How Strong Was Paul Anderson v Louis Cyr?

How Strong Was Paul Anderson v Louis Cyr Actually?
#strongest #paulanderson #strongman

I focus on strength athletes from various fields including: Strongman, Powerlifting and Bodybuilding, comparing performances from different eras, disciplines and organizations.

Follow Me On Social Media

Thank you so much for visiting us, click the "SUBSCRIBE" button to stay connected with this channel.

Thank you

[StrengthUniverse]

Thanks For Watching! If you enjoyed the video, please take a second to press Like and leave a comment. Thank you

[doublemx]

Cyr’s strength was 100% real. I’ve been to his museum in Quebec which housed some of the training implements he used during his life including the 274 pound dumbell he pressed overhead with one arm. The guy was just a freak of nature

[nemo]

I remember Paul Anderson very well. He was very quick and a good man according to everything I've read.

[CAPNBACK]

The crazy thing with Cyr was that he wasn’t really training. Just showing. I can’t imagine how strong he would have been today, with training and gear.

[bigmaguire]

I didnt realise that Anderson was 5"9". Carrying 150kg at that height, even at a higher bodyfat, is absolutely mental! What a unit he must have been in person

[roderickreilly]

AT THE BEGINNING OF THE VIDEO, there's a brief clip of Anderson doing overhead presses with an improvised barbell suspended from chains. This was one of the many ingenious tricks Anderson used to get stronger. Over time he lowered the barbell by adding one chain link at a time, thus increasing the ROM until he could do a full movement.

With the squat he went the other way, by digging a shallow hole that had a huge makeshift barbell straddling it. After each workout he'd add some dirt to the hole until eventually the hole was filled, and he wasdoing parallel squats. This is where the legend of the 1200lbs squat came from. The improvised barbell over the hole was claimed to weigh 1500lbs. Hence the assumption he could squat 1200lbs. However, while he actually attempted the 1200lbs at some kind of venue, he didn't succeed in a legit depth. The reason why he thought he could was because of the "hole trick" and massive barbell as well as his 900 x 10 full squat effort witnessed by John C. Grimeck. Now that hole trick was also the subject of hype. A Weider magazine claimed the barbell was a pair of wall safes attached to a truck axel, and they even had a drawing of Anderson using it with a mattress for shoulder padding. They claimed it weighed 1500lbs. There's no record of that contraption. What there is is film of Anderson using two 55 gallon drums filled (probably partially) with concrete, and attached at the top with a bar. THAT'S the contraption he used with the hole in the ground. I suspect it was less than 1500lbs, but still more than 1000, and even at least 1200lbs.

[Nirsterkur]

Awesome video Strength Universe! I think this is the best comparison anyone has ever done on Paul Anderson vs. Louis Cyr.

[guanjun]

Good video and nice comparison. Paul is truly a very strong claimant for the strongest man of all time. Both were freaks of strength though.

[thewelfaregourmet]

They both did some measured lifts, and they both did some charlatan lifts. I will roll with Anderson due to him going to the Olympics. Cyr is too much a circus show, but both were stronger than most if not all "strongmen" of their times.

[abhinavkumar]

Another banger from u.
Both men were certainly the strongest of their eras and are the legends of iron culture. I woud like to point out few things regarding the strength comparison of Cyr and Anderson :
1. What needs to be understood here is that two men are from 2 different eras, in Louis Cyr's time not much training took place in gyms, it was mostly practiced on farm working long hrs. and lifting heavy stuff as there were no tractors during those days. In Anderson's time lots of gyms and people worked out.

2. The first modern Olympic was held at 1896, the height of Cyr's strength career but he never lifted in that 1st Olympic or even at latter Olympics and that was probably because he was already a professional by that time and that games were mostly comprised of the world's rich and well born. Louis however performed near equivalent lift in 1896 by clean and jerking 347 lbs and this was quite something as he had no real practice on this so very little form as u mentioned. He also lacked certain advantages that modern day lifters like Anderson had for instance the york olympic barbell with the knurled bar and the ball bearing collars.

3. In Cyr's days, a press was done with the arms only, no leg drive or body momentum whereas Anderson's one arm press was clearly with some leaning. Consider this when when u note that Anderson's presses were heavier. Yes, Anderson lifted more, but would he have if the lifts were done in a stricter fashion like Cyr?

4. It is said that Cyr never lifted to his max. ability for example in backlift he was capable of doing more than 4300 lbs or even probably 5000 lbs but they feared that platform could collapse at such weights so he played it safe and it is evidenced by the fact that he lifted the platform several inches off the ground whereas Anderson's supposed lift was only for a few inch off the ground. Also, Anderson's sole purpose behind doing that backlift was to break Cyr's record as he has himself mentioned specifically that he wanted to break Cyr's backlift record. He pointed out that Cyr's backlift record gave him the title of world's strongest man therefore, he would like to break his record in order to become the world's strongest man that ever lived. Although it is highly probable that 1. Anderson's supposed backlift of 6270 lbs never happened or 2. If it indeed happened, the weight was actually in the range of 4300-5000 lbs according to the research of Dr. Terry Todd and his team.

[arthurblackhistoric]

As a lifelong Iron Game enthusiast, and a huge fan of both Anderson and Cyr, After due consideration I give my support firmly in favour of Paul Anderson. As far as who was the naturally strongest man of all time, without doing much formal training, definitely it had to be Louis Cyr. But mention should be made that once he got into circus work, he DID train regularly, mainly to maintain his strength and even improve it to remain impressive to the audiences. As for Paul, he squatted with 300 pounds for around 20 reps in his first contact with a barbell. Paul had savant-level genius when it came to inventing equipment to help himself to keep improving. He also had a very thorough knowledge of muscle-building nutrition. I think just the mastery Paul had of virtually every lift in the book, and the margin between what he could lift, compared to what Louis could lift in the measurable events, leaves me with the only conclusion possible . . That Paul Anderson was the strongest man of all time.
I realise that there are many folks seeking to de-value Pauls accomplishments, but let's take a minute to examine who they are. They're the high-dose steroid gang of elite Powerlifters and modern Strongmen, who you can bet London to a brick are as jealous as hell of Paul.
The photo I have in my copy of Muscular Development Magazine from 1969 shows clearly that the boxes of silver dollars were FULL, not half empty! The video of Paul doing a one arm dumbbell side press shows him doing a double, and just missing a third rep on that 330 pound monster! That was done as cold as a maggot, just prior to Paul going to the microphone to give his message.
The late Terry Todd, a man whose words I trust as absolute truth more than anyone else's, wrote volumes about Paul in the Size and Strength series of articles that appeared in MD magazine. Peary Rader from Iron Man Magazine also held the view that Paul was indeed the "wonder of nature" the Russians called him!
Interestingly, they waited until after Todd's death to start downgrading Anderson because, had Terry been still with us, he would surely have set the records . . there were many . . straight.

[jahkarl]

Wow Paul Anderson what a side press!!!

[Donantonio]

Cyr had more raw strength and was able to do feats such as his famous 517lbs stone to shoulder. However, Paul actually trained lifting techniques which allowed him to reach greater numbers. It's hard to directly compare them due to the difference in eras and the lifts they performed

[joebot]

If Louis trained in Paul’s era, it would have been a showdown for sure. Louis lacked the training that would have brought him to a much stronger place.

[willyjenkins]

I don’t care what anyone says 900lbs for 10 reps is otherworldly. Pat Casey and John Grimek saw Anderson do this in the gym, mind boggling strength.

[roderickreilly]

FWIW: Anderson NEVER ever did an actual clean and jerk. In the clip, at the Olympics, no less, he did a clean and push press. It's glaringly obvious. And that was years before he reached full strength. He did a push press off stands with 540-545lbs in front of a crowd at muscle beach in the early 60s. There's a snapshot somewhere of that effort. I counted the plates, and that was 545.

[MM-moyc]

As always, hard to compare era’s. 2 incredible historic athletes.

[g__l]

2:10 DID U CASUALLY JUST FLASH ON THE SCREEN THAT ANDERSON CUD SQUAT 900x10

[aldrogo]

Do you have a video about Anthony Clark (RIP)? One of the great superheavyweight powerlifters of the 1990s and probably the best "reverse grip" bench presser ever. Thought of him because he had a very similar body type to both Anderson and Cyr.

[paulwaters]

Paul Anderson was The Man !!! Great video!!!