Heenan punching the bag with 50 pound dumbbells

Not a ****ing chance anyone is shadow boxing with 25kgs per hand, not you not an NFL line backer… Not a lifter anymore but not weak, I’ve pressed quite a lot over my head strict and when I’ve been curling have hit a rep on just over 60kgs two handed strictly l… I don’t know how much stronger I’d expect a boxer busy boxing in the 1800s to be but he ain’t doing that without some weird ass form or tearing his shoulder to pieces. Maybe I’m just soft but not a chance IMO.

 

Circus sideshow type of stuff, definitely not even close to the level of puncher prime Tyson was

 

This is extremely impressive but also ******ed, there is no possible way he did it regularly. He was likely just showing off for the reporters.

 

He didn’t do it not a chance, no man’s literally shadow boxing with 25kgs per hand unless he’s doing some whack ass janky movements and calling them punches LOL.

 

I think the artist of Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper just made it up.

 

that is what i presumed it was, which is still impressive, although its more like 22kg

 

Go to 1:30 and you will see reputable strong man James Jeffries training with dumbbells, shadow boxing but not throwing full punches.

The dumbbells don’t look too heavy - 10-15 lbs at an absolute guess.

I can curl 60 lb dumbbells, one handed. Just imo, there is no way someone could throw proper punches with 50 lb dumbbells in each hand,

I think @Shay Sonya could be right on the money that it at least might’ve been the combined weight of the dumbbells, therefore 25 lbs per hand - which still isn’t shabby if true.

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I remember reading the claim that Jeffries would pick up and toss around a 300 lb or so? bag of sand with ease as part of his training.

The first time I saw an accompanying photo of Jeff with said bag - it was actually suspended from a ceiling with Jeff leaning into the bag (thereby using his body weight to shift it also).

I’m also not sure that the bag looked as big and as heavy as described - so my conclusion was that the written description alone contained a good measure of hyperbole.

 

It's called lying and exaggeration, as most of these old reports do about fighters training routines, especially pre-1900s fighters. Heenan was an enforcer who helped rig local elections - I'm sure he wouldn't mind lying about his training. He probably used small weights at the most (if this even happened at all, since this type of training wasn't overly encouraged even with light weights - add to that having to deal with the wear and tear whilst being in long grueling fights that involved grappling).

The reality is that all fighters do the same types of conditioning to get ready (with maybe a gimmick or two). The only part unique enough to be invested in imo is their skills training.

 

I think the bag being suspended is better seen or at least well implied by Jeff’s posture in the original photo and this photo also - he’s clearly butting up as opposed to holding up. I like the rock effect though, pretty cool.

 

He’s 100% leaning into the bag for mine - also, he simply doesn’t have the required purchase for a lift. The best photo to support a lift would be Jeff actually holding the bag aloft or at least fully his on shoulder whilst standing upright. I say Myth Busted!