He exercised at a Young Men's Hebrew Association in Pittsburgh and went on to set a world record in 1959 by bench pressing 565 pounds, according to his WWE profile. Jan Dellinger:Speaking of low benches, and benchesmade out of wood, apparently in the early 1960s and prior, lifters thought both readily acceptable. And thats it. Research Shows That Most Heart Disease Deaths Are Preventable By Changin Is Weight Loss With the New Injectable Meds Sustained? Youre in great shape.Three days a week I do roadwork. I use 400-425 pounds, so that explains why I do 6 sets of 3-4 reps. From Episode 147 of Jim Cornette's Drive ThruArtwork by Travis Heckel!Send in your question for the Drive-Thru to: CornyDriveThru@gmail.com Follow Jim and Br. Even moreamazing than his rapid growth of muscularity was the growth of his bone structure. Good articles about weight training, strength research, the harmful effects of steroids, the mental aspects of training, and irongame/physical culture history are always wanted. Im 215 now, maybe 220 with my clothes on. Workout A done M/W/F . Bruno Sammartinos Workout Part 1 9,363 views May 2, 2018 182 Dislike Share FUCKTHESYSTEM70 15.8K subscribers Download it 5.6K views 4 years ago THE HANNIBAL TV 39K views 5 years ago WWE 379K. Since I first started my weight training in 1944 there was one movement that I love to do more than any other.the wide grip bench press. This version is a bench press done off boxes, while I'm lying on the floor. Sammartino eventually caught. First in that routine is bench presses. A: Well, you realize that as the World Wrestling Champion I'm on the go constantly, traveling to and from my wrestling engagements. Here's a man who was 6 feet 8 inches tall and weighed 392 on the scales, yet is as quick and agile as any man. So I power walk. I use bench presses as the cornerstone of my training, doing 10-12 sets. He's a great inspiration and really deserves credit for his power and zest. 2. what do you do for a routine now? Bruno weighed around 250 and I was 167. Next is the floor press. I do freehand squats now to warm up before my matches, and find them to be perfect. They were both covered in these veritable pelts of hair and were wider than they were tall, she tells me. On one occasion, a 51 year old Sammartino was taunted by a CFL football player. 118d Mike Coppinger. This was a course for beginners, so Bruno kept the volume pretty low. By the time he was a teenager and into his early 20s, Sammartino was competing in strongman and. . Shop the movie and fan merch. THE UNLIFTABLE INCH DUMBBELL - BY A.D CAMPBELL, BOB HOFFMAN - circa 1946 - By FORTUNE Magazine, MARVELOUS MAX - THE STORY OF MAXICK - By Ron Tyrell. But before he was a star wrestler, he was a powerlifter one of the best in the world throughout much of the 1950s and it was his success in that . Then he was on his way. First two sets we used a weight we could do around twenty repetitions, then increase that weight on the next three sets so that we could do no more then eight to ten reps. Once a week on the sixth set we would do a maximum weight effort for one rep. Then slowly decrease the weight and on the 10th. But the war erupted, and it was not until 1949 that the Sammartinos were all reunited and in their adopted land. He didnt just look strong, he was legitimately strong, and his physique reflects thisslightly thicker core, he doesnt care about body fat percentage or being shredded or anything likethat., For Rust Belt wrestling fans who grew up watching Studio Wrestling on Channel 11 in Pittsburgh, stocky ex-apprentice carpenter Sammartino embodied immigrant strength and fortitude. Isometric Calf Hold x 2:00 min. Thats when I did my 565-pound bench press. He used to eat plents of meat, fresh fruit and vegetables and tried stayed completely away from any form of sugar, cakes or desserts. By early 1957 he weighed 285lb. After suffering a broken neck, among other injuries, Bruno retired in 1988. In his last outing, he wrestled as a tag partner with Hulk Hogan. "One of the finest men I knew, in life and in business," WWE chairman Vince McMahon said . 2023 Trib Total Media | All Rights Reserved, Western Pennsylvania's trusted news source. Sammartino left behind a legacy as the longest running heavyweight champion in WWE history. And Bulgarian powerlifter Miroslav Barnyashev, who wrestles as Rusev and whose vicious feud with Cena recalled the Ivan Koloff/Bruno Sammartino battles of yore and whose star has been rising again since the advent of his Rusev Day gimmick, is something of a dead ringer for Sammartino at 6-feet tall and 280 hirsutepounds. Bruno Sammartino: Bio. Karl and I trained together over that time, and I did my best bench press ever, 565 pounds. On one occasion he shyly confided that he drank a huge quantitiy of beer six whole bottles! I barely survived. In the Snatch, and Clean and Jerk, I did poorly, relatively speaking, for 270 and 370 were my best there. I would do 8 , usually 3-5 reps, and work up to a maximum of 650 every workout. Whats your exercise regimen like today at 77 years old? Bruno Sammartino had been wrestling professionally since 1959, and the Italian immigrant - who had left to the US with his family from Italy in 1950 after hiding from the Nazis during World War II - captivated a rising influx of immigrants into the US during and post-war. In response, Sammartino decided to develop his body through wrestling and weightlifting. Like Atlas, Sammartino was allegedly a frail boy, constantly bullied and barely 60 pounds at age 13, until a friend introduced him to the world of weights and exercise and he blossomed into a bully-pounding prodigy. Exit thoughts of the prize ring! 1. . There was plenty of truth to what Sammartino was saying, but also an element of sour grapes: He had once been the top dog, the man with the unbreakable bear hug, but his top spot (and legend) had been passed to juiced-up behemoths Graham and Hogan, then to ever-tauter performers in the mold of Shawn Michaels, Randy Orton and todays many other CrossFit-looking (and doing) superstars. And so, while in uneasy retirement, Sammartino railed against steroid use and other workplace safety issues in Vince McMahon Jr.s federation, stating in one especially heated 1991 interview that the WWE was infested with drug abuse and running sham steroidtests. We would try to get in benching three times per week. I used to make weekly trips to the doctor for vitamins, tonics, etc. In 1956 in Minneapolis my buddies and I, Reps and sets ranged from 510 to 10-15 sets of lower reps, to the aforementioned 50-rep sets on some exercises,. He writes about the extreme sides of fitness, the weirder sides of MMA and pro wrestling, and the unorthodox lifestyles of professional athletes. We did the pyramid system. . So I worked out with Arnold, Franco Columbu, Dave Draper and those guys a number of times. WWF House Show - House Show @ Baltimore Arena in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. All rights reserved. I was a victim of malnutrition, and even after we moved to this country I continued to be sickly and run down. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for WWE toy belt signed by 2013 HOF Bruno 'The living legend' Sammartino *PSA/DNA* at the best online prices at eBay! He wanted to keep his strength up but also most important to him was his endurance in the ring. The promoters who were auditioning Bruno advised him against boxing for several reasons, among which was the fact that they considered his chest too big. If you disable cookies, this site will not work properly. Whenever I finished a workout with him I felt that my pecs were going to burst, it was great. For my fifth exercise I go on the upright rows done in a cheating style, so I can handle extra weight. That is, I wrestle regularly and I train regularly as I can, and I feel the energy and effort expended on each doesn't affect the other. Email articles to the editor: bobwhelan@, "If you ain't got the progression buddy, Saint Christopher ain't got the time. Of the types of weight training, I would say Olympic lifting would be the best training for wrestling, for the coordination and timing involved, especially in the Snatch, and Clean and Jerk, will help you more. Here is a chart of his comparative measurements. The late Ray Van Cleef witnessed it, by the way. Now, do I lift heavy weights anymore? As I sad, wrestling demands a different kind of power than weight training. Brunos best one rep was 565, if he wasnt wrestling I know he would have been the first to do 600lbs(NO DRUGS, EVER) This all took place at the Mid- City Gym in 1968. Stuffing himself with as much pasta and homemade Italian bread as his mom could cook, Sammartino quickly bulked up and narrowly missed making the 1956 US Olympic weightlifting team. Sammartino continued in his physical culture training. He will be missed." 10. I do 10 sets of 10 reps with 135 to 175 pounds. Heck, I didnt know that there were different wrestling groups all around the country. I would eat an early dinner no later than 3:00 so that it would be fully digested by the time I went in the ring. The only exercise I did with Bruno was the bench press, which was also his favorite movement. To be fortunate enough to survive that, and then to later be recognized as the champion, that had to be as big a deal as anything. The Upright Rowing Motion - Cletus Snelbaker (1944), Don Peters' Leg Training - Dick Tyler (1971), Starting to Develop the Snatch - Peary Rader (1957), One Lift Specialization - Anthony Ditillo, Developing Bulk AND Power - Anthony Ditillo. Due to this he was bullied in school which drove him to weightlifting to build his body up. Like many of you, on Wednesday April 18, 2018, we learned about the death of the living legend, Bruno Sammartino. What were those workouts like?I loved working out with those guys because not only did they have great bodies, but they used fairly good weights too. Summartinos interest in lifting weights increased through the years. . I enjoyed training with them just because of the fact that they were the elite bodybuilders at the time. Though he believed it literally at the time, Sammartino would experience riches first-hand as the longest-reigning WWE Champion and the most beloved competitor in the . I would work out in the morning because I wanted to be very rested up for the wrestling matches at night. Curl 3 x 65. The coach there offered him a scholarship, but Bruno turned it down in order an apprecntice carpenter for a number of years. Good articles about weight training, strength research, the harmful effects of steroids, the mental aspects of training, and iron game - physical culture history are always wanted. that in the past he used to drink large quantities of milk in an attempt to bulk up and gain weight rapidly, but he had cutted milk out completely because of the many article he has read denouncing the exccess cholersterol caused by consumption of animal fats. We did the pyramid system. A: In the wrestling world, I'd say Gorilla Monsoon. Does modern bodybuilding make you sick? You see, I cannot lock my elbows . Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window), Old-School Ass Kicker Bruno Sammartino Extended Interview, Healthy (and Tasty) Tips for Your Super Bowl Party, 4 Proteins You Should be Eating, But Probably Arent. And a lot of people did, and we buried a lot of people up in that mountain. You can see by Bruno's thick bone structure that he was a man built for some serious horsepower but don't forget that he still had to work for his strength. It was such a thrill, and you could feel the power this coal mining man hadthats the power I saw in Bruno, too. Inside of this gym, Bruno would place a bar upon his shoulders and load it with as many plates as possible. Starch, too, was out as much as possible. Bruno Sammartino is to professional wrestling what Babe Ruth is to baseball.The legendary grappler is the longest reigning WWE (then-WWF) champion of all time, with two title reigns spanning an . Required fields are marked *. His chest, shoulder and arm muscles bulge under his workout clothes, a sweat suit with "Built in Bloomfield" printed . The details of his passing were minimal at the time, but we now know the 82-year old's cause of death. While the "Living Legend" Bruno Sammartino of Pittsburgh, PA., used many training methods, this is from his training course sold in the back of magazines and comic books in the 1960's. He had a gym in Wexford, Pennsylvania, just down the road from where I grew up. Copyright 1999-2023 NaturalStrength.com | All Rights Reserved. I've given up squats since I began to wrestle with regularity, for I found squats to be the worst exercise for wrestling. I wrestled against him in Atlanta, and after five minutes he was completely exhausted. I think the endurance work, the high reps with heavy weight, helps me more than anything else with the wrestling. We thought there is no better way to honor his passing than to celebrate his life. We would try to get in benching three times per week. When Sammartino returned to the WWE fold in 2013 in order to be inducted into the Hall of Fame by steroid-era poster boy Arnold Schwarzenegger, he did it more for personal satisfaction than the measly $5,000 payday. by tfurman | Dec 15, 2011 | Blog | 0 comments. The more he trained, the bigger he grew, and the bigger he got, the more his power increased. Follow these fit women we're crushing on for inspiration, workout ideas, and motivation. While the Living Legend Bruno Sammartino of Pittsburgh, PA., used many training methods, this is from his training course sold in the back of magazines and comic books in the 1960s. Bruno Sammartino, Actor: WWF SmackDown!. Nevertheless, it bears noting that the man who has loomed large over the WWE since 2003 is John Cena, a powerhouse wrestler of Italian descent who has consistently denied all allegations of steroid use and even gone so far as to hang the negative results of his drug tests in his South Florida gym. Editors note: Do you want to read more about Bruno or his role model John Grimek? Hindu Pushups 2 x 1003. But Im proud to say, too, that I was pretty good lifter on my own. During his childhood in a small Italian mountain town, Bruno Sammartino heard stories about how the streets in the United States were paved with gold. Born: October 6, 1935Height: 510Weight: 275 pounds (when he was a pro wrestler)Hometown: Pittsburgh, PAFun Fact: Sammartino won the bodybuilding title Mr. Allegheny in the late 1950s. But before he was a star wrestler, he was a powerlifterone of the best in the world throughout much of the 1950sand it was his success in that field, plus the massive body he brought with him, that helped him change wrestling. We assume no liability for the information provided in NaturalStrength articles. Then, do 2 sets of 15 reps for behind the neck pull ups, before finishing with calf and neck isometrics. As this stage of his career Bruno didnt bother with a rigid course schedule, preferring to vary his workout tu suit his mood and immediate goals. The rags-to-riches story of Sammartino, a Pittsburgh legend and WWE icon who survived the Nazi invasion of his Italian hometown, resonated with the audience, Elliott Flacione, executive director. To that end, before Sammartino, most of the top champions (Lou Thesz, Danny Hodge and Pat OConnor) had to have legitimate competitive wrestling chops to defend their belts. He took up power lifting and Olympic lifts as his workouts to build himself up. Brunos personal habits were moderate and he kept a good body builders diet. When possible, these sessions in the gym lasted as long as five hours and it wanst a case where a good deal of the time was spent resting or batting the breeze with training mates. So two weeks out of the month Id be wrestling seven days a week, and the other two weeks Id do six nights a week. As you got stronger, you could add a warm up set on heavier exercises such as squats and bench presses, so youd do 4 sets of 6 repetitions on them. He held the record for 21 straight sell-outs in Australia and the largest crowd in Japan 190,000 peope setted the all time record of 125.000 in India- He was the only pro wrestler to sell out the Bull Fight Arenia in Caracas, Venezuela. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); 1. 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