Georg Gakkenshmidt - a well-known German Baltic in the 20th century, who developed the muscles of the body to such qualitative characteristics, thanks to which he was able to set the first world record, including in the history of Russian sports. He squeezed a weight of 116 kg with one hand. In 1911, George's book was published, which describes the very system that promotes healthy physical development and longevity. Gakkenshmidt believed that 20 minutes of daily training supports the body, able to withstand diseases.
Childhood
According to a new calendar, the Russian lion, as the public later called it, was born in 1877 in Dorpat, the modern name of this Estonian city is Tartu. In the family of a German and an Estonian, he was the eldest child, raised with his younger brother and sister.
Parents had an average physique, but the maternal grandfather, whom, incidentally, George had never seen, was different in height and strength. In his biography, Gakkenshmidt recalled that the mother spoke for the similarity of his eldest son with his father, only the latter was even higher.
Being the strongest among peers, the boy was considered the leader of the children's army. In addition, from an early age, Georg Hackenschmidt was fond of physical exercises. He understood that having a distinctive appearance, he was in many ways superior to his comrades, so he needed sports to maintain strength.
Enthusiasm
At the age of ten, the guy went to study at the Dorpat general education institution, meanwhile called the real school. George immediately liked the subject of physical education, especially gymnastics, and in 1891 he became the winner of competitions held among students of the school. This victory was immediately published by local newspapers.
Gackenschmidt wrote that at that time he was the best player in the towns, he could overcome a jump of 1.9 meters in length and 1.4 in height, with his right hand 16 times, and with his left hand 21 times to squeeze 13 kilogram dumbbell. A distance of 180 meters run in 26 seconds. That is, Georg Gakkenshmidt, whose biography is filled with victories and recognition, already at a young age had the prerequisites to become a champion.
Revel and the first sports membership
After graduating from a seven-year school, in 1895 the young man moved to Revel (modern Talin), where he came as a student to a machine-building plant to receive a profession. Georg intended to work as an engineer, while at the same time focusing on his physical health.
However, joining the ranks of members of the athletic and bicycle club, the guy was seriously interested in sports, and even received several prizes in bicycle races. In the cold season, George paid attention to heavy work and struggle. If the young man had success in the first hobby, then in hand-to-hand fights he was inferior to his comrades.
First defeat
In the fall of 1896, Hakka met with Georg Lurich, at that time already a professional fighter. In a sports club with a newly arrived athlete, everyone could try their hand at hand-to-hand combat. Naturally, the outcome was the defeat of the Reval fighters. Georg Gackenschmidt, whose training was aimed at lifting weights, also entered the competition with his namesake.
In his autobiography, the Russian lion mentioned this fight and shared his feelings with the reader, saying that Lurich could easily put a technically unprepared opponent, although he was not inferior to him in strength characteristics. In public, at the Officers' Meeting, Georg Lurich immediately put Georg in the first fight, and in the second he needed 17 minutes for the Gakkenschmidt’s shoulder blades to touch the floor.
The hurt pride of the novice athlete contributed to enhanced hand-to-hand training, as a result of which the wrestler soon put down all the members of his sports club.
Powerful Acquaintance
Somewhere in 1897, a guy received a hand injury at an engineering plant. “It made me go to the doctor for advice, ” writes Georg Gackenschmidt. “The Path to Strength and Health” - a book later published by an athlete, contains a whole chapter devoted to St. Petersburg doctor Kraevsky, the same person whom the young man approached with pain in his hand.
Vladislav Frantsevich Kraevsky was a supporter of weightlifting and the founder of a similar sports club in St. Petersburg. A fifty-six-year-old doctor, when he first saw George’s preparation during the examination of a diseased limb, immediately predicted the athlete’s professional future, and offered to move to him to Petersburg. Upon learning that Vladislav Frantsevich trained Lurikha and that George had the prerequisites to become the strongest fighter, he, without thinking twice, set off in 1989 to meet his dream. As Dr. Kraevsky introduced in St. Petersburg to the other athletes of Hakku, the historian Olaf Langsepp described. “Georg Gakkenshmidt" - a book about the life of an athlete - contains an excerpt that tells about a prominent body, without fat, with 45 cm biceps and an incredibly wide back. None of the St. Petersburg club athletes could boast of such muscle.
Kraevsky system mode
After moving to St. Petersburg, the guy settled with his friend and mentor Vladislav Frantsevich, who, in turn, lived alone in a huge house on Mikhailovskaya Square. The gym was equipped with strength training equipment, dumbbells and barbells.
One of the rooms was hung with portraits of famous athletes, and wrestlers who came to St. Petersburg necessarily visited the hospitable house of the famous doctor. Moreover, each of them was subjected to weighing, measuring and research. Perhaps such an extensive study of different people with physical development served to create Kraevsky his training system. The accumulation of athletes in one house and public weighing contributed to the development of the desire of each of the athletes present to become better than others.
Georg Gackenschmidt, whose photo is an example to follow in how a healthy and beautiful male body should look, has never touched tobacco and alcohol. He drank exclusively milk. Georg trained with Vladislav Frantsevich after taking bathing procedures. They, without wiping themselves, lifted the two together, until they completely dried out. The main rule for a healthy person, established by Kraevsky, is an eight-hour dream.
Achievements
In 1989, Hakka pushed a 110 kg bar with one right hand, and 151 kg lying on his back with both hands. In the spring of the same year, Georg Gakkenshmidt won the title of "Champion of Russia" in weight lifting. With outstretched arms over his head, he held a weight of 114 kg, which is 1 kg less than the world record set by the French Bonn. Then he won the French wrestler Pavel Pons in 45 minutes at the competitions in St. Petersburg, and in 11 minutes he put Yankovsky on the shoulder blades.
The preparation of the athlete for the European Championship begins. To get used to the public, Kraevsky directs George, as a fighter and athlete, to perform in the Riga Circus. After training, a team of athletes from St. Petersburg, led by a doctor, goes to the European Championships in Vienna. The result of the competition was the title and a gold medal for G. Hackenschmidt.
1899 Georg won the championship of Finland, extorting 20 opponents. In the same year he won the Russian Championship.
Physical and mental trauma
In every sport you can not do without injuries. During a weightlifting training, the guy injured a tendon in his right shoulder. This failure was accompanied by long-term pain. But, despite the injury, Georg Gackenschmidt went at this time to the championship in Paris. He undoubtedly won two fights, one in 18 seconds, the second in 4 minutes. Then, in one of the preparatory trainings, Gakka suffered a dislocation of his shoulder. As a result, the right hand weakens. Two more fights, George survived, and then decided to leave the championship.
The French doctor warned the young man: "I need rest for 12 months." For half a year, Georg treated his hand, and in the spring of 1900 he began to exercise again. In the summer, the wrestler won two titles: “Champion of St. Petersburg” and “Champion of Moscow”. More than one victory was taken in the history of the athlete, including the world championship in Vienna.
In 1901, Dr. Kraevsky died, and this was a huge shock for all athletes who trained according to the method of Vladislav Frantsevich.
After experiencing injuries, the guy took a short break in the fight and left for Germany. And already in 1902 he became the world record holder, lifting 187 pounds behind his back with his knees bent. Later, with his legs tied, he jumped over the table 100 times.
