People got insanely strong before barbells were even invented! Barbell is a great tool but there are many ways the ancient cultures got amazingly strong with other means. Many of these methods we cover in Iron King Method.

Dude talks about thor and strongman like they aren’t doing stone lifts, bag toss, yolks, and highland games. Like this is the one group who actually keeps those pre-barbell lifts alive

Oh cool yeah don't bother mentioning what those pre barbell exercises are or anything.

Yo my dude is talking about manual labor like its some lost art form.

Before it was called “dead lift” people called it: “picking up heavy stuff off the floor”.

Stone lifiting which was done all over the world from Spain to Japan simulates both a deadlift, and a squat.

We have to buy his programs to understand what those are.

Anyone on the other side of that table?

We also had ways of keeping food cool before the refrigerator. We still use the fridge because its more efficient at performing the required task.

Bro’s just yapping

He's the kind of guy to bring a sword to a gun fight

Yeah, sure. But there's a reason why we do the modern deadlifts now... You don't tell people with 4K TVs that they've forgotten about 144p Tube TVs

Idk if he understands the strength gap between people from 200 years vs now.

"Other means which we forgotten", like digging, cutting wood, carrying stuff for miles, boat rowing, walking and fighting with a 10kg sword. Dont make it sound fancy. I'm hearing ancient apocalypse vibes here 😂

Source: trust me bro

I mean the best those guys had was “I can’t pick up this big stone so I’ll pick up this smaller one over and over again, and then I’ll rest and come back and try the big stone” repeat until you lift the biggest stone. Of course like others have mentioned, hard labour every day also added to that strength. I still think modern gym equipment really is just the newer version of the stone, just that it’s a lot more precise.

Stone lifting is a thing. Also barbells made training safer and sustainable. A lot of modern invention doesnt even aim to make something better or more efficient in results, but rather make it more accessible and safe and maybe even more importantly scalable.

That we have completely forgotten. Yeah, because the barbell is the king for getting strong. This is not up for discussion. You can load massive amounts of weight and also micro load them. You can perform a VAST array of movements with the barbell. It is also incredibly standardised and offers all these benefits for a relatively low price on the grand scheme of things.

Actually they used to do heavy work on regular basis with intervals. This was same like mike mentzers technique. Proper weight with more reps. Plowing or digging earth for many days. Loading and unloading logs. Cutting trees with ridiculous axe. Safety of family and self with the same axe sword or stick. Everytime fear of wild animals or wild people or any attack or war or something like that. Sleeping with a weapon near them or carrying a weapon in every travel. Handling animals and picking their dirt whole day. Their whole day was full of workouts. And they used to eat huge amount of meat but no sugar.

The strongest men of the past were farmers and tradesmen. If your job requires you to work your body hard, most if not every day, you will get strong. This still stands true today. Modern gym equipment makes it easier for everyone to get strong. It is also an easy way to compare your strength to others since the conditions are basically the same.

Because its the most efficient and consistent way to train. Just because people rode horses 200 years ago, it doesnt mean driving cars didnt far more effective.

Ever work hard labor? Its literally just doing all those exercises. People just had to work harder because no technology. Also just constantly doing combat training will make a person stronger Also no forever chemicals or estrogens coming out of the plastic they didn't have yet. Studies already show kids on an organic diet grow up stronger and healthier

I read a long time ago and can’t remember where, probably a bodybuilding magazine, that back in the 19th century, some US cavalry soldiers had a strength contest with Native American men. I don’t think they had barbells (maybe they lifted sacks of grain or flour), but compared pure lifting strength between themselves and the native men were capable of deadlifting several hundred pounds and well more than the cavalry soldiers. They were that strong, no training, no equipment.

Stone lifting was a common test of strength in the old days

Yes, its almost like strongmen should start considering exercises like stone lifts, log press, loaded carrying and pulling heavy objects like trucks and aeroplanes 🤡 How about we gather a bunch of strongmen and test them in all of these exercises to see who the strongest man is without purely looking at barbell lifts? I think i discovered a new sport here guys🧐

Pick up a 100 pound sack of flour and carry it to the cart in the street up the stairs

I was a meathead stuck on the barbell for close to 15 years and regret it. Loss of mobility, body beat to shit, middling cardiovascular capacity and the lifts themselves (With some exceptions) have low carryover into everyday function. Bodybuilding, powerlifting and strongman have grown miles since the days of greats like Louis Simmons in terms of training for the long run but overall I can’t said I’d repeat my choices where barbell is “king”. Now comes the heresy, the pitchfork and torches moment where I say I would’ve stuck to things like calisthenics and rock climbing instead. Let’s be honest before the stoning though, most guys in the gym want to lift heavy shit but primarily look and feel good for the opposite sex and we don’t think calisthenics can do that? Look at Olympic gymnasts alone and that’ll prove the point. “Yee bruh, I just squatted 600lbs!” Yeah well your back hurts so bad it’s tough reaching down to put on shoes and you don’t want to run because you’re saving your energy for a bench session tomorrow. Meanwhile, the guy who can do 20 pull ups, 40 weighted dips and can run 2 miles without breaking a sweat looks far more jacked and agile than you. Plus his nervous system isn’t fried half the time which frees up more energy for the day. Really the only detraction from calisthenics is (Insert “gaaaay!” yelling gif) progress is gauged by reps which is fine but it’s not nearly as testosterone infusing as hearing all your 45s jingling like a it’s barbell Christmas. That being said, I’ll take the body weight shit any day.

people were smaller and weaker in the past, better nutrition and equipment has lead to constant new records, is there even one world record from the time period he is talking about? we can learn lessons from the past but lets not pretend they we're doing things "better" than we are today

The more modern version of the Barbell has massive advantages for strength development - it is a lot easier gradually increase the load on the Barbell, which means it is way easier to apply the principles of progression and overload. In practice, it makes strength training a lot more accessible to just about everyone. Practical and efficient.

The 2 strongest people i ever met never worked on one worked construction swinging a sledge hammer and a farmer

Looks like Mark Rippetoe's crew has entered the chat😂

He's forgetting that the main source of exercise for men back in the day was manual labour which is and 8-12 hour every day work out...

I find your discussions very interesting, and i really enjoy thinking of new and old concepts. Thank you

What’s so strange to me is there we’re not people as strong as these guys are now. It’s almost like we optimized lifting weights and made the most effective ways to do it. We don’t need new products or some “profound” or “old” way to do things. Sure there’s other ways to get strong, but this is by far the best way. It wouldn’t have replaced most other forms of strength training if it wasn’t.

The strongest people on earth who don’t get their strength from the gym are iron workers, and its been like that for over a hundred years. My father was one, and the stories he’d tell me makes it pretty clear they’re some of the craziest, strongest men on earth. I’m 6ft 230, and my bench is on par with many NFL players. Thing is, you don’t realize just how weak you really are until you shake hands with an iron worker. Some of them are huge, one of my father’s best friends was actually a body builder back in the 80s, but even the small guys are insanely strong. Most people don’t realize size doesn’t always coincide with strength, and I know all too well after my father’s old friends (who were half my size) almost broke my hand, with a smile and everything. Hardest men you’ll ever meet, and some are crazier than a sh•thouse mouse.

People were stronger because back then people actually had to WORK for a living. Nowadays most people sit behind a desk

“People nowadays drive cars. But they were invented in XVIII century, and people got around before that. There are means of transportation that are forgotten”

One thing is that people who were “strong as a bull” are compared to how strong people were back then, being the only man to lift 10kg in a world where everyone can only lift 1kg makes you “strong as a bull” there but not somewhere where people can lift 100kg easily

Croton lifted bulls as an everyday workout routine

There’s only so many compound movement patterns a person can do. We’ve been able to do pretty much all of them forever

Walking long distances while carrying heavy objects, no processed food, more quality rest, mating with a lot of women. I think that was the key

Working the field your entire life makes you really strong.

People weren't doing office work back then, they used to work on a construction site 12hrs a day

I was a granite marble Mason for 18 years, lifting rock every day will give you some strength.

Important to distinguish between movement patterns and equipment-specific movements that incorporate these movement patterns For e.g., while the barbell squat may be a relatively recent invention, squatting with a weight of some kind on you has been around for a whild

Grappling grappling and more grappling. Every culture on earth has a grappling style and when you are looking at Greek sculptures and wondering how they got so jacked it was grappling. Daily manual labouring also. Orwell wrote an entire book about how jacked Miners were. I’ve been around Highland Games competitors, weightlifters, powerlifters and bodybuilders for most of my adult life. I’ve watched a guy bend a horseshoe right in front of me and seen many feats of strength but sheer animal strength and a realisation this person could tear me apart is something I’ve only encountered in Judokas and Samboists.

Barbells make programming progressive overload much easier and more repeatable and controlled. Which is why strongmen use them to build strength that they can use to perform other, more lifelike lifts.

Iron Sheik (and if anyone saw him in the 70’s you’d understand why I use him as an example) did a bunch of barbell exercises I’ve never seen before. And he was literally from Persia…probably some of that lost stuff It was kettle bell like, but the amount of grip strength required looked nuts because barbels are so relatively unstable. Anyway, it looked like it would build solid strength across as many conceivable angles as possible. Something modern training doesn’t do so well.

The log weight has been around for even longer, before the barbell people were pressing and lifting logs with railroad ties for handles

Bro has a degree in yapology

Dude looks like he could use some barbell training

People did really hard manual labour and that made all the difference

Am I only noticing Thor scraping his shins like an animal to lift that Barbell, Damn.

Yeah this guy is going to teach us something.

You don't hear much about the history of bodybuilding like this. Cool video

Gladiators apparently did train with early forms of dumbbells.

Yes people also drove horses and buggies, didn't have AC, didn't knew nothing about resistance training. Stick with barbells guys

Doing physical work generally made you strong.

We progressed by like 500lbs in deadlift world records in the last 50 years, sure people back then were strong, but it is not even close to the same level.

My ancestors were deadlifting big rocks out of their farm fields (and then using them to build stone fences).

Back in the day before car jacks, people were the car jacks. Except for Jacques, the Frenchman. He used a lever, strangely enough. So Jacques was not jacked like the other jacks. And people would just stand around looking at this frenchman do his thing, completing my obviously weak-ass joke with something something jack-stands.

People always have different way of measuring performance, but something like the axle clean and press, has to be one of the most accurate measures of strength... from grip to deadlift to squat to press

I went to high school with dudes that were strong as hell and never did anything let alone lift weights

I too toss sheep to get buff. I have a variety of sheep at consecutively larger sizes to make sure I get good variation in my workout.

Dig wet dirt all day, lift wall frames by hand, cut and lay stone, etc. Then increase productivity day in and out for a few years and the physique will be epic.

Ten reps per day Isshinryu Karate basics, and 1 hour Cardio Kickboxing on a heavy water bag per day.

Weight lifting is consistent. You get real strong while lifting uneven weights.

Chop wood, carry water, pick up heavy rocks. The old ways.

If you look at bodies even just 100 years ago, they weren’t impressive at all compared to today’s standards. This reminds me of when people think the way people used to eat was better, then realizing people used to die in their 30s or 40s.

The speaker just figured out for the first time in his life that people actually had to do labor in the past. They couldnt just work as a starbucks barista like him and never move a muscle

It’s not so much forgotten as it is just phased out in most modern societies. People used to have to hunt, fish, gather, chop their own firewood, build and repair their own homes, farm, fetch your own water. I mean, all of that adds up.

Tell me you're weak without saying you're weak.

They were probably lifting pianos

Clubs, rings, kettle bells

Time to go lift hay bales, big boulders, and trees.

The Indian Gadda is an clear example of this

This is one of the most inane points I have ever heard. People have been picking up and putting down heavy things since we evolved to walk on hind legs.

As if Hafthor doesn't also have the husafel stone world record which is a ancient feat of strength lmao

Ancient greeks, spartans, romans, other ancient civilizations, were doing deadlifts and squats and these things with rocks.

"people used horse and carriage WAYYY before cars...I think we have forgotten about those other means"

I guess, but modern excercises and weights are just plainly more effective. Thats why its forgotten

Look at the trainers of the Roman Empire’s gladiator trainers. They mentioned the deadlift or some other variant of it. It is a very old exercise.

They were lifting rocks, stones, logs in the old days.

It's called innovation, something us humas tend to do a lot. No point in using antiquated technology like an RGB VCR when you have a 4k blueray player that gives MUCH better results.

I’m not against any modality of fitness and strength that keeps people strong and healthy. People like different things. I’ve been interested in and participated in several modalities. I agree with this man that people had ways to get strong before. But let’s face it, barbells are efficient and superior. If people would have invented them much earlier that would have been the modality that people chose for fast and efficient strength. It is the gold standard for strength training among all high level and professional sports.

Hercules picked up the Earth one time.

This man is a charlatan. Dont trust people who try to devalue basic strength training movements.

It’s why I promote the old ways on my channel

Technology renders old methods nearly or completely obsolete all the time. People may ride a horse and carriage these days maybe for a novelty, not because it’s the fastest way to get from point A to point B

In Peterman's world, everyone is an idelogue except him.

He wears wooden beads so you know he goes to yoga class every now and then

Technology was less efficient so there were more technical hands-on blue-collar jobs and also hands on chores at home. For example, there were probably more farmers who hand to get more hands-on lifting bays of hay and livestock like fat pigs (they can get to around 300lbs easily). There were more people like Milo of Croton then now. Now you have more sedentary white-collar jobs and piss-easy technology efficiently (doing laundry was like an all-day chore at one point).

Lmao this dude is preaching to the choir

Is iron king methods in your channel?

If bullshido could be applied to lifting, this is what it would look/sound like.

It's always the smallest bros @ the elite level people. It's embarrassing.

Farmers and wrestlers. Throw 70 lbs as high as you can 500 times a day every day of your life and you’ll be strong too. Along with all the other stuff like carrying uneven loads for dozens of miles back and forth.

We’ve completely forgetten about them because the methods are obsolete. Occasionally some grifter tries to revive them with an ebook or online training program.

There was a time when dustmen would have to lift bins onto the backs of trucks, or men carry bags of coal. I think he's talking about those people.

This guy should use google and actually research how long the deadlift has been around for