A chart like this can be useful now or in your future.
Ligament is the magic word when it comes to great strength. Strong, tough ligaments are the "open Sesame" to phenomenal physical power.
The general public and many athletes have the idea that a man with large muscles must be strong. This is true ONLY if the muscles have been developed through resistance exercise where the poundages have increased gradually over a period of time - and so enlarged the muscle size and strength to make them equal to the demands put upon them.
Consequently, a man with large but improperly trained muscles need not necessarily be strong at all, but one with rugged ligament structure INVARIABLY has great natural power.
Muscle quality always predominates over muscle quantity when it comes to strength. Take two pieces of metal of equal size - lead and iron for instance. Iron has many times the resistance to stress of lead because of a denser and harder composition.
It is the same with muscle structure. Tougher muscle tissue working in unison with the leverage of powerful ligaments gives one the propensity for strenuous physical effort.
"Ligament," for the uninformed, refers to a band of tissue - usually white and fibrous - which serves to connect bones at the body joints - a tie or bond between muscles and the skeletal frame.
This book, published on May 5th, 2025, may be of interest to some. A free read of it should be out there soon:
Roy A. Meals, author. This one of his is a fun read, it's out there to read on the cheap, and in the chapter titled "Culture" it's quite up to date, featuring a bit on fluffing up with a synthol/local-anesthetic add-on and all that other sort of extraneous add-in stuff of the oral/injectable sort a lot of addicts with lame excuses seem to love so much. Whatever, please remember to dispose of all sharps in a safe manner and did I mention spay and neuter pets there? Good writer, interesting content and I really like that the whole dope deal with all sports is now a little more in the open:
It is interesting to note the strength of apes, who have prodigious ligament power. I saw a 280-lb orangutan pull itself up and over a bar much higher than its head - and evidencing no apparent effort.
The gorilla - largest of the apes - can be described as one mass of tough tendon and ligament. Its finger tendons are considerably larger than those in the wrists of a human. The Karisimbi gorilla, at 5'7" and a weight of 360 pounds sported a 62" chest, 18" biceps, 15.75" calf, and a reach of 97".
Though some of our largest strongmen have 60" chests and arms inches in excess of the gorilla's that is as far as the muscular relationship goes. The tendinous upper arm of the primate is like steel compared to man's much more fleshy appendage of greater girth but far less contractile power.
Before discussing ligaments further you may want to know the dimensions of the largest gorilla ever tamed.
Note: I spent some time on researching and a bit of energy writing a fictitious article on the director of the original King Kong movie training Kong.
Here's the fictitious article:
A.I. can't tell the difference between real and satire:
Okay then. What could possibly go wrong.
These earlier supplement-and-such stores sure were small compared to the enormity of current ones.
Bigger gets confused with better so easily, doesn't it.
Right, where were us . . . the measurements of that largest gorilla ever taped (1965):
He weighed 600 pounds at six feet in height. A voluminous 100" chest supported 22: arms. His reach from fingertip to fingertip (paw-tip to paw-tip) was 115", calves 17.5.
This fellow had shoulders three-and-a-half feet wide.
THE ACQUISTION OF SUPER POWER
The difference between mediocre and colossal strength lies in the pulling power of the ligaments working in conjunction with their accompanying muscles.
I remember the time when I was proclaimed the World Arm Wrestling Champion out in Hollywood. Having gone undefeated for years I felt secure in my power. Rumors reached me from time to time of a body and fender mechanic who had prodigious arms and strength, and in time some of my cronies looked him up . . .
The great bulk of his upper arms and formidable appearance of his forearms and hands stunned them. To me, they expressed his physical stature in glowing terms and several opined how I was finally to meet my match. Arrangements were made for this new superman and I to lock arms.
The big day arrived and into out establishment sauntered one of the most impressively-built fellows I have ever seen. He had enormous, broad shoulders upon which sat a bull-like neck. Rolled up sleeves strained to encase the monstrous bulge of his biceps. Upon seeing him one of my staunchest supporters decided to switch camps and this shook me a bit.
"Well, Mac," I commented to myself, "here you are with 8.5" wrists and a 16.5" elbow thick full of tough connective tissue. Perhaps your arms don't match his for looks or muscle bulk but let's test their mettle."
And so, dear reader, we grasped arms and down he went three times to the amazement of the crowd. And I added further to my fame and pocketbook, and many of my friends who had wagered on my opponent came crying back pleading for my forgiveness and asking how I could beat a man who had so much more muscle than I.
Now, as at that time, I shall endeavor to explain.
The body & fender man had built his magnificent arms through daily work smashing metal around with a heavy sledge hammer. But his muscle tissue felt the same amount of resistance at all times - it swelled to a huge size without the corresponding rise in strength that an increase in resistance would have caused.
Only when greater muscle bulk comes as a result of greater efforts (the handling of heavier and heavier weights) can ligament toughening take place and fantastic strength will result.
An arm of superior ligament quality can usually be spotted by an expert (generally speaking, the biceps is still attached and the tendons and ligaments have grown in proper ratio to the muscle tissue). Amazing arm power always accompanies this kind of development.
Thin and stringy ligaments mean weak and poor muscular contractile ability. Especially for the legs. You may have heard the expression, "weak in the knees." It is this joint which tends to buckle under heavy weight. Leg strength depends on ligaments to lock the knees under the stress of a big poundage. To build power in the joints - specifically within the ligaments and tendons - one should practice back-lifting on a hand-and-thigh machine, and the Jefferson and Kennedy lifts as well.
click -> Kennedy Lift
Really monstrous poundages can be handled in these exercises and machines - particularly when using a harness - promoting rapid joint-strength gains.
Training in the regular manner the athlete cannot hoist enough weight with his hands alone to tax the back and legs. This difference in upper-body and lower-body strength precludes injury to the legs and back yet puts limitless stress on arm, shoulder, and upper-back ligaments.
For a sterling example of great joint power consider the outstanding hip-and-thigh lift made by famous 19th Century strongman Paul Von Boeckmann.
Paul, New York Wrestling Champion, had only 16" biceps and 22" thighs but his massive 8" wrists and 14" forearms more than made up for the lack of other muscle. He was renowned for incredible gripping power - each hand was as tough as a steel beartrap.
Boeckmann was able to perform three one-hand chins gripping the bar with only one finger. He also executed a hand-and-thigh lift of 1,778 pounds; only the giant Louis Cyr ever did better.
Another extremely strong old-timer possessing amazing ligament girth was Edward Aston of England.
Incredibly powerful, he bent-pressed 300 pounds while weighing but 168. He could also do a standing somersault holding a 56-pound block weight in each arm.
Also worthy of mentioning is one of the strongest of all men - Arthur Saxon. Excepting men of 300-pounds-plus bodyweight Saxon had perhaps the largest wrists ever measured - 8-7/8".
This incredible German was the strongest man of his era succeeding with a bent press of 371 pounds - a record which still stands (1965). He did a two-hands anyhow of 448 pounds of 448 pounds (bent pressed 336, then curled and one-arm pressed 112).
If you're not yet familiar with some of these lifts, refer to this rulebook:
Saxon deadlifted over 700 pounds and was capable of supporting, in various positions, several thousand pounds.
He is my choice as the athlete most capable of opening a door and finding the knob coming off in his hand.
This discussion has not been conceived with the view of instructing you on how to increase your strength manyfold correctly. Weider courses and power routines, and food supple . . . okay then.
Rather, we have attempted to show nothing but the NECESSITY for this type of training by illustrating how a smaller-muscled man can outperform his larger friend.
Strong ligaments, tendons, and joints open the door to strength beyond your wildest expectations . . . and please do be careful with those doorknobs.
Enjoy Your Lifting!
This contemporary Western might be a real treat:
"Same Old West" . . . original title "Oeste Outre Vez"
There's a one-hour Punisher thing, "Punisher: One Last Kill" that I watched one morning. It's well under an hour; he cries for the first half and kills for the second half. The first half is crap . . . the part you actually wanna watch starts at the 26-minute mark.
This film by the Quay Brothers, "Sanitorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass" is available to view at home now. Based on the book of the same name by Bruno Shultz.
Shultz was without question one of the most remarkable writers in Polish literature of the 20th Century, up until two Nazi fucktards shot him in the head in the Polish ghetto in 1942.
This could be a good read . . .
Enjoy Your Lifting!
