Valuable video

[PressesPeople]

I noticed that the older physiques must have had much fatter thighs to withstand the impossibly brutal lowering of the non-bumper plates. Truly barbaric times.

I also noticed (non-sarcastically this time) the much thicker physiques of the competitors upper bodies. Was this due to the comparative legality of Dianabol and other vitamins in this era, or due to the greater upper body strnegth required of the press or the concentric workout one gets when cautiously lowering iron plates? Or all three? Or some more?

I think you mean the eccentric workout, not the concentric. Also, keep in mind that steroids wouldn't necessarily cause greater growth in the upper body than the lower. Most likely it just had to do with the fact that the press was considered an actual competitive lift back then, whereas now all of the lifts are more based on explosive movements.

[MEbigUsmall]

back then the press was done at olympic lifting events or powerlifting events? Or both? I take it by the info in above post that this is probably an Olympic lifting event.

[L78M22SS]

What always impresses me, as this video shows, is what extreme control all of these era's lifters displayed when returning their barbells to the platform. 99% of the lifts (even the snatch) in those days were recovered with control and skill, with BIG weights. Which contrasts nicely with 99% of today's trainees/lifters dropping the lightest of bumper loads seemingly full force at every opportunity. Tommy Kono and Jim Schmitz have both recently addressed this issue with regard to the lack of respect in dropping equipment and stepping on the bar to position it, etc. Just my .38 worth. Thanks for posting that Mark.

[Gunnhild Bruno]

I also noticed (non-sarcastically this time) the much thicker physiques of the competitors upper bodies. Was this due to the comparative legality of Dianabol and other vitamins in this era, or due to the greater upper body strnegth required of the press or the concentric workout one gets when cautiously lowering iron plates? Or all three? Or some more?

If the old guys I train with are to be believed, weightlifters back then trained a whole bunch of different things. They did the classic "slow" lifts, strongman type stuff, even bodybuilding type stuff... they would experiment with anything to see whether it would make them stronger. Today's obsession with splitting technique hairs four ways to try to find the magic "form" that would help people get bigger lifts wasn't as much in evidence. They just lifted a lot of heavy things often in many different ways. Makes sense to me that their physiques would reflect this.

And yes, as PressesPeople notes, the effect of having the press as a contested lift probably can't be underestimated here.

[Mark Rippetoe]

What always impresses me, as this video shows, is what extreme control all of these era's lifters displayed when returning their barbells to the platform. 99% of the lifts (even the snatch) in those days were recovered with control and skill, with BIG weights. Which contrasts nicely with 99% of today's trainees/lifters dropping the lightest of bumper loads seemingly full force at every opportunity. Tommy Kono and Jim Schmitz have both recently addressed this issue with regard to the lack of respect in dropping equipment and stepping on the bar to position it, etc. Just my .38 worth. Thanks for posting that Mark.

I couldn't agree more. Equipment is expensive, and even if it were free, such juvenile histrionics are disrespectful, irritating, and pathetic. I witnessed juvenile men dropping EMPTY bars from overhead at CrossFit events, carelessly swaggering away for not apparent reason, as though that somehow validates their 60 kg jerk for sloppy reps. I posted this video for several reasons, as I mentioned, and this was one of them: respect for the equipment and the sport.

[Mark Edward]

Is the gentleman in the suit Bob Hoffman?

[Gymmoser]

Schemansky split snatching is absolutely phenomenal.

So much can be learned from lowering the bar correctly. Back in the day a common exercise from Bill Starr was to do a triple clean followed by a double jerk. The thought of letting go of the bar was never an option. Today when I ask a lifter to do a double in a pulling movement they almost always drop the bar and then go about resetting and putting the straps back around the bar. I then have to explain to them they just did two singles not a double. Big difference.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Is the gentleman in the suit Bob Hoffman?

It is.

[RickBarker]

I always knew that Olympic lifting used to have 3 events, but until I saw this video, I never thought about how brutally exhausting a meet would have been.