Most Popular Articles on this site

[4 pages] Chapter 31 from Jack Dempsey's autobiography "Round by Round" (1940).

When I was roping burros and hunting honey and clearing rocks on the Albrush and Masters ranches at Uncompahgre, I had no idea that I was developing my capacity for quick thinking in the prize-ring. It never occurred to me that outguessing donkeys would make me a more resourceful fighter.

But it did.

Resourcefulness comes from practicing a combination of three things over and over and over, under an endless variety of circumstances.

Those three things can be expressed like this: Noticing something, understanding it, and doing something about it.

There are many other ways of saying the same thing. Something catches your attention." You size up the situation.- Then you act. ...keep reading

[10 pages] Vintage newspaper articles from the deep archives covering the most famous wrestling matches of all time: Gotch vs. Hackenschmidt!...keep reading

[2 pages] ...Now, the aspiring athlete may have either of the following reasons for taking up physical cultre. he may be a health-seeker, a truth-seeker along the physical plane; he may wish to teach others, or learn self-discipline, master of control; he may wish to link himself with the sportive element in some busy sity. In any and all of these aims, he has to consider the conditions which go to make up the required success. Success even in physical culture is wholly a matter of complying with laws, and in the compliance faithfully of law we both make and keep right conditions. There are two practices comparatively little known, but worthy of special mention:...keep reading

[8 pages] One of the very first commercial manufacturers of thick-handled barbells, dumbbells, and other thick-handled equipment was A.W. Diciolla Jr. From Cleveland, Ohio. Here's a rare look at a catalogue of Mr. Diciolla's selection of equipment....keep reading

[16 pages] What follows is the chapter on Indian Club training from William Wood's excellent early training guide "Manual of Physical Exercises," which was originally published in 1867.

Wood was the famed instructor in physical education and director of exercises in the Young Men's Christian Association of New York. This material represents some of the earliest written Indian club instruction....keep reading

[92 pages]

...Many of my books have been devoted entirely to the development of the different muscles in the body but this contribution is devoted entirely to the acquisition and use of strength.

When you get the muscles you naturally wish to know how to get the most out of them and how to use them in such a manner as will prove that the muscles you have are of the worthwhile variety and are of the type that does not evaporate a few hours after you have finished the exercise....keep reading

[4 pages] In the early days of Nautilus, Arthur Jones submitted articles to a variety of publications. Scholastic Coach magazine rejected all of Arthur's articles except one -- this is that article. (It is not well known that this article even exists but we managed to get our hands on a copy.)...keep reading

[20 pages] Thomas Wentworth Higginson was many things throughout his life: minister, abolitionist, soldier, and author of one of the earliest articles training on physical training to ever appear in a mainstream magazine. What follows is his article "Gymnastics" from the March, 1861 issue of 'The Atlantic Monthly.' Higginson was a prolific author (his bibliography stretches to well over 50 pages) but he only touched on health and physical culture topics on a handful of occasions. "Gymnastics" stands out as perhaps the most direct of these....keep reading

[1 pages] I came up with this particular cycle for a client of mine who has been doing really well when benching lighter sets and higher rep sets but just keeps falling apart like a little bitch when it came time to do the higher percentage sets and max singles. I assessed whether his problem was mental, physical, or mechanical or if he was just being an uncoordinated spaz. Turns out it was merely a mental issue (with a little spaz thrown in), and rather than letting him keep coming in my gym and leaving with the stank of defeat smeared all over him, I came up with this cycle....keep reading

[2 pages] Colorado Experiment Workout #3, performed May 3rd, 1973....keep reading

[154 pages] There never has been such a craze as there is to-day for what are called "Natural Systems" of healing. The bias now is against drugs and operations; it is against stimulants and narcotics; it is for cheap and simple remedies and preventives. Among the various Systems put forward one must select wisely. The pity of it is that nearly every exponent of a "System," according to his own statement, knows all about the truth, whether he be the man who says you must masticate every mouthful of food so long as it has taste, or the man who says you must feed only on bread and apples, or the man who says you must use a cold plunge bath, or the man who says you must have open air and a small amount of clothing, or the man who says that these things are unnecessary if you go through a long course of dull movements daily, or the man who says that all these things are unnecessary if you practise his System of mental treatment; the general principle of mos...keep reading

[12:35 minutes] In the 1960's, the Royal Canadian Air force was looking for a way to train their pilots to become more physically fit -- and the 5BX program was born! It was found that this program was incredibly effective to all walks of life. This rare film offers details and more insight for the program....keep reading

[30 pages]

* The Editor's Desk

* This N That

* Scoreboard

* USSR Top 10 1977

* Sports Medicine by C. Scott MD

* Exercise of The Month

* Centerfold

*The Effect of Large Training Loads on The Coordination Structure of Motor Skills in Weight Lifters by A. Vorobiev

* "My Desire to Improve" Gerd Bonk by B. Berry * Letters

* Classifieds...keep reading

[86 pages] We've posted other works authored by O.S. Marden and will continue to post many more. His writing on personal success and mind power were not specifically written on strength training but they may as well have been... the concepts that he covers can certainly be applied to and greatly enhance any training program. A perfect example is "Success Nuggets," a gem written way back in 1906. As you read through the material covered on these pages, think of them within the context of physical training and the value should become very clear....keep reading

[76 pages] ... Johnson is built magnificently, is strong as a lion, is clever, scientific, and carries a great punch in either hand. He fought for a small purse because he knew he was going to be the champion before he left the ring. He was convinced that he was the best man and so he was willing to fight to prove it, as a champion should......keep reading

[5 pages] Talk about "Deep Catalog" -- this little-known article comes to you from the January, 1947 issue of "Southern Coach and Athlete" magazine.

WEIGHT TRAINING, consisting of barbell, dumbbell and weight lifting exercises, has not in the past been widely accepted by many physical educators. It seems that they have felt that barbell exercises resulted in muscle hypertrophy, but neglected the many other important phases of physical fitness, such as organic development and cardio-respiratory endurance....keep reading

[36 pages]

* Editorial by Harry Good

* Using the Tape Correctly by James E. Mayer

* Develop a Muscular Chest by Harry L. Good

* The Fallacy of Over-Emphasis on the Olympic Lifts by James J. McGee

* Secrets of Lifting Improvement by Harry L. Good

* Strongly Yours by Gerard Nisivoccia

* Weightlifting News

* The Mail Box

* The Stunt Department...keep reading

[28 pages] Here is a training course from the deep DEEP catalogue -- Baseball Exercises by Charlie Brown. In all likelihood this is the very first physical training course ever specifically written for baseball. This course was advertised and only available for purchase in the early 1960's through 'The Sporting News' and there are not many around. In fact, our copy is the only one in existence that we are aware of. Unsurprisingly, the exercises covered therein are just as practical today as they were six decades ago when this course was written....keep reading

[2 pages] Peary Rader used to include "breaking news" from big lifting meets that might have happened after a print deadline in "supplements" that were included in early issues of Iron Man. What follows is the supplement to Iron Man issue Volume 3, No. 2 circa 1939....keep reading

[24 pages] In 1934, one of the authors reported results of grip strength tests, on a single individual, repeated daily or weekly for six months. The fidelity with which the effective powers of forearm muscles reflect changing bodily conditions was strikingly revealed by this record. Since then three related incidents have reached his attention. The first was the investigation, by several Boston University students, of diurnal changes in the effective strength of forearm muscles and modifications of effective power produced by changing food habits. These experiments have not yet been completed, but enough has already been learned to prove the almost indispensable value of strength tests in physiological, or at least in industrial, educational and physical conditioning, research. Reports of a few preliminary experiments are included hereafter to demonstrate the possibilities of this line of investigation....keep reading