Flex Wheeler, nicknamed the 'Sultan of Symmetry', is known for being one of the greatest bodybuilders to have never won a Mr Olympia title.
We'll let him off on this one, seeing as he was up against Dorian Yates and the great Ronnie Coleman (what [...]
Ever since I was a kid I've been fascinated with circus hall strongmen.
Luckily for me (and the integrity of my sphincter) this hasn't manifested into some kind of warped homosexual fetish in later life, rather a passion for lifting weights.
B [...]
Nowadays it seems the great unwashed derive most of their entertainment from bickering on YouTube, watching anything hosted by Ant and Dec and Instgramming pictures of their genitals.
A far cry, indeed, from the gladiatorial maulings, cat burnings [...]
Around the same time that Arnold Schwarzenegger was making his first foray into cinema with the godawful Hercules in New York (1969), so too, on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, was a young Chinese bodybuilder by the name of Yang Sze.
Sze, w [...]
I have become increasingly disillusioned with modern bodybuilding of late - and I know I'm not alone.
Over the last few decades the sport has changed drastically, and for the worst.
Although some might disagree, the way I see it, the halcyon days o [...]
A friend recently suggested Gymtalk run a piece on David Prowse.
At the time, I had no idea who this was, and stated so.
My friend looked at me like I had spent the last 26 years in an underground sex basement.
"He was Darth Vader, you know, [...]
When it comes to legends of British bodybuilding, few have surpassed the enduring contribution made by Thomas Inch, the 'Scarborough Hercules'.
Although he might look like a portly butler from Downton Abbey, Inch was, throughout his life, one of t [...]
Much like "What's the best Beatles album?", "Is Tom Cruise an alien?" and "At what point in the Harry Potter film series it acceptable to mentally undress Hermione Granger?", the question "Who is the strongest man of all time?" is an oft-debated topi [...]
Germany.
A country famous for classical music, beer, sausages, hairy women and genocide.
And in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century it was also home to some of the strongest - and craziest - men of all time.
Of these, the most fa [...]
When you think of bodybuilding, certain iconic images will undoubtedly spring to mind.
Arnold Schwarzenegger, smiling smugly, chest inflated like two fleshy beachballs; Ronnie Coleman leg pressing 2,300lbs, screaming "yeah buddy" like a brain dama [...]
Like a heroic play by Sophocles or Aeschylus, the sport of bodybuilding is full of mythic characters capable of superhuman feats, extremes of comedy and tragedy, pathos, spectacle, and men running around with their bollocks out while women are shunte [...]
Bodybuilding and steroids.
The two are synonymous with each other, yet there seems to be a universal gagging order when it comes to tackling this elephant in the room amongst those at the very top.
That is until now.
Those of you following b [...]
Leeds.
A city in the north of England, famous for Leeds United Football Club, binge drinking and celebrity paedophiles.
However, in the mid-twentieth century, this old industrial town was put on the map for something other than booze, sex crime [...]
Meet Lu Xiaojun (pronounced “Loo-Jow-Junn” if you’re Phil Mitchell).
Xiaojun is the current Olympic Champion and World Record holder in both the ‘Snatch’ and ‘Total’ in the Men’s 77kg (12 stone to us yobs) category, where he lifted [...]
Bodybuilders are often stereotyped as self-obsessed, two-dimensional ogres who mindlessly lift slabs of metal in their vainglorious pursuit of aesthetic nirvana.
They are creatures of humdrum routine, dieting, exercising and sleeping with an eye o [...]
Imagine if Kermit the Frog had a one night stand with an Asian Jay Cutler and produced a love child.
You've just imagined Frank Yang.
A man with seemingly nothing else to do in life than try to consume his own body weight in spring rolls and ch [...]
During another seemingly pointless and soul destroying hour long YouTube video binge, I had the serendipity to click on a link teasingly entitled "The Strongest Man You've Never Heard Of".
While expecting to find yet another misleading title - and [...]
