Great quote!

[Dan C]

I have held very similar feelings as this for a long time but I have not been able to express them so literally.

From the Iron Hands Newsletter at www.functionalhandstrength.com...


"Neither do I consider a man a really Strong man if he is in certain
parts developed out of proportion to others.

If a man has tremendous arms and chest and weak legs then he is
only half a strong man. If he should have strong legs and arms and
weak lungs or a weak heart then again, he is by no means entitled to
be called a strong man and some day the inevitable breakdown will
occur.

So you see that if a thorough examination could be made of all "so
called" strong man, we should probably find that only one in twenty
is really deserving of the name "Strong man."

-Arthur Saxon

[Dan C]

Don't be half a strongman...

Hi Dan,

We got a tremendous response from the Arthur Saxon Material
that I sent out earlier so here is a little more to keep you focused
on this lazy Friday afternoon:

-----------

"Neither do I consider a man a really Strong man if he is in certain
parts developed out of proportion to others.

If a man has tremendous arms and chest and weak legs then he is
only half a strong man. If he should have strong legs and arms and
weak lungs or a weak heart then again, he is by no means entitled to
be called a strong man and some day the inevitable breakdown will
occur.

So you see that if a thorough examination could be made of all "so
called" strong man, we should probably find that only one in twenty
is really deserving of the name "Strong man."

----------

Is the concept of "balanced development" really that difficult to
comprehend

Evidently yes,

Since I would say that Saxons estimate was pretty far off base, it is
more like 1 out of a 1000 who "get it." In gyms all across America
youll find skinny kids in tank tops who do nothing but hours of
concentration curls with 20 lb dumbbells.

On the other side of the coin youll find those people as dedicated
as they come when it comes to hitting the weights

but

lazy as all get out when it comes time for "wind work."

Damn few people train with the total package in mind and truth be
told "grip guys" are the worst offenders.

They could learn a thing or two about getting what they want by just
stopping to "listen" (although so could most people for that matter.)

Hmmm.

If only (which are very dangerous words) some folks would take the
time to understand some logic and common sense when it comes to
their own development, things would be quite a bit different.

The Keys to the Progress lie in understanding the relationship of all
things. The sum of the parts is always greater than the whole.

Me, Ill stick to what the Iron Master says, 'course I did all along
anyhow. He seems to know a thing or two about building real
strength.

Train hard.

John Wood

P.S. Arthur Saxon put 350 pounds over his head with one arm, a
record that will never be broken. You can read all about how he
accomplished that feat (along with how to do the bent press, one
arm snatch and plenty more "forgotten" lifts in The Development
of Physical Power (written in 1906) Get copies of both of Saxons
great books Right Here:

http://www.functionalhandstrength.com/oldtime_strongman_library.html

Copyright, Functional Hand Strength, 2006

[Maxgain]

Amen to that Im so sick of these bench and curl "gurus" who people think are great and cant squat for crap

[Maxgain]

As a side note I like this quote

"While most are taught from an early age to do their best in life, the possibility exists for others to be remarkably average. To do nothing to stand out from the crowd. To live a life of uneventful, irrelevant, inconsequential insignificance. Others may aspire to move beyond their simple existence, but the bottom line is, you don't because you suck. So you might as well keep lying on the couch"

[luke.w]

I didn't even think about bench and curl jockeys when I first read this e-mail, the first thing I thought about were guys in our sport.

I remember a thread posted months ago on a "strongman" board, the topic was "hernias" "Will I ever get hernia doing what you guys do"? some "kucklehead" posted a silly comment of "I don't condsider one to be a real strongman until they've had hernia" ........good god A real strongman is one who trains to AVOID things like that, and stay out of the hospital IMO.

of course some people believe, "things happen".

[maverick]

Sounds like a very smart man. I'm sure many of those bench/curl jockeys would have balanced legs if it wasn't for the fact that they "used to squat 350, but now it hurts my knees". Why can't these guys just admit they don't have the balls to do it?