Thom Van Vleck
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I don’t recall the Chet Yorton leg injury but I do recall him being a big part of the natural bodybuilding deal. Of course, of the body builders, my all time favorite was Bill Pearl. The guy won in three different decades and was super strong. My Uncle Phil attended two of his seminars at two different times about 10 years apart. One time he did stuff like blow up a hot water bottle, rip a deck of cards in half, etc. But one time he loaded 300lb on a bar, power cleaned it and then pressed it in front and then behind the neck. Phil said he made it look easy.
Thom Van Vleck
Jackson Weightlifting Club
Highland Games athlete and sometimes All-RounderHaving broken both legs and being told at one time I might never walk again I have always wanted leg strength. When I started lifting I could not even squat to sit in a chair and get up without using my hands. One guy I admired was Tom Platz. The guy had amazing leg development. I ordered his “leg manual” and began to follow it religiously. Years later I found out that he didn’t even use that workout…..he was pretty much a genetic freak and did one set of 40 plus reps on the squat once a week to develop his leg strength. He said he knew no one would ever believe that so that’s why he wrote the leg manual with all the lifts of the day! I also did the same thing on a Mike Mentzer calf routine…..ended up with my calves so sore I could hardly walk!!!! I think a routine needs to be well thought out, customized, adaptable but rigid enough to keep you disciplined, and most of all….it needs to keep you interested (mentally fresh).
Thom Van Vleck
Jackson Weightlifting Club
Highland Games athlete and sometimes All-RounderFirst, When I was starting out, Kuc was my idol. He was exactly what I wanted to be. Super strong, a Marine, a big deadlifter, and a WINNER. My uncle made me a motivational plaque with Kuc’s picture on it pulling 880lbs.
A couple comments as I have followed his career closely. First, Kuc used steroids big time early in his career. He quit in 1980 and was very candid about this.
I lifted with a guy that ended up totaling 2105 at 220lbs. He got tired of everyone giving credit to the steroids he was on so he quit using and when to the ADPFA to “prove” how strong he was and eventually totaled 1900. So, he lost 200lb quitting the roids. Interesting, all of it was off his squat and bench. His deadlift remained about the same. Kuc was like that, too. He never equalled his lifts as a drug user but his deadlift was just as good. Not sure what that means, but wanted to mention it.
Finally, Kuc was a gifted genetically. The first time he ever did a deadlift I heard he did 500lbs. He was strong before he ever picked up a weight. The reason I bring this up is that a guy like that will get strong doing just about anything. You can’t make too much of a cause and effect statement regarding his training. I have done just about ever routine he put out there and I even corresponded with him years ago. Which, by the way, he was very nice, helpful, and offered motivation to my training.
The book is a good book, but it is a list of what worked for him and he’s a special individual. Hopefully, nobody was offended by any of this, Kuc is still someone I would have liked to have been like. He no doubt had talent and drive and he lived in an era where the “juice” was pretty normal.
Thom Van Vleck
Jackson Weightlifting Club
Highland Games athlete and sometimes All-RounderI have one like that and it’s not snapped yet. I don’t abuse it but we have had it loaded for 300 plus floor to overhead type lifting. We used “Bulldog” collars on the inside and outside of the plates, so 4 collars in all.
Thom Van Vleck
Jackson Weightlifting Club
Highland Games athlete and sometimes All-RounderTully…..I just threw up a little in my mouth.
I have one, too. This goes with my article earlier that judges should where a suit and tie! hahahahaha
Thom Van Vleck
Jackson Weightlifting Club
Highland Games athlete and sometimes All-RounderI have talked and corresponded with John Fair. I think Tom’s assessment is pretty accurate. He gathers information from others and writes it up in a well written report that is then only as accurate as the information he was given. Kind of the old joke of you can’t make good chicken salad with chicken….uh….”crap”.
Our sport is one that is so very quantifiable it s both a blessing and a curse. People can talk about Gale Sayers scoring 6 touchdowns in one game but how “lucky” did he get and all the variables from one play to the next make measuring touchdowns head to head a totally qualitative process. However, you can measure a Clean & Jerk across time and place because theoretically 500lbs is 500lbs regardless…..or is it!
Then there is the steroid issue….if I even hint to my Uncles that Paul Anderson took steroids they threaten to kick my…uhh….rear. One of my Uncles idolized Bill Pearl and for years I got to here him tell me how Bill didn’t use steroids. Then when Bill himself admitted to using them, my Uncle then said that it made no difference and in his mind he would have still been just a big and muscular. Do I doubt that? Maybe. But the point is a 500lb C&J done one steroids is not the same as one done without. But how do we know this, how do we quantify it. I used to lift with John Ware and while I disagreed with his steroid use at least he never claimed otherwise and he told me not to measure myself against him because I never used drugs and that would not be fair.
But what I will say is that this winter I have made it a mission to put 300lbs overhead for what may be one last time. At 47 I don’t know how many of those I have left and my right should is getting pretty beat up by the Highland Games. I will know for sure that if I do, it will be comparable to when I did it the last time about 10 years ago. And that’s all I can know for sure.
Thom Van Vleck
Jackson Weightlifting Club
Highland Games athlete and sometimes All-RounderJust found out it’s the November issue. I called them and ordered one since I don’t subscribe.
Thom Van Vleck
Jackson Weightlifting Club
Highland Games athlete and sometimes All-RounderI saw my Uncle Wayne do sets of ten with 1000lbs on the partial front squat. Of course, he was in a powerrack but I do recall he had to hang a 50lb scale weight on each end of the bar to get it to 1000lbs, let alone 2100. But I will say this, My Uncle Phil met Bruce when he was at his best and he was impressed to say the least.
Topper! Al….I don’t know what you are talkin’ about! HAHAHA
BTW did I mention I’m in the November Powerlifting USA……HAHAHHAHA
Thom Van Vleck
Jackson Weightlifting Club
Highland Games athlete and sometimes All-RounderSpeaking of Bruce Randall, I have an autographed photo of him in my gym. My Uncle PHil used to run a gym in Colorado and Bruce did a seminar there.
Thom Van Vleck
Jackson Weightlifting Club
Highland Games athlete and sometimes All-RounderSeems somebody wrote a great article on Bill and all his contributions to lifting, first womens weightlifting, first masters……who was that…Oh, it was ME! HAHA Bill was getting accolades for his contributions in the 60’s. I might have to do another story on him for the website….or would that be blasphemy for ol’ Clark to end up on the internet. After all,his articles for the Columbia paper are on the internet so maybe it would be OK. Thanks for posting the link, interesting to check out, but most of the guys on here can say, “Hell, I was there”! I still have my AAU card!
Thom Van Vleck
Jackson Weightlifting Club
Highland Games athlete and sometimes All-RounderAl, I’m like Quigley in “Quigley Down Under”. “I said I didn’t like pistols, I didn’t say I wasn’t any good with them”. I had 6 hours of masters level statistics and 6 hours of Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis….in which I got a 98% on the final! I just can’t stand them and this whole process reminds me of Newtons attempts to mathematically prove the Bible…..a great idea but it attempts to prove the unprovable! For only through faith alone are we saved. How’s that for some high quality fluff!
Thom Van Vleck
Jackson Weightlifting Club
Highland Games athlete and sometimes All-RounderJarrod, I’ll try and make it out next year, too. Good luck with your meet.
Thom Van Vleck
Jackson Weightlifting Club
Highland Games athlete and sometimes All-Rounderbar…..underage drinking…good one. (I’ll admit…took me a second).
Hey, can you post a picture of that trap bar….I’m intrigued!
Thom Van Vleck
Jackson Weightlifting Club
Highland Games athlete and sometimes All-RounderTom, I have the privilege of working out with Eric many times. He is a very strong presser. Eric really muscles stuff up. He was a wrestler in college and he obviously has the upper body strength of a wrestler.
I wish I had a video of Brian Kerby pressing 320 in the strictest fashion you can ever imagine. I do have a photo. He would regularly put a 300lb log overhead in our strongman shows. You have to understand, in our shows you get no warm ups, when it’s time to lift you have to go. Brian would whip that log up so easy it was almost anticlimactic…then one day he did it so easy nobody clapped so Brian then stood on one leg while holding it overhead, then the other leg, then he did a 360 turn and each time the crowd clapped louder and louder. Finally, he stood there for another 60 seconds preaching to the crowd! Most amazing feat of overhead lifting I’ve ever seen! My favorite story on Brian’s pressing power was he showed up at what he thought was a raw power meet only to find bench shirts were allowed….he benched 550 in a tshirt and WON!
Thom Van Vleck
Jackson Weightlifting Club
Highland Games athlete and sometimes All-RounderNot if I beat you to it, Al!!! HAHAHAHAHA
Thom Van Vleck
Jackson Weightlifting Club
Highland Games athlete and sometimes All-Rounder -
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