I liked watching him bend those steel bars during the WSM Comp.
Talk about intensity!
Ya until he tore his pec :-\
Okay here is another long story. Kazmaier is a good friend and a great guy. He has come to Hawaii on a few occasions to help me with things I have promoted. Plus we share the same birthday so we send birthday e-cards to each other. Anyway, the first time he came here for me was back in 1990 or 91'. We were promoting the 1st Gold's Gym Bodybuilding Contest here along with a few other promotions including a great tug-a-war contest I was doing.
Well, me and a friend of mine decided to take Bill on a tour of Oahu, At the time I had a nice 4x4 Bronco. So, myself and Bill are in the front. We are driving around and ended up in Waikiki. We’re driving down Kalakaua Ave, (the street along Waikiki Beach) and was turning left at the zoo. It was a yellow light. So I went, cause I learned to make rights on yellows. Well in Waikiki the police drive around in those 3-wheel Cushman buggies. So I hear a siren behind me. I go about 100’ and pull into a short driveway next to the zoo. Now when I get pulled over I like getting out of the car immediately cause it seems to get more respect from the cop. So I did. Well I hear this “sir get back into the vehicle” from the little buggy. I said no it is too small and I want to stand out here. So now he is a little pissed and he gets out of his buggy. Then Big Bill gets out. I swear to god no way in hell this guy weighed more than 135 and was about 5’4” oriental. I told him don’t worry I am not going to do anything. He starts to asks us again to get in the car. Bill now says “I’m not staying in that fucking car you’ll have to handcuff me.” Well he grabs his radio thing near his shoulder and calls for assistance. In about 5 seconds I think there was about 4 more of those buggys and 3 or 4 regular cars. There was maybe 12 cops there. First they see me and they all know me. I have done so many thing here and been on TV and everything so they were all cool to me. Then they notice Bill. They went crazy. They told the little cop guy do you who these guys are and they introduce me and then Bill as the Worlds Strongest Man. The little cop felt so bad. So now we are on the side of the zoo with a crowd coming together signing autographs for everyone. They let us go. It was really funny to see the little guys face when Bill told him he wasn’t going back into the car, cause Bill kind of yelled it at him and sounded mean.
In relation to Bill at the gym. Everyone couldn’t wait for him to get there to train. He shows up and we decide to do arms. So I do my little warm-ups with the girly weights, while Bill goes over nears the end of the rack and picks up the 100’s. He takes them and does about 20 full biceps curls like they were nothing to warmup. Eevryone in the gym was standing there with their mouths wide open. They couldn’t believe it. The next day he did a little bench. I asked him how much he can do now and he just said he doesn’t go really heavy right now. Well he did go up to 405. the only thing is that he did 30 of them and had more in him. He told me he has done 50 reps with 405 before. Unreal. I felt like a little kid working out with him
I remember the hotel we put him up in was the Tahitian Lanai. It was one of the oldest hotels in Honolulu and in fact is gone now. It was all Gold’s Gym was going to pay for. Well you have to imagine what it looked like. Very old only two story’s on the beach and very local looking. Plus it had no A/C and no front doors to close only a screen door. I never looked inside before. Bill calls me and tells me he will pay for his own flight home if I don’t get him out of there. So I ended up having to pay for the Illikai which was about $200 a night rather than the bargin of $75 a night at the Tahitian Lanai. Oh well Bill is worth the upgrade.
The pics are from the Arnold a couple years ago and the other is from the tug-a-war. The other guy is Norm Compton who was Stallone bodyguard and Dolly Parton’s. He also acts a lot.
You know Max you are right. I am ttying to think while I type. I can type pretty fast as long as you don't count the mistakes like in typing class. And no I woudl rather not talk about Kristen and yes she has one of the most incredible bodies. Hell she was in Playboy. Plus she took 1st place at the bikini contest I judged.
If I am not mistaken....did he still continue the competition
That keg thing was definitely the most impressive thinghe did. I rememebr everyone else walking the kegs over to put them in theback of the truck and Kaz stood there and literally through them from where they were into the back of the truck. It was unreal how he through the kegs in the air like they were empty.
the funniest thing was when they had the sumo wrestling event and Bill just pushed John Gamble around like a ragdoll, Gamble was a champion 275 powerlifter.
Just wondering if anyone had stories about Bill Kazmier first hand or hear say. Ive always thought that Kaz pound for pound was probably the strongest man to walk the earth.
its interestin that you take the pro-american stance ;D
i think a few swedish/scandinavian nationals would strongly disagree with you on this one...
and so would the rest of the world! ;)
JP kicked his ass and was a lot lighter in bodyweight!
its just when kaz very briefly dominated strongman ... the american hype machine kicked in and blew his reputation up out of all proportions!
sigmunson was a phenom .. followed by other scandinavian phenoms ... kaz was dust !
thank you for your time!
JP kicked his ass and was a lot lighter in bodyweight!
f'uckin hell... GLENN ROSS! ;D
that guy is a walkin angina attack , that one!
a big fat bastard of a bloke.. who wins mr great britain now and again ... but is as much use as a male nipple when it comes to mixin it with 'athletes' *cough* on the international circuit!
with all that stress and strain on his fat congested heart chambers... i expect/hope he'll croak it live on TV at some point! ;D
in fact ill take bets on it!
and hasnt gary taylor shrunk to a shadow of his former self since winnin world's strongest man in the early 90s. :o
he was another dorian , that one.
with an awesome/ludicrouse over muscular GH pot belly! :o
and jamie read... and geoff capes,lol
awwww britain's finest monsters!
There is no evidence Thomas Inch was able to one-hand clean and press the Inch 172 pound dumbell. There are claims that he could- claims which omit the three other look-a-like dumbells he owned which he would substitute for the 172. One weighed about 75 pounds. Inch himself never claimed he could do anything beyond deadlifting the bell UNTIL others also began to deadlift it, at that point Inch retroactively redefined what he had done with the 172 to include a one hand clean and overhead.
Inch certainly lacked the strength to press 172 in a standing press (although he was a splendid bent presser- at one time one of only three men in the world able to manage 300).
Only the whereabouts of the 172 pound Challenge Bell is known. The 75, 140, and 152 are in parts unknown.
I have spent hundreds of hours studying Inch's history and tracing every reference I could find among the 800 issues of Health & Strength in my library, and well as my other mags. The early mentions of the story are vastly different from the later versions. Later versions being what may be termed 'Inch friendly'. :)
I think Mark Henry presed it at arnold couple of years ago....
As I recall from the Ironman article covering that measure, it was 17" straight (not goosenecked). Keep the entire arm and hand in a straight line with wrist not goosenecked. Clenching to a fist is okay. In that unfavorable position Kaz measured 17" (from memory- I did not look it up)Joe
When measured in straight line if the forearm is twice the circumference of the wrist, it is world class. Manfred did not have twice when I measured him, but Lee Priest had twice PLUS one inch!
Cold measurement, not pumped.
I like the measurements of Kaz. I never really measured myself. At some armwrestling events they would measure guys sometimes. Not sure why. Armwerwstlers back then had weird ways of training and were very dedicated.
Meaurements of me in 1987 (I know, but to tell you the truth beside 1997 just before I got bit that was the biggest and best shape I was in, so I can only go from that, plus my body changed so fast back then, so go ahead and rag on me for livingin the past)
My right forearm- was just a tiny little bit over 17" (that is flexed and pumped with viens all over)( Ijust measured my right forearm and it is just under 16". (I have not trained them seriously for 10+ years)
My left forearm was just slightly over 14"
My shoulder girth was 63" to 64" (I wore a 62 tux, i had made for the Ali dinner)
My calves, biceps were 21"
My neck was a shade below 21"
My thighs about 27" to 28"
My waist was 38" at a bodyweight of 300 (But i could still fit in my 36" Calvins, tightly)
I am a shade below 6'1"
Shoe (cowboy boot) is 13 EEE (I can fit in 12 sometimes)
Wrist is almost 9"
My fist is just over 12" (same as Ali's)
I never really measured my chest except way back and I think it was 55"
My ring size 14 (I remember that from high school class ring measuring)
These are measurements I remember way back. Of course a few of them have grown immensely. In fact you could ad a couple together and get a few of my measurements now. My normal weight is between 300 and 320. I was trimming to 275 for the 2000 Olympics before getting bit.
AT 300 I could still put my right leg behid my neck and do the splits all they way down. Butg I could not put my left leg around my neck for some reason. I used to do that in the movies. I could lay on my back and grab both knees and kiss them both at 300. I now have a hard time laying on my back and just grabbing the knees. But someday.
I think Ihave a newspaper article somewhere, where the reporter measured me. I will look for it.
i used to have a great poster of Kaz with about ten pictures and a list of all of his strength feats.
Can't help but go with metal DB's. Like you said the rubber ones are way to big. Getting them from Ivanko to but I may go with Irongrip. We'll see. I'm going just up to 200's. That's it.
IMy left forearm was just slightly over 14"
My shoulder girth was 63" to 64" (I wore a 62 tux, i had made for the Ali dinner)
My thighs about 27" to 28"
Yes thoe are right. I never had really big legs. I was a catcher for 18 years I got plenty of leg work from that. In 1983 I was squatting and ruputured my L4 and L5 and haven't been able to do certain things. I passed up an operation and instead wore a back brace for almost 2 years and therapy and 2 sets of tenses. Everytime I put weight on top of me like that and bend I am out for a week. My friends would see me all bent over and I was a wreck. In fact when it happened I was working with MaxRep at Tequilla Willies. I would literally just be standing there when all of a sudden my back would tighten up and I would fall to the ground. So yes I had fairly small upper legs but great calves. I didn't care that much about my legs. They were strong enough to do whagt I had to do. I wasn't into BB so much where I cared if I was perfect all over. I know guys will rag me on here but it worked fine for me. And yes my right forearm was way bigger than my left. I only trained my right forearm. Rod Laver the tennis player was a client of my mom's. I met him one day and noticed how big his left forearm was. He said it 16" and his right forearm was just 13". In my sport I only really needed my right arm. SO yes those measurements are right on. And yes I weighed 300. In this pic I weigh 300 on the nose
You know whats funny is never in my entire life has anyone ever said I had small legs. They just always said how big I was. It is funny too when I would ask people how much I weighed most of them would say about 250 or 160. When I told them I weighed 300 they couldn't believe it. This pic right here was taken in Ft. Worth at Billy Bobs at an event I flew in for. They were promoting me as the California Kid and weighing 300 lbs. At the weigh-ins were all these people and newspaper people. I stepped on the scale and I weighed 299. My manager at the time was so pissed at me. He promted me weighing 300 and he was pissed at me.
This event was awesome. There was about 8,000 people there screaming their heads off. I couldn't even hear the ref so go. I just felt his hands lift. It was so much fun. Billy Bobs is definitely a place I would reccommend to go. CHeck out the gift shop my pic should be hanging in there. That was probably the most people to see an armwrestling event I been in except for the Nationals in San Diego.
Now I am trying to get back down to that weight. Hopefully close by the end of the year.
You know whats funny is never in my entire life has anyone ever said I had small legs. They just always said how big I was. It is funny too when I would ask people how much I weighed most of them would say about 250 or 160. When I told them I weighed 300 they couldn't believe it. This pic right here was taken in Ft. Worth at Billy Bobs at an event I flew in for. They were promoting me as the California Kid and weighing 300 lbs. At the weigh-ins were all these people and newspaper people. I stepped on the scale and I weighed 299. My manager at the time was so pissed at me. He promted me weighing 300 and he was pissed at me.
This event was awesome. There was about 8,000 people there screaming their heads off. I couldn't even hear the ref so go. I just felt his hands lift. It was so much fun. Billy Bobs is definitely a place I would reccommend to go. CHeck out the gift shop my pic should be hanging in there. That was probably the most people to see an armwrestling event I been in except for the Nationals in San Diego.
Now I am trying to get back down to that weight. Hopefully close by the end of the year.
Hard to believe that the little guy in the picture was known for breaking arms. It was kinda gross when Magnus Samulson broke that big aussies arm in WSM a bunch of years back.
Only,
Who was that big cat that played "Bull" in Over The Top??
Here is a pic of Kaz tied to the front of my Bronco and he is holding a rope tied to the back of the TV crews van. He is holding it while they floor it and he is making the back tires spin. I am in the truck with it in reverse and my front on the brake in case we move
did you and kaz ever arm wrestle?
Couple of my pics:
(http://www.mall23.com/images/kazmaier.jpg)
(http://www.mall23.com/images/bk1.jpg)
(http://www.mall23.com/images/bk3.jpg)
(http://www.mall23.com/images/bk4.jpg)
The other guy is Todd Harris.
Here's the video: http://www.mall23.com/images/bill_todd.mpg
Just don't dl it a zillion times or you'll kill my bandwidth ;)
Hey Onlyme, did Kaz ever tell you about his goldfish eating ability ? He could swallow 50 whole (until he cut his gizzard). I knew Kaz vary well when he competed in Scotland in the 80's becaues Dougie Edmunds, myself and Jim Pollock were the driving force within the Strongman / Highland games circuit within the IFSA at the time. Did you hear about the time he cried after OD finished his overhead presses at the Pure Strength Challenge 1989 ? OD was pressing 100lb dumbells for reps but his back was damaged and he put them down after 2 reps. He picked them up again and pressed 18 more. Kaz was moved to tears at the courage of the man.
wasnt bill able to bend a coin in half by simply closing his hand due to his grip strength?
Ive never heard of Kaz attacking anyone but I do remember him threatening one of the judges at a WSM event. The event was holding a car battery at arms length for as long as possible. Kaz had his arms bent a little and they blew the whistle. Kaz was pissed at the judge- im not sure who it was but I dont think it was Doug edmunds.
I remeber seeing that episode.....Kaz was NOT a happy person
one of my favorites was like 81 or 82 Bill was doing the silver dollar deadlift with over a thousand and Bruce Wilhelm was judging it and giving Bill shit for supposedly not locking out so Bill pulled it twice and stood way back at the top and said, "how's that Bruce" and Wilhelm just laughed.
There are a few on the stories thread. I put a few up. Bill is a good friend of mine so I shared a few stories.
http://www.irongame.com/that site was awesome. kaz was the thickest man to ever live. what a monster.
go th 'other' section and just look at kaz and his immense strength. After reading this thread and watching this video i really appreciate kaz so much more and idolise him now lol.
I've told the story on here about Scott getting jumped in the elevator. he put 4 or so guys in the hospital. I still think one on one Tony would take Scott. Tony is a mean muther with that Finnish attitude. But if I was to add a thirsd guy in the mix I would pic Gus Rethwisch over both of them. Mayb not now since Gus is so much older but 10 years ago Gus in a heartbeat.
I told the story earlier of me and Tony got a call from a friend of ours that got beat up by a couple of Vegas mob guys. Well my friend told us the story so me and Tony flew to Vegas to set these to washed up mob hit men straight. It was so fun and Tony did a great job while I watched his back and picked up on the receptionist. No more bad acting mob guys came to see my friend
Yes Tony is a scary guy if you don't know him. He has a heavy Arnold sounding accent and being 6'4" and over 300 with a bald head with an arrow shaved in it he can be intimadating. Plus he has that Viking attitude. He had that big loud K5 Blazer with no top (1976 or so) with huge tires on it and a hand grenade hanging from the rear view mirror. He has a pit bull that he chained to the inside of the truck. The truck was jacked up really high and you couldn't look into it unless you were really tall. So if anyone would try to steal it his dog would go crazy. It was a great car alarm. I haven't seen him in years.
Tony has been receiving shitloads of votes
not quite, bill hicks
tony used to train at golds in venice
he was shooting roids
Onlyme you need to write a book with these stories. They are fantastic to read.
Man you know everybody. I'd like to sit down and hear some of your stories. I'll bet you've got some classics.
Thanks guy. You know I go through my head and I have some really good ones. But I want to wait to see what happens to me physically. I think when I lose all my weight and get back into the mix a book would be good. Cause then I really did something. YOu know. I think maybe it could be inspirational. But right now I am a no body and no one would care about what I've done. So I will wait till I hit my goal then I can do it. But I better hurry cause I may drop dead soon with my luck.
Any chance anyone has the video of Kaz throwing the beer kegs onto a truck at the WSM?
Any chance anyone has the video of Kaz throwing the beer kegs onto a truck at the WSM?
Bump.
Here it is
fuk is that inspiring!! thanx, Keith, that gave me goose bumps. if i wasn't such a cripple i would go lift something. no one today instills awe like the KAZ!!!
look at the thickness of the top of his forearm. :o