Post by Admin on Jul 16, 2007 19:47:36 GMT -8
The current issue of Powerlifting USA (June) has an article by Bob Gaynor on the early history of powerlifting. I hope, however, that Bob's history of powerlifting is a little more accurate than his mention of the origins of baseball. In the article, he mentions that Abner Doubleday invented baseball. In actuality, Doubleday had nothing to do with the beginnings of our national pastime.
Anyway, a couple of things younger lifters may not know. In the early days of powerlifting, to perform the squat (then known as the deep knee bend), you had to stand the barbell on end and rock it onto your shoulders, then perform the squat. After the attempt you then had to reverse the process. Quite a bit tougher than using a monolift!
Gaynor mentions that Bob Peoples deadlifted 740 pounds at a bodyweight of 178...over six decades ago. This is a tremendous pull. Consider that Ed Coan holds the WPC record in the 181-pound class with 791 set in 1984.
There's also a nice photo of Paul Anderson's silver-dollar lift during one of his performances in Reno.
Anyway, a couple of things younger lifters may not know. In the early days of powerlifting, to perform the squat (then known as the deep knee bend), you had to stand the barbell on end and rock it onto your shoulders, then perform the squat. After the attempt you then had to reverse the process. Quite a bit tougher than using a monolift!
Gaynor mentions that Bob Peoples deadlifted 740 pounds at a bodyweight of 178...over six decades ago. This is a tremendous pull. Consider that Ed Coan holds the WPC record in the 181-pound class with 791 set in 1984.
There's also a nice photo of Paul Anderson's silver-dollar lift during one of his performances in Reno.