Franco Columbo, in his prime. At a bodyweight of 185lbs. he deadlifted almost 800lbs. for reps!
Lee Labrada
I really don’t think Francois was DL 800 for reps. I remember an article where he was doing about 7 plates for a single in a rack just below the knees. He was also saying that some of his PL training partners were easily out lifting him even though he was about 80 lbs heavier or something.
Lee Labrada, hahahahahaha. Dany Padila.
Ellwood pulled 880lbs!!! Really???
Hey Bob A!!!
If you don’t believe me ask Brian Batcheldor. The man is the guru of strength athletics and was a pretty damn fine PL in his time. And if Bill Kazmier says you are strong!!?!!?
Actually I remember some training articles and interviews with Francois back in IRONMAN and MD that I’ll have to dig up, and he was Squating and deadlifting in the 700-800 range. I definitely should have mentioned him before.
Also, from the 70’s & 80’s you have Scott Wilson, Mike Ashley (drug free), both former powerlifters, and there are the famed exploits of the Barbarian Bros.
One comment made at the beginning of the thread that bears expanding upon-magazine pictures. Because color photography has to be shot and reshot, relit, etc. everything has to be stagey. Hence fiberglass weights and fake grimaces. Ron Harris has written about this before, and it should be obvious. Besides, NOBODY does max effort exercises like squatting 7 plates in their teeny little gym shorts, oiled up in contest condition (except, perhaps in a gay gym, eh, P-Dog). All the commercial mags are guilty, with Flex and IRONMAN the worst offenders.
"Ah c’mon P-dog that’s such a dumb question!
Everybody knows all Bodybuilders are gay."
thats excatly the response i was looking for.
Bob A: Dude, Lee Labrada would kick Danny Padilla’s ass!!
Bob A,
Actually, I have a picture of Columbo Deadlifting 765lbs. for three reps! That would be 8 plates on each side. The guy was incredibly strong for his small stature, or any stature for that matter.
creed : If you say so. I remember him having good quads but under developed post-chain. I would love to see a pic (or vid) of that… Wouldn’t that make Ellwood one of the strongest DLers ever??? Even among PLers. If it’s true, I am impressed!
SOULNINJA : the article of Francois I saw was in Flex. I’m quite sure he wasn’t DL in the 800 range. If you dig up that Iron Man mag let us know what numbers were cited.
Sonny S : yeah but Vince Comuford (sp?) would kick both there arsses, hahahaha. Seriously, none of these guys? names should come up in a thread about strength, unless it’s for laughs.
ZEB : yes, I have seen it, truly inspirational!
Tito Raymond = worlds strongest bodybuilder!
Bob A
Yes Eddy is regarded as one of the strongest bodybuilders period. That is why he is competing in Strongman. I also saw an interview on UK tv in which Ellwood himself claimed to have pulled 880.
to quote boondoc holiday:oh my dear lord!!! kovacs looks like a cadaver. that man is dead…as will the rest of those monkeys be soon. they all look sick, the men, the women, the fitness girls, even the figure girls are looking just disturbing these days. this just portrays bodybuilding in a terrible light…
i highly agree and i thought the same thing myself. when i watched the arnold classic i could tell he looked fucked up, not to mention when he cut his routine short, he looked like he was ready to start ballin when he was walkin off. but on to my question, what the fuck were all those bruises and dark spots all over him? and that bigass gash on the right side of his abdomen? and does he even fuckin train his legs anymore?
John Basedow?
Sorry, just saw that stupid commercial.
I think Briana Banks should win the award. While she not be able to lift a lot…she has the strongest mouth in the world. Who the hell else can suck that hard?
Ronnie said that he squats 800 for reps in his upcoming video