Paul Anderson is the strongest man to ever live. He prove it by winning gold medal in 1956. If not considered a professional he would have won a second goal medal in 1960 as it was witnessed that he could lift more weight than the Olympic champion did in 1960 in all 3 events. In fact Paul could have also won the 1964 Olympic gold medal also if h ed wasnt deemed a professional. Greatest squat lifter ever also.
I think Paul lifted everyday using the exact same muscle day after day imagine if he had rested and let them muscles repair for a day or two how much stronger he would've been. Today we work the same muscle everyday because we know better.
When Paul said that he lifted a certain poundage…in a pair of trousers, a t-shirt and stocking feet…no belt, no knee wraps, no elastic triple-ply armor…he believed it to be the truth! I also believe!! And I cherish his two letters to me, just an ordinary teenager at the time.
That might be Bill Russell standing next to Paul at 1:46. Russell was on the 1956 Olympic basketball team before starting his pro career with the Celtics.
Paul was reported by reliable witnesses, that during a visit to muscle beaches weight pen, he push pressed off the racks, 560lbs! A real wonder of nature ! Sad that his Olympic gold medals were taken away from him by the AAU! For the money he raised doing exhibitions for his boys home!
In the 56 Olympics, Paul had reduced his weight down to 308 pounds to look more athletic. This had lowered his strength level and Paul also had an inner ear infection which effected his equilibrium as he could not jerk the weight overhead. On his third and final lift, he simply PRESSED the bar overhead, thus tying Umberto Silvetti of Argentina. Paul won the gold metal by having lower a body weight.
Thanks for clarifying this item as I read he jerked bar but didn't lock it out but referees gave it to him anyway. Although pressing according to rules should have nullified lift I certainly agree with decision. I met him alone coming up a hill in Gettsburg in 1970s. From a distanced I recognized him because his size as he was puffing coming up steep hill with a large cross swinging. This incident is a little funny but Paul was the type of fellow generous with his time and a fellow who was a decent man.
I met him in, of all places, a Federal prison (I put in a few under the Uncle Sam plan for messing with homemade bombs) in about 1977 in Springfield MO, as I remember. He had come in under a prison ministry to give a demonstration along with his Christian message. Something to see, I'll tell you! He had big framing nail he held in his hand with it sticking out forward between the second rack of his fingers, with a folded handkerchief under the head against his palm. He slammed it totally through a 2X12! He said he hit with the force necessary to drive the nail only. If he'd wanted, he also could have broken the board! He loaded a table with all the men who could fit, and then lifted the whole works by getting under it and using his back and legs. If I've got this right, he claimed he could or did kill livestock with his fist! He told us our House of Representatives passed a resolution or Act of Congress in the '50s declaring him the "strongest man in the world"! I was in the bathroom after the show, and he came in, so got close to him as well. I remember him being a lot shorter than I was, but he was about 3 feet in every other direction! He was really impressively massive, I'll tell you!
I'm sorry but to me it seems he was a fat guy back in the "day" that had access to steroids when no one else did. And so I guess that made him great in his day......times have changed
Paul Anderson definitely was NOT on Steroids. He lifted in 1955-1956, really before steroids. No weightlifting authority has EVER claimed that Paul Anderson took steroids, which were not really available back then. He also squatted 1100+ pounds three times a day in a stage act in Vegas!!!! No Human even with steroids has ever matched that. Read The Mightiest Minister by Randall Strossen. www.amazon.com/Paul-Anderson-The-Mightiest-Minister/dp/0926888080
Sure, a guy who trained by filling two barrels with cement and digging a dirt pit under the bar would NATURALLY have access to leading-edge synthetic chemical derivatives. The only thing that has really changed is that people no longer feel any hesitation about uttering moronic opinions that can only embarrass them in the eyes of thinking individuals.
clayoliver555 Not saying Anderson was using but steroids were available in the 1950s in the form of synthetic testosterone. Soldiers were put on it and Russian athletes took it at the Olympics.
Fright Foo synthetic testosterone cant increase more 10/15 % ... and with AT ENORMOUS DOSES ....at these dose its easy to see aggressivity and nervosity...and at these posology he loose direct fat ..all oposed of Paul Anderson a quite and nice...and fat guy !!!first Steroid usable at moderate dose and lets athkete stay fat is Fluoxymesterone (halotestin) and Oral turinabol in eastern europe (MIDDLE or END of sixties NO EARLIER. ) just increase strenght but no give muscular mass.... look just GERT BONK for untersand ....he jerk quarter tons overhead withouth expression ! (Alexeeve beat him and no use this drugs...but pain read in his face)....first testosterone steroid is like androstanolone cream of modern day . ...perfect for bodubuilding .but too androgenic and anabolik but no strenght effect .
Fright Foo and extracts of bull testicles maybee ...maybee Doctor brown- sequard was his hidden uncle... its easy to claim "steroid" but lift bar is another thing
Ways to mask steroid use is always a step ahead of the latest tests. To think that 5'9" guys can walk around at 300 lbs with shredded physiques & be clean is naive. These guys would've weighed 225, tops, in the 1950s, and not been nearly as ripped, either. Exercise and nutrition haven't evolved that much. On the other hand, if a SHW is willing to put on lots of fat on along with the muscle, all that's needed is genetics, heavy work, & lots of food.
***** What on earth makes you think I was referring to Anderson as ripped? Did you read the whole paragraph? It's not that long. If that's too much to ask, go straight to the last sentence. AHA! Here we have Paul's system.
***** Wrong, in so many ways. First of all Anderson as we remember him in his prime, was 360 lbs. I'd never describe him as a mere "300 pounder". Second, *yes*, I *did* describe him, but in my *last* sentence, (which I guess you still haven't read), the guy who's "willing to put lots of fat on along with the muscle." Third, Anderson *was* a guy "in the 50s", so to say what he "would've weighed... in the 1950s" makes no sense. Ok, I understand: You got in a little late in the conversation, the thread's no longer intact, my post was a response to a post that's lost somewhere, but common sense can still save you.. The guys who are 5'9" shredded 300 are *today's* guys, on drugs, whom I was comparing to the presumably-natural, fat, Paul,. Sorry you couldn't follow, but you get it now,right? Or do you prefer to continue criticizing my apparent lack of clarity?
Chugging milk every 3 hours hasn't bogged my liver down like the protein drinks of today and doing the old brute lifts are like wind sprinting each set has lowered my pressure and cholesterol to healthy levels now,every month iI'm surpassing the size and strength of the previous month,iI'm accused of drug use by everyone who knows me as Anderson was..unlike the cycling of drugs my gains aren't stopping,like Bruce Randall I can keep going without ailments..I'm 46 and feel better than ever doctor approved
Bruce Randall stopped out of economic nessesity and using four gallons of milk a day dozens of eggs,vegtables and fruit grew to 400 pounds and it allowed him the attempt to beat big pauls records..he then trimmed down to 230 and won bodybuilding contests and lived to a ripe old age..just keep pushing to lift heavier to keep the lungs and heart healthy,tendons and bones strong...
Dude,I went on the paul anderson system..2 gallons of milk a day,28 fried eggs,beef liver,spinach and beets,pound of bacon a day,began just barbell training in my yard,I can lift more than ever,went from 220 to 320 in 8 months,yes protruding stomach and tons of fat on my body,but no hgh,no steroids and most would now call me fat or using steroids because of fast I've I've become stronger,much stronger.the new guys are afraid of how they may look chubbier so they don't do this,
I really don't know what you are talking about. Steroids are illegal. Are you accusing such wholesome athletes like the great Ronnie Coleman of being a criminal? How could he have been a police officer if he was using illegal substances? It is a fact that ALL bodybuilders have to pass a drug test prior to competing. It only goes to show how jealous people like yourself have to deprecate these remarkable athletes. Ronnie Coleman denied using drugs on video, so it MUST be true! Why would he lie?
Drugs have ruined all sports, which is why I gave up watching them. What we have in bodybuilding & weight lifting is simply a freak show; bodies & power made in the lab. Paul Anderson was about a wholesome as the come. He may have used steroids, but nothing on the level of today's use of them. Coleman turned himself into a monster, literally. He became a giant freak. He should have NEVER been made a policeman. You can't think clearly roided up as he was. I'd like to know who hired him.
