Strongest Getbiggers - Past and Present.

[Hulkotron]

Big-Dicked Bob was strongest on upright rows (BB).

[Hulkotron]

Nice bench Wiggsotron

[JackTheRipper]

Me at 19 squatting 425 many at the gym were stronger

I hope you're slimmer now 

[BB]

How do we define Getbigger ?

Jeremy Hoonstra was a member and reader here -

.

Vince Anello was too -

.

Jason Pegg of Westside was a member for a few years.

Ernie Beath posted here - https://www.youtube.com/user/PatrioticHighlander.

Billy Mimnaugh.

There was a strongman named Tom M (something) that was very strong.

Chris Mason.

Etc, Etc.....

[robcguns]

I used to be strong but we didn’t carry cell phones and cameras with us at the gym cause we didn’t really care.

Bench 505 at 255
315x19
405x10
Incline bench 455
Dead 700
Ez bar curl 205x8
Seated db shoulder press 140sx3
Incline dumbbell press 172sx3

Believe or not could not care less. I can’t do it now so who cares.

All lifts done no hands on bars, no hand offs, no spot really on any.

[Wiggs]

How do we define Getbigger ?

Jeremy Hoonstra was a member and reader here -

.

Vince Anello was too -

.

Jason Pegg of Westside was a member for a few years.

Ernie Beath posted here - https://www.youtube.com/user/PatrioticHighlander.

Billy Mimnaugh.

There was a strongman named Tom M (something) that was very strong.

Etc, Etc.....

Now these guys have elite strength. There's levels to this.

[Cook]

I used to be strong but we didn’t carry cell phones and cameras with us at the gym cause we didn’t really care.

Bench 505 at 255
315x19
405x10
Incline bench 455
Dead 700
Ez bar curl 205x8
Seated db shoulder press 140sx3
Incline dumbbell press 172sx3

Believe or not could not care less. I can’t do it now so who cares.

All lifts done no hands on bars, no hand offs, no spot really on any.

those are some strong ass lifts.And yeah I am like you when I was lifting cell phones had not yet been invented

[Matt]

haha Matt Paddy was not yet born when that pic was taken. I have mentioned watching people like Doug Young and Mike Bridges train at the Metro Athletic club back then so yeah it was an elite strength gym.Long gone I am sad to say

Great post, but that's Paddy Pimblett in the picture. I didn't know he was so strong!

The Metro Athletic Club is closed?! Does the building still exist, and is the gym still there under a new name? Or is it completely closed?

[wes]

Back in the 70`s I trained at the Springfield Ma. YMCA alongside Carl Snitkin he was a beast !!




Carlton Snitkin left this world in May 2018 at the age of 72, but long after leaving his mark on and off the platform. In his 72 trips around the sun, Carlton inspired innumerable people with is Powerlifting prowess and coaching excellence. Open Powerlifting documents that his best official lifts are an 837 lb squat, a 507lb bench, and an 821 deadlift for an official 2121 at 242 lbs. Through the magic of YouTube, Carlton had a channel on which he posted a squat, bench and deadlift so that people can witness his power, strict style, respectful platform demeanor as well as his athletic physique which bristled with power.

Carlton loved his community, but he traveled to 10 men’s Senior National Powerlifting Championships to compete – beginning in 1967 and culminating at the 1983 Seniors in Austin. Although Carlton never placed higher than 2nd at any Seniors, he won the 1971 Worlds, as well as 2 North American Open Meets and the Epic Hawaiian Invitational Open in 1982. For you young readers, the Hawaiian Open was the US Open, Big Dogs, Boss of Bosses all wrapped in to one. Only the Apex predators of the PL world would be invited and the strongest would survive – usually spurred on to World Record performance by the raucous crowd and proximity to their peer beasts.

Carlton graced the cover of the November 1981 Powerlifting USA Magazine, documenting his 2121 at 242 meet success. The picture leaves an indelible image of a confident man who has put in the work and is straining up with a world record squat as his 20” neck looks engorged with effort.

For his efforts, Carlton is enshrined in the Connecticut Powerlifting Hall of Fame, but that is not his only hall of fame membership. Carlton is in the Connecticut Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame as well as the New England High School Wrestling Hall of Fame.

In 1974 Carlton founded the Norwich Free Academy Wrestling program, which he led for 25 years. As the head coach of this program, his combined record was 471-80-7, creating 63 State or New England champion wrestlers. Carlton’s successor described how Carl would train his wrestlers hard, then he would go home and train himself- even at the height of his Powerlifting career in the early 80s.

A rival coach described Snitkin’s style: Carl quickly established some of the roughest, toughest, most physical wrestlers in the State. He built a great legacy.

Upon reading the numerous online tributes that accompany Mr. Snitkin’s obituary it is touching to read the outpouring of emotion for a man who was the best he could be while demanding the best from everyone he coached.

RIP Coach Snitkin as men like you are very rare and will always be recognized by us here at Jailhouse Strong.

Carl Snitkin .....personal bests !!

https://www.openpowerlifting.org/u/carlsnitkin

[Cook]

Great post, but that's Paddy Pimblett in the picture. I didn't know he was so strong!

The Metro Athletic Club is closed?! Does the building still exist, and is the gym still there under a new name? Or is it completely closed?

yeah it completely closed a while back now.The building was an old house and Doug Patterson who owned it tore several walls out and loaded it with weights.It was
Very small by today’s gym standards.Required a lot of cooperation from the lifters.

[robcguns]

Great post, but that's Paddy Pimblett in the picture. I didn't know he was so strong!

The Metro Athletic Club is closed?! Does the building still exist, and is the gym still there under a new name? Or is it completely closed?

Matt, you really think a guy who is 27 years old wa squatting in black and white photos?

[Matt]

Just switched gyms a few weeks ago and There was this disgusting fatass shoulder pressing 52.5kg dumbbells for reps relatively easily the other day but he looked absolutely vile he’s probably strongest I’ve seen in there but it’s more a bodybuilding gym than powerlifting even though has 8 power racks

LOL, I know EXACTLY who you are talking about. It took me a while to dig up their photo, but I found it.

I also found this gem while searching for the picture:

Haha the massive nose in the pussy story is awesome. Always at least try and eat the pussy in the position you mentioned (and the ass too if she up for it) there is almost no greater pleasure than spending considerable time with your face between a woman’s ass cheeks mate, do it next time your eating out !

LOL. Love that scent.

I have only eaten a woman's ass once. And that was one hot fucking chick, and one clean fucking asshole.

Some women have asked me to have anal sex with them before, but my answer has always been no. My fear has always been that stool would end up on my penis. I am very grateful to Wiggs who strongly advised me not to participate in the act. I have no intention to ever fuck a woman in the ass.

Is it good?

Also, I'm not sure if being in shape has been making women more insecure around me lately, but 4 of the past 5 women I asked to go down on didn't allow me to do so. It's remarkable to me how many women are insecure - even the hot ones. Especially when you have a lower body fat percentage than they do. I accept it, but...I really don't know why they are so insecure.

[The Scott]

I never thought about it as being strong as overall, I could not bench press nor deadlift much. In the squat I was alone at least in our town.

My bodyweight was 245 to 250 lbs. My last workout at a gym before moving to where they did not have enough weight.   I warmed up with 130 and then, I think 225.  Then I put 515 on the bar and knocked out 20 easy reps.  Next 535 for another 20 easy reps.  Then 585 for 5 easy reps and finally 515 for a final kinda sorta easy reps, LOL!

One day there were two San Diego Chargers in the gym and they were at the squat rack.  I think they had 505 on the bar (it has been decades so my memory on their weight is poor) and I asked if I could work in.  I was warmed up from leg extensions and leg curs so I knew I was okay.  They were much taller than me, one of them was Dennis McKnight, the other gentleman was a bit taller and I didn't know his name. 

They told me they "...didn't take weight off" but I could "work in" if I "could handle it".  Big guys.  I waited and watched as they both did 5 reps with that poundage.  I got under the bar, backed out and knocked 20 easy reps then racked the weight and said something along the lines of, "Well...Since you don't take weight off, can I put more on?"

They just looked at me.  This kinda gave me an idea that maybe I was strong on the squat but keep in mind that my brothers all laughed when I told them later about this.  They said the football guys "just weren't used to training with a 'tard" and so were unprepared as they or any of my friends I would occasionally train with would have been for  my "retard strength".   

I have done vertical leg presses with 700 lbs for 50 reps.  Full, deep reps. not that stupid 2 inch movement seen on those sled press things. I hate those.  750 lbs on the leg extension and broke the machine.  My best bench at that weight was a puny 350 lbs. 

I have tried deadlifting and one day my friends who taught me about J.C. Hise were deadlifting and I asked if I could have the bar for squats.  505 lbs on it and they said I could take it if I could lift it.  So I walked over to it, picked it up and walked it several feet to the tiered squat rack.  I set it on the lowest tier of the rack, then squatted down underneath it and did what is called a bottom-position squat.  That was hard as at the time I was only using up to 335 lbs (I think!) for my sets of 20.

At another gym I would train at, we had a shoulder press/calf raise machine stack that went to 365 lb.  A friend was using it for calf raises and I was urging him on from across the room and some guy  gave him shit for being "so weak" and said he could shoulder press what my friend was using for calf raises.  My friend told him to eat shit or something like that and the guy got angry with him and I thought he was going to hurt my friend. I went over, put the pin on the bottom of the stack and angrily pressed it up and then let it down with my right arm and then did it again but let it down with my left arm. The presses were smooth, no jerking but I was really mad at this fellow for being such a jerk.  I told him to do it. 

He just looked at me and was quiet.  I am guessing that the weight was probably only 150 to 200 lbs for real (machines aren't like free weight!) but I was as my family would say "tarded out".  I pushed a Rambler station wagon maybe 30 or so yards up a slight incline on a hill as it died and my friend that owned the car said I couldn't do it and called me names until I  angry and got out and did it.  It nearly killed me and I did NOT need to train legs for a week or so after that one.  The hill was not real steep but it was enough of an incline that it was really hard to do and I had to rest and I bet it took me 20 or 30 minutes to make it.  I was creeping at the beginning and end as it was much harder at the beginning and at the end?  Brutal.

I realize that I cannot verify these as there are no films of these "Feats of Strength for Festivus" as my brothers would say years later. I never watched Seinfeld but they did and I finally watched a clip a few years ago.    They and a few folks could testify but again, no films so I do not blame anyone for not believing me! 

I am now in the twilight of my years.  One of my brothers just had a good friend suffer a massive stroke and is now partially paralyzed and in assisted living. I am fortunate, blessed even to have made it back again with no apparent damage other than to my heart.  I can't train right now but not because my muscles are bad.  My legs are no longer strong but as I told my doctor the other day, I am not giving up.  It is unreasonable to think I will ever be really strong again so I will settle for being able to walk with our grandchildren.

[Cook]

Yeah all that squatting comes with a price tag. I had my hip replaced last year

[The Scott]

Yeah all that squatting comes with a price tag. I had my hip replaced last year

Are you better now?  I have heard those really help.  One of my brother has had both knees replaced and I think one hip.  I will have to ask him later today.  I am home now as I cannot walk that well, LOL!

[Cook]

Are you better now?  I have heard those really help.  One of my brother has had both knees replaced and I think one hip.  I will have to ask him later today.  I am home now as I cannot walk that well, LOL!

I was in pain for 5 years hoping it would go away. I had the surgery and the pain was gone immediately. I should have done it much sooner

[Matt]

You can argue and say "Wiggs it's not official the guy had his hand on the bar"  your right but if you look at his hands after he spotted me he goes👌 as in he didn't help. Anyway, I have done 425 when I was 23 and on no sauce and no assistance.  And in this video, I was on clean for years.

Point is, I don't consider myself elite. Larry Wheels is elite. Tom Wishbones is elite. Me then, I was strong. I've also squatted 605 I was fat as fuck then and it felt like I had the world on my back but I did it. Also, clean. One thing to note though, I have short arms and legs and longer torso. I've never maxed deadlifted in my life.

These are 1 rep maxes. I did that 405 after coming back to the gym after a 4 month lay off. I was still young at 27.

I'd love to objectively parameterize these things, but of course that is difficult to do.

Your lifts are or were in the top 1% of the top 1%, Wiggs.

Let's say - somewhere between the top 0.1% and top 0.01%.

I get that you are basically calling something elite if they are the best in the world, but I am calling something elite if it's better than 99.9% of the population.

I'd probably say:

225-lb bench press = strong.
315-lb bench press = very strong.
405-lb bench press = very, very strong [to me, this is "elite" because it is the top 1% of the top 1%].

But I get that it's hard to have exact and specific, objective standards.

If a 225-lb bench press is strong, what us a 220-lb bench press, for instance?

I think maybe we have a tendency to compare ourselves to the strongest people in the world, where I'm saying we should be comparing ourselves to the general population.

I get it - Brian Shaw, Ed Coan, and Larry Wheels, etc, are stronger than you. But is that really the standard we should go by?

Bertil Fox is considered to have had one of the strongest upper bodies in all of bodybuilding history, and he only had about 100-lb on your bench press. So if your lifts aren't elite, they are definitely way up there.

My thing is that I always want to put objective definitions to terms. I much prefer facts than opinions. Also, consider: all science is subjectively objective. We need to draw lines in the sand somewhere, and make definitions, by definition, definite.

I try to deal with objective facts because I think chaos is created when we deviate from it. And for me in particular, it's worse than for most.

I want objective standards and facts. And people lie so damn much. At least you prove your claims. Most on here do not.

If you don't want to call your lifts elite, they are at the least, very, very strong.

[The Scott]

I was in pain for 5 years hoping it would go away. I had the surgery and the pain was gone immediately. I should have done it much sooner

That's great!  My  brother whined like a baby after the first knee replacement, swearing that he would never get the other one done!  About a week or so later, he was pain free and eager to have the other one done. 

[Matt]

How do we define Getbigger ?

Jeremy Hoonstra was a member and reader here -

.

Vince Anello was too -

.

Jason Pegg of Westside was a member for a few years.

Ernie Beath posted here - https://www.youtube.com/user/PatrioticHighlander.

Billy Mimnaugh.

There was a strongman named Tom M (something) that was very strong.

Chris Mason.

Etc, Etc.....

Again, with definitions...it can be hard.

I would consider Shawn Ray to be a Getbigger, but not Jay Cutler, even though they both posted here. But Shawn was here for years, and posted many more posts than Shawn did.

Or we could exclude top 10 pros or something.

My definition would be: anyone who posted a minimum number of posts, call it 500+ would be a Getbigger. So if a pro signed up just to post 14 posts and never come back...I'd be hard pressed to count that.

And when we make the list, we could just recognize which ones were top pros.

I mean, even Tommy Wishbone, who is a definite Getbigger, is not a "normal" Getbigger. He's not just some gym rat.

Or we could literally just include ANYONE who ever played on Getbig, even once, and then mentally adjust the lists in our own minds to remove some that don't quite fit.

Even if the list had 20 people, and 15 were top pros, we could just acknowledge that in our minds.

I'm just curious to get a top 5-10-20... regardless of pro status or any other consideration.

[Matt]

I used to be strong but we didn’t carry cell phones and cameras with us at the gym cause we didn’t really care.

Bench 505 at 255
315x19
405x10
Incline bench 455
Dead 700
Ez bar curl 205x8
Seated db shoulder press 140sx3
Incline dumbbell press 172sx3

Believe or not could not care less. I can’t do it now so who cares.

All lifts done no hands on bars, no hand offs, no spot really on any.

Those lifts are amazing.

If I'm not mistaken, the world record for the strict barbell curl is only around 255-lb [or slightly less], and is held by the Russian chemical experiment, Denis Cyplenkov.

Denis Cyp. This may sound like a rhetorical question, but does Denis Cyp take Test Cyp [Cypionate]?

[Matt]

Yet more evidence that you seldom see over 405-lb. Keeping in mind that I'm looking over videos of the *strongest men in the province*, and you have the top ones squatting over 600.

Again, the strongest in a population of over 14M people.

So if you have guys with a six plate per side squat easily placing in the top 10 in most weight classes, why would we ever expect to see that at normal gyms filled with normal people?

I can honestly say that I rarely see anyone squat. I certainly don't see anyone squat anything impressive when I do.

Also, I have noticed in videos that I have taken of myself training that people watch me lift a lot. I wasn't sure why that would be, but it's because seeing a normal sized guy deadlifting in the 405-495 range is unusual.

Not that a 405x10 deadlift is spectacular...but when a normal sized man is lifting it, I think that makes it stand out.

I guess I'm trying to figure out these things, and get to the facts. It's not that I'm strong - but I am competitive in my weight class.

I'll put it this way - if I was allowed to compete in the 80-kg world championships, I'd probably come last or second last [bottom 3 of 50, for sure]. But I have looked over the events, and I would at least be able to move some of the implements.

Among other things, I could definitely get that 246-lb Viking Press for...call if 2-3 reps:

By "normal people's" standards standards, I'm strong, and for my weight, I am strong. Social media messes with my mind when that is said to be false.

Like I said, I'm looking for objective parameters for definitions here.

[Matt]

Matt, you really think a guy who is 27 years old wa squatting in black and white photos?

Whoever it is in the picture, they have the same barber. 

[Cook]

Whoever it is in the picture, they have the same barber. 

haha that was 1978 I guess given enough time everything comes back around

[robcguns]

Those lifts are amazing.

If I'm not mistaken, the world record for the strict barbell curl is only around 255-lb [or slightly less], and is held by the Russian chemical experiment, Denis Cyplenkov.

Denis Cyp. This may sound like a rhetorical question, but does Denis Cyp take Test Cyp [Cypionate]?

Yeah my form wasn’t strict for 205 for a set of 10 but I could get 1 strict curl with 205. And yes he tools lots haha.

[The Scott]

Yet more evidence that you seldom see over 405-lb. Keeping in mind that I'm looking over videos of the *strongest men in the province*, and you have the top ones squatting over 600.

Again, the strongest in a population of over 14M people.

So if you have guys with a six plate per side squat easily placing in the top 10 in most weight classes, why would we ever expect to see that at normal gyms filled with normal people?

I can honestly say that I rarely see anyone squat. I certainly don't see anyone squat anything impressive when I do.

Also, I have noticed in videos that I have taken of myself training that people watch me lift a lot. I wasn't sure why that would be, but it's because seeing a normal sized guy deadlifting in the 405-495 range is unusual.

Not that a 405x10 deadlift is spectacular...but when a normal sized man is lifting it, I think that makes it stand out.

I guess I'm trying to figure out these things, and get to the facts. It's not that I'm strong - but I am competitive in my weight class.

I'll put it this way - if I was allowed to compete in the 80-kg world championships, I'd probably come last or second last [bottom 3 of 50, for sure]. But I have looked over the events, and I would at least be able to move some of the implements.

Among other things, I could definitely get that 246-lb Viking Press for...call if 2-3 reps:

By "normal people's" standards standards, I'm strong, and for my weight, I am strong. Social media messes with my mind when that is said to be false.

Like I said, I'm looking for objective parameters for definitions here.

Matt, no one outside of powerlifters ever asked me how much I could squat.  It was always, "Howmuchyabench?"

You are very strong especially so compared to normal folk.  Trust me and others here.  Now, having said that we must all recognize that if bhanky is put into the equation, we are all crap.