Donald Dinnie, Paul Trappen, and All Strength Disciplines You Should Know

DONALD DINNIE (1837-1916) was the first man to lift the legendary Dinnie Stones (obvious, they are named after him).

But did you know that he was also unbeatable in almost all of the track and field disciplines, in wrestling, and was Scottish Highland Games Champion for 21 consecutive years?

HOW MANY DISCIPLINES CAN YOU MASTER?

I recently had a discussion with colleagues and my family about what the German word Schwerathletik ('heavy athletics') meant. It is little used these days, but used to be an umbrella term for the classic sports (Olympic?) which, in one way or another, emphasize strength or the use of heavy objects, as opposed to the track and field disciplines - in German Leichtathletik ('light athletics') - which emphasize endurance, speed, the pure handling of the own bodyweight, or light objects (like the javelin). Lists of the disciplines which fall under Schwerathletik vary, but weightlifting, shot put, hammer throwing, and wrestling are included in most of them.

This reminded me of a list I myself compiled a couple of years ago, when I tried to think of feats I could include in my shows and skills I should be familiar with in case anyone should challenge my knowledge of strength sports. Because, as you can image, it happens quite often that someone comes up to me after my show and says something like, "Nice show. But I used to live in a town where there lived a shot putter. Those guys are the strongest men all-round. Do you know anything about it?" Some come up to me and say, "Can you also tear phone books?" Oh, and you wouldn't believe how many ask, "How much do you bench press?"

At that time I basically did a brainstorm of what recognized sports deal with strength, or what disciplines are generally accepted as requiring great strength by the broad population. Here is what I came up with, a sort of 'All Strength Disciplines' list:

• Powerlifting
• Modern Strongman Competitions
• Hand Balancing
• Olympic Weightlifting
• Grip Strength
• Oldtime Strongman Feats
• Body Weight Exercises
• Stone Lifting
• The Shot Put

A second thought I had when compiling this list, was that I should try training each one of those disciplines at one time or another. I wanted to become familiar with all of them, in order to be prepared for the many occasions when someone tests my knowledge of, or challenges my proficiency, in any of them.

During the last few weeks I thought about this list several times.

The most recent occasions I thought about it were the discussions with my colleagues and family about the term Schwerathletik.

So I decided to review the list again to make it more complete. I added the following disciplines:

• Wrestling (or other forms of grappling)
• Scottish Highland Games
• Hammer Throwing
• Arm Wrestling
• Wrist Strength

Those shouldn't be missing.

But I haven't told you yet at what other occasion I thought about this list during the last few weeks:

The first occasion was when someone from my audience came up to me after my show and asked me whether I had ever heard of his great-uncle, the German oldtime strongman Paul Trappen. I hadn't, but I did a bit of research on him:

Although his name is little known today, PAUL TRAPPEN (1887-1857) apparently was a force to be reckoned with at his time. A butcher in real life, this man had incredible all-round strength - and a sense of humour, it seems: With a harness lift of two oxen (2064kg) he out-lifted the at that time recognized 'world champion' John Grün from Luxembourg easily. Later he repeatedly outdid the reigning Olympic gold medalists in the pentathlon in unofficial competitions. A local farmer's boy with unlimited natural power who didn't give a hang about titles and glamour.

Very sympathetic.

But let's sum up in which disciplines Paul Trappen succeeded:

• He was German weightlifting champion
• He was a regional wrestling champion
• He set records in various oldtime strongman disciplines, including the harness lift and the bent press
• He outdid Olympic gold medalists in the penthatlon, which at that time probably included the long jump, javelin throw, 200 metres race, discus throw, and a 1500 metres race
• At age 50 he set a senior world record in powerlifting

You see in what direction this is going. The old-timers were all-rounders. Many of them were open to, trained, and succeeded in more than just one dull discipline.

On to DONALD DINNIE. I mentioned it above:

• He was an unbeatable Scottish Highland games champion for more than two decades
• He was an international wrestling champion
• He excelled in track and field disciplines like the sprint, hurdles, long and high jump, pole vault, and obviously all the other disciplines which overlap with the Highland games disciplines
• He lifted and carried the Dinnie Stones

I think this is the MOST IMPORTANT idea behind my list: if you want to call yourself a strong man, you should be strong in more than just one way.

As you know, I used to be a competitive powerlifter for years. Now I compete only sporadically and for fun. But whenever I go to a powerlifting meet these days, everyone I know from 'the old days' encourages me to get into it again, to get myself new equipment, to compete more often again, etc. True, I could probably improve my records by a few pounds in the powerlifting disciplines if I really tried.

But to tell you the truth, I have hardly any ambition to do so, especially when I look at my list. There are so many strength disciplines which are new and fresh to me, which I haven't mastered yet, and which I simply can't wait to try.

Stone lifting? Cavemen did it thousands of years before the barbell was invented. Wrestling? The ultimate test of functional strength. Hammer levering? Separates the underwear models from the real men. Scottish Highland Games? The thought of it alone makes my heart jump.

Here is the complete list again. Pick yourself a few disciplines in which you want to excel. And then go out and try them. You don't have to be world champion in all of them. But remember that life is too short to restrict yourself to three movements. Here's a world of challenges:

• Powerlifting (including squat, bench press, and deadlift)
• Modern Strongman Competitions (including the log lift, keg lifting, tire flipping, the farmer's walk, Atlas stones, truck pulling and the yoke)
• Hand Balancing
• Olympic Weightlifting (including the clean & jerk and the snatch)
• Grip Strength (including the crushing grip, thick bar lifts, and the pinch grip)
• Oldtime Strongman Feats (including teeth strength, iron bending, the bent press, phone book tearing, card tearing, the back-/ harness-/ and hip lift, and breaking chains)
• Body Weight Exercises (including push-ups, pull-ups, bodyweight squats and handstand push-ups for reps, but also one-arm push-ups and one-arm pull-ups)
• Stone Lifting (including natural stones, the Alpine Steinheben, Atlas stones, but also the Scottish lifting stones like the Dinnie stones, the Inver stone, etc.
• The classic throwing events (including the shot put and hammer throwing)
• Wrestling (or some other form of grappling)
• Scottish Highland Games
• Arm Wrestling
• Wrist Strength (including nail bending and hammer levering)

The way I do it, I pick about two new disciplines every year and make them a priority for a while. Just to see how far I can get. It refreshes your training, offers new impulses and the challenge is just great fun. After that year I can go out and say: Done. What's next?

Last year it was Modern Strongman disciplines and grip strength for me (I stuck with grip strength). This year it is grappling and stone lifting.

Best,

Robert

PS: If you want to get into SERIOUS GRIP STRENGTH training this year, here is a resource for you: Grip Strength.

(English) Casting your own Atlas Stone: 10 Don'ts

As my most recent project was a home-made Atlas Stone for Strongman training, using the plaster-of-paris-beachball method, I was looking forward to share my experiences with you afterwards and provide a little guide for you to follow.

However, in retrospect I thought the internet doesn't need another how-to on making Atlas Stones, especially from someone who did so with a less than average result:

Ain't she a beauty?

No, she isn't.

So instead of telling you how to make your own Atlas stone, I decided to tell you how NOT to make your own Atlas stone. Read a proper guide on casting your own stone first (here's one I recommend: Everything you need to know about making Atlas Stones) and then read on.

I made most of the following common mistakes. Be wiser:

1) Choosing the wrong location: Preferably, work in your garage or basement. You will need a location where plaster and cement splashes aren't a problem. You will need water and power supply. And you want to avoid rain, frost, and direct sunlight. I started out in a location without power supply, until I realized I would need power to operate the concrete vibrator.

Yes, you can still move to a different location with the finished plaster mould:

But I wouldn't recommend it. Transporting the mould in my car as seen in the picture above might have been the reason why it broke later on.

2) Not having the proper tools at hand: I believe anyone can build almost anything if he has the proper tools at hand and knows how to use them. Make sure you have all the tools you need ready before you begin to work. Leave as little to chance as possible, and avoid improvisation. Especially when working with material where time is a factor. You don't want to go on a search for a tool to vibrate the concrete while it gradually dries. Do you have buckets at hand to mix the plaster? Do you have a scale to weigh the cement? Do you have an air pump for the beach ball? Be prepared for any scenario.

3) Choosing the wrong beach ball: The best ball I could find was the kind of toy for kids to sit on and jump around, with two handles to hold on to. It looks a bit like an udder upside down. It had the right size and was sturdy, but the handles were farther apart than I had thought in the beginning. It forced me to leave a larger hole to pour the cement in than I wanted:

As a consequence, the stone lost some more of its spheric shape.

Try to find a ball the right size, as sturdy as possible, and - without handles.

4) Being sloppy when mixing the plaster: Mixing the plaster can be trickier than you think. Use too much water, and it won't hold. Use too little water, and it will harden before you can process it. I had no tools at hand to determine the proper mixture, so I went by feeling - and ended up with a bad mould and a lot of wasted plaster.

5) Being sloppy and impatient when making the plaster mould: When I started on the mould I thought this would be done within an hour. How wrong I was. It takes much, much longer. When I found this out, I grew impatient and simply wanted to finish this thing. The consequences were:

• A no-good base for the ball. This turned out to be the biggest blemish of the stone later. The bottom of it still looks worse than the top, although you would expect the opposite because the mould as a hole on top. Take your time to make a proper base for the ball. It's a way to start out well.
• Holes all over. When I deflated the ball and took it out to have a look at the mould from the inside, I was quite surprised how many holes and irregularities were left. I had to mix almost another bucket of plaster to correct at least the worst of those blemishes. Try to do it right from the beginning (although you will probably not get around fixing some holes either way).
• A broken mould. Just as I wanted to fill in the last bit of cement to finish the cast, my mould broke and displayed a large crack across the whole of it. I was lucky it didn't fall apart altogether (read why below). I don't know whether this happened because it was too thin, or because it was already blemished from the ride in my car. In any case, make sure your mould is thick enough.

 

6) Not using gloves: In case you didn't know, cement is acidic. I didn't know the first time I worked with the material, and my hands all dried up and were rough for a couple of days. I know, I know... who cares? But any professional who regularly works with cement wears gloves. They know why.

7) Not taking precautions for the case the mould breaks: In one way I was lucky when the mould broke, because the last minute before I began pouring the cement in, my instincts told me it would be a good idea to build this kind of safety net around it with a few wooden boards:

I had planned to fill all of it with sand, but had only little sand at hand. Only about a third of it was filled with sand, and I also threw a few pebbles in between the mould and the wooden boards.

I think it saved my stone. If you have just the slightest worries that your mould might break for whatever reason, better take this precaution than watch 200+ lbs of cement pour out of the mould you put so much work in.

8) Waiting too long to take the stone out of the mould: If you wait much longer than 24 hours before you take the dried stone out of the mould, you will have a hard time correcting any flaws on its surface. And yes, your stone will have flaws.

9) Not asking an expert: If you don't have much experience with cement or plaster, someone who is familiar with the materials can tell you things you would never have thought of, in a few words. For example that you should put a moist cloth over the opening of the mould if it is exposed to direct sunlight, or that it is ESSENTIAL to vibrate the concrete to get rid of excess air and water.

I know you want to do it on your own, but be a man and ask for advice.

10) Trying to cast your own Atlas stone using the plaster-of-paris-beach-ball method. You will save A LOT of time and headaches by using professional moulds if you desperately want to cast your own stone, and by simply buying a finished Atlas stone if you just want to own the thing.

Best,

Robert

(English) Stone Lifting

Found this old photograph on my computer today of yours truly lifting a big stone:

 

A friend on mine took it and created the vintage look, I have no idea if the original exists at all.

Stone lifting is probably the most primeval strength test and I highly recommend you try it some time. There's nothing better than finding a big stone in nature, realizing it is heavy, taking on the challenge, and conquering it.

I have no idea how heavy the stone was and I'm not sure if it is still lying there. Maybe someday I'll come back to the place and if it is still there, I'll measure it, and make another attempt.

Maybe I'll map its whereabouts and if you ever come to the Tyrolean Alps you can have a go at it.

Who knows, maybe you will lift it overhead.

Best,
Robert

PS: I couldn't write about stone lifting without mentioning Steve Jeck and his book Of Stones and Strength. It's really the authority on stone lifting.