Baddest Motherfuckers Ever- Bruno “The Italian Superman” Sammartino

Back in the day, if a guy was a wrestler, he was a bona-fide badass.  The sport, which grew out of what were essentially MMA fights with less striking and more wrestling (catch style), was filled with bad motherfuckers who ate big, lifted big, and lived big.  They were living proof that the Paul Bunyans and Spring Heeled Jacks and other men with skills so mad that they are often considered the fanciful bullshit of legends or conspiracy could have actually existed.  I realize that the same cannot be said for the modern era of wrestlers, since other than the Rock being ridiculously jacked and charismatic, none of them seem larger-than-life to the point of being supernatural. Back in the day, however, it was commonplace to hear stories like the fact that Andre the Giant drank 106 beers in a night, or Ken Patera and Masa Saito beat the shit out of 16 cops at once and then missed the verdict of their court case because they were out at a bar getting drunk and asleep in the courtroom, respectively, or any of another dozen wrestlers one could name off the top of their head who did shit better than the rest of us to a point where it isn’t just not a competition- we’re just participating in two different universes with two entirely different types of physics (Schwartz, Professor).

It was from this era that the longest reigning WWE Champion in history, holding the WWE Title for 2,803 consecutive days, known as the Italian Superman came.  Bruno Sammartino, who presided over what he perceived as wrestling’s fall into “the chemical years” (of which Hulk Hogan’s apparently the evil figurehead), was so beloved by Italians and wrestling fans that they went quite literally berserk when a a heel who turned on him, stabbing him, smashing his cars, flipping over his cabs on the way to fights, and at one point a mobster friend of Frank Sinatra’s even offered to shoot “Classy” Freddie Blassie on Sammartino’s behalf.  Saying Bruno Sammartino was the ultimate babyface is like saying that James Ellsworth is the least physically impressive wrestler of the modern era– it goes without saying, and seems like an understatement even as it’s somewhat hyperbolic.

Bruno was an Italian immigrant who had spent two years in the arctic environs of mountains of Italy (from age 7 to 9) running around like Brendan Fraser in Encino Man with a sharp stick and dining on dandelions and wild animals (DeLuca).  Yeah, so when you’re telling your fucking sob story on Instagram about how a rough childhood and broken home are the reason you have a sub 350lb bench, take a big step back and literally fuck your own face, because big Bruno was so malnourished in his formative years that he only weighed 80 lbs at age 15. That year, Sammartino arrived in the US, the docs prescribed him a diet of meat and potatoes with a side of heavy lifting (holy shit, I was born in the wrong goddamned era) and shit proceeded to get real.

Sammartino took to the weights like a stripper to cocaine, and competed in basically every single weightclass from 123 on up to heavyweight, which was his weightclass after only four years of lifting.

Let that sink in for a second- Sammartino lifted and ate so hard that he went from 80 lbs to 225 in four years with no steroids, so the next time you’re watching some dickhead on Youtube screaming about how everyone’s on steroids, just thumbs down that video, eat a fucking steak, and go bench press until your fucking eyes bleed.  

By the time he was college-aged, the 16 year old 105lb neophyte lifter kid without a word of English in his vocabulary had become a fucking weight room monster with a scholarship offer for wrestling from the University of Pittsburgh, and went on to win a bunch of lifting titles.  Sammartino basically treated being the best at everything the same way most people act when they’re finishing a delicious sandwich- it was just what he did, and he neither sweated little shit nor bemoaned any “hard times” that befell him.  One of his favorite memories is travelling to an annual Strength and Health picnic and competition in York, PA in 1957.  In the era before people abandoned their pride and set up GoFundMes to pay for their travel costs, Sammartino slept on a motherfucking park bench and then proceeded to wipe he fucking platform with his competition.  He then repeated that process over and over, and by the time he was 22 be had won Mr. Allegheny in bodybuilding, set a world record for the bench press, and boasted the following lifts:

• 565lb Bench
• 625lb Squat
• 675lb Deadlift
• 365lb Olympic Press
• 270lb Snatch
• 370lb Clean and Jerk

The man was an absolute Milo of Croton-style beast of a pro wrestler, and while looking like a beardless Zangief, he racked up the following sick accomplishments as a wrestler:

• 133 consecutive sell-outs in Madison Square Garden
• 75 consecutive main bouts in Boston Gardens.
• 21 straight sell-outs in Australia (a record that may still stand)
• the largest crowd (90,000 people) in Japan (at least until 1972)
• the all-time record of 125,000 in India (at least until 1972)
• the only pro wrestler to sell out the Bull Fight Arena in Caracas (50,000 in attendance).
• the record for total gates around the world (Deluca)

Bruno Sammartino’s All-Time Best Lifts

• Bench Press– 315lbs for 38 reps (Tatar)
• Bench Press– 330lbs for 33 reps right after hitting a max of 500 for the day (Twichell)
• Bench Press (Competition, with a flat back and two second pause)– 565lbs
• Floor Press– 545lbs (Willoughby 133)
• Strict Curl– 235lbs (Willoughby 138)
• Olympic Press– 410lbs (Willoughby 133)
• Deadlift– 705lbs (Willoughby 377), though he never trained it because he thought it was bad for the back (Twichell).
• Squat (Competition)– 685lbs (Twichell)
• Snatch– 270lbs (both his snatch and clean and jerk were hamstrung by the fact his elbows wouldn’t lock out fully, which he attributed to malnourishment while living in the Alps)
• Clean and Jerk– 370lbs

He fueled his lengthy, brutal, and frequent workouts by eating his fucking ass off.  At 5’11” and 270lbs, Bruno had to have been a big eater, and according to interviews, he’d routinely put away 24 lamb chops or four pounds of steak at one sitting and eat breakfasts of 12 eggs, a loaf of bread, a whole box of cereal, and two quarts of milk (Rouvalis).  Arthur Saxon himself would have been proud of Sammartino’s total unwillingness to approach the dinner table with anything but contempt for food, because at every meal Sammartino’s goal was stuff as much food down his gullet as humanly possible.  Obviously, Sammartino wasn’t overly concerned with showing up at competitions ripped to fucking shreds- he was about looking so physically imposing his opponents had to wear Depends into the ring and with being so superhumanly strong he made legendary strongmen look like bitches.  Given the fact he lifted 3 days a week, did calisthenics another two days a week, ran 8 miles a day, and wrestled six to seven days a week, however, Sammartino was training to a point where he’d likely have dropped dead of starvation eating any other way.  As it stood, his diet was exactly what the doctor ordered, because Sammartino was so goddamned strong that he was capable of “doing amazing feats” at a moment’s notice, like, press slamming 605lb Haystacks Calhoun so hard that he caved in the center of the ring (Deluca, Rouvalis).  That is a feat even the legendary Paul Anderson couldn’t pull off- at one point he tried to lift Haystacks and failed harder than Tara Reid at sobriety.

Bruno Sammartino Vital Stats
Height: 5’10”
Weight: 265lbs
Chest: 56″
Arms: 20″

By this time, you and I are two wholly different species if you’re not dying to know how he trained.  In wild departure from the manner in which people approach training today, Sammartino didn’t simply follow a bullshit, cookie-cutter program developed by and for candy asses- he honed a routine over the years that proved to be as successful as it was brutal.

“I was working out three, sometime three and a half, hours a day with weights. I would work out in the morning because I wanted to be very rested up for the wrestling matches at night. So I would do a workout, then have a light breakfast, and then I would go to bed for a few hours. 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. So yeah, I worked out very hard and heavy, but I always used to try and take a couple hours nap afterward just to recoup and rest up” (Wuebben).

Bruno Sammartino’s Power Routine (Twichell)


Bench Press– 10 sets, working up in 2-rep jumps to his max (I’m guessing 2 sets of 10, 2 sets of 8, 2 x 6, 2 x 4, 1 x 2, 1 x 1). His 11th set was a death set with about 65% of his 1RM for the day.

Floor Press– 5-7 x 3 with ~550lbs (see pic above, because it’s different than what I’ve done as a floor press)

Incline Dumbbell Presses– 5 x 5 (heavy as fuck- when he was training with the legendary Karl Norberg he was using 150-pound dumbbells)

Incline Laterals– 5 x 5 (again heavy enough to make your eyes bleed, 125-pound dumbbells)

Cheat Upright Rows– 6 x 6-7 x 205lbs

High Pulls (to the navel)- 6 x 3-4 x 400-425lbs

Squats– 8 x 3-5 reps x 650lbs

Strict/Military Barbell Curl– 10 x 10 x 135 to 175 pounds (he’d also occasionally do cheat curls with 225)

Because training is a bitch on the road, and Sammartino stopped squatting after a while because it hurt his agility and his knees, he had a routine of three basic exercises.


Bench Press– 10-12 x 3-5 starting around 300lbs and work up to a single with maximum poundage, followed by a death set.


Strict/Military Barbell Curl– 10 x 10 x 135 to 175 pounds


Standing Laterals– I’m assuming 5×5 as above, but he didn’t specify in the interview)

In the pre-intenet era, everything was done through online courses or published in magazines.  You know that shit-dog cookie-cutter course you bought off some nobody for far too much money?  Well, think of correspondence courses as the same thing, except they almost invariably came from someone who had actually accomplished something in the strength world.  The following routine was Sammartino’s recommendation for beginners, so the volume is low.  Everything is done with a single warmup set and followed by 3 sets of 6 reps.  Weight work was done three times a week, with the bodyweight stuff done on two of the off days.

Squat– 3 x 6
Bench Press– 3 x 6
Barbell Curl– 3 x 6
Behind the Neck Press– 3 x 6
Upright Rowing– 3 x 6 (with a two second hold at the top)
Sit-Ups– 3 x 6

The bodyweight work for two off days (working up to sets of 100 on squat pushups and 15 on pullups):

Hindu Squats– 1 or 2 sets
Hindu Pushups– 1 or 2 sets
Behind the Neck Pull-Ups– 2 sets
Calf Isometrics
Neck Isometrics

Sammartino kept training even into his old age, because that’s what badasses do in retirement.  The following is the routine he followed in the picture above, doing it three times a week along with a seven mile daily jog.

Lat Pulldowns– 5 x 15 x 130lbs
Lateral Raises– 10 x 15 x 40lbs
Bench Press– 7 x 8 x 150-250lbs
Dumbbell Bench Press– 5 x 10 x 100lbs
Dumbbell Curl– 10 x 10 x 40lbs
Overhead Tricep Extension– 4 x 15 x 40lbs
Leg Extensions– 5 x 20 x 125-160 lbs
Crunches– 100
Leg Raises– 75
Alternate Leg Raises– 75
Bicycles Crunches– 100
Crunches– 100

By the time he was 77, Sammartino’s routine had changed somewhat, but still outpaced your average 20-something athleisure-wearing Instragram superstar.  Once a badass, always a badass, it seems:

“Three days a week I do roadwork. I had hip replacement, and the doctors tell me I can walk as fast as I want, but I’m not allowed to run. So I power walk. I do between four and five miles. 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. And that’s it. The next day, I work out with the weights. Now, do I lift heavy weights anymore? No, I’m 77, and my weight is not 275 anymore. I’m 215 now, maybe 220 with my clothes on. For example, on bench press, I don’t go higher than maybe 215 for reps. For shoulder work I do 35-pound dumbbells for side laterals. Nothing really heavy anymore, because, #1, I’m old; #2, I’m not as heavy as I was; and #3, I don’t want to put too much stress on the joints at this stage of my life. I use weights that are comfortable for me” (Wuebben).

Lest you think Sammartino was simply a huge, strong guy and a pushover outside of the ring, that was about as far from the truth as any natty bro’s vociferous claims about how natty they are.  Sammartino was still willing to throw hands after he retired, and one of his backstage rumbles is fucking legendary.  At the age of 51, Sammartino was a commentator rather than an announcer.  Spying six large non-wrestlers backstage, Sammartino approached them and told them they were going to get in trouble with security.  One of the six, a running back for the Pittsburgh Steelers, grabbed Sammartino’s hand and tried to play the old hand-squishing game to “prove his dominance” in the same way pussies like Neo-Nazis and those fucking “men going their own way” would attempt to.  Then the man uttered what were luckily not his last words, telling Sammartino he was washed up and sucker punching him.  Sammartino, being the Italian Superman, knocked that motherfucker out with a single punch and proceeded to fight the other five single handedly, until the Iron Sheik jumped out of the shower and into the fracas bare-assed naked.  The two of them proceeded to stomp the ever-loving fuck out of the six men and presumably went off to share a grilled steer and a couple kegs of beer (and given it was 1980’s Iron Sheik, I’m guessing at least an 8-ball of coke).

Clearly, none of us are going to be Bruno Sammartino, because there’s only one Italian Superman, and he just died.  We can, however, do our best impression of that bad motherfucker and honor him by eating a hell of a lot more and training a hell of a lot more, because judging by the standard that man set in just four years of training, we have all failed to come within screaming distance of our potential.  Nothing whatsoever should stand in your way in becoming the best possible version of yourself, and anything you tell yourself is a reason why you can’t get huge and superhumanly strong is just a fucking excuse you’re made because you’re a whiny bitch.

Don’t be a fucking bitch.  Go make it happen.

Sources:
Deluca, Fred.  Bruno Sammartino (1972).  The Tight Tan Slacks of Dezso Ban.  26 Nov 2010.  Web  7 May 2018.  http://ditillo2.blogspot.com/2010/11/bruno-sammartino-fred-deluca.html

Iron Sheik and Bruno Sammartino fight in locker room story.  Youtube.  2 Mar 2009.  Web.  7 May 2018.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oLtJIx9ghM

Kubik, Brooks.  Old gold from the living legend.  Dinosaur Training.  31 Jan 2012.  Web. 7 May 2018.  http://dinosaurtraining.blogspot.com/2012/01/old-gold-from-living-legend.html

Rance, Chasyn.  Training.  Chasyn Rance.  Web.  7 May 2018.  http://www.chasynrance.com/training.htm

Rouvalis, Cristina.  Wrestling with fame: Bruno Sammartino still a hero to fans.  Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.  28 Oct 1998.  Web.  7 May 2018.  http://old.post-gazette.com/magazine/19981028bruno1.asp

Schwartz, Nick.  The most unbelievable Andre the giant drinking stories.  Fox Sports.  27 Nov 2016.  Web.  6 May 2018.  https://www.foxsports.com/wwe/gallery/best-andre-the-giant-drinking-stories-072516

Tatar, Ben.  Sport stars and celebrity bench press rumors.  Critical Bench.  Web.  7 May 2018.  http://www.criticalbench.com/pro-athletes-bench-press.htm

Twichell, Jon.  Power training interview with Bruno Sammartino (1964).  The Tight Tan Slacks of Dezso Ban.  24 Apr 2018.  Web.  7 May 2018.  http://ditillo2.blogspot.com/2018/04/power-training-interview-with-bruno.html

Wrestling Professor.  Ken Patera & Masa Saito vs Waukesha police department.  6 Aug 2016.  Web.  6 May 2018.  http://www.armpit-wrestling.com/ken-patera-masa-saito-vs-waukesha-police-department/

Willoughby, David P.  The Super-Athletes.  New York:  A.S. Barnes and Co, 1970.

Wuebben, Joe.  Old-school ass kicker Bruno Sammartino.  Muscle and Fitness.  2013.  Web.  7 May 2018.  https://www.muscleandfitness.com/athletes-celebrities/interviews/old-school-ass-kicker-bruno-sammartino-extended-interview

WWE.com Staff.  Nine things you need to know about Bruno Sammartino.  WWE.  18 Apr 2018.  Web.  8 May 2018.  http://www.wwe.com/article/nine-things-you-need-to-know-about-bruno-sammartino