 | The topic of this article may not meet Wikipedia's notability guideline for sports and athletics .(April 2023) |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1936 Belfast, Northern Ireland |
| Occupation | Strongman |
| Height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) |
| Weight | 73 kg (161 lb) |
Jack Shanks (born 1936) is a strongman from Belfast, Northern Ireland. [1] He is best known for natural stone lifting. [2] [3]
Shanks is the first man to lift the Scottish Dinnie Stones of Aberdeenshire, unassisted after Donald Dinnie did so in 1860. [4] [5] He achieved this feat (which is also known as putting the wind under the stones) five times in the summer of 1972. [1]
On 3 June 1973, Shanks also became the first man after 113 years to replicate Donald Dinnie's historical feat of walking the stones over the landmark distance of 17 ft 1+1⁄2 in (5.22 m) across the width of the Potarch bridge. [6] A large group of spectators and press were gathered to witness the event. The feat was performed on the top of a flatbed lorry for the crowd to have a better viewing experience. [1] Strength historian and sports promoter David P. Webster gifted Shanks a prize of £250 for the achievement. [7]
The leather lifting belt and tank top Shanks wore during the feats are now in display at the H.J. Lutcher Stark Center for Physical Culture and Sports. [8]
Strength athletics, also known as Strongman competitions, is a sport which tests competitors' strength in a variety of non-traditional ways. Some of the disciplines are similar to those in powerlifting and some powerlifters have also successfully competed in strongman competitions. However, strongman events also test physical endurance to a degree not found in powerlifting or other strength-based sports, such as carrying refrigerators, flipping truck tires, and pulling vehicles with a rope.
Physical culture, also known as body culture, is a health and strength training movement that originated during the 19th century in Germany, the UK and the US.
In the 19th century, the term strongman referred to an exhibitor of strength or similar circus performers who performed feats of strength. More recently, strength athletics, also known as strongman competitions, have grown in popularity. These competitions are now composed of a variety of events in which competitors have to move the highest weights possible, the winner being the one having the highest tally across all events.
Lifting stones are heavy natural stones which people are challenged to lift, proving their strength. They are common throughout Northern Europe, particularly Iceland, Scotland, Basque Country, Faroe Islands, Wales, North West England centred around Cumbria, Switzerland, Germany and also in the United States and Japan.
Donald Dinnie was a Scottish strongman, born at Balnacraig, Birse, near Aboyne, Aberdeenshire. Sometimes regarded as "The Nineteenth Century's greatest athlete", Dinnie's athletic career spanned over 50 years, and over 11,000 successful competitions.
The Arnold Strongman Classic is an annual competition featuring strength athletes from all over the world, determining who is the Strongest Man in the World. Created by Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jim Lorimer and Terry Todd, it is an offshoot of the Arnold Sports Festival which takes place annually in Columbus, Ohio, USA. Widely regarded as the heaviest and the most difficult strongman competition in the world the Arnold Strongman Classic has been won only by 9 men in history. Among them, the Lithuanian Žydrūnas Savickas has won it 8 times, while the Icelander Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson and American Brian Shaw have won it 3 times each.
Betty Chloe Brosmer, later known by her married name Betty Weider, is an American former bodybuilder and physical fitness expert. During the 1950s, she was a popular commercial model and pin-up girl.
Brian Shaw is an American professional strongman, who is widely regarded as one of the greatest strength athletes of all-time. He won the 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2016 World's Strongest Man competitions, and in 2011, became the first man to win the Arnold Strongman Classic and the World's Strongest Man competitions in the same calendar year, a feat he replicated in 2015. With 26 international competition wins, he is the fourth most decorated strongman in history behind Lithuania's Žydrūnas Savickas, Poland's Mariusz Pudzianowski and Iceland's Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson.
Terry Todd was an American powerlifter, and Olympic weightlifter. Todd was co-founder of the H.J. Lutcher Stark Center for Physical Culture and Sports, co-editor of Iron Game History: The Journal of Physical Culture, and creator and event director of the Arnold Strongman Classic.
Clarence Bass is an American writer, fitness expert, and retired lawyer. He is best known for his book and DVD series Ripped, which chronicle his fitness, including becoming a past-40 bodybuilding champion. Bass was a writer for Muscle & Fitness where he had a question and answer column. He has continued to write, documenting his fitness over a span of approximately 60 years in various books that he has released since 1980. He is featured in the books Second Wind and Legends of the Iron Game. In the June 2017 issue of Men's Health, Bass was named "one of America’s greatest fitness visionaries."
Janice Todd is a Professor and Interim Department Chair in the Department of Kinesiology and Health Education at The University of Texas at Austin. Todd is a member of the Sport Management faculty, and teaches classes in sport history, sport philosophy, and sport and ethics. An active lecturer, Todd was named the Seward Staley Honor Lecturer for the North American Society for Sport History in 2008.
H.J. Lutcher Stark Center for Physical Culture and Sports is located on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin, the H.J. Lutcher Stark Center for Physical Culture and Sports is a library, archive and museum dedicated to the study and preservation of the world of physical culture. Through the donations of the Nelda C. and H.J. Lutcher Stark Foundation and the Betty and Joe Weider Foundation, the Stark Center opened in 2009, providing access to the center's extensive collection of materials on weight training, bodybuilding, athletic conditioning, alternative medicine, and other forms of self-improvement. The collection, considered the largest of its kind, comprises thousands of books and magazines, an extensive photograph collection, correspondence files, posters, videotapes, films, and artifacts. The center's directors, Drs. Jan and Terry Todd, both former powerlifting athletes, are committed to preserving the history of physical culture.
Weightlifting or weight lifting generally refers to physical exercises and sports in which people lift weights, often in the form of dumbbells or barbells. People engage in weightlifting for a variety of different reasons. These can include: developing physical strength; promoting health and fitness; competing in weightlifting sports; and developing a muscular and aesthetic physique.
George Dinnie was a sportsman, strongman, wrestler and champion dog breeder. For a while, he was part of the travelling show promoted by Henry Jasper Redfern in Sheffield, England, and often billed as the "strongest man on earth".
John Basil Terpak was an American world champion weightlifter.
The Dinnie Stones are a pair of Scottish lifting stones located in Potarch, Aberdeenshire. They were made famous by strongman Donald Dinnie, who reportedly carried the stones barehanded across the width of the Potarch Bridge, a distance of 17 ft 1+1⁄2 in (5.22 m), in 1860. They remain in use as lifting stones.
Alan Calvert was an American weightlifter, businessman, magazine publisher, and the author of several books. He was the founder of one of the first barbell companies in the world and one of the first strength-training magazines in the United States.
Ottley Russell Coulter was an American strongman, circus performer, weightlifter and police officer. He was a co-founder of the American Continental Weightlifting Association, and the author of a book about strength athletics.
For the cricketer, see George Jowett.
Ludwig Durlacher, also known as Louis Attila, was a German-American strongman, gym owner and personal trainer. He trained members of European royal families and American high society as well as athletes like Eugen Sandow and James J. Corbett. He was "one of the first 'personal trainers' for the rich and famous".