Larry Zbyszko on Training with Bruno Sammartino"WWE Hall of Famer," final AWA World Champion and former WCW Wrestler & commentator "The Living Legend" Larry . Copyright 1999-2023 NaturalStrength.com | All Rights Reserved. Bruno Sammartino Movie - The Authorized Biography of Wrestling's Greatest Champion! . From episode 13 of 10 Bell Pod.We discuss some of Bruno's lifting stats and a sweet workout tip from Kevin Sullivan. Start with 100 reps of Hindu squats and 100 reps of Hindu pushups. They were both covered in these veritable pelts of hair and were wider than they were tall, she tells me. Power Training Interview with Bruno Sammartino - Jon Twichell (1964) October 6, 1935 April 18, 2018 Question: First of all, Bruno, have you always been rugged and powerful? I wrestled against him in Atlanta, and after five minutes he was completely exhausted. 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. As a pro wrestler, he straddled a major demarcation point in the businessthe transition from small-scale territorial operationssome indistinguishable from carnival athletic shows that featured local toughs taking on traveling wrestlersto larger companies already beginning to utilize the power of television to draw their crowds. Originally posted on NaturalStrength.com on November 29, 1999. Your information has been successfully processed! Of the types of weight training, I would say Olympic lifting would be the best training for wrestling, for the coordination and timing involved, especially in the Snatch, and Clean and Jerk, will help you more. The weight lifting work out was as follows: (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday), The bodyweight work out looked like this: (Tuesday, Thursday). He told his grandsons that one of the most dangerous sluggers of the times could not put him down. Please consult your physician before beginning any exercise or nutrition program. Sign up below to receive our newest workout routines, recipes, news stories, and offers from our partners. Without these hidden heroes of wrestling, this sport would be vastly different today. As this stage of his career Bruno didnt bother with a rigid course schedule, preferring to vary his workout tu suit his mood and immediate goals. I tried and discarded exercises I feel wouldn't help me in my quest for power and size. It was such a thrill, and you could feel the power this coal mining man hadthats the power I saw in Bruno, too. 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. Shop the movie and fan merch. Squat 3 x 62. On one occasion he shyly confided that he drank a huge quantitiy of beer six whole bottles! . I had hip replacement, and the doctors tell me I can walk as fast as I want, but Im not allowed to run. Jan Dellinger:Speaking of low benches, and benchesmade out of wood, apparently in the early 1960s and prior, lifters thought both readily acceptable. The trainer came up with Partner Interval Training to make workouts a team effort. 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. That sounded interesting. He also found that drinking milk made him sluggish in the ring. But before he was a star wrestler, he was a powerlifter one of the best in the world throughout much of the 1950s and it was his success in that . As a matter of fact, later this month I'm going for a two month tour of Europe and Australia, including a visit to my old home in Italy, and a private audience with the Pope. Like many of you, on Wednesday April 18, 2018, we learned about the death of the living legend, Bruno Sammartino. Again I use a cheating style, and really don't pull the weight that high, just up to waist level or a bit higher. But whats interesting to me is that because he arrives later to the U.S., in the 1950s, bodybuilding, weightlifting and powerlifting were already being separated, and Sammartino clearly went down the weightlifting and powerlifting route. Although he did not drink strong alcoholic beverages, he admitted to liking an occasional glass of beer or two, particularly in summer. . My grandpa could put me on a shovel when I was in elementary school and lift me right off the ground with one arm, the only arm he had. Good articles about weight training, strength research, the harmful effects of steroids, the mental aspects of training, and irongame/physical culture history are always wanted. Before I turned pro as a wrestler I competed in both Olympic lifting and powerlifting. When it comes to getting around the ring and applying force, he's the best. With the right plan and the right discipline, you can get seriously shredded in just 28 days. Three of his brothers and sisters perished under these conditions. I would wrestle six nights a week, and there were times when I would wrestle every other Sunday at the Maple Leaf Garden in Toronto. He held the title until . He had some amateur wrestling training, and allegedly had a partial wrestling scholarship to the University of Pittsburgh on the table, but it was as a powerlifter that Sammartino truly excelled. You should write for Natural Strength! . I use bench presses as the cornerstone of my training, doing 10-12 sets. It took weeks before the big Italian boys cuts healed. The more he trained, the bigger he grew, and the bigger he got, the more his power increased. 1963 1971 during those years he not only wrestled in the United States and Canada, but places such as South Africa, India, Japan, Australia, New Guinea, Tasmania, Europe and China. As I sad, wrestling demands a different kind of power than weight training. Muscleandfitness.com is part of a360media Fitness & Health Network. Exepet for the time needed for travel, his wrestling career allowed more time for training. "Bruno Sammartino proved that hard work can overcome even the most difficult of circumstances. My mother, a first-generation Southwestern Pennsylvanian, recalls fondly how Sammartino reminded her of her swarthy Slovak grandfather. I use 400-425 pounds, so that explains why I do 6 sets of 3-4 reps. For many years Bruno trained at my gym in Manhattan while he was a professional wrestler. Some of the records he has setted are as followed: He had 133 consecutive sell outs in Madison Square Garden. so in the Snatch I would be called for pressing the weight out all the time, and in the Jerk I had to do a sort of push jerk to get the weight to a point where my elbows could hold it. That is, he was all about power, not wrestling pedigree. Bruno weighed around 250 and I was 167. Sammartino continued in his physical culture training. Email articles to the editor: [email protected]. For this reason many powerful men, such as Paul Anderson, are failures in the ring. 10. After World War II, the Sammartinos moved to Pittsburgh. Over time, he felt that small increases in weight would mean big gains. what do you do for a routine now? Over time, the small increases in weight would add up to BIG GAINS! Oliver Bateman is a contributing writer to MEL Magazine. I feel you have to set up a routine that suits you personally and what you want from your weight training, not follow every new exercise or routine that comes out. Starch, too, was out as much as possible. So I power walk. Was this in Tampa? Curl 3 x 6 5. Q: Who would you consider the most powerful person you've met? 27.06.1987. Sammartino eventually caught. tell us about this amazing oldster. Heck, I didnt know that there were different wrestling groups all around the country. A: Well, I had a friend who was a very good weight lifter. A: I think 74-year old Karl is a truly amazing physical specimen. During his childhood in the small Italian mountain town of Pizzoferrato in the Abruzzi region of Italy, Bruno Sammartino heard stories about how the streets in the United States were paved with gold. He owned the title two years and gave it up when he became World Champ in 1963, defeated Buddy Bodgers. Curiously, he was edged out by the legendary Paul Anderson, who outweighed Sammartino by some 70 pounds. Bruno emphasized the importance of SMALL increases in weight. He said this was particularly important if you were trying out for a high school sports team. Next is the floor press. Q: This isn't the routine you used for developing all your power, of course. . My best in competition was 685, by the way. In his last outing, he wrestled as a tag partner with Hulk Hogan. My family, living in Italy during World War 2, suffered greatly. HE LEFT US LAST WEEK. Whats your exercise regimen like today at 77 years old? 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. Sammartino could certainly handle himself, but not in the way pro wrestling was accustomed to. But Rusev, however much he might resemble Sammartino physically, no longer has what we might think of as the prototypical wrestling body. Isometric Calf Hold x 2:00 min. Later, he would workout regularly with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Franco Columbo, and Dave Draper. Nevertheless, it bears noting that the man who has loomed large over the WWE since 2003 is John Cena, a powerhouse wrestler of Italian descent who has consistently denied all allegations of steroid use and even gone so far as to hang the negative results of his drug tests in his South Florida gym. Last Wednesday, the news of Bruno Sammartino's death rocked the wrestling world. He's a great inspiration and really deserves credit for his power and zest. Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that Sammartino's death was due to multiple organ failures which stemmed from heart issues. Because you are viewing this site from a location address that appears to be covered by the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 ("CCPA"), many of the features of TribLIVE.com -- like videos and social media elements -- are disabled. Because of the limited motion I handle more weight, usually about 550, for 5-7 sets of 3 reps. How often did you have wrestling matches?Just about every night. Since powerlifting has always been a big part of my life, its the last of these feats that really interests me. that in the past he used to drink large quantities of milk in an attempt to bulk up and gain weight rapidly, but he had cutted milk out completely because of the many article he has read denouncing the exccess cholersterol caused by consumption of animal fats. The rags-to-riches story of Sammartino, a Pittsburgh legend and WWE icon who survived the Nazi invasion of his Italian hometown, resonated with the audience, Elliott Flacione, executive director. Though he believed it literally at the time, Sammartino would experience riches first-hand as the longest-reigning WWE Champion and the most beloved competitor in the . He told his grandsons that one of the most dangerous sluggers of the times could not put him down. His wrist went from 6 1/2 inches just a shade under 10 inches. We did the pyramid system. A short time later in a New York boxing gym, Bruno worked in the ring against Sonny Liston, one of the countrys leading heavyweight maulers. He believed in many sets of the basic exercises are shown in the photos. 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. He walked a great deal, which he believed improved his endurance. I would say that bodybuilding is no good for wrestling . My family, living in Italy during World War 2, suffered greatly. This was a course for beginners, so Bruno kept the volume pretty low. You did 3 sets of 6 repetitions on all of your exercises. At one time Bruno considered taking a fling at professional boxing. The strength you need for wrestling is a different type of strength than what you need for power training, different in the fact that it is more timing, coordination and balance. If you disable cookies, this site will not work properly. I've given up squats since I began to wrestle with regularity, for I found squats to be the worst exercise for wrestling. 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. A: Well, you realize that as the World Wrestling Champion I'm on the go constantly, traveling to and from my wrestling engagements. Youve accomplished a ton in your career, from wrestling to lifting to even dabbling in bodybuilding. And then after I did a few touch-and-go reps, he did twenty-four and he was two decades older thanme.. On one occasion, a 51 year old Sammartino was taunted by a CFL football player. 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