Joe Roark's IronHistoryArchives.com
The HUGE library of Iron History compiled by Joe Roark.
Welcome to Iron History with Joe Roark!
Joe Roark has been studying the iron game since 1957, and by 1970 began a systematic gathering of information on index cards. By the time his first computer was acquired, there were several hundred thousand references to be typed into it.
For a few years he published his own newsletter called MuscleSearch: The Roark Report. By 1992 he was appointed as the IFBB Men's Bodybuilding Historian, and began writing about history for FLEX in his column Factoids. For ten years he contributed to Iron Game History from the U of Texas at Austin. Recently he also began writing All Our Yesterdays for FLEX.
His passion has always been the period between 1880 and 1920, with particular emphasis on the oldtime strongmen of that era. Joe will be offering bits of history for Cyberpump once per week, and the text will be relevant to the dates of the calendar for those events of yesteryear relevant to the coming week.
In this column, readers will also be able to ask Joe questions or comment on his posts. Note: The comments are solely for interaction between Joe and the readers only -- not reader to reader.
1/27/06: More from Your Physique April/May 1945, three of Willoughby's charts
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Willoughby's charts for 'Weight-Lifting Possibilities' and for the 'Relationship of Various Lifts in their Poundage Possibility to the Two Hands Clean and Jerk'.
Willoughby's chart for 'Strength (lifting power) in relation to Muscular Cross-Section or weight divided by height expressed in terms of lifting limits (lbs.) in the Two Hands Clean and Jerk with Barbell.
Posted by TheEditor @ 08:34 PM CST
1/20/06: How To Take Your Measurements, (cont) & Willoughby's 'Weightlifting Records and Their Merits' by David Willoughby
Thursday, January 19, 2006
Here are more measurements of oldtimers for comparison.
Page 1 of Willoughby's 'Weightlifting Records and Their Merits' article from Your Physique April/May 1945.
Posted by TheEditor @ 08:57 PM CST
1/13/06: How To Take Your Measurements, continued, plus some examples by David Willoughby
Thursday, January 12, 2006
Editor's Note: There has been so much exaggeration and distortion in the reported measurements of famous weight-lifters and models of muscular development that the average physical culturist is ignorant of the real meaning of bodily proportions. In order to clear up this confusion and lead to a true understanding of the significance of muscular measurements, we are presenting this series of sketches by David Willoughby, one of the foremost living students of anthropometry. The measurements listed represent wither actual measurements accurately taken by an expert, or careful estimates by Mr. Willoughby of the probable approximate measurements of the athlete in question.
Posted by TheEditor @ 09:14 PM CST
1/6/06: How to Take Your Measurements by David P. Willoughby
Thursday, January 5, 2006
We now begin, with permission, to reproduce old Weider articles written by David P. Willoughby, in my opinion, the pioneer American strength and muscle historian. We will present two pages per week, even though this may mean a break in the flow of the text.
The first article presented will be from Your Physique May/June 1943: 'How to Take Your Measurements'. Please notice the drawing does not match the text- obey the directions within the text.
This series will run for years, although we may occasionally intersperse other offerings.
Posted by TheEditor @ 09:42 PM CST
