This is a serious thread - no bashing or bs, please. thanks in advance.I often talked with a guy, he was 33, and had been passionate about bodybuilding and powerlifting since he was a kid. He hadn't trained for quite some years but still kept himself up to date, and the guy was an ENCYCLOPEDIA of information regarding lifters. The guy had a remarkable memory. He could always remember people's bodyweights, years competed, arm measurements, lifting stats, etc.
Very cool, down to earth guy. Unfortunately he died a few months ago - some kind of heart failure. I was a little devastated. He often took time to tell me stories about this and that and helped out with training etc. Like I said, an encyclopedia of knowledge.
Anyways, a few weeks before he died we were talking about heavy weighted dips. These have been a lift I've done consistently since I started training seriously, and I've worked my way up to 4 20 kg plates for 5 reps. I'm somewhat proud of this achievement, because he told me hadn't personally witnessed anyone going heavier, however, his childhood friend
Claus Gunzel had done 12+? reps with 150 lbs added. Claus Gunzel was 5'7, and weighed 235 off season IIRC. Okay, so he was pretty good at weighted dips.
But he told me about his squatting abilities. Now, this is not a bullshitter - my friend, who died some months ago. What struck me about him was brutal honesty and facts. No bullshit, just facts, and I swear on my mother's well-being that he'd never lie about stats. He also told me, that he never saw anyone who could push/force himself more than Claus.
Anyways, he told me about Claus Gunzel's best below-parallel squats:
10 reps 250 kg (550 lbs)
25 reps 200 kg ( 440 lbs)
60 reps 150 kg (330 lbs)
These lifts are IMO pretty damned crazy. Not world record level, but his 60 reps with 330 lbs is along the lines of eddie robinson and tom platz doing 50 reps with 315 lbs on squats.
Well, I begged him to tell me more about this Claus Gunzel figure. He told me he always wore big baggy clothing. You couldn't really tell he worked out when you saw him in those clothes - he just locked WIDE and really blocky.
They were vacationing in Spain (a popular tourist site for people in my country in Scandinavia) and one evening/night they were visitng a nightclub, they being my friend, Claus, and a third character. Muscle was more the rage back then, and at one point two german bodybuilders (seemingly as part of the show) took their shirts off and started posing, the audience was cheering and everything. They didn't show their legs though - perhaps typical beachbody, underdeveloped legs?
So up steps this Claus Gunzel guy, who I gathered normally was a little introverted, and drops his pants and shows his legs. And the cheering crowd became silent. They'd never seen legs like those. silence...until some british girl in a real cockney tone shouted "LOOK AT THOSE MOTHERFUCKERS!" (of course referring to his legs).
Sadly my friend died before he could tell me more stories, but his competition weight was sub 210 lbs at 5'7 at his peak, I believe. Not saying he just peaked and that was it, but that was his heaviest.
He won the Nordic (Scandinavian) championship competing at 176 lbs I believe (80 kg).
This is the only pic I have of him: I don't know where he was weight wise in that pic though,
IIRC it wasn't at his heaviest - but I can't remember the conversation well enough. EDIT - I found the conv. He was sub 200.
Should any of you know anything more about him or have any pics from those years...please share.
Just thought I'd tell this story.
thanks for reading.
