Hail to the Dinosaurs!
We've had more and more guesses roll in
about the Mystery Lifter and the Mystery
Gym.
Many of you have guessed the name of
the Mystery Lifter.
No one has guessed the name of the gym. And
frankly, I don't think anyone will. So the
"name the lifter and the gym" challenge is
officially over.
I'll reveal both the name of the lifter and
the name of the gym where he trained back in
1940 on Monday -- but for right now, let me
give you some details about the gym.
And let me note, this is where he trained in
1940 and 1941. He trained ELSEWHERE both before
and after. many of you have guessed the name of
the lifter but placed him in a different gym.
So here's the info about the old gym with
the wood-burning stove:
1. At that time, it was on the second floor
of an old, two-story brick building. There
was a plumbing supply company below it.
2. The building still stands today. It's
very small. It's amazing to think there was
once a powerful weightlifting club in such
small and spartan quarters.
3. There was no heat in the winter, other
than an old wood-burning stove.
4. When it was cold, the lifters left an
old globe barbell close to the stove, so
the handle would be warm when you lifted it.
They used the bar for their warm-ups. After
your warm-ups, you moved on to one of the
other (ice-cold) barbells.
5. They had only the most basic of equipment:
an assortment of barbells of various makes
(including some that were homemade), ditto for
dumbbells, one set of homemade squat stands,
one lifting platform, some homemade benches
for prone presses, and not much else.
6. They had a single Olympic barbell that had
been donated or sold to them at a discount price
by Bob Hoffman.
7. They were all lifters. No bodybuilders. Even
today, members of the gym now in their 80's or
90's sneer at bodybuilders and bodybuilding.
8. They were squat nuts. The squat was one of
their favorite exercises.
9. In their heyday, they were probably the number
two team in the United States behind the York
Barbell Club.
10. One of their members once defeated John Grimek and
Gord Venables in a lifting contest.
11. When the War came, they all enlisted. Several
of the lifters were War heroes. One of them landed on
Omaha Beach on D Day. Another was a sniper in the
Pacific. A third was lying in his foxhole one night
when a German tank came charging out of nowhere and
ran right over the foxhole! (Luckily, he dug it deep
enough that he survived.)
12. Two of the six Gold medal winners at the 1948
Olympic Games trained at this tiny little gym.
Yes, no. 12 is NOT a typo. Let me repeat that.
At the 1948 Olympic Games, there were six different
classes in the weightlifting competition.
Two of the six weight classes were won by men who had
trained at this little gym prior to World War Two.
And that's something worth knowing - because it goes
to show you just how much you can accomplish with a
little bit of hard work and effort.
As always, thanks for reading, and THANKS to everyone
who sent in a guess. If you train today, you know what
to do! Make it a good one.
Yours in strength,
Brooks Kubik
P.S. If you subscribe to the Dinosaur Files newsletter,
shoot me an email when you get your April issue -- and
remember, the April issue is the last issue for our
first year of publication, so you need to renew your
subscription:
http://brookskubik.com/dinosaurfiles_renewalpage.html
