How Strong is Lou Ferrigno Really?
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- čas přidán 10. 04. 2024
- How Strong is Lou Ferrigno Really?
#strongman #incrediblehulk #strongest
I focus on strength athletes from various fields including: Strongman, Powerlifting and Bodybuilding, comparing performances from different eras, disciplines and organizations.
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Lou and Franco were quite something. What I find impressive is that Lou kept his physique the longest of them all.
You haven't seen Robby then.
@@bigd7696 Didn't followed much about body building, still some, at the times there, were able to keep their physique for a very long amount of time.
Lou was known to me since he made the hulk series, especially because of that.
I will be searching info about that Robby man then.
@@zoichikanoe6242 Take a look at Jay Cutler at 50.
Maybe it's just me, but I prefer the physiques of that era. They were much more athletic
Me too
It's probably because they look more natural even though they weren't.
@@A-JayFrazierAt least they looked natural. Modern bodybuilders are an abomination.
@user-vf3pe9ce5x yeah, I feel you, man and that's why I would prefer a old school bodybuilders physique.
back then synthetic Gh was not yet available, and hGh was very expensive and Rhesus Gh was very dirty and deformation was very quick and permanent; therefore, these guys were using 'roids almost exclusively- I think by the late 80s Genetec had released the 1st synthetic Gh and it was much more affordable and the freaks started coming out of the woodwork and that's what we have now. the side effects are different but the end result is the same-severe emotional trauma and often early death
As an old guy, I remember watching the contests. What is amazing. Is that Franco at 185 pounds was lifting the same as guys almost twice his weight! I still remember like it was yesterday during the refrigerator race when he actually started running with that refrigerator on his back and the weight shifted and he blew out his knee badly. No other competitor actually ran with it. I believe if the refrigerator wouldn’t have shifted he would’ve won that event. Absolutely incredible strength!
Franco was in the first Terminator movie, his buddy Arnold got him the part. look for him.
@@rchydrozz751he was also in Conan the Barbarian.
Franco had best diet, growing up in Sardinia, Italy! 👍
Lou had his calling in 83-84 after The Incredible Hulk series had wrapped up. He looked fantastic for the Hercules movie in 83 (much better than Arnold in Conan). Had he hustled and trained for the Olympia he could've taken it in 84 before the era of Lee Haney started in earnest.
He did, he’d added a lot of mass during the 80s and got some calf implants along the way. Lou looked awesome and even well into his 60s he carried far more muscle than Arnold which shows the love Lou had for lifting
@@StrengthUniverse
I should like a strength comparison between Lou Ferrigno and Ralf Moeller.
@@martinlaser7819 Ok, I'll see what I can do
His placing at the worlds strongest man is very impressive all things considered.
God bless him. His humility was unmatched.
Because of hearing loss and my ability to grow fast, Lou was my inspiration to not let your setbacks damage your aspirations.
Lou did phenomenal to jump into a WSM contest and be competitive like that. It is doubtful anyone could just do that today with the notable exception of the Australian monster Tom Haviland.
Back in Lou's prime, there was no Internet and video cameras were large and bulky and people rarely filmed themselves in the gym. As a result, widespread "lift Inflation" occurred. As the Internet arrived and expanded and video cameras became universal everywhere, the "lift Inflation" shrunk significantly.
Lou was probably just inflating his lifts as it was quite common back then.
Most bodybuilders today don’t train heavy. They juice and pump and eat. That’s one of the reasons I find it boring now. Franco was a great example of crossing over. Guys now know they can’t be as strong as powerlifters or strongmen so I think they focus less on it today
@@chrisrose5157 Yeah...... but most if not all the old-schoolers came from lifting backgrounds........ Vern Weaver, Marvin Eder, even Franco Columbu, Arnold, and Sergio Oliva.........
what I love is that you always find a way to tell the story of the person in question before jumping to the lifting section, great storytelling
Yeah, that's interesting information.
Thanks mate, pleased that you find the athletes origins interesting 👍
Lou Ferrigno as the Hulk looks like a angry piece of broccoli
👌🤪🤪🤣🥦🥦🇮🇹
He carried boxer Ken Norton in his arms with little effort!💪🇺🇲🇮🇹
Thanks for another great video .
I saw him at the worlds strongest man contest in 1977 and he was pretty strong then so was Franco Colombo who was also there
Such all-around great work, per usual !
Thank you 🙏
It would be amazing to meet Lou Ferrigno!!
Yes he's a nice guy, meet him around 2003
@@StrengthUniverse WOW what an awesome experience. 🖒🖒
@@StrengthUniverseI heard he doesn't like to sign autographs?
@@user-kz4ke8mg4r yes I have heard that too, he charges as do most celebrities at autograph signing usually about $20. Arnold was charging $600 at the UK Arnold’s
@@StrengthUniverse Screw Arnold's autographs!
Franco Columbo was stronger than Lou & Arnold
If Lou’s numbers are to be believed, he would have beat Franco.
He was more heavier than Franco .
No he wasn't
Agree.
@@Nico-84 So? We're not talking dots scores here
You gotta love big Lou
Let's not forget Sergio Olivia he actually started out as a weightlifter.
And coleman ?
I don't know what those judges saw during the Olympia, but it looked to me like Lou had Dorians number. I think Lou got robbed many times.
I’m not certain how many Mr. O titles Yates had by then. The judges seem to like rewarding previous winners. Arnold shouldn’t have won in 1980, for example. But to my eye, Ferrigno looked big, but tall. Yates had about the same width but on a shorter frame, making it appear as if he was wider than Ferrigno. There was only two seconds to see it here, and I’m not a professional judge, but that’s my analysis.
nah he was much behind others and dorian. not just about size
Great video. Been checking out old WSM videos recently. Seeing the amazing amount of pro wrestlers in the early days
Cheers Ben, one on Billy Graham will be coming soon. the early WSM had a magic about them; seeing all these celebrates from different sports going head to head added an element of surprise that cannot be recreated in the modern era of strongman
Lou we love you and know you are the nicest guy in body building with a heart the size of The HULK !!! God bless you and your family brother !!! ❤✝🕊🌹😇🙏🤗👍🫀🤩🥳💪
Regardless of Lou Ferrigno’s claims on the 3 powerlifting lifts, he did a excellent job for someone that didn’t train for the WSM contest. He got disqualified on 3 -4 events because he was totally unfamiliar with the techniques and lost valuable points.
He was the strongest bodybuilder that competed in the WSM and even beat Franco Columbu and Mike Dayton.
Ferrigno also beat Mike Mentzer in the WSM contest not shown in this video. Those 3 bodybuilders that Ferrigno beat were known for their strength!
Two of the most impressive feats of strength by Ferrigno were the bar bending and car lifts because he beat everyone!
Ferrigno also should have one the Master’s Mr. Olympia, but got in a argument with the promoter.
No he placed exactly where he deserved at the Masters Mr. Olympia. Robbie was the winner by a mile.
A great video! What a man, a huge man. He's a strongest in my books. 💪🏼
Thanks Geoff
Lou is personal friends with Wes Brown from my hometown of Mount Airy, NC. Wes, is the "little guy" that Arnold was showing how to pose in 'Pumping Iron', there's a great interview on Tom Purvis' channel of Wes talking about how he ended up at Gold's Gym and got to be in the film.
It was incredible seeing him back in the day as the hulk next to ordinary folk with just his shorts on, he looked like he could eat them
I believe the 600lbs figure for a max bench because the second time he was asked he was asked what he trained with and he said 560lbs and now he does less that he's older, 560lbs was probably a heavy set for him, like a set of 3 or something, making 600lbs believable for a max.
Dead lift of 900 lbs is kind of dubious and hard to believe, as SU said he was basing that off of assumptions on his car dead lift, something that doesn't extrapolate out well, non the less perhaps some conclusions could be drawn from it such as it's probably unlikely his dead lift was anything less than 750lbs given what he accomplished with the car, giving a rough approximate range of perhaps 750 to 800lbs, which is still really really good for any lifter in that time period.
Of course, but this was another time where they were interested in total strength athlétisme. The "Olympus" myth was the inspiration (Hercules).
Then there was the distinction between Hercules and David from Michelangelo (Arnold mentioned this as far as I remember).
Nowadays "Open" Bodybuilding vs. "Classic Physique" separated from strength athletics.
(Dorian Yates tried to better the situation.)
A true legend. Hulk was one of my favorites as a kid.
Big Louie has always been an inspiration
Regardless of lift numbers. Just the fact that in both the bodybuilding world , and world at large he is still instantly recognized by name and looks
alone , ( where as so many others who stood higher on a podium have been left in obscurity) , is an undeniable testament to his status of icon. Long may he live and inspire. ❤
Very underrated guy, who had very much success in movies and life in general...
Big Lou was strong as hell
He could curl 100 lb dumbells at 275 seated. Low body fat. Always liked him when I got into lifting.
Can you make a video about Olivier Ritchers, biggest and tallest bodybuilder?
i;m a big fan of lou and think he did a decent showing in the worlds strongest man event, but i wished he had time to train more properly for it!
this channel always deserves a watch
I grown with a mith of Lou, seen in The Incredible Hulk, but like Italian I’m very proud to discover later the Franco’s results
loved big Lou on King of Queens!
I've always found comparing Arnold and Lou to be difficult.
Arnold is amazing for his size. Lou is amazing for his size. Yet somehow Arnold came out more striking visually, but only just barely.
It could be argued that smaller men with more compact frames perform better as bodybuilders because the muscles bulge more. There seems to be a sweet spot around 6 feet tall. Any shorter and they lose size. Any taller and the muscles lose the compact, bulging look that is judged well at competitions.
Arnold has always claimed to be 6'2", but some people say he is 5'10" after comparing him to Andre the Giant and Wilt Chamberlain in behind the scenes photos of "Conan the Destroyer" where they were all standing together.
I think a case could be made that Arnold has always been shorter than he claims. There is a psychology that men below 6 feet are short, so he always said he was 6'2".
Yet, Arnold's relative compactness helped his muscles "pop" visually and explains why he won Mr. Olympia as many times as he did.
Of course, bodybuilding competitions should go to great pains to measure athletes, so it would be difficult for Arnold to say he is taller than he is and get away with it.
But in movies Arnold always looked taller than he actually was to emphasize his size. If you put him next to taller people with similar physiques you see that Arnold is really not that exceptionally tall and has something of a compact frame.
Arnold has stood next to Hulk Hogan (who is underrated as having a bodybuilder physique, IMO) on many occasions and Hulk dwarfs Arnold.
A large frame both helped and hurt Lou. Lou had larger muscles than Arnold, but they were stretched along a longer frame, so they didn't "pop" as much visually as Arnold's.
That said, for Lou's size, his muscles were massive. If you were to put Lou's muscles on Arnold's smaller frame, they would be even more massive.
So I have always been equally impressed with them. Lou always looked bigger and more imposing because of his height, but Arnold was just beautiful in his lines and symmetry.
The only place I could fault Arnold is his legs were underdeveloped compared to his pecs, deltoids, and biceps.
Meanwhile, Lou's quads were amazing once he reached his peak.
Also, unlike other bodybuilders of that era who used steroids before they were banned, Lou still looks great for his age. Arnold has not aged well, but according to him his doctors do not want him to lift heavy because of his heart issues. He also continues to smoke cigars.
I think Lou exaggerates his strength for a bodybuilder. Many bodybuilders, especially from an earlier era, feel inferior to today's powerlifters and strongmen. So there is a tendency for them to stretch the truth in how much they could lift in their prime and how much they still lift. I agree with the video that, had Lou been trained for the strongman competition, he would have made a better showing. I think Lou is stronger than he appeared to be in the competition, but he is not as strong as he claims to be.
As far as who is healthier between bodybuilders and powerlifters, many have pointed out the steroid linked bulging gut of modern bodybuilders and the U shape of their chests once they age. This cannot be healthy.
Powerlifters seem to focus much less on keeping low body fat and are known to have high calorie intake. This can't be healthy from a cardiovascular aspect.
I think a good in-between between bodybuilders and powerlifters would be pro wrestlers. The best of them are expected to have the physique of a bodybuilder but the power of a powerlifter in order to easily and safely lift heavy opponents.
With pro wrestlers, the closest comparison to Arnold and Lou might be John Cena and The Rock. Cena has an impressive physique but something of a small frame. The Rock since his wrestling prime has seemed to not only put on more muscle but also somehow get a larger frame.
Both men are impressive. Both, like Arnold, also use camera tricks in movies to emphasize their size and strength. I'm not sure Lou needed that much help to look larger.
Big Louie. God love ❤️ him.
Back in the early 1990s I was facilitating drug and alcohol groups. One group had a young woman who was a former body builder. She knew all the men. She said that the only one of them who didn't use steroids was Lou Ferrigno. His father was his manager and he refused to allow him to use them.
How about a new video on Andrey Smaev. Recently the first video of him benching 300 kg clean was published
It’s on the list
I met Lou at a car show at cal expo autorama in 1982. I'm 6-4 and I would say we were about the same height. But of course he was way more muscular. He was very friendly. I remember he looked like he was reading lips and he had a funny voice. Good guy.
But while others may have stronger , still bending that bar on the strongest man competition still stands out that was pure strength and if he had trained for pure strength who knows he trained body building .
What a legend!
Lou didn't have to lie to kick it!
Introducing standing 6'5 and weight 330 pound louis ferrigno
He was never that tall, it's just marketing. Lou was never above 6'2 which can be seen when compared to others barefoot on stage. You have to be aware that 'Everybody' in any form of show business routinely lies to make themselves appear bigger, it's the name of the game.
@@Andy-yo3hdnot 6'2 maybe 6'3 or 4
Lou wasn't any 6'2" 😂😂😂 I'd say roughly 6'4" in his prime.
@@ThouSwell-zx3fd And what do you base that on? Have you met him? Those who have agree with my estimate.
@@Andy-yo3hdYou've met Lou in his prime have you? You must be the same guy who has Arnold at 5'10" and Andre the Giant at 6'7" 😄
I’m still a Lou ferritin fan!! Great guy
Can you get any info lenny mclean or any other British hard men?
In 1951 Marvin eder benched 515 @198 lbs and was a natural and could lift toe to toe with Doug Hepburn who was a powerlifter/strongman and was almost 100 lbs heavier
"natural" ... 🤣🤣
@@megabazus1775It’s possible. I’m 17, weigh a few pounds less than Marvin and on a good day would hit about 375 on raw bench (pr is 365, but not max). He used a wide grip, trained bench for probably 10 years at the point and was much leaner than I am. No guarantee that he was natural, but I believe you wouldn’t need genetics much better than mine to achieve that
@@megabazus1775 gear WAS out and commercially available then, the old school dinosaur steroids
Lou was the man! Loved Lou!
I have seen an interview with Ferrigno in which he describes an incident during the filming of the pilot movie for THE INCREDIBLE HULK series. One scene showed the Hulk flipping a car over with his bare hands. The actual flipping was to be done by a cable being pulled by a crane... but the cable broke during the first attempt. They had already been filming for over 12 hours and Ferrigno just wanted to go home. When told that it would take several more hours to get another cable & to set it up, Ferrigno exploded in frustration. He told the crew to move away from the car and the cameraman to start filming. And he flipped the car over. With just his hands. THAT'S how strong he was!!!
Franco was from the golden era of bodybuilding in the 70th. André was from the golden era of wrestling in the 80th.
If he had today's trainer back then??? He was a huge beast for his day. My favorite!
I'm surprised how poor his coordination was. That push press was surprisingly weak and he looked drunk. Having said that his Masters return to bodybuilding was very impressive, he was robbed. His physique was the best ever in that last competition.
No way on those lifts. Probably low 500s bench, low 600 squat, low 700s DL, which would still be extremely impressive for his time, he was a bodybuilder not a strength athlete. He would have dominated the Olympia for years if he'd kept on it.
I expect your numbers are more accurate
He is bodybuilder & strongest man
LOU AND DAVE DRAPER had the most developed bodies i ever saw,the work and sweat is worth it to them
Wasn't that ken patra in wrestling at some point i think lous physique was beter in the 90s. After watching pumping iron i didnt know lou was that strong because he is only benchpressing 200lb but i suppose that was just before the show
You must know. In the early post war time wrestlers and weight lifters were regarded as the real strong men or strength athletes. The olympic champion in the weightlifting super heavy weight class was regarded as the world' s strongest man. Types like the American Paul Anderson and then also the Western European Serge Reding were examples. However then the competition from the Sowjetuniuon and Bulgaria was able to overcome these strength freaks. An outstanding example for the Sowjet dominance in super heavy strength athletics in the 1970 th was Vasili Ivanovich Alexeev. The types of super heavy sportsmen beginning with Paul Anderson however were also called "Rectalos". However,
Dumbbells and barbells also entered a lot of other sports, beginning with rowing.
In the same time where Alexeev reined the strength we in Europe became pictures from American Bodybuilders to see - Bill Pearl, Sergio Olivia, Arnold Schwarzenegger ... - This seemed unbelievable for us. -
These were Herculesses, no Rectalos.
On the other hand we got to know that they were far less strong as those Eastern Sowjet lifters. Just show or real strength was the question regarding the American Bodybuilders? There was the rumour that they were not strong at all. On the other hand freaks as the comparably small Franco Columbo contested the opposite by combining raw strength with his typical body. Maybe he was a pioneer of powerlifting. Lou came later and thought to begin a new era in bodybuilding and strength in combination - of course with emphasis on bodybuilding.
Until 1990 the Sowjets continued their olympic weightlifting and they were not really allowed to do bodybuilding. Powerlifting was not regarded as autonomous sport.
Powerlifting emancipated more and more from bodybuilding, fun games like strong man became the value of a separate own competitive sport. The Sowjetuniuon is no more and the social media are focused on bodybuilding that mutated more and more to a pure show.
Times have changed after the 1960th and after the 1980th. This here is history.
Off subject. But could we get a "How strong was" Ron Simmons aka Faarooq in WWE/WWF
He supposedly was a 600+ lbs bench presser.
Just a thought, thanks mate 👍
I plan too, it's just having the time
Like Lou said he didn’t train for power lifting but he was ahead of his time because bodybuilders trained for looks and strength and he was one of the two guys that crossed over from bodybuilding to strong man and him and Franco proved to be very strong 💪🏾 but unbalanced so he did excellent for no formal training for the competition but compared to guys today he would be out of his league when you got bigger and stronger men that lives for this and even in his prime I don’t think he would get past the first event but I wonder what it would be like if someone like Andre the giant was trained for that 🤔🤔🤔🤔
Lou got robbed of the Olympia titles vs. Yates.
Wow, i never knew big lou was in a strong man contest
Unfortunately only the one, would have been cool to see what he could have done if he’d competed the following year
❤
Lou was always my favourite, tbh. Arnold once said part of judging bodybuilding is about looking at which body you would want. I'm sorry, but being 6'5 + jacked af (to the extent you rival Arnold himself) + strong enough to be a WSM competitor trumps ever Mr Olympia winner in my mind.
To be fair. All bodybuilders is stronger than 99% other athletes. Only strongman & powerlifter is stronger. Pound per pound, bb still one of the strongest pn earth
Franco Columbo was the strongest bodybuilder In the world pound for pound in his day
3:05. Take a look at how much smaller Lou is without taking the "gear" at the superstars comp. Pretty obvious size differential.
RONNIE COLEMAN enters the chat.
7:21, 8:09 Apparently Paul Anderson was there. Too bad he was past his prime.
One of my all time favourites and I'll always have time to watch any video he is featured in, however to put it kindly I think many of his alleged lifts are highly exaggerated.
Great! I agree, I think I was guessing what his best lifts may be.
...And he's also a jerk, lol.
Very strong, no doubt...
...but he would not have managed a 900lb deadlift.
Lou says you owe him $50.00 just for mentioning his name.
Deadlift maybe sounds questionable, but he’s one of the few old bodybuilders to have reasonable claims, especially considering his form probably wasn’t perfect
I remember when Lou turned 60, he could still bench 600lbs.
Great video!! I love Arnie.. But the idea he had more simatry is like this sentance has more gruma...
Ferringno should have won a shit more... And i have no idea why he didn't... Best strength body builder for his size ever.. Even because of his size..!
Like i am the best Social media poster that goes back and puts in dots...
Also i love the Hulk.. So.. Lol
"Big Lou" was impressive and strong, but I don't believe his claims. He did, however, show that bodybuilders are not "weak" with his performance in the WSM. Doing sets of 6-15 repetitions is a different type of strength than heavy singles, but it translates to real world strength better IMHO
I trained in the same gym as Lou in Brooklyn and as strong as he was he wasn't the strongest bodybuilder in the gym. That title went to Dennis Tinerino!
I really think Lou was robbed in the Master's Olympia (as recorded in the "Walk Tall" documentary). I picked him as the best on stage.
I think Lou would have been a lot stronger with a proper modern strength phase. Most of his training, from what I have seen, was high volume with moderate or light weight. Clearly his sturdy bone structure and muscle mass was already there, but his CNS wouldn't have been that greatly adapted to relatively heavy weight. He did compete in the first WSM, but I doubt there that he really showed his potential in the strength department. He was much more interested in building muscle than testing muscle.
Lou your the best hulk smash
I think his claims were estimates as it can be difficult to remember the exact numbers over time.
IDK if it was fake, but Arnold in the movie twins, lifted up a full size car from the back bumber, the 80's style car w/ a metal bumper ?? I think he did that in the movie ?? I've seen him curl a I forget, but HELL OF a lOT of weight, but not saying he's stronger than lou ?? I've heard, Lou was stronger though !!
In the Hulk, he turned over a car. He's strong
When you see next to Arnold, then you see what giant he really is.
The incredeable got to him.
1:47 KING OF THE CRAB
They practically disqualified competitors for breathing the wrong way.
Yes, it was almost like they were deliberately looking for reasons to disqualify the competitors
Look Ronnie Coleman he was an exceptional athlete and I read he was more about powerlifting with a bodybuilding body I guess you could say
Hats off to him how well he did considering he wasn't a natural athlete and trained for body building and not strength.
They were all strong but only lifted heavy when cameras were around ( mostly) Used lighter weights then you would assume anyway I’d that makes sense They were big on drop sets to get to failure And lots of sets
That was true of the way Lou trained
he is very strong
Bodybuilding and strong man are two totally different types of men. Yes Lou was strong and so was Franco but Strongmen train for strength not muscularity or symmetry. I think they both did pretty well considering their disadvantages.
Lou definitely cpuld have hit those lifts. I know in bodybuilding power like that js rare, but lou was insanely naturally strong on top of his training. When i crossed over into bodybuilding, at 172 pounds, i was stronger then everyone twice my size, my ligaments and temdons were stronger from training heavy and with volume, but never increasing calories to get bigger, so i see no reason lou couldnt hit those weights.
Ferrigno that is
Dam 560 I struggle with 250 on the bench.
Lou could deadlift 900 lbs, stronger than Ronnie
The one and only Incredible Hulk
I think two of the guys from Fouads podcast, Iain Valliere and James Holligshead are both stronger than Ferrigno or Franco. Jordan Peters is also a poundsge monster.
Lot of strong guys out there.
I agree but known of them have competed in Strongman and are on far more gear than guys from the golden era.
I don't care what he claims vs. what he actually lifted personally. I admire him and I'd need 2 lifetimes to achieve what he had achieved both in bodybuilding and hollywood. I know he could beat my ass for all I care 😂
LOU FERIGNO LEÁNYA ÉS JAN KLUD VANDAM LEÁNYA BIANKA !