Goerner The Iron Man
by David Gentle
Many people have claimed to be THE WORLDS STONGEST MEN, Hermann Goerner
never personally made such a claim and yet in my view he was certainly one
of the leading contenders for such a title. He easily ranks as one of the
greatest dead lifters of all time yet as his biographer Edgar Mueller
explains, Hermann was loathe to exert himself, making one wonder just how
strong he really would have been if competition had been closer or the
rewards greater.
One of the first bodybuilding magazines I remember reading back in the late 1940's (pass my walking stick please!), had a cover photograph of '"HERMANN GOERNER the mighty German strongman. With his 'Hitler' like moustache and ears that stuck out like jug handles, he was certainly no Adonis, and yet for a large man, physically he was in very good shape without the surplus bodyweight that most other strong men of his era carried around their midsections. As far as strength was concerned, although Goerner has been remembered mainly for his outstanding power in dead lifting heavyweights, he was equally powerful in all other feats of strength, and could in all honesty be entitled as a just claimant for the title of ONE of the STRONGEST MEN THAT EVER LIVED.
In many ways Goerner's history is unique with so much being known about him. His countless feats of strength being officially witnessed and documented untiringly by his friend, author EDGAR MUELLER who wrote the book GOERNER THE MIGHTY published in 1951 (now out of print). Whereas many of the earlier claimants of strength titles were based on exaggeration and legends, Goerner's were fact, well witnessed and authentic.
HERMANN GOERNER was born just outside of the town of LEIPZIG, now East Germany, on the 13th of April, 1891 and soon grew into a strong youth training with weights very early in his life. (It makes a change from the usual 'sickly youth' story). When 18 years old, he was well enough developed to be employed as an artists model, an occupation that many strongmen earlier took up to make a living. Sandow for example made over a million dollars just standing still posing. Between 1911 and 1920 Goerner competed in various weightlifting championships from European to World class, coming 4th in the 1913 World Championships (won by JOSEPH GRAFL).
Later in 1921 he decided to turn into a professional strongman during which time he toured with a Circus both in Germany and Britain. He married his wife ELSIE in 1922, both of them travelling with the circus to South Africa. Some of his most interesting and outstanding stunts were performed at that time, and examples of which are his wrestling with an elephant, and the supporting of a heavy automobile loaded with passengers, total weight in the region of 4,000 pounds or 1815 kilogrammes.
At a height of six feet and a half inch and weighing on average around 245 pounds, Goerner had a fifty inch chest and nineteen inch arms. His biceps were strong enough for him to do a strict two hands curl of 220 pounds/100 kgs (in 1932 at bodyweight of 270 lbs.). His most famous lifts were a two handed dead lift of 793 1/4 pounds and a single handed deadlift of 727 1/2 pounds/330 kgs in 1920. On the 20th July in Dresden, in 1920, he deadlifted a block of sandstone with ONE HAND which weighed 734 l/2 pounds/333 kgs. And all these lifts were performed with a thumb lock/hooked grip and not the usual reversed style, normally practised to prevent the bar from rolling out of your grip. He trained regularly on Tuesday, Thursday and Sundays, using low reps, never much more than about six, with plenty of sets. His deadlifts were practised and performed in almost stiff legged style, thus emphasizing his enormous low back strength. His legs were of course also very strong, demonstrated by his ability to do a FRONT squat with 474 pounds/215 kgs. Another unusual lift that perhaps only an Olympic style lifter would appreciate was his doing, a two arms snatch with 231 pounds/105 kgs .... not much? Well he did it with arms CROSSED. Some other lifts include a one hand snatch with 220 pounds/100 kgs and a single handed clean and jerk of 265 pounds/ 120 kgs. Both the latter being done under official conditions.
Like all great strongmen, Hermann had amazing strength of grip. Consider the following. Whilst still an amateur he ran just over a hundred yards with a 110 pounds/50 kgs kettlebell, an old time type of dumbbell in each hand in eighteen seconds. He took about one second to tear two packs of cards into two, thus indicating he could do much more if he tried, and in 1934 in Leipzig he proved how good he was at wrist wrestling ..... six famous international wrestlers lined themselves up on one side of a table, and Goerner tackling one man at a time, downed each mans arm, one after the other in about one minute flat.
His grandest performances were in the circus, one regular stunt was a plank supporting feature. Laying onto his back and holding a large thick plank on his outstretched legs, he would support anything from 16 to 24 men. His record in this was at a London performance in 1927 with a total weight of 4123 pounds/1870 kgs. Daily in PAGELS CIRCUS in Capetown, South Africa, Goerner carried on one shoulder two large barrels on a bar with two men sat on each barrel, total weight 1104 pounds/500 kgs. The boss of the circus, PAGEL himself was no weakling being able to climb up two parallel ladders by going alternate rungs at a time carrying a HORSE in a special harness, the horse reportedly weighing in the region of a thousand pounds. (Some tough guy, some tough ladder!).
Two other stunts I find impressive are Hermann's feat of carrying a grand
piano weighing 1444 pounds/ 655 kgs over fifty feet, and having manhandled a few
thousand wall bricks personally during my early years as an employee of a
builder. I wonder at Goerners feat of putting a hundred bricks in a special hod
and then carrying them up a staircase, considering the total weight of the
bricks/hod was 1125 pounds/ 510 kgs. Wouldn't my oId boss just loved him!!
Regrettable Hermann was ill fared during the wars. being badly wounded and
losing an eye in the first world war, and losing both his money. and his beloved
wife Elsie in the second world war ..... never recovering from his experiences
as a prisoner of a concentration camp, depressed and with increasing bad health
after an unsuccessful operation, he deteriorated to but a small shell of
himself, dying on the 29th of June 1956, nearly 65 years of age.
It was a sad end to a great strongman, but thanks to his friend and biographer Edgar Mueller, the world can still read and recall the outstanding ..... feats of strength of Hermann Goerner ..... THE IRON MAN.
-FOOTNOTE- Readers wanting to know more about the amazing Hermann Goerners feats of strength and of other fabulous feats of grip and forearm strength are advised to read the authors book 'HOW TO DEVELOP A POWERFUL GRIP'.
Legends of Strength - Goerner - The Iron Man © Copyright by David Gentle All Rights Reserved Acknowledgement: "Strength Athlete" magazine