When men were larger.

[Mark Rippetoe]

I had the pleasure last night of speaking with West Young, son of Bob Young and nephew of his brother Doug. He told me several very interesting stories about his dad and uncle, and he has promised to come for a visit to the gym in July. We'll get him to share his very vivid memories of growing up with two of the strongest men in history in an interview when he's here. In the meantime, he sends this article from Sports Illustrated Archives that was written back when these two mastodons roamed the earth. I post it here for your enjoyment and further education.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vau...3958/index.htm

[Mark E. Hurling]

Great story. I can still see the triumvirate of Doug Young, Marv Phillips, and Larry Pacifico posed standing together. So Doug's father was a railroad guy too huh? Not that surprising I guess. When I worked for the railroads, both the Rock Island Line and the Santa Fe, where Doug worked, there were always several multi-generational families on the job. I never crossed paths with him though. I was first assigned in the East end of the system in Chicago and later in the West end of the system in LA. Never got to Texas back then other than my drive through the panhandle on the way to move to LA.

[DCP]

Great find Rip. One thing jumped out at me like how Bob mentioned he didn't waste his time with distance running but did short sprints instead. You would think this kind of common sense for sports specific training would have been widely accepted but when you go to Spring Training baseball games you still see coaches making their pitchers run for miles and miles around the field as a way to train them.

[Carlos Daniel]

Now, that's real genetics in action.

[FilthyBrit]

Wonderful story. Thank you for posting. In my limited experience, anyone who is described as a "trencherman" is likely to be very strong and very scary.

[altoption]

Great article! Thanks for posting.

[Badman]

I assume you saw this article too and just wanted us to find it for ourselves?

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vau...3962/index.htm

"You need squats and dead lifts and pulls so that the legs and hips and lower back are used hard as a unit. That's how you play, and that's how you should train. And forget about machines. Stay with free weights. Machines cost too much and do too little."

- Bob Young

[Mark Rippetoe]

That's pretty damned concise.

[rao00010]

Great article. Doug Young was friggin' massive and of course damn strong.

Thanks for the link.

Sunil

[waybones]

Thanks for the kind words about these men. Not only were they great in their respective endeavors; they were great fathers, teachers and mentors. Technique is the single most crucial element and without it they would have not accomplished their goals.