Collection · Lifts

Lifts

The events themselves — history, rules, records

Where the Feats collection treats individual lifts as events on individual occasions, this collection treats the lifts themselves as competitive categories. Each entry sets out the lift's history, the rules under which it was contested, the technique, and the record progression where one is recoverable.

Some of these lifts survive in Olympic weightlifting, though in two-hands form: one-hand lifts were last on the Olympic programme in 1924, and from 1928 the Games used only the two-hands press, snatch and clean and jerk. The bent press, the two-hands anyhow, the harness and back lifts and the pullover were never Olympic events; they belonged to the professional stage and to British and continental amateur lifting, and several are still contested in all-round weightlifting. Stone lifting is older than all of them and lives on in modern strongman.

One-arm overhead

The Bent Press

c. 1880 – 1930

The signature one-arm lift of the music-hall era — never an Olympic event. Arthur Saxon's 168 kg (about 370 lb) is the accepted record.

Two-hands

The Continental Clean

c. 1880 – 1930

Bar from floor to shoulders in stages, resting on the belt. The Central European style before the one-movement clean took over; still used in strongman.

One-arm overhead

The One-Hand Snatch

c. 1890 – 1920s

Floor to overhead in a single movement with one hand. On the Olympic programme in 1920 and 1924 (and as a one-hand lift in 1896).

Two-implement

The Two-Hands Anyhow

c. 1890 – 1930s

Two separate weights overhead by any method, usually a bent-pressed barbell and a kettlebell. Saxon's 448 lb is the accepted best.

One-arm overhead

The Side Press

c. 1900 onwards

A one-arm press made while leaning away from the weight — a stricter cousin of the bent press.

Supported

The Back Lift

c. 1860 – 1920s

A loaded platform raised a short way off trestles on the lifter's back. Cyr's Boston lift of 1895, usually quoted as 4,337 lb, is the best known.

Supported

The Harness Lift

c. 1880 – 1920s

The lifter stands over the weight, chained to a harness, and raises it a short way by straightening. Travis was credited with 3,985 lb.

Two-hands floor

The Pullover at Arms' Length

c. 1900 onwards

Lying on the back, a bar pulled with straight arms from the floor behind the head to above the chest. An old-time and all-round lift.

Static support

The Crucifix Hold

c. 1890 onwards

Weights held straight out to the sides at shoulder height — for the heaviest weights in the old days, for time in modern strongman.

Implement

Stone Lifting

folk tradition

Dinnie, Húsafell, the Basque harri-jasotzaileak. A strength tradition that predates and outlives the Iron Game.