Getbig Bodybuilding, Figure and Fitness Forums
Getbig Bodybuilding Boards => History - Stories - and Memories => Topic started by: jong_1 on April 10, 2007, 05:36:39 PM
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Two incredible arms photos, Chuck Sipes on the left & Casey Viator on the right...
http://www.drdarden.com/forum_images/411754.1138557759249.img725.jpg
(http://www.drdarden.com/forum_images/411754.1138557759249.img725.jpg)
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Sipes was one hell of a strong guy, too. Great arms on the both of them, though.
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Boyer Coe also great shape, as well as Ortiz.
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sipes easily wins that comparison anyway.
much better conditioned.
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When you can show a fairly high bicep peak while doing a gooseneck forearm flex, than you have exceptional arms like Sipes did. Too bad about the end of his life. I guess love can really make a guy crazy.
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When you can show a fairly high bicep peak while doing a gooseneck forearm flex, than you have exceptional arms like Sipes did. Too bad about the end of his life. I guess love can really make a guy crazy.
agreed, very sad end.
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Sipes especially and Viator as well are good examples of BBs from that era with great density & dryness. Not seen as much today with current drugs.
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When you can show a fairly high bicep peak while doing a gooseneck forearm flex, than you have exceptional arms like Sipes did. Too bad about the end of his life. I guess love can really make a guy crazy.
What's the story on that ?
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When you can show a fairly high bicep peak while doing a gooseneck forearm flex, than you have exceptional arms like Sipes did. Too bad about the end of his life. I guess love can really make a guy crazy.
??? ??? ??? ???
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don't know much about the details but chuck was extremely depressed over breaking up with a woman and committed suicide.
sorry, that's all i know (hopefully jpm/someone can fill us in on details).
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Maybe some other people can cast some more light on this, but the main fact is is that Sipes hung himself after trying to set himself on fire. How factural the events leading up to this are, I truely do not know.
Here is what I had been told, years ago, from a somewhat reliable sourse (who use to work and write for one of the former muscle mags) leading up to his suicide: Sipes was a counselor at a Christian youth group. He took troubled kids on extended camping trips to the high Sierra's, from time to time. He witnessed at his church on a regular bases. It's seems he fell in love (lust?) with a teenage girl. He left his wife (do not know if he had kids) for her. After awhile, teenage girls being teenage girls, changed her mind and in return, left him. Trying to get her back to him failed. Taking his only solution he could think of in his state of emotional confusion, he attempted to set himself on fire. And, at last, hung himself.
Chuck Sipes was a strongman, first and foremost. Also an outstanding BB'er. Had a stage show of breaking chains, ripping phone books, lifting weights, etc. He was mostly known for his gripping and forearm strength. One of the first BB'er to routinely handle 400+ bench's in regualr training workouts. He would be a prime example of a extra dense and powerfull looking body. Never seemed to get the big push and backing from Weider at the time.
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Maybe some other people can cast some more light on this, but the main fact is is that Sipes hung himself after trying to set himself on fire. How factural the events leading up to this are, I truely do not know.
Here is what I had been told, years ago, from a somewhat reliable sourse (who use to work and write for one of the former muscle mags) leading up to his suicide: Sipes was a counselor at a Christian youth group. He took troubled kids on extended camping trips to the high Sierra's, from time to time. He witnessed at his church on a regular bases. It's seems he fell in love (lust?) with a teenage girl. He left his wife (do not know if he had kids) for her. After awhile, teenage girls being teenage girls, changed her mind and in return, left him. Trying to get her back to him failed. Taking his only solution he could think of in his state of emotional confusion, he attempted to set himself on fire. And, at last, hung himself.
Chuck Sipes was a strongman, first and foremost. Also an outstanding BB'er. Had a stage show of breaking chains, ripping phone books, lifting weights, etc. He was mostly known for his gripping and forearm strength. One of the first BB'er to routinely handle 400+ bench's in regualr training workouts. He would be a prime example of a extra dense and powerfull looking body. Never seemed to get the big push and backing from Weider at the time.
i read about it (suicide) in an old mag years ago. not sure whether it was muscle mag int/ironman but it was around the time (shortly after) of the event. quite tragic, seeing that he was such an inspirational man, that he went like that.
chuck said he benched 570 in training at 220lbs body wt. i was always a little sus about this. what do you think jpm?
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Chuck was strong but he never benched anywhere close to 570.
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Chuck was strong but he never benched anywhere close to 570.
It's clear and obvious that none of us, including yourself, can truly verify if he could or could not strictly move 570, so there isn't any need for you to post a statement as if you had any semblance of surety that he could or couldn't. You're entitled to your opinion, which is all that it is...an opinion.
I emailed D. Draper to see if he could provide some insight about Sipes' strength. He's been gracious enough with his time to respond to similar questions in the past and hopefully he will this time as well.
From Dennis Weis, a personal friend of Sipes' (http://www.dennisbweis.com/):
Chuck might be classed as a power bodybuilder type. He was 5' 9 ½" and in his prime he weighed 220 lbs. His measurements included arms, 19 ½", chest, 50", waist 32", thighs, 25 ½", and calves, 18". He was particularly known for his massive and powerful forearms, which measured nearly 18 inches pumped.
Chuck was enormously strong and could do such strength feats as a 570 lb. bench press, a full squat with 600 lbs. and a standing barbell curl with 250 lbs. By now I guess it is obvious that Chuck wasn't your ordinary bodybuilder. He was a contest wining bodybuilder who won the IFBB Mr. America in 1959 then went on to win the IFBB Mr. Universe in 1961 and finally the IFBB Mr. World title in 1968 at the age of 36.
During those times of contest preparation for the Mr. America and Mr. Universe titles Chuck was employed as a lumberjack in the Redwood forests of Northern California. The magic of automation had not arrived in the logging industry yet so each and every job was physically demanding. I have spoken with lumberjacks who used to work with Chuck and they told me that he could put in a full 12 hour shift in the Redwoods and then go and do a brutal 2 to 3 hour workout in preparation for the competitions mentioned.
Muscles will last a lifetime, when correctly developed and Chuck Sipes is a comforting argument to this statement. During his adult life Chuck Sipes was an active mountaineer (member of the American Alpine Club) and at the age of 56 he was known to go on two to four week treks into the rugged mountains in California.
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hahahahaha, ok "jong" because it's just sooooooo common for 220 pound guys to bench press 570 pounds and then only squat 30 pounds more...........oh yeah in the mid 1950's as well.
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570 at 220 sounds too high, especially then. Reg Park had one of the highest benches, around 500 lb., in the 1950s.
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570 at 220 sounds too high, especially then. Reg Park had one of the highest benches, around 500 lb., in the 1950s.
hahahahaha, ok "jong" because it's just sooooooo common for 220 pound guys to bench press 570 pounds and then only squat 30 pounds more...........oh yeah in the mid 1950's as well.
He was maybe stronger in upper-body movements? Not a big squatter(25.5 in. legs / 19.5 in. arms)?
Maybe this one-rep max wasnt full range of motion, and there were 2 or 3 'spotters', who knows?
Point is, guy was strong, had a job full-time, worked his ass off, and put 3 hrs in gym afterwards, how many of us can say the same, and look like he did?I don't think 'all drugs' applied to this individual, it was all 'heart', which prob explains his early sad demise too...
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Maybe this one-rep max wasnt full range of motion, and there were 2 or 3 'spotters', who knows?
Point is, guy was strong, had a job full-time, worked his ass off, and put 3 hrs in gym afterwards, how many of us can say the same, and look like he did?I don't think 'all drugs' applied to this individual, it was all 'heart', which prob explains his early sad demise too...
Cute but all speculation. I hope you're not suggesting that since he was a "decent guy" a partial ROM bench is the same thing. ::)
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I dont get your question ???
What I'm saying is his legs sucked(but acceptable for time)in reference to sarcasms' comment re squat poundage, and his bench prob wasnt as strict as Park's. I dont know if he was a decent guy or not.
What I know, is he had good physique,good conditioning for the day, and very good arms.
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Anything posted here is speculation about Sipes. I'm the first one to plead guilty to that. There are no training videro's and eye witness accounts of his training. But I had heard/read the his usual rep range was 4 to 6 reps,few sets and with a lot of heavy lockouts included. If it was a partial lockout of 570, which is good but not any record setting for a 220lb man, than I can believe that. But a 570 bench, 2 second pause at he chest, would be truely outstanding. I tend to believe that bench would be more of a short range lockout.
A lot of men of his era (and a few enlighten men today) would hold a heavy bench lockout (even doing this on overhead lifting, squats & Dl's) from 5 to all the way up to 20+ seconds in that position. Or until their strength gave out. Produced great tendon/ligament/joint strength and all around power. As far as Sipes bench/squat ratio goes, anyone can look up any local or even national PL contest. A few of the lower level lifters will have benches pretty close to their top squat. These are the one lift wonders, where the bench is the king and nother else matters. And a lot of thes guy's will drop out of the squat & DL altogether in a regular PL'ing meet.
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the reasin why Sipes bicep peak isnt large in that picture is because the way he is flexing, his wrist is turned away causing the biceo to be longer if you turn it 8in like Casey it peaks more but takes away from the 4arm .
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Here's the email response I received from D. Draper, who was kind enough to respond. Probably best just to leave it at that:
-----Original Message-----
From: Draper [mailto:irononline@davedraper.com]
Sent: Thursday, May 03, 2007 12:23 PM
Subject: Chuck Sipes
You wrote: about Chuck Sipes... Do you think this is accurate?
I trust everything you read about Chuck's strength and prowess is accurate. He's demonstrated it publicly and on stage often.
Incredible lifter, bodybuilder, great artist and a good man.
Go... Godspeed... Dave
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no offense but i'm still calling bullshit on the 570 bnech claim.
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no offense but i'm still calling bullshit on the 570 bnech claim.
Ahh the opinion of someone thats truely full of shit. Thanks sarcasm ::)
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chuck was obviously very strong, but 570 bench? i want to see the rom on that.
his forearms were very well developed but they were no where near 18 inches, pumped or not measured in the traditional goose neck style.
hell, bill kazmier's forearms didn't measure 18 inches at his largest and he was over 100 lbs heavier than chuck and had truly MASSIVE forearms.
19.5 inch upper arms? bull shit! just take a look above. arthur jones measured viator's upper arms at 19.5 and he obviously has more mass there than sipes, particularly in the tris (where 3/4 of the mass is). granted, casey's aren't nearly as conditioned as sipes but that matters little in a pure measurement sense.
i don't know why these guys needed to lie about these things.
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Gotta take it all with a huge bag of salt...
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I wonder if the way (and reason) Chuck committed suicide was ever proven accurate?
(Over the teen girl, igniting ones self, hanging, etc.) Poor guy must have been tormented.
I wish we could go back to that day & age where everything in the world isn't captured on film and uploaded.
If it happened today, TMZ would be on the scene ASAP!
A more simple time. GetBig in those days was "Letters to the Editor" in the various Muscle mags.
Of course, old Iron Man (Rader), was, and still is, the best.
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Two incredible arms photos, Chuck Sipes on the left & Casey Viator on the right...
http://www.drdarden.com/forum_images/411754.1138557759249.img725.jpg
(http://www.drdarden.com/forum_images/411754.1138557759249.img725.jpg)
the difference is sipes worked extremly hard for a living as a lumberjack thus the added density.
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I read this thread but somehow missed the exact date for the 570 bench press...or the location where it happened... or actual first-hand witnesses. A photo would have been apt also.
Many of these baton feats (info passing from person to person) grow roots and stay. Around the time all this was supposedly going on, and Chuck was training for a 600 lb bench press attempt (which was scheduled but scuttled due to injury) someone close to the situation told me he had seen Chuck fail with a single rep with 450 in the bench (not becuase of injury).
There cannot be too many supporting details of proof; there are often too few, or none. What can be offered as proof here other than rumor repetition?
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I read this thread but somehow missed the exact date for the 570 bench press...or the location where it happened... or actual first-hand witnesses. A photo would have been apt also.
Many of these baton feats (info passing from person to person) grow roots and stay. Around the time all this was supposedly going on, and Chuck was training for a 600 lb bench press attempt (which was scheduled but scuttled due to injury) someone close to the situation told me he had seen Chuck fail with a single rep with 450 in the bench (not becuase of injury).
There cannot be too many supporting details of proof; there are often too few, or none. What can be offered as proof here other than rumor repetition?
Yes story's though the years/Decades do take on a life of there own, However with Due respect Joe, you have more or less answered your Own Question and have on other occasions, you have said there is no Proof of the reported 570LB bench...and yet you are saying someone "close to the Situation" had "seen" chuck Fail with 450....if that was actually the case wheres his or your proof of that attempt? is it Documented?...on VHS?..."seen" by CREDITABLE Witnesses?
You have done a Very Creditable Job of Documenting "Facts and Figures" though Many years Joe, HOWEVER as is a saying from Long ago....America...The world....Needs Hero's.... People WANT to believe in those Hero's....some Hero's IMO are best left to lie Joe especially when they are no longer around to Defend themselves on or against the points you address in Reporting your Facts and Figures on them.