THE FABULOUS FEATS OF PAUL ANDERSON

So many letters come to our desk for more information on this fabulous strong man, asking about his training and what he is doing now and what his plans are for the future, that we have decided to bring the readers this short story about Paul.

Paul Anderson lived, and still does live, in Toccoa, Georgia.  As a young fellow he was vigorous and healthy and was active in athletics and especially in Football.  He weighed almost 190 while in high school and at this time started training with the weights in order to increase his strength and his ability in football.  Weight training became so fascinating however, that it soon took all his attention to the exclusion of football and other athletics.

It may surprise some to learn that Paul's early training consisted almost exclusively of the squat or deep knee bend.  He used to work like a demon on this exercise and as a consequence made rapid progress in power and body weight.  He was soon weighing 275 at a height of 5'9" with a 21½ " neck and 20" arms.  His thighs were measuring 33 inches and he was doing around 600 in the squat.  Only occasionally did he perform such exercises as the press, bench press, rowing or curl.  It was about this time that Paul first received publicity and that was through the pages of Iron Man.

Paul's first contest found him making poundages close to world records.  The world of lifting was astounded.

To make this story brief, as we must, Paul from that time on began winning national, world and Olympic titles at every meet in which he lifted.  He soon held all the world records and only recently did Vlasov break his snatch record as well as his clean and jerk record which had been previously broken by Ashman.  His press record still remains as far as we know, tho Vlasov has pressed more in training.  The latter also recently broke Paul's total record.  These official records do not tell the whole story of Paul's strength, however for he made much higher records in training and in unofficial lifting.

Here is a partial list of some of these records.  Paul has clean and pressed 440.  He has made a snatch of 340 and has clean and jerked 460 in 1957.
Paul has pressed 480 from a rack and also did 7 repetitions with 400 pounds on Muscle Beach in 1957.  When he appeared on the Ed Sullivan show he did a hip lift of 4100lbs. He also made a professional world record in the back lift with 6200 pounds.  While doing a night club act Paul use to do a full squat with 1160 pounds of silver coins three times a night, which is ample evidence that it was well within his ability.  In one arm lift he has done 10 repetitions of a press with 320 pounds.

These are a few of the lifts Paul has performed apart from those which have been listed as world records.  Paul is a great athlete in other sports and has amazed coaches that he has been able to outrun some of our Olympic runners.  He is very fast and very supple and light on his feet.  His lifting style was good in every lift with the exception of the jerk, in which he relied on his strength alone and always performed a jerk giving a drive with the legs and pressing the weight out.  It has been reported to us that he finally reached 560 pounds in this manner.  We have seen him do well over 500 with ease.

Unfortunately for American Amateur Lifting Paul decided to turn professional and for a time gave strong man shows and appeared in stage shows.  He also entered the ranks of the wrestlers and had great success there.  We have seen him billed as the world champ.  At a later date he was talked into training for boxing and has had several bouts and won many by TKO.  We feel this is the wrong field for Paul, for he is by nature a kind, fun-loving young fellow and does not possess the killer spirit of a fighter.

His most recent letter tells us that he is training hard with the weights and hopes to exceed all his previous great records by a wide margin.  We know he can do this and only regret that he could not have been on our Olympic team this year for it is sure that he could have won another gold medal for us.  Paul has expressed his desire to meet Yuri Vlasov, the great Russian champion, in a TV match.  We would certainly like to see this, but doubt if it develops for the Russians will not want their sensational new heavyweight to turn professional just to meet Paul.  What mighty records would be elevated in such a battle, tho.

In recent years Paul trained some on the bench press and was able to do well over 500 lbs.  Name any lifts and Paul can exceed any record made in it before by anyone else.  Much of his success must come from the correct diet he tried to follow.  Paul has used food supplements along with full meals of the best foods.  He eats a lot of beef and liver and tho he does not particularly care for liver he eats it because he knows it is so good for him.  He has always consumed lots of milk and used to drink large quantities while working out, as well as between and with meals.  Many quarts per day was the usual fare.

Paul's easy-going nature makes it easy for him to relax any time and anywhere and this is important for him to recuperate from his heavy workouts.

Without plenty of rest and relaxation he would never have risen so high because he could not have made the fabulous gains he did.  Tho Paul's early training career consisted almost exclusively of squats, he later broadened his training program and has trained all the popular exercises and at one time was doing repetition stiff legged dead lifts with 750 pounds and used nearly 1000 pounds in regular dead lifts tho he had to tie his hands to the bar to keep it from slipping from his grasp.

This then is not the whole story of Paul Anderson, for although he is now a professional, this will not make us appreciate any less the great records he is yet to make.  Iron Man will bring you a report on his activities as they come to hand.



To see the fabulous DVD on the life of Paul Anderson, A-5618DVD, please click here.