*Baddest Motherfuckers Ever #7- Paul Anderson

Have you ever felt like just digging a hole in your backyard, then building a squat stand over it and loading a thousand pounds on it, then standing in the hole and doing partials with it? Me neither. Paul Anderson, however, thought about a lot of crazy shit like that. Paul Anderson, if you don't know already, was an American Olympic weightlifter and strongman who was well known for his weird-ass training style and his penchant for shattering world records.

Paul's Stats:
Height: 5'9"
Weight: 330-360 lbs.

Paul's bests:

• Standard clean and press (?): 402.5 lb (182.6 kg)
• One arm overhead press: 300 lb (140 kg)
• Parallel squat: 1,202 lb (545 kg), two reps
• Backlift: 6270 lbs (2844 kg), (weight raised slightly off trestles)
• Hip Lift: 4100 lbs.
  
• Bench Press (Raw): 627 lb (284 kg)
• Two Hand Overhead Press: 400 lbs. for 7 reps
• Two Hand Overhead Press: 470
• Jerk-Press (not sure if it was from the front or the back): 560 lbs.

Additionally, Paul was reported by Tommy Kono to have done a set of ten full squats, with no warmup, with 700 lbs., "so rapidly that it was as if free squats were performed"(PP 16), and shattered the world record in the strict press lifting IN THE RAIN, pressing 402 lbs in strict competition fashion over his head- 72 lbs more than the previous record. Ten years later, he broke the record again with 420. A few years later, he showed up at a Russian-American match as a special attraction (he had recently started pro wrestling), and PRESSED 425 FOR TWO REPS. Can you imagine strict pressing 425 for two reps? I sure as shit can't.

Anderson could have cited his unique training methods as the key to his success, but being an evangelical Christian, he gave all the credit to someone else. It's all well and good if you're religious, but if you're squatting 1200, chances are it was a combination of brutal fucking workouts, a little genetic luck, and a lot of eating, since the Catholic Church doesn't seem to be fielding the majority of the gold medalists in the Olympic Weightlifting.

I've already alluded to, and shown a picture of, one of his favorite training methods- squatting in a hole. He would occasionally put dirt back into the hole, and over time developed some badass squats, hitting 1200 deep.

Another wacky training method Anderson used was to set up two golf holes on his farm about 300 yards apart. He'd whack the ball down to the one hole, where he'd set up an outdoor rack with a bar loaded to 400. He'd do 3-5 reps in the overhead press with it, then whack the ball back to the other hole, where he'd set up a squat rack loaded to 800. He'd bang out 3-5 reps with that weight, then repeat, all afternoon. Yeah, that sounds pretty fucking awesome to me as well, save for the golfing. I'd rather do a set and get a bleach enema, then repeat. I truly despise golf. Anderson's typical workouts (according to Marty Gallagher in Purposeful Primitive) were 6 days a week and took 3-4 hours to complete.

T/TH/S
Full squat
2x10x600
1x2x825
1x2x845
1x2x900

Half Squat
1x2x1200

Quarter Squat
1x2x1800

Deadlift
4x6-8x650

M/W/F
Press Off Rack
1x6x300
1x2x400
1x2x390
1x2x370

Press Outs (from sticking point to lockout)
1x4x500

Press From Shoulders To Top Of Head
1x4x500

Push-Press off Rack
1x3x450

Bench Press
1x6-8x400-450

Nice ensemble. Singlet with black socks and dress shoes.

Anderson was also a big fan of day-long workouts, wherein he would rest up to 30 mins in between sets, sipping milk and bullshitting. He'd apparently drink a gallon or more of milk during the course of his workout.

So, there you have it. Another unconventional lifter in a world of bland, copycat bullshit. Guess who succeeds? It's not the douche doing bodypart workouts at your local Gold's- it's the guys who do weird shit, and A LOT OF IT, who make a name for themselves. Now, go do some reverse grip cleans and when some headband-rocking, heroin-chic, weak-as-you-little-sister-if-she-had-AIDS, personal trainer tells you you're doing cleans wrong, punch him in the mouth, roast him over an open fire, and invite anyone you know with a descended testicle to a barbecue.

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Bibliography:
Gallagher, Marty. The Purposeful Primitive. St. Paul: Dragon Door Publications, 2008. pp. 9-17.
Willoughby, David. The Super-Athletes. NY: AS Barnes and Company, 1970. pp 112-114.
"Paul Edward Anderson". Wikipedia.