you have shared some of that feeling.

Here are some of my favourite moments:

• 1980 – the bar bending event yielded some amazingly simian noises as the gorilla-sized contestants battled with the 11/16 inch diameter bar.  Bill Kazmaier was the only one to finish and he strolled around with the bar wrapped around his neck like a medallion as the others tried and failed to complete the bend.  
• 1982 – this year, the weight for height event was expected to be hotly contested between Geoff Capes and Bill Kazmaier, Capes being the world record holder from 1981 and Kazmaier expecting to clear 18 feet for a new world record.  In fact, Capes hit the bar on the way down from one of his throws, leaving Kazmaier free to take first place.  When Bill did throw, however, his throw cleared the bar by so much it was clear that 18 feet was no empty boast.
• 1983 – the silver dollar deadlift came early in the sequence this year and it was Tom Magee who dominated the event, lifting 535kg (1,180lbs) for a new world record.  In an amazing performance, he pushed a very young looking Jon Pall Sigmarsson into second and the world record holder in the deadlift (Doyle Kenady, 890lbs) into third.
• 1984 – the static hold this year was made with an unusual implement: a wooden rocking horse.  It was also a surprising triumph for Ab Wolders, who pushed Jon Pall Sigmarsson into second.  Kindly, the event organisers gave Ab the rocking horse to take home for his son.
• 1985 – the Swingletree event came up this year.  This is a directly competitive event where the competitors sit on the ground facing each other and grasp a pole horizontally.  “Grizzly” Brown defeated Sigmarsson, mainly on account of his huge bodyweight.  But in the final, it was Geoff Capes who defeated the Grizzly by ripping the pole out of his hands twice.
• 1986 – the boat deadlift was controversial as Sigmarsson was disqualified twice, once for dropping the boat and once for bouncing the boat before lifting.  Despite being the main beneficiary of any disqualification, Geoff Capes went into overdrive to persuade the official to allow him to continue.  With these teething difficulties out of the way, he managed to go on to win.
• 1988 – the medley this year was a sack carry and reverse sack drag that few of the competitors managed to get the hang of.  Bill Kazmaier used a better technique to win the contest by a very long way and even found time to mock Jon Pall Sigmarsson’s Viking laugh.  Embarrassingly, he fell over mid-mockery (twice), making him look more foolish than triumphant.  Fortunately, he did manage to win or the egg on his face might have been unbearable.
• 1989 – the McGlashan stone shouldering this year was an event full of drama.  Jim Pollock was coaching Ab Wolders, who only managed to shoulder one stone.  While on stage, he got in the way of Laszlo Fekete’s falling stones and managed to get his feet squashed twice, performing an impromptu highland fling, much to the amusement of the crowd.

It’s been a great couple of weeks watching these finals and it’s been fun to analyse them and think about what happened.  I’ve definitely found a lot of inspiration in watching these remarkable athletes and I hope you have shared some of that feeling.