Quickie History: The 132lb Natty Era Weightlifting Gold Medalist Who Would Out-Angle Most of Us on the Beach

Jamie Chaos

February 26, 2021

Quickie History: The 132lb Natty Era Weightlifting Gold Medalist Who Would Out-Angle Most of Us on the Beach

Fun Fact of the Day: This is the gold medal winner in the World Championships of weightlifting in 1946, Bob Higgins, and he probably looks better than you do with his shirt off in spite of his diminutive stature.

Higgins stood 5’2″ and competed at 132 pounds, rocking measurements that have no business being on someone that tiny: a massive 17″ neck, 40″ chest, 15″ biceps, and a 29″ waist powered him to a world record in the press with a bonkers 232lb effort, alongside a 198lb snatch. Higgins started lifting wieghts as a 113 pound high school freshman after tearing up his knee playing football. By the time he was 22 he’d nabbed a world title in lifting, then opened the most hardcore gym in Indianapolis.

There, Higgins likely trained a ton of notable athletes, but the one whom I could find quickly and easily was Mr Universe and Mae West’s onetime boyfriend Mickey Hargitay, who at 6’2″ and 220 lbs could “clean” 300 pounds without bending his legs or moving his fucking feet and could standing press 280lbs- obviously Bob Higgins knew how to train the overhead.

Hargitay ended up a contractor in Hollywood after one of Mae West’s jealous nuthuggers stepped up and Hargitay easily trashed him (in addition to being Mr Universe, Hargitay was also a world champion speed skater at 500 and 1500 meters and a silver winner at the 5000m race, so it was unlikely anyone was going to beat him if the fight went more than a couple of punches just because of the man’s fitness). And don’t pity him, because that contractor married the hottest broad on Earth, pinup goddess Jayne Mansfield.

In other words, if you’re not where you want to be in life, your overhead press and shoulder gains must be lacking. And for fuck’s sake, get your neck game up.

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Jamie Chaos

I am a former all-time, all federation world record holder in raw powerlifting at 181lbs, a record I broke just to say fuck you to the internet’s “lifting” community and the powerlifting community at large. Over the last ten years I’ve written over 500 articles on strength training, nutrition, and supplementation, and continue to do so simply to fight the tide of weakness and sadness that currently pervades the scene I’ve called home for the better part of three decades. I’ve got personal trainin certs, BodyPump and BodyCombat certs, a BA in History and East Asian Studies from the University of Arizona, and MBAs from the Vienna University and University of South Carolina on my side, in addition to some sick lifts and a hell of a lot of rage. What the fuck have you got?

4 responses to “Quickie History: The 132lb Natty Era Weightlifting Gold Medalist Who Would Out-Angle Most of Us on the Beach”

Jon

March 2, 2021

The press is amazing, respect.
Some small guys have lots of will to be stronger than the bigger guys and end up beasts, there is no excuse.

A friend of mine is the owner of a gym and I go there every once in a while. I hardly ever see anyone oh pressing .
Some are doing “advanced” bodyweight moves and say they are strong, bragging, instagram photos and the likes…

Sometimes we did there all kind of partials with my strap and springs, dumbell rows (there are a pair of 100 I left there when I moved) in which my friend and I would go for reps challenging each other, inverted neck planks for time, extended planks pushups with feet and hands close together for high reps, etc…fun workouts.
My friend tells them to come and try with us, but they put up excuses: it hurts the joints, blah blah blah…
I put my strap around my neck, attach a 250 spring to it an proceed to do neck partials (just enough to slack the spring a bit) and do a few of them…they are like: dude you are going to break your neck and I smile, delighted.

I tell them that they have good body control for their weight, but no absolute strength and show them people that have both being small or smaller than them.

Then my friend, practical as he is, says to all in the room: now everyone back to training, or photos, or whatever it is you guys do to become strong, hahahaha
1. Jamie Chaos
  
  March 2, 2021
  
  You’ll really like the next one then, because I profile Massimo in the middle of writing about a 40s bodybuilder. Massimo and Zass were definitely a lot stronger than I previously realized- I know you like the teeth moves (which I find idiotic displays of pain tolerance rather than strength), but Zass catching a woman fired out of a fucking cannon? Now that is serious strength. Massimo was even more impressive with his handbalancing shit. I’m sure you know all of that stuff, but the circus/vaudeville guys never really made it onto my radar in the past.
Jon

March 2, 2021

Wow, I like Massimo a lot, that sounds perfect and I know less about him, so I am eager to read what you find.

Here, this is Zass in his prime: https://youtu.be/EG7vDgWX0G8
At 70, after risking his life to save his animals from a fire (he died at 80 from another fire, apparently jealousy ran wild among circuses):
https://youtu.be/QLITsY5WRXg

Yes, I forgot about the cannon woman:
https://d1aettbyeyfilo.cloudfront.net/legendstrength/10931689_1593021216161Sam7.jpg
He also cought the cannon ball itself, I have the photoin my computer but can’t find it in the web. It is stunning, to say the least.
Iron neck:
https://i0.wp.com/www.oldtimestrongman.com/images/alexanderzass-ironneck.jpg?w=840&ssl=1
Resisting horses:
https://i2.wp.com/ribalych.ru/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/5.jpg

He is the embodiment of a circus strongman, his appearence is what we think of when anyone recalls a strongman.
1. Jamie Chaos
  
  March 5, 2021
  
  He was fucking something. I’ve always avoided the circus guys because the current crop I find wildly unimpressive- it’s pain tolerance far more than actual strength, but Zass was definitely the real deal. Thanks for those links! As to Clevio, I am considering getting my PhD with Jan Todd’s program- I was accepted to UT in 2001 or something, so I have to retake the GRE and all that. Should I do so, I’ll probably make it a mission to discover more about Massimo.