Watching Grimek Pose

by Earle Liederman

Interesting Observations made at the recent Southern California Strongman show.

ON Saturday night, January 26th past, to fulfill keen curiosity and to gratify lingering anticipation, I drove to Santa Monica, California, to attend Vic Tanny's Strongman show where a couple of dozen outstanding events were billed, and topped by John Grimek whose name was plastered in large lettering everywhere in addition to being on the tip of all tongues and in everyone's cranium. And also in mine. Quite a number of years have past since last I saw him, and I wondered if he would look the same, or if I could see improvement in him, for during these years, new and better pictures have been published of him, hence, both for friendship's sake and anatomical interest I landed in a ring-side seat with my chin practically resting on the platform.

Grimek, who headed the bill, naturally was to be last, to climax a superb show. And even though each and every one who performed with the weights and posing received generous applause, the atmosphere seemed tensed in the wait for the incomparable John Grimek. At last came that tense moment when John stepped on the platform under blazing lights, removed his tan dressing gown and became the recipient of cheers and hand-clapping And how magnificent he looked!

Now I haven't seen them all, but during my life-time, I have studied thousands of phenomenally developed physiques, from Sandow, Hackenschmidt, Pandour, Nordquest, down to present day strongmen, but, as I beheld Grimek as he nonchalantly placed his dressing-down to one side and lithely walked to the center of the stage, I honestly felt that here is a man who surpasses them all. Curves, curves and curves! No Matter how you observed him, his massive muscles swept in harmonious bulky yet graceful rhythm from his neck to his feet. He seemed the personification of power and grace in every step or motion. His inspiring size was one thing - thick arms, magnificent deltoids, massive back, incomparable trapezius, small waist-line, well shaped hips, and magnificent thighs and calves - each part of him an attractive study yet all of him a covetous example of the acme of physical perfection. his well shaped face, his pleasant smile were lost before the shadows ever changing under his relaxed motions as he spoke a few words into a small microphone he held in his hands while explaining to the hushed audience of a few thousand that he would do his best without the posing cabinet especially built for the occasion and which in previous experiments failed to properly work. But who cared to hear Grimek talk! It was muscles everyone wanted to see and even yours truly was itching with impatience. Then optical belam broke lose!

Grimek inflated his huge chest and flexed first one arm and then the other, not holding any one pose long enough for a study, but a mere glimpse at his amazing arms still lingered when next he displayed his astonishing back, spreading and contracting and again spreading his latissimus dorsi muscles. This brought down the house, yet amid the din of applause, he quickly shifted the attention to his abdominal region with its flexion, then a vacuum, and then a rolling motion. Hardly had all eyes fully appreciated this, when he gave an inspiring display of scapula control, both with the hands on hip spread and single isolation of shoulder blades which alternately bunched up the most magnificent trapezius muscles anyone cares to behold. And what lumps these trapezius muscles were! The audience was spellbound and lavished more and greater applause at this point. Then Grimek raised both arms overhead and again pulled out his scapulus and portrayed a brief study of his massive and flexible back muscles. So quickly did he change poses that there wasn't time to analyze and fully appreciate any one particular part. All I could see was what seemed to be muscles leaping over muscles in amazing proportions. The actual size of every part of him created wonderment, for thoughts marvelled how anyone could be so huge and yet posses such definition and contour and separation. But there he was right in front of me, over 200 pounds, yet owing the muscle-definition of a thin man. These bewildering thoughts flashed through my mind as I next watched him move and flex his mighty thighs, but when he gracefully extended sideways one leg and quickly contracted all the muscles on one calf, the applause was deafening. never have I seen such separation in the calf of the leg, and I doubt if anyone in the audience had either. It was just like seeing muscles that were not real. My brain and my eyes seemed to become all mixed up under the spell, and even at this writing, I forget if he showed his pectoral manipulations in conjunction with his front trapezius contractions or whether his chest poses were sandwiched between his massive moving back and his thigh manipulations, for when watching such an almost unbelievable mass of muscle in motion and endeavoring to digest each and everything witnessed, confusion enters. Such were my impressions during the few minutes I watched Grimek pose. I am sure that I did not bat an eye-lash, for I didn't want to miss one muscle movement, but the awe-inspiring sight fascinated me beyond detailed description.

You can look at Grimek sideways, backwards or upside down and still feast on curves, lumps and bumps that squirm, wriggle and jump and which will leave lasting impressions. And do you want to know something? The one sure way to rid yourself of ego, self-importance and muscle-consciousness, is to watch Grimek pose, for when you reach home and see yourself in your mirror, you are inclined to beat the living daylights out of your reflection. I speak from experience.

To say that to witness John Grimek display his muscles is a lasting impression is putting it mildly. He actually becomes a phantasm. His muscles continually loom before you in your inner vision just as clearly as if you still were seeing him in reality. He sort of haunts you. But to get back to the show.

After he took his bow at the conclusion of his posing, the crowd yelled for more, so Grimek, not even perspiring, (for he poses without effort) was forced to assume a few special standard postures in which he had been photographed in the past. Then came the display of his flexibility. He did a slow full split, held it for a moment, then turned sideways and pressed up to a perfect handstand, held that for a few seconds and then allowed his feet to go over backwards until they touched the floor in the 'crab' position before arising. He wound up his performance by first breaking a goodly size chain with his chest and finally with easily pressing 150 pounds overhead and then allowing it to drop into his waist-high bent arms before being tossed with a crash to the platform.

Now, two days later, and after a three-hour visit by Grimek last night during which we had a most delight-pow wow, perhaps I can better define some of his muscles as I tried to do while watching his pose, but during which time I may have been too absorbed in his motions.

First of all, his arms are mighty thick and appear very short because of his most remarkable triceps and massive forearms and base-ball biceps. Then his huge deltoids add to this illusion, for when he half-way contracts his arms, his anterior deltoid rises in a mound which seems to crowd his mighty bicep, and this, in turn touches his contracted forearm, but this is only half of it; his sweeping and bulging triceps supply greater thickness in their curve from the elbow to the arm-pit, thus creating the illusion of his owning short arms, when in reality, Grimek's arms are in proportion to his height. however, to merely mention his biceps and triceps is insufficient in describing his arms, for he has cords, ligaments, tuberosities and hollows on the inside of his upper arms which appear as muscles without names, while his external triceps's head offers another lump on the outside of each flexed arm and which flirts with his remarkable supinator muscles of his upper flexed forearm. Truly they are a study in anatomy! These arms possess such separation and contour that, if anyone else owned them, their thickness and size would not harmonize with the rest of his physique unless his body was in Grimek's proportions.

Grimek really cannot be studied separated and critically picked apart, for he hasn't one weak spot in his make-up, nor does one part of him not blend with the other. His is a body which must be viewed at full length and not part by part, if you get what I mean. Were he to simply roll up his sleeve to show you his arm, you might never forget the sight, yet all the rest of his muscles shown with that arm form the harmonious picture of muscle-mass and power which only offers complete inspiration.

If you asked me what impressed me mostly while watching him pose, I might tell you that it was his shoulders and trapezius muscles, but then with a second thought I might add, "But you should have seen his back!" or, "What a chest!" It might depend wholly upon how the various impressions leaped into my mind. But I rather would like to picture him from head to foot than to analyze one certain muscle or muscle-group, for in each and all of his movements there is the poise, the power, the gracefulness and the flexibility to be considered and each seems to become interdependent on the rest.

Then there is the admirable quality of his complete relaxation almost to the point of indifference, for not once have I ever seen Grimek in a tensed conscious posture when he was not showing his muscles. He does not 'spread' his latissimus when he walks, he does not inflate his chest, nor assume those self-conscious awkward postures so prevalent with so many muscle-men. And it is being his own natural self that gives him a pleasing personality and grace of movement. When he walks he impresses you of a tiger's locomotion as his relaxed muscles ripple from hips to heels, while his arms indifferently and gracefully swing at his sides. his development is so huge that he does not have to expand one muscle to further impressiveness, for each and every part of him is "there".

I have so often proclaimed that the world is a better place because of John Grimek, for without one doubt, he will be indirectly responsible for the making of thousands of new strongmen who have already set him up as their ideal example - their goal - and who will use their barbells to attempt to duplicate his physique. And because of his keeping himself in such superb condition, he will remain for a long time to come, the brightest star in the athletic firmament.