Weightlifting

Mike Listro began lifting weights in his basement at thirteen after watching the movie Rocky. He started training on the Olympic lifts without coaching in 1978 after watching a weightlifting competition on the T.V. show Wide World of Sports. He picked up training tips from Strength & Health magazine. SUBSCRIBE AND FOLLOW THIS PODCAST FOR … Read more

Few sports fans have heard of George Pjura. One reason is that Olympic Weightlifting is not a highly popular sport in the USA. Another reason is that George is humble and speaks little of his achievements. But those who know weightlifting know who George is. I’ve known George for roughly forty years, and we’ve trained … Read more

1980 would mark the fourth annual Worlds Strongest Man Competition. But this year’s event would not occur in California like the past three years. This year’s competition occurred in Vernon Valley/Great Gorge, New Jersey. Ten men would compete, with four men hailing from outside the U.S. Four of the ten men were returning from last … Read more

So far, we’ve covered the first and second Worlds Strongest Man Competitions. Today we’ll look at the third competition, which occurred in 1979, again at Universal Studios in California. As was the case in 1978, there were ten competitors, but only two were non-Americans. Defending champion Bruce Wilhelm retired, but there were four returning competitors. … Read more

In my last article, I wrote about the first World’s Strongest Man contest in 1977. Olympic weightlifter Bruce Wilhelm easily won the competition and returned in 1978 to defend his title. The total number of competitors increased from eight in 1977 to ten in 1978, but Wilhelm was the only one returning from the previous … Read more