@@dr.history4854 ...Paul Anderson came to my school in Southern Pines N.C. in 1968 and put on an amazing display. He first folded a hankerchief in his hand and took about a six inch nail and with brute strength, drove it through a 2 by 4. He then took a dumb bell weighing 225 lbs with one hand and pressed it 10 times like it was nothing. It's something I will never forget. Dude was awesome. And this was when he was past his prime. The difference between Cyr and Paul is that much of what Cyr did was fable, but Paul's was actually weighed and measured, so we will never really know who was stronger, just that they were both awesome, and let's leave it at that.
@@Tboy439 Paul Anderson came to our church sometime in the mid 60's. I remember him lifting about a dozen men on a table. He did the same as you describe with a nail and a 2x4.
Bro in the 60s paul anderson was a great friend of mine so me and some other guys went to the local church and tried to summon Louis Cyr back from the dead
Paul Andersen was a great man. His legacy still to this day helping kids at his youth home. He has done more for his community than any NBA or NFL ,MLB player, even 50 years after his death ,he is still helping.
Accounts do exist regarding Cyr's and other lifter's strength feats, but the lack of reliable documentation and the tendency to "hype" shows make them all suspect. The same can be said of a few of Anderson's performance lifts.
@@ET-RAMBLINGS If the movie on Louis Cyr's life is true, he actually wanted his feats to be validated and his opponents(in england) decided to not participate specifically because of that. The feats he did in England were(according to the movie) rightly registered..
@@planetetrangere ...A movie on Louis Cry's life might have been a little biased, since it was actually a movie made by someone promoting him. Just a thought.
I've read 3 different biographies of Cyr and saw the movie and I'll point out a few things: -He was listed as somewhere between 5'9.5"-5'10.5", as you explained, heavy lifters have been known to compress their spines by an inch over time as they age. -In Cyr's day, a press was done with the arms only, no leg drive or body momentum, consider this when you note that Anderson's presses were heavier in terms of weight. -Both men have been accused of exaggerating their lifts, I happen to know that Cyr's promoters offered 25 000$ (keeping in mind this was very early 20th century dollars) for anyone who could duplicate his lifts and no money was ever handed out. For Anderson, if someone could duplicate his silver dollar squat, they could keep the money in the crates, obviously, the money was never handed out either. Witnesses have said Anderson's 1200 lb squat wasn't to parallel, however, others have pointed out that due to the huge size of his quads, he was physically incapable of reaching parallel but he went as deep as he could. -Cyr's back lift was performed by asking men from the audience to step onto a scale before they went onto the platform, for this reason, there are high odds the weight he is credited with (4337 lbs) was accurate. It's also said that he could do over 5000 in the lift but they feared the platform could collapse at such weights so he played it safe. -If you're one of those who think their lifts were exaggerated, as yourself if it's possible that other strongmen in their times would have thought the same, probably, right? Don't you think they might have wanted 25 000$ Maybe they attempted to outlift them and failed! The main thing to consider is that they were from different eras as you pointed out and some of the lifts they performed are no longer commonly practiced.
Gymguy, thanks for the info. As you know, the standing press in competition devolved into a modified clean & jerk by the late 1950's. I'd read that Cyr's presses were strict, and Anderson's sus appear legit despite some leaning.
I find it interesting how so many people today, don't think that people back then couldn't weigh things properly. Their whole economic system completely relied on the accuracy of weighing goods.
What needs to be understood here is this, the two men are from 2 different times, in Louis Cyr's days not much training took place in gyms, it was mostly practiced on the farm working long hours and lifting heavy stuff, no tractors those days... In Paul out. In Paul Anderson's days lots of gyms and people worked out. This does not diminish Paul Anderson's strength at all. It is not really comparable. Both men were flat out the strongest of their times. Some of Cyr's lifts will never be duplicated, let alone surpassed and the same goes for Anderson's. I wish I could back in time to watch them both in action!
STSADaniel YOU ARE A FUCKING IDIOT. NOT MUCH GYMS IN THE 1950'S YOU MORON. LOTS OF GYMS UNTIL 1970'S. BODY BUILDING WAS FROWNED UPON IN THE 1950'S YOU DUMB FUCK
I say you’re right about respect but after awhile I think people want their place and purpose in the world. It’s hard when you’re the best and you actually are a good down to earth person. Most people at the top are willing to do whatever it takes to win and that means cheat. What Paul did to that Russian guy is over looked, but had that been an American. That would has been looked at as disrespectful and grounds to fight. Paul Anderson had domination of his time. I think as fans we tend to want these people to be better than they are. We got to remember it’s good that they inspire us but we shouldn’t hold them too high, because we are all human. If I was Paul I would do what Arnold does to his Opponents and that is find an advantage. Arnold actually disrespecting demoralize his opponents and they would mentally fail whenever they were around him.
@@leosmith105 he didn't do anything wrong for his era, I mean in today's climate. The fact that he was a pro and wore regular clothes and seemed unknown, he then beats the champion.
Again , another absorbing review of eventful strength performances . Thanks ET . Both exponents were phenomenal . Anderson's two rep dumbell press with 300 pounds is almost miraculous !
My uncle was in the Bill Glass Prison Ministry and saw Paul Anderson do his feats of strength many times as he gave his testimony at prisons. At one prison, Anderson told my uncle that they were to load the one-armed press dumbbell to 250 lbs. so he could show the prisoners what he could do. When he got to the part of his testimony where he would show his strength, he picked the dumbbell up and immediately knew something was wrong. It took all he had to press it twice and then let it fall to the ground. After the seminar, they went and weighed the dumbbell. They had mistakenly loaded it up to 350 lbs. rather than 250 lbs.! Unverified, but true!
Peter, in 1958, Anderson (by then a professional) jumped on stage at Madison Square Garden and pressed 425 lbs. for 2 reps! This was after the Russian champion pressed 350 lbs. A video exists showing Anderson lifting a purported 300 lb. dumbbell for 2 reps. If it actually did weigh that amount, maybe he could lift 350. I don't doubt your uncle's reporting, but it could also be that those who loaded the plates told the audience the wrong weight. Or, Anderson did, in fact, lift 350 lbs.!!! Whatever, it's a great story! Thanks for sharing it.
I got to see Paul Anderson lifting in person. He came to our school years ago and did the backlift with people on it. I don't know if he even got paid to come (probably not) but he went a far way from where he lived to go to different schools to do exhibitions and talk about his life, etc. He was a very giving person.
Anderson and Cyr were men of freakish strength. Both the strongest of their time. It is of course, easier to verify Andersons feats than that of Cyr. That doesn't diminish either man's accomplishments. Anderson is beyond a doubt, the twentieth century's strongest man.
The 150 pound French Canadian, Victor Delamarre, 150 pounds, exceeded Cyr's one arm overhead lift by succeeding with 309 pounds. Delamarre's power is explained by double thick tendons.
Some weights shown in pics don't correlate exactly with those mentioned on the video because photos aren't always available of Anderson and Cry performing their top lifts.
True. We try to match as close as possible. I've since found some drawings of Cyr in old online newspapers that will be uploaded sometime in the future.
Paul and I corresponded. He was 5’10” and had Bright’s Disease (kidney disease) from his youth. His sister Dot donated a kidney up here at the University of Minnesota. I sent him a get well card, which he acknowledged. He was a great human being! I still have his letters to me. He told me how he built up his neck. Paul told me that his big back lift was “no harder than a heavy squat.” His dietary practices were something... R.I.P. Paul!!
I used to have a book about Paul Anderson. It was written in the 1970's. He had an impressive box-jump, and could also sprint amazingly fast for his size.
Paul squatted 1,200, benched 650+, Push pressed 500lbs+, one arm presses with 300lb. Was able to clean probably up to 450lb with brute form and deadlifted 1000lbs with grip assistance. Paul was stronger.
Raymond Arcand proportionally to their bodyweight has nothing to do with absolute strength. Strongest is strongest. You’re speaking of relative strength.
Good video. Something that is important to note is that Paul Anderson’s nephritis had less to do with his diet and more likely was the result of a congenital defect that he had all of his life.
Paul Anderson Without Doubt Was The Strongest Man That Ever Lived. Paul Was Doing 1000 LB Squats Back In The 50's. He Military Pressed 440 LB. without a Warm up.
The image of the people he lifted was not his back lift, it is his carousel lift (a type of hip and harness lift) of roughly 2,700 pounds. The 1,000 pound partial deadlift is credible. Paul deadlifted ameliorate
Both men specialized on different lifts. We can only guess on what they'd be able to do with similar training. My guess is that Anderson would win, but Cyr possessed preternatural tendon and muscle strength, so who knows for sure?
@@ET-RAMBLINGS Hi, I read on Paul Anderson and although he has a record in Guiness record book, a PHd guy who's name is John (don't remember the full name, will look it up), did a more in depth research which would shed more doubt in whether Paul Anderson really back-lifted 6000 or something lbs. Even though it would be in World Guiness Record Book, according to John, there aren't any witnesses comfirming these particular lifts, neither has any local news papers from that time. Same thing goes with Anderson's allegedly 1200lbs Squat in which many are skeptic about. I can send the link from Johns research. Thank You!
@@imranlodhi90 Thanks for your thoughtful comments. Anderson's only officially verified lifts were his olympic-style ones. No sanctioning powerlifting organizations existed during the 1950s. His backlift was performed on television (I saw it), but was not official. The Las Vegas squats with silver dollars was reported to be well over a ton (1K lbs.). This, too, was not official and probably hyped. That said, many who trained with or near Anderson, including powerlifting champion Terry Todd, witnessed his freakish lifting strength. Also, it can't be disputed that Anderson was the only man of his era to set records (some unofficial, but witnessed) in both power and olympic lifts.
@@imranlodhi90 Good thought. I'm a bit skeptical of Paul's 6,270 pound backlift myself. As for the 1,200 pound squat, even though there are no newspapers documenting it at the time, the human body is capable of squatting that much weight. So, i think it is very possible that the lift did occur even if there is no documentation of it in the news. Another reason i believe the squat did occur was because Paul was known to have practiced squatting as part of his regular training. This would have significantly developed his leg strength and helped him squat that much weight. For these reasons, i personally believe Paul did squat 1200 pounds: outside of no documentation of it, there is no reason to believe he didn't do it.
JESUS CHRIST IS COMING BACK PEOPLE REPENT OF YOUR SINS AND ACCEPT JESUS CHRIST AS YOUR SAVIOR TODAY NOT TOMORROW PEOPLE WHICH IS PROMISED TO NOONE ON THIS EARTH.
Anderson was strongest man to ever live. Should have been only person to ever win 3 Olympic weightlifting gold medals if he wasnt deemed a professional. Paul was a great person also.
A bit like comparing Joe Louis and Muhammad Ali.....I wouldn't want to because they were both great in different ways. If I'm honest I have always preferred Joe Louis...in the main because I grew up hearing about Joe's exploits in the ring from my father.
Nope. Holding horses back is tons of force right there. Not to mention when Louis lifted 15 -20 people he liftrd them many inches off.the ground not barely 2 inches like Anderson did
A commendable video. Most people today have no real understanding of strength, apparent by the countless number of "garbage" videos uploaded daily. The video is interesting, however, I do not think that a direct comparison is apropos. Both men are the greatest. In today's egomaniacal world both men fall under criticism and doubt, but the musings of idiots are of no importance.
Odds say both would be strong arm wrestlers, but champions such as Max Batchelor, John Brzenk, Travis Bagent, etc. seem to possess other advantages besides raw strength ... possibly an better juxtapositioning of bones, tendons and cartilage.
One thing to correct. Cyr developed nephritis, probably from overeating--he was a gourmand--but I wouldn't rule out him being born with the condition and not knowing about it. OTOH, Anderson was born with the condition and ended up getting a kidney transplant which really didn't improve his condition that much. Both men were champions in their day, but Anderson's lifts were documented. Many of Cyr's were not.
Anderson never actually did a jerk. His Olympic effort is listed as such because that's officially what it's supposed to be. But what he's doing in that clip is a push press. Anderson's best push press off the rack was 540lbs.
In the case Lois Cyr and Paul Anderson, these are examples of genetics being the exception with these 2 men. Now of course you also have to lift weights to help you get stronger but because of genetics, you just can't duplicate the strength or muscle power of these 2 men. Not even steroids can help you become as strong as Cyr or Anderson
Funny. I think that they had scales at the time of Louis Cyr to weight each person that got onto the platform.. Moreover Louis Cyr did not train like Anderson. Anderson is more like a modern lifter compared to Louis Cyr and he was much bigger than Louis Cyr.
A fine and fair presentation. As you say so much is unsubstantiated, especially for Cyr. However if the two were to meet, they would out lift each other so many times there would still be no answer. Just my opinion and thank you.
Anderson looked like a refrigerator , you had to see him in person to believe it , the safe squat in Vegas i guarantee was every bit of 1100 pounds notice how much the bar was bending across his back
It should be noted that the American weightlifting coach learnt from the Russians in the 1954 world championship that they used Testosterone. So it can absolutely not be excluded that Paul Anderson was on that in the 1956 olympics. Cyr on the other hand you can be a 100% sure that he was clean. The "Bull testicle injections" were totally bogus, the simply didn't work.
Most interesting. I grew up on island with some of the strongest humans ever. One in particular could tear dimes and quarters in two, or 3 quarters at once into 6 pieces, or tear a quarter into 3 pieces like we can tear a piece of bubblegum into 3 pieces, pick up and carry a can hauler's wheel into the repair shop instead of using a forklift, stop a 100 hp GE electric motor, etc. His father and one of his uncles had such superhuman strength as well.
Bob, thanks for this. So many stories like this indicate that many extremely powerful men existed who never performed or never got publicity if they did.
Paul Anderson has a lot of photographic evidence. By the way, at a WSM intro, well past his peak, he demonstrated a wheelbarrow walk, his giant thighs almost rotating like a mighty machine!! He was also kind and humble in his letters to me. His voice was booming, if you hear him, but he was also gentle.
Odd lifts are just that... Odd. Hard to do because most men simply don't do them. The Inch dumbbell, for example, was heavy. But it was the unusual circumference of the handle that defeated most comers.
Louis Cyr had a body weight of 127kg while paul andersen according to wikipedia had a body weight of 163/180kg😅. Louis Cyr and lived in the 1800s of humble origins were poor people, there was no (doping) it was pure natural force, Louis Cyr was the pioneer of the brute force of the strongman and is compared to Samson in the bible for having held back 4 draft horses having lifted 124kg with only one arm without assistance between these pushes a train carriage on an uphill rail and finally among the most impressive feats having lifted 1967kg with a back lift which was unthinkable at the time it is said that it was well liked by the people it had a short life.
I don't know where you got your data but a lot of what you said on Cyr is not accurate. As an example : Each spectator had to get on a scale before going on the platform. Real height of Cyr is 5'10½" Real height of Beaupré Giant is 8'3" not 7'8" Insisting frequently on the illegitimacy of Cyr's lift weights is not very respectful, especially when you know the many efforts he made to distinguish himself from the other performers of that era who where cheating on this particular aspect. Two great strongman As Eddy Merckx said : you can only compare within your era. But if I have to decide... Anderson lift mainly with bars and train a lot with them. He lift more than Cyr that's a fact I still think that Louis Cyr was more a all around naturally strong human. His lift were from pure raw strength with barely no technics and no specifically training program.
No one human has been shown "strongest" in every conceivable body movement, but Cyr would, IMO, rank near the top in most. Also, as you point out, he performed using raw strength. I get most of my info from newspapers, books, magazines, interviews, etc., few of which agree about Cyr's height. More reliable consensus, however, puts it about 5' 8" Considering the exaggerating hype used to promote traveling acts of the era, I opted to use lower published statistics regarding Cyr and Anderson. Same for the giant's height.
Eddy San Remo THERE ARE MANY VIDEOS OF ANDERSON TRAINING AT HOME WITH HOME MADE EQUIPMENT. YOU ARE A FUCKING LIAR. HE WAS POOR YOU FUCKING PILE OF SHIT
@@asianfighter62 what's your point? Training with homemade weight is still specific training... Louis Cyr became rich, but was poor growing up and in his early 20's. Still ll don't get the point there...
Lot of tricks went on in the old days before standard weights. They used to fill the globe with 200 lbs of dry sand get people out of the crowd to try lift it with one hand. Then rest it between to open beer kegs slip the stopers open talk to the crowd for a few minutes why the sand run out then left it up when half the weight had run out
Strength exhibitions of the 19th century were major shows, and the strongman was "star"! This required that he never be seriously challenged; thus, came the tricks such as you mentioned. Bob Hoffman, owner of York Barbell, had his own variation according to lifter Terry Todd. Hoffman had special plates showing poundages higher than the plates actually weighed. Anderson lifted when barbells were strictly weighed.
These were all insanely strong men. Even compared with today's strongman champions it is very hard to tell who is strongest. But one thing is clear: pound for pound, Naim Süleymanoğlu is the strongest man to ever live.
No way. Thomas Topham was by far the strongest man to ever live. Read about the Strong Man of Islington, probably capable ofr Suley's clean and jerk ratio in a strict PRESS.
Cyr's career coincided with the new PR/advertising boom which did exaggerate things. That said, thousands of people, at various times, witnessed Cyr's lifts ... including the one arm pulls.
Give this a thumbs up, cause I think it is a valid video... But still, my Quebec heart thinks Louis Cyr was the strongest men ever. But as you said, things could not really be verified in those days.
Hugo, because we can't verify all their feats, we debate. This keeps people familiar with Cyr, Anderson and other great men of long ago. BTW, many other agree with you ... and they're not all from Canada!!
Paul Anderson was strongest to ever live. Would have won not 1 but 3 gold medals as strongest man in world if Paul wasnt a professional after first Olympic gold medal. Some of Paul's strength achievements will never be duplicated.
Given unreliability of early reporting, it's hard to back up your statement. That said, I think you may be right about MacAskill and, maybe, Andre the Giant. I'm researching the large strongmen for a future video.
You're correct! Reports had Edward, the Prince of Whales, as accompanying the Queen during Cyr's performance. As you point out, Albert was long gone by that time.
Sorry but many of your comments on Louis Cyr is not exactly accurate .... as an example he back lifted 4337 lbs ( after weighing each man on a scale ) ... so firstly the 4000 lbs was not exaggerated ( far from it ) and secondly, the way Louis Cyr lifted the dumbbell with one arm is been done very slowly ... p.s i reccomand for you to watch the 2013 movie ...
It's more likely that Anderson used steroids than Cyr because synthetic steroids were readily available during Anderson's competitive peak (i.e., 1955 and 1956 Olympics). Everyone post-WWII is suspect. Athletes do what they have to do to win and fans want athletes to be big, strong, and fast. Although Anderson was incredible, I find strongmen such as Cyr, Hackenschmidt, Saxon, and Apollon more impressive than post-WWII strongmen because even if the old timers consumed testicular-derived testosterone, it would be ineffective compared with synthetic testosterone.
Heath, while it is possible that anyone could have gotten hold of an anabolic steroid after the mid-1930s, such was unlikely ... at least in the U.S. Check out my video on that subject: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-L0GP8iunBTo.html
🦾I SAW / MET PAUL ANDERSON 🦾at a christian ymca, in the 70's, and watched him break hand cuffs as easily as I would break a piece of string , no effort at all . His hands and fingers were swollen with muscle , gigantic. His chest and arm muscles were hanging low and unnaturally from his body almost detached , that is until he drove a handkerchief covered nail into , and all the way thru , a board , at that point the muscles jumped up close to the bones in his chest and arms.....very freaky and non human ....I think easily Paul was stronger than Cyr but if Cyr had modern nutrition and technology he would have been a stiff competition ........Cyr was more of a showman/scammer than Paul . Paul was an honest christian , preacher . Paul also drank a gallon of milk after every workout. Cyr was more natural strength .🏋🏋♂
@@ET-RAMBLINGS I am also related to Louis cyr my name is Paul cyr and I was also a powerlifter tied for fourth in the bench press in the United States in the hundred and 81 pound class 475
Cyr's odd lifts and feats of strength were incredible. He was 100 years ahead of his time. Modern day strongmen struggle to replicate his feats. 5'10'' 385lbs , 60 inch chest , 20 inch forearms, 24 inch calves. Anderson while an impressive weightlifter for his era couldn't even deadlift 700lbs.
ET a lil off topic here but I figured it be a good topic for you ... maybe. I saw a video of Russian circus performers juggling extremely heavy bronze colored balls. When the performer offered a man in the audience one to inspect he could barely pick it up with two hands. Seemed like an amazing feat of strength the way the performer tossed those balls around. He basically did some of what Harlem globe trotters do with a basketball but with if I had to guess 100lb + metal balls
