Old School Strength – Hermann Goerner
One of the points that I try to emphasize throughout this blog is that what many consider to be original ideas are everything but new. Man has displayed incredible feats of strength for hundreds of years. Such feats were accomplished long before the development of modern equipment, supplements, and the countless certification programs that have emerged within our industry.
Just last weekend, I received a message through my forum from a man who has been working to improve his grip strength. Since focusing more attention to his grip, he’s noticed that he can snatch a much heavier dumbbell. The timing of his email couldn’t have been better. It essentially verified a quote from Earle Liederman’s book, Secrets of Strength (recently discussed here).
As quoted within (from 1925)
Strong wrists are indispensable to strength. In most ordinary feats of strength the object to be moved or lifted, swung or broken, is gripped by the hands; and those hands must be strongly coupled to the arms, so that there will be no break in the delivery of power. A famous veteran, advising a new-comer in the professional ranks said, “Young man, you will never be any stronger than your hands and wrists.”
Liederman’s words are still as valid as ever. The development of strong hands certainly has carryover towards many other lifts. Perhaps the greatest display of grip strength ever can be found by looking back to Hermann Goerner.
Goerner was born in 1891. His training was everything but outdated however. Many from our era would be completely blown away by his physical accomplishments. I know that I am. The image below shows him deadlifting 595.5 pounds using just 2 fingers in each hand. He is also said to have deadlifted 734.5 pounds with ONE hand. Talk about incredible strength!
Next, you can see him pressing a 330 pound barbell overhead. While certainly an impressive load, it is even more impressive considering that the barbell is 2 and 3/8” thick. Thick handle lifting certainly isn’t new…
As for Goerner’s past, I highly suggest reading through Edgar Mueller’s, Goerner The Mighty (published in 1951). It’s a great read which tells the story of one of the strongest men to ever walk the planet.
Aside from an interesting story, the book also offers a peak into his training. A few notable lines are quoted below.
He trained always as the mood took him – varying his program to suit his energy and condition of the moment and never did he force himself to perform any workout when not feeling just in the mood… He did not have or follow what might be really termed a “set” training program – he always varied his workouts and mixed his work so much that one could truthfully say that he never worked through exactly the same program twice.
I enjoyed reading about this aspect of his training. I too have followed a similar system without restricting myself to a set program. More along these lines can be found within the past Think For Yourself series (Part I and Part II)
What about training with a variety of tools?
Who said odd objects were new?
His inventive mind was always scheming out new and different ways of lifting all kinds of weights – kettlebells, dumbbells, barbells, block weights, barrels, loaded sacks, etc.
Mueller also goes on to discuss activities such as throwing weights, putting the shot, jumping, and swimming. On certain days, Goerner would swim for over an hour, and then continue through a free weight workout. Goerner was clearly fit as well as incredibly strong.
For more info regarding Hermann Goerner, please take a look at the two links below:
Goerner main page via Sandowplus
Herman Goerner – A Man of Super Power (excellent site)
11 Comments so far
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Love it!
The Groener inspired chain of lifts is a long standing favorite of mine.
I’m impressed with the lack of structured program, have to say my life gets extremely hectic from time to time so I revert to winging it in training, just doing what time, body and equipment allow. I always get back to regular training without any loss in strength and often improvements in condition.
Great blog sir, keep it up.
Dave
I Like the ‘Think for yourself part II’
I also like the idea of not following a strict program but after the mood.
Some odd tools I use for outdoor training are old roadconstruction tools.
I want some of those old school round barbells and leopard skin pants! I think they would go down a storm in my local gym.
His one arm deadlift was unbelievable!
That has just inspired me to go the gym right now. Back in a bit.
Being a kettlebell lifter for three years and having developed an appreciation for old school training, I certainly gain more and more respect for these mighty men from old school training that you keep sharing with us. Thanks Ross!
Ross, is there any vidoes of him doin these amazing lifts??
Trully incredible if he deadlifted that much in one hand
Some great stuff here. A good old history lesson for all as a lot of the best info gets lost in time. Without a doubt grip strength is the most important thing to work on.
The thing with grip strength is that if your strength does ever decrease, you will definitely feel it in your hands for sure.
Match grip strength along with compound exercises and you then have a winning formula.
Great article to read. The deadlift with just two fingers is amazing! for someone to able to perform such a feat demands respect.
The USAWA has an annual met in Goerner’s honor. I’ve not made it this meet but have friends in the organization who still want me to go. All-Round lifting is great fun. You can read more about it at USAWA.com
Goerner Deadlift Dozen Plus One
Start December 05, 2009 08:00 AM
Location Clark’s Gym, Columbia, Missouri
Meet Director: Bill Clark
Lifts: Deadlift – Heels together
Deadlift – 2 Bars
Hack Lift
Jefferson Lift
Deadlift – one arm, left and right
Deadlift – one arm, thumbless, left and right
Reeves Deadlift
Deadlift – Index, Middle, Ring, and Little Fingers
Entry Form: None available. For entry, contact Bill at
573-474-4510 in advance.
I’m not a great skeptic by nature, but I wonder how many of these great stories of the early strongmen are apocryphal. The picture above, of Goerner lifting a 330 pound barbell, just looks fake. As do others. There is no strain, no effort. In fact, it looks like he’s relaxing. Admittedly, it took quite a bit of time to just take a photograph back then, so it is quite possible that the faked pictures were fake for a very good reason!
[...] why but it’s great to read about him as it seems he was a really strong guy. This post from RossTraining is great and so is this one from The Tight Tan Slacks of Dezso Ban. If you really can’t get [...]
[...] RossTraining has some more biographical detail about Goerner’s life and lifts. [...]