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The Strongmen and their Incredible Feats of Strength from the Early 20th Century

Circus performers and entertainers more often demonstrated their incredible strength in the late 19th century and early 20th century than competitive athletes. The strongmen and women who competed against each other for prestige and popularity originated in Europe and spread to the United States. Eventually, the bodybuilding culture developed from this.

Historically, strongmen performed various feats of strength, such as bending steel and breaking chains (not to be confused with bench press, which did not exist at the time). These feats required tremendous wrist, hand, and tendon strength, as well as prodigious oblique power. The performers also bent iron bars, did hand balances, lifted weird objects (barrels, anvils, anchors, people), and did various other crazy tricks. Strongmen who stood out from the crowd often performed peculiar or unusual acts, saying they could only do them and challenging other performers.

By the end of the 20th century, the term strongman was applied to someone who competes in strength athletics. Strongman competitions are modern strength competitions in which competitors display their raw functional strength by lifting rocks, toting refrigerators, pulling trains, pulling eighteen-wheel trucks, etc. Below are some stunning historical photos of some of the strongmen of the early 20th century.

#1 A strongman lying on his back onstage, lifting a group of men and the bench on which they sit, 1935

#2 A 60-year-old British soldier lifts 500 pounds of man and steel, 1941.

#3 Galen Gotch trains for the Strongman World Championship In New York by being run over by a car, 1920.

#4 Greek boxer and strongman Just Lessis demonstrating his prowess by bending an iron bar around his neck, 1925.

#5 Circus strongman Stefan demonstrates his strength by towing a motorcar with his teeth through the streets of Berlin, 1925.

#6 Edward Reece shows his strength by supporting a troupe of four actresses while he is suspended between two chairs, 1927.

#7 C. Attenborrow of the Royal Horse Guards, considered to be the strongest man in the British Army, holds a comrade up in the air with one hand, 1927.

#8 21-year-old Swansea tailor Harry Pelta, winner of the title of the strongest man in Wales, 1935.

#9 Edward Reece holds up two women with his teeth, 1927.

#10 Lewis Clark, “the strong boy,” shows off his back muscles, 1930.

#11 A 14-year-old calling himself “Boy Samson” supports a 200-pound motorcycle and its rider, 1932.

#12 J. Rolleano bears the weight of a Citroen car running over his chest, 1932.

#14 Tom Joyce, who claimed to be the strongest man in Bristol, shows his strength by having four men pull at a rope tied around his neck, 1932

#15 Samson Brown, “the world’s strongest man,” lets a motorcycle run over him, 1934.

#16 Joe Price uses a 50-pound hammer to nail up a notice, 1934.

#17 London strongman George Challard allows a companion to bend a piece of iron around his neck, 1935.

#18 George Challard bends an iron bar with his teeth, 1935.

#19 Joe Smith, a blacksmith from Gloucester, picks up and balances a roadworks notice in his teeth, 1936.

#20 Jean Challard, who claimed to be the world’s champion steel bender and strong-man, supports the weight of a push-cart on his windpipe, 1938

#21 Strongman Gus Lasser bends an iron pipe with his mouth, 1920s.

#22 A strongman pulls a car with his teeth outside of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington D.C., 1921

#23 Andre Reverdy demonstrates his core strength by having women jump on his mid-section from a table, 1920s

#24 The world’s strongest strongman, Ivan “The Great” demonstrates his strength by holding a plank with five dancing couples on it, 1924

#25 A strongman holds a rock on his chest while two men try to smash it with hammers, 1945

#26 Strongman Mr. Briton balances tow cyclists and a dancer on his chest in Harry Benet’s circus at Chiswick Empire in London, England on Sept. 4, 1945

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Written by Aung Budhh

Husband + Father + librarian + Poet + Traveler + Proud Buddhist. I love you with the breath, the smiles and the tears of all my life.

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