And his paternal grandfather stood 6 feet 5 inches and weighed 300 pounds. Muscle & Fitness: You trained with Arnold Schwarzenegger a few times in your day, right?Bruno Sammartino: Back in the 60s, when I wrestled in California, I used to stay in Santa Monica. Upright Row 3 x 67. Sammartino defeated Buddy Rogers in just 48 seconds to become the second-ever WWE champion in front of nearly 20,000 fans on May 17, 1963, at the old Madison Square Garden. Follow these fit women we're crushing on for inspiration, workout ideas, and motivation. So I power walk. I did a 715-pound squat and a 690-pound dead lift.. Although naturally big and strong, hed be surpassed by the next generation of steroid-enhanced superstars, losing his WWE title for good to Superstar Billy Graham and then temporarily losing his place in WWE history as a Hulk Hogan-led wave of bodybuilder bodies deluged the industry in the1980s. HE LEFT US LAST WEEK. Whats your exercise regimen like today at 77 years old? Bruno Leopoldo Francesco Sammartino [1] (October 6, 1935 - April 18, 2018) was an Italian-born American professional wrestler, best known for his work with the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF, now WWE). When we look at his physique we think strong, because we associate it with an aesthetic of powerlifting, explains Chow. 11. During the height of your wrestling career during the 60s and 70s, what was your training like?I was working out three, sometime three and a half, hours a day with weights. An avid lifter throughout his career, Bruno would workout every morning. Jan Dellinger (worked with John Grimek) made a short review. Q: How did you get started in weight training? You'll note that I said "was" in my routine. Click here if you wish to opt out and view the full site. Sammartino, an Italian immigrant who ruled the WWE throughout the 1960s and 1970s, died Wednesday at the age of 82. Like many of you, on Wednesday April 18, 2018, we learned about the death of the living legend, Bruno Sammartino. While bonafide superstars like Bruno Sammartino and Buddy Rogers are fondly remembered, their contemporaries have somewhat fallen to the wayside in the history books. NaturalStrength.Com has maintained a reputation as one of the most well informed, truthful and introspective sites on the 'net since 1999. At one time Bruno considered taking a fling at professional boxing. 1. You see, I cannot lock my elbows . Sammartino, a product of Pittsburghs Schenley High School, was bench pressing more than 500 pounds and deadlifting 700-plus during the early- to mid-1950s, when the number of humans capable of doing so could be counted on your fingers and the oral steroid Dianabol had yet to truly disrupt the powerlifting and weightlifting scenes by sending world records into the stratosphere. The first step was not an easy one for him because he was still unknown and could not get the big money bouts. Does modern bodybuilding make you sick? He had a gym in Wexford, Pennsylvania, just down the road from where I grew up. Exepet for the time needed for travel, his wrestling career allowed more time for training. One of the biggest thrills of his life was when he wrestled Haystack Galhoun when he weighed 605lb and lifted him above his head and body-slammed him to the mat. At the time I was training with the amazing Karl Norberg in San Francisco I was using 150-pound dumbbells. Copyright 2023 JW Media, LLC, parent company of Muscle & Fitness. Power training will give you basic strength, which is a prerequisite for wrestling, but the two are not really related. Shop the movie and fan merch. I did 33 reps with 330 in the same workout as the 500 single . That sounded interesting. When five football teammates tried to jump Bruno, wrestling legend, the Iron Sheik, came out from the showers and the two old timers cleaned house. Then, do 2 sets of 15 reps for behind the neck pull ups, before finishing with calf and neck isometrics. Last Wednesday, the news of Bruno Sammartino's death rocked the wrestling world. During his pro-wrestling heyday, Bruno Sammartino sold out Madison Square Garden 188 times, was named the world's strongest man and held the WWE Championship Belt for 2,803 consecutive days . Thats when I did my 565-pound bench press. From Episode 147 of Jim Cornette's Drive ThruArtwork by Travis Heckel!Send in your question for the Drive-Thru to: CornyDriveThru@gmail.com Follow Jim and Br. Click here if you wish to opt out and view the full site. Bruno is credited with picking up an slamming 600lb Haystacks Calhoun when Strongman Paul Anderson tried and failed. Articles about nutrition are not especially wanted and will most likely be rejected. He came to United States of America in 1950. His wrist went from 6 1/2 inches just a shade under 10 inches. Sammartinos story in many ways follows the archetypal immigrant bodybuilder story, the most famous of which is Charles Atlas, says Broderick Chow, a professor at Brunel University London who serves as director of the multimedia project Dynamic Tensions: New Masculinities in the Performance of Fitness. Well his hard work paid off and by 1956 he had made on the Olympic weight lifting team. For many years Bruno trained at my gym in Manhattan while he was a professional wrestler. But the war erupted, and it was not until 1949 that the Sammartinos were all reunited and in their adopted land. We would try to get in benching three times per week. Big Bruno Sammartino, the amicable Pittsburgh giant, was born in Italy. Sammartino, upset that his short, stocky and decidedly non-bodybuilder-looking son hadnt received a push in the WWE during these changing times and himself largely finished as a main-event performer after finishing red-hot feuds with traitorous trainee Zbyszko and top heel Roddy Piper, soon found himself on the outside looking. During his childhood in a small Italian mountain town, Bruno Sammartino heard stories about how the streets in the United States were paved with gold. Answer: Far from it! Bruno emphasized the importance of SMALL increases in weight. Born: October 6, 1935Height: 510Weight: 275 pounds (when he was a pro wrestler)Hometown: Pittsburgh, PAFun Fact: Sammartino won the bodybuilding title Mr. Allegheny in the late 1950s. Stuffing himself with as much pasta and homemade Italian bread as his mom could cook, Sammartino quickly bulked up and narrowly missed making the 1956 US Olympic weightlifting team. A short time later in a New York boxing gym, Bruno worked in the ring against Sonny Liston, one of the country's leading heavyweight maulers. In 2013, Bruno Sammartino was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame by his old lifting partner, Arnold Schwarzenegger. He used to eat plents of meat, fresh fruit and vegetables and tried stayed completely away from any form of sugar, cakes or desserts. Namely, he ate all of the time, consuming thousands of calories a day in the form of milk, eggs, organ meat (especially liver) and thelike. Isometric Calf Hold x 2:00 min. You finish with sit ups. I had a very grueling schedule. At age 62, "Big Bill" shares his wisdom to dominate one of the ultimate strength marks. From episode 13 of 10 Bell Pod.We discuss some of Bruno's lifting stats and a sweet workout tip from Kevin Sullivan. Email articles to the editor: bobwhelan@naturalstrength.com. If you keep getting redirected to this page, please enable cookies. This jQuery slider was created with the free, Copyright 2017 TomFurman.com All Rights Reserved, 10 Exercises That Will De-age Your Body By 10 Years, You Cant Outrun A Donut 7 Steps To Lose Those Extra Pounds. Sammartinos training, which could be observed at various YMCAs and other community centers throughout Pittsburgh when the future champion wasnt making the rounds as an apprentice carpenter, consisted of performing the three principal powerlifts (squat, deadlift and bench press); the strict shoulder press; and Olympic weight lifts such as the snatch and clean and jerk. . The next day, I work out with the weights. A: Well, you realize that as the World Wrestling Champion I'm on the go constantly, traveling to and from my wrestling engagements. Muscleandfitness.com is part of a360media Fitness & Health Network. Due to the hardships he endured in Italy because of German occupation when he came to the USA he was very thin and spoke very little English. In all we would do ten sets. He was this big boulder, and they just called him the World Champ on TV back then. Training under these conditions is erratic, so I keep a routine of three basic exercises -- Bench Press, Curls, and Standing Laterals. That is, I wrestle regularly and I train regularly as I can, and I feel the energy and effort expended on each doesn't affect the other. I had heard so much about guys who trained there [at Joe Golds gym in Venice] and the lifts they did, I wondered if I was up to par with them. Bruno weighed around 250 and I was 167. He took up power lifting and Olympic lifts as his workouts to build himself up. So while Sammartino may have indirectly paved the way for the bodybuilders who followed him into the business, he ended up standing well apart from thema sui generis figure whose brawny, but natural, build was the basis for all the muscle (real or otherwise) that followed. Sit Ups x 3 sets. Since I've given them up I've found I have no more of this sort of trouble. I do between four and five miles. In 1959 he set a record in the bench press with a lift of 565 lbs. In private conversation, a well-established member of the Greek community in Pittsburgh told us that he trained alongside Bruno in a basement gym. My best in competition was 685, by the way. This finishes off my chest power work. Watch the Trailer. 118d Mike Coppinger. While the "Living Legend" Bruno Sammartino of Pittsburgh, PA., used many training methods, this is from his training course sold in the back of magazines and comic books in the 1960's. He had a gym in Wexford, Pennsylvania, just down the road from where I grew up. Q: Tell us about your training . Isometric Handclasp (Forwards & Rear Flexion) x 2:00 min.5. I came down with rheumatic fever and I wasnt expected to live. Larry Zbyszko on Training with Bruno Sammartino\"WWE Hall of Famer,\" final AWA World Champion and former WCW Wrestler \u0026 commentator \"The Living Legend\" Larry Zbyszko talks about his first contact with \"WWE Hall of Famer\" and multiple time World Champion Bruno Sammartino and how he came to start training for professional wrestling with him.www.TheHANNIBALTV.comPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=3889524Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Great-North-Wrestling-378526155579981/Twitter @GNWWrestling Now, do I lift heavy weights anymore? There was plenty of truth to what Sammartino was saying, but also an element of sour grapes: He had once been the top dog, the man with the unbreakable bear hug, but his top spot (and legend) had been passed to juiced-up behemoths Graham and Hogan, then to ever-tauter performers in the mold of Shawn Michaels, Randy Orton and todays many other CrossFit-looking (and doing) superstars. We would try to get in benching three times per week. Love it. . The Legendary Bruno Sammartio I use 400-425 pounds, so that explains why I do 6 sets of 3-4 reps. by tfurman | Dec 15, 2011 | Blog | 0 comments. He will be missed." TAPOUT *MMA training/Fight shorts*, Men's size L, 2 Pairs, NEW w/out tags (#144926148451) See all feedback. His weight training had only been for short bursts with the weights, and he had neither endurance nor the quick coordination and balance for wrestling. To be fortunate enough to survive that, and then to later be recognized as the champion, that had to be as big a deal as anything. If you're unsure of how to do this, click here for a quick guide. I do 10 sets of 10 reps with 135 to 175 pounds. It took weeks before the big Italian boy's cuts healed. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); 1. The first time I competed was in the 123-pound class. You did 3 sets of 6 repetitions on all of your exercises. 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