Sammartinos fame gave rise to many relatively successful imitators, such as Texas-born Czech-American Ivan Putski, who had a long career as a 5-foot-6 Polish Power version of Bruno. Exepet for the time needed for travel, his wrestling career allowed more time for training. Sign up below to receive our newest workout routines, recipes, news stories, and offers from our partners. what do you do for a routine now? Required fields are marked *. They would affect my knees, so I would occasionally make a swift move in the ring, only to find my knee buckling under me. His own survival points to the fact that young Sammartino inherited a marvelous constitution. In response, Sammartino decided to develop his body through wrestling and weightlifting. Unlike too many of the present day strongmen who specialize in the so-called odd lifts, Bruno is not afraid to show what he can do in public in open competition. Click here if you wish to opt out and view the full site. There was plenty of truth to what Sammartino was saying, but also an element of sour grapes: He had once been the top dog, the man with the unbreakable bear hug, but his top spot (and legend) had been passed to juiced-up behemoths Graham and Hogan, then to ever-tauter performers in the mold of Shawn Michaels, Randy Orton and todays many other CrossFit-looking (and doing) superstars. Was this in Tampa? The only exercise I did with Bruno was the bench press, which was also his favorite movement. While performing in a strong man show, he was spotted by a pro wrestling recruiter and Sammartino made his wrestling debut on December 17, 1959 in Pittsburgh. I tried and discarded exercises I feel wouldn't help me in my quest for power and size. . If you're unsure of how to do this, click here for a quick guide. Curl 3 x 65. "One of the finest men I knew, in life and in business," WWE chairman Vince McMahon said . ", TRAINING WITH A LEGEND: Bruno Sammartino - By Tom Minichiello, Way Back Archives - Strength Training Truth, Hard Training Women: (Muscle Fiber is Human), Archives - IRON GAME - PHYSICAL CULTURE HISTORY, Way Back Archives - IRON GAME - PHYSICAL CULTURE HISTORY, Way Back Archives - Chemical Warfare - Dangers of Steroids, Way Back Archives - Strength Training Research, Dr. Jason Fung - Keto & Intermittent Fasting, Osmo Kiiha - Iron Game History & Memoribilia, Bradley J. Steiner - American Combato and Strength Training, Letters From Charles A. Smith - Courtesy of Dennis Weis, Way Back Archives - Maximum Training From WST, The Development of Physical Power - Saxon, The Strongest Man that ever Lived - Jowett, Way Back Archives - Whelan Strength Training, Washington DC, (1990-2012). As far as the Olympic lifts are concerned, his best performance has been, as one might expect, in the two hands press. The more he trained, the bigger he grew, and the bigger he got, the more his power increased. so in the Snatch I would be called for pressing the weight out all the time, and in the Jerk I had to do a sort of push jerk to get the weight to a point where my elbows could hold it. The dirt bike pro recovered from a rare heart condition to get back on track. 1963 1971 during those years he not only wrestled in the United States and Canada, but places such as South Africa, India, Japan, Australia, New Guinea, Tasmania, Europe and China. Seventh on my list was squats. Sammartinos physique, then, was the most critical component of his performance, a body that told a story even more impressive than the moves and holds he deployed. Q: What were your bests in Olympic lifting? Inno Supps Complete Gut Health Stack: Doctor Approved 3-Step Process for UFC and Project Rock Team Up For BSR 3 Shoe Collaboration. He walked a great deal, which he believed improved his endurance. Click here if you wish to opt out and view the full site. In 1959 he set a record in the bench press with a lift of 565 lbs. Since I've given them up I've found I have no more of this sort of trouble. He exercised at a Young Men's Hebrew Association in Pittsburgh and went on to set a world record in 1959 by bench pressing 565 pounds, according to his WWE profile. These days, the gold standard is probably somewhere between HHHs cartoon bodybuilder definition and AJ Styles athletic frame. He believed in many sets of the basic exercises are shown in the photos. From Episode 147 of Jim Cornette's Drive ThruArtwork by Travis Heckel!Send in your question for the Drive-Thru to: CornyDriveThru@gmail.com Follow Jim and Br. I was a human skeleton when I came to the United States. Women are strongly encouraged to participate. Good articles about weight training, strength research, the harmful effects of steroids, the mental aspects of training, and iron game - physical culture history are always wanted. then I'll do an endurance set for pump, as I previously mentioned. This gave him much confidence in his strength and ability. bodybuilding training will not give you the strength you need for the mat . Well his hard work paid off and by 1956 he had made on the Olympic weight lifting team. In all we would do ten sets. During the 1960s, his suggested training was as follows: NaturalStrength.com is an online think-tank, (combining the best of the old with the best of the new), dedicated to truthful drug-free strength training information. : Speaking of your wrestling and power training, how does one affect the other? Before Hulk Hogan could be the face of the company during its national expansion, before Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock could lead The Attitude Era, and before John Cena or Roman Reigns were even born, Sammartino was a two-time WWE Champion who had cumulatively held the strap for over 11 years (as a fun fact, Cena was born . Sammartino could certainly handle himself, but not in the way pro wrestling was accustomed to. Since I first started my weight training in 1944 there was one movement that I love to do more than any other.the wide grip bench press. (See exercise photos above). NaturalStrength.Com has maintained a reputation as one of the most well informed, truthful and introspective sites on the 'net since 1999. I was 14 years old and I weighed, like, 83, 84 pounds. I followed the power routine I just outlined, with the exception of squats, and Karl kept right with me all the way. Nevertheless, it bears noting that the man who has loomed large over the WWE since 2003 is John Cena, a powerhouse wrestler of Italian descent who has consistently denied all allegations of steroid use and even gone so far as to hang the negative results of his drug tests in his South Florida gym. Bench 3 x 64. So I worked out with Arnold, Franco Columbu, Dave Draper and those guys a number of times. . Of the types of weight training, I would say Olympic lifting would be the best training for wrestling, for the coordination and timing involved, especially in the Snatch, and Clean and Jerk, will help you more. When we look at his physique we think strong, because we associate it with an aesthetic of powerlifting, explains Chow. Exit thoughts of the prize ring! While the "Living Legend" Bruno Sammartino of Pittsburgh, PA., used many training methods, this is from his training course sold in the back of magazines and comic books in the 1960's. He had a gym in Wexford, Pennsylvania, just down the road from where I grew up. Because when we hid in those mountains for 14 months from the Nazis, we nearly starved to death. His writing on these topics has appeared in publications such as the Paris Review, the Atlantic, and the New Republic. 1. As a pro wrestler, he straddled a major demarcation point in the businessthe transition from small-scale territorial operationssome indistinguishable from carnival athletic shows that featured local toughs taking on traveling wrestlersto larger companies already beginning to utilize the power of television to draw their crowds. I would eat an early dinner no later than 3:00 so that it would be fully digested by the time I went in the ring. Bruno published a book about training and wrestling. I usually do 10 sets, working up in 2-rep jumps to my maximum. Question: First of all, Bruno, have you always been rugged and powerful? Stuffing himself with as much pasta and homemade Italian bread as his mom could cook, Sammartino quickly bulked up and narrowly missed making the 1956 US Olympic weightlifting team. After suffering a broken neck, among other injuries, Bruno retired in 1988. During his childhood in the small Italian mountain town of Pizzoferrato in the Abruzzi region of Italy, Bruno Sammartino heard stories about how the streets in the United States were paved with gold. He did not smoke. He would work out with the University of Pittsburgh wrestling team, compete in bodybuilding shows, and, in 1959, he set a record with a 565 pound bench press. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, you would do three sets of six reps of the following lifts: Parallel squat, bench press, barbell curl, press behind the neck, and upright rowing. I had a very grueling schedule. I really enjoyed weight training and soon started entering Olympic lifting and power lifting contests. Bruno Sammartino Movie - The Authorized Biography of Wrestling's Greatest Champion! 18.06.1987. Here's a look at the cover of the incredibly rare "Bruno Course of Bodybuilding" authored by The Living Legend himself, Bruno Sammartino. I did 33 reps with 330 in the same workout as the 500 single . The first time I competed was in the 123-pound class. set we would go all out for repetitions. First in that routine is bench presses. The only exercise I did with Bruno was the bench press, which was also his favorite movement. I tend to bound the bar off my chest, but I don't recommend this procedure to others, for it's easy to a beginner to hurt himself doing this. Copyright 1999-2023 NaturalStrength.com | All Rights Reserved. Jan Dellinger:Speaking of low benches, and benchesmade out of wood, apparently in the early 1960s and prior, lifters thought both readily acceptable. Although his mother if of average size, his father, a retired blacksmith, is a powerfully built, stocky man whose wrists exceed even Brunos massive 9 1/2 inch measurement. And then after I did a few touch-and-go reps, he did twenty-four and he was two decades older thanme.. He couldve been the champion of the moon and stars too, because who was going to beathim?. 27.06.1987. I was 16 at the time. First two sets we used a weight we could do around twenty repetitions, then increase that weight on the next three sets so that we could do no more then eight to ten reps. Once a week on the sixth set we would do a maximum weight effort for one rep. Then slowly decrease the weight and on the 10th. . . Then I come home I have a well-equipped gym downstairs and I do about 800 leg raises and leg crunches for stomach work, and then I stretch a little bit. Bruno Sammartinos Workout Part 1 9,363 views May 2, 2018 182 Dislike Share FUCKTHESYSTEM70 15.8K subscribers Download it 5.6K views 4 years ago THE HANNIBAL TV 39K views 5 years ago WWE 379K. We would try to get in benching three times per week. During his pro-wrestling heyday, Bruno Sammartino sold out Madison Square Garden 188 times, was named the world's strongest man and held the WWE Championship Belt for 2,803 consecutive days . Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window), Old-School Ass Kicker Bruno Sammartino Extended Interview, Healthy (and Tasty) Tips for Your Super Bowl Party, 4 Proteins You Should be Eating, But Probably Arent. His chest, shoulder and arm muscles bulge under his workout clothes, a sweat suit with "Built in Bloomfield" printed . A: I pressed 365 . . Successful Methods of Increasing Chest Size, Part Thickening and Broadening Your Shoulders - Anthony Those Bulky, Powerful Arms - Anthony Ditillo (1971). He held the record for 21 straight sell-outs in Australia and the largest crowd in Japan 190,000 peope setted the all time record of 125.000 in India- He was the only pro wrestler to sell out the Bull Fight Arenia in Caracas, Venezuela. Third in my training routine is incline dumbbell presses. Paul Anderson also tried to Haystack but failed! From episode 13 of 10 Bell Pod.We discuss some of Bruno's lifting stats and a sweet workout tip from Kevin Sullivan. Also, I would occasionally do cheat curls with 225. At 77, he's still going strong. He came to United States of America in 1950. Squat 3 x 62. . When five football teammates tried to jump Bruno, wrestling legend, the Iron Sheik, came out from the showers and the two old timers cleaned house. Workout A done M/W/F . Thus his workouts were restricted to two or three days a week. At age 62, "Big Bill" shares his wisdom to dominate one of the ultimate strength marks. I used to make weekly trips to the doctor for vitamins, tonics, etc. . Bruno employedheavy poundages in all of his movements. He was 82. My mother, a first-generation Southwestern Pennsylvanian, recalls fondly how Sammartino reminded her of her swarthy Slovak grandfather. Shortly before the outbreak of World War Two his father came to America, planning to find employment and then send for his ample family. Squat 3 x 6 2. That is, he was all about power, not wrestling pedigree. Because I had reached the top, and I felt like I could provide my family with a better living than I had growing up. Curl 3 x 6 5. Originally posted on NaturalStrength.com on November 29, 1999. Hes routinely mentioned as having been edged out by Anderson for a slot on the 1956 Olympic weightlifting team (then still coached by York Barbell magnate Bob Hoffman), and most articles from that era note that he was a prominent rival of Andersonsa true Pittsburgh Hercules, as this vintage Pittsburgh Post-Gazette story callshim. This site does not provide medical advice. Copyright 2023 JW Media, LLC, parent company of Muscle & Fitness. We would try to get in benching three times per week. Bruno Sammartino is one of the defining legends from WWE history. He had a gym in Wexford, Pennsylvania, just down the road from where I grew up. Several local heavyweight pugilists suggested in public that the weightlifting giant was musclebound and implied that he couldnt do a thing with his muscles other than lifts weights. My family, living in Italy during World War 2, suffered greatly. I keep as good form as possible, for in the bench press I do not believe in arching. 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