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Thomas Inch
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Thomas Inch
Thomas Inch (27 December 1881 – 12 December 1963) was a British Strongman, who held the titles of Britain's Strongest Youth, Britain's Strong Man and the originator of the Thomas Inch dumbbell challenge.
Inch was born on 27 December 1881 in Scarborough, a seaside town on the North Yorkshire coast in the U.K. He became interested in bodybuilding and strength as a young boy, bodybuilding through manual labour.
In 1902, aged 20, Inch was declared by a major 'Strongman' publication as the "World's Strongest Youth," enhancing his notoriety. His inspirations included Eugen Sandow, having seen the German ripping a pack of cards in half and throwing the split deck into the audience. Inch was said to have caught one half of the pack, proceeded to split that in half in the audience, and throw it back at Sandow.
Unlike many professional Strongmen of his day, Inch focused on standard lifts with barbells and dumbbells and left the hoisting of wooden barrels, heavy sacks of grain, pianos, or holding back a team of horses, to his contemporaries. His one exception was that he sometimes lifted human beings in the bent-press; a complicated, one-hand movement to watch.
Inch realized in order to advance his fame and fortune as a world class strongman, he needed to meet the prerequisite of publishing a well-written book pertaining to physical fitness. He accomplished this by publishing Scientific Weightlifting in 1905 and by authoring "Thomas Inch on Strength" in 1907. The following years, he traveled the British countryside performing exhibitions, selling his book, and spreading the Inch name. Inch had previously launched a mail order muscle course in 1903 which went on to sell over 40,000 copies. It was the first mail-order physical culture business in the UK.
Inch went on to win the title of Britain's Strongest Man on 11 June 1910. At the age of 68, Inch was still capable of deadlifting 540 pounds (240 kg), an unofficial world record.[citation needed] His record lifts included a two hands anyhow of 356.5 pounds (161.7 kg) and a bent press of 304.5 pounds (138.1 kg).
In 1909, Inch, still only a middleweight, refused to compete in a weightlifting match against the Austrian Strongman Max Sick (Maxick), who had recently arrived in London. However, by 1910 Inch had become a heavyweight and so relinquished his middleweight title to Edward Aston, and a competition was quickly arranged against Sick.
Inch is known for his Thomas Inch dumbbell, also known as '172' or the 'unliftable' challenge dumbbell. The iconic dumbbell weighs 172 lbs and 9 oz. (78 1⁄4 kg) and is extremely difficult to lift, partly due to its sheer weight, but primarily because of its thick handle of 2 3⁄8" (6.03 cm) in diameter, making it difficult to hold on to without possessing outstandingly strong grip strength.
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Thomas Inch
Thomas Inch (27 December 1881 – 12 December 1963) was a British Strongman, who held the titles of Britain's Strongest Youth, Britain's Strong Man and the originator of the Thomas Inch dumbbell challenge.
Inch was born on 27 December 1881 in Scarborough, a seaside town on the North Yorkshire coast in the U.K. He became interested in bodybuilding and strength as a young boy, bodybuilding through manual labour.
In 1902, aged 20, Inch was declared by a major 'Strongman' publication as the "World's Strongest Youth," enhancing his notoriety. His inspirations included Eugen Sandow, having seen the German ripping a pack of cards in half and throwing the split deck into the audience. Inch was said to have caught one half of the pack, proceeded to split that in half in the audience, and throw it back at Sandow.
Unlike many professional Strongmen of his day, Inch focused on standard lifts with barbells and dumbbells and left the hoisting of wooden barrels, heavy sacks of grain, pianos, or holding back a team of horses, to his contemporaries. His one exception was that he sometimes lifted human beings in the bent-press; a complicated, one-hand movement to watch.
Inch realized in order to advance his fame and fortune as a world class strongman, he needed to meet the prerequisite of publishing a well-written book pertaining to physical fitness. He accomplished this by publishing Scientific Weightlifting in 1905 and by authoring "Thomas Inch on Strength" in 1907. The following years, he traveled the British countryside performing exhibitions, selling his book, and spreading the Inch name. Inch had previously launched a mail order muscle course in 1903 which went on to sell over 40,000 copies. It was the first mail-order physical culture business in the UK.
Inch went on to win the title of Britain's Strongest Man on 11 June 1910. At the age of 68, Inch was still capable of deadlifting 540 pounds (240 kg), an unofficial world record.[citation needed] His record lifts included a two hands anyhow of 356.5 pounds (161.7 kg) and a bent press of 304.5 pounds (138.1 kg).
In 1909, Inch, still only a middleweight, refused to compete in a weightlifting match against the Austrian Strongman Max Sick (Maxick), who had recently arrived in London. However, by 1910 Inch had become a heavyweight and so relinquished his middleweight title to Edward Aston, and a competition was quickly arranged against Sick.
Inch is known for his Thomas Inch dumbbell, also known as '172' or the 'unliftable' challenge dumbbell. The iconic dumbbell weighs 172 lbs and 9 oz. (78 1⁄4 kg) and is extremely difficult to lift, partly due to its sheer weight, but primarily because of its thick handle of 2 3⁄8" (6.03 cm) in diameter, making it difficult to hold on to without possessing outstandingly strong grip strength.
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