Old Time Strongmen Volume Eight

Old Time Strongmen Volume 8 Paul Anderson

Paul Anderson was an American born World Champion weight lifter and quite possibly one of the strongest men to have ever lived. He was also an Olympic gold medallist and American national champion.

Paul Anderson was born in 1932, in Toccoa Georgia

Paul isn't from the same era as most of those in this series but I've included him in the list because he was one of the strongest men ever to have lived and he was from the pre-steroid/PED era.

He started weight training at the age of 15 using home made weights so he could bulk up and get stronger to help with his football career. The weights he used at the time were mostly concrete blocks his father made by pouring concrete into wooden form boxes.

Paul received a set of weights from his brother in law in 1952 and began serious weight training. The first time Paul trained with the weight set he was able to back squat 315 pounds and he was soon squatting 400 pounds. A few months later Paul recorded a squat of 625 pounds.

Paul mostly trained in his bedroom or in his back yard and he endured gruelling training sessions that would sometimes last all day, during those training sessions he was said to drink several gallons of milk to keep his energy levels up.

Paul would train partial reps for the squat in a hole he dug specifically for that lift. He was said to lift over 1800 pounds in a partial rep for the squat using home made apparatus he lifted from the hole he dug. Olympic lifts were somewhat of a novelty to Paul and he'd generally only practice them for a few weeks prior to competition and almost every time he'd then go into competition and smash records like no other lifter has done since.

Anyone wanting to get really strong could take a few lessons from the way Paul trained as it's very different to the way most modern athletes train and almost always much more effective.

Paul would warm up with a few sets using lighter weights before he put a serious load on the bar. Almost all of Paul’s heavy training was said to be done in very low rep ranges - 1 to 3 reps for most lifts and up to 5 reps for other lifts. He would take very long rests between sets (10-15 minutes or more) and he would rest for approximately an hour between different lifts.

I wonder how you'd go at your local Anytime fitness if you were to stay there all day 6 days a week and do singles or doubles with 10 -15 minutes rest between sets. Your average gym manager would probably take a dim view of someone training like that and ask you to move on.

I could go on for hours about this guy as he has to be one of the all time legends of weightlifting but I'll stop short and anyone that's interested can look him up & learn a bit more about the great man.

Paul was also a great humanitarian and dedicated a lot of his prize money and income from public performances and talks he was paid give to his own charity for homeless boys - The Paul Anderson Youth Home

Unfortunately Paul died at a mere 61 years of age from complications that arose after a kidney transplant in 1983.

He was a legendary lifter and truly great man.

Images1,3 & 4 source
Image 2 source