Krylov is best known as a circus strongman, but he wasn’t merely a bender of iron bars & horseshoes, or a carrier of horses. This dude moved weights you can’t, natty AF, without even having electric lighting in his gym.
Not just that- he built more muscle than almost anyone reading this you carry in a time before steroids, the paved road, and refrigeration. This is a man from whom we can all learn.
His best lifts were berserk, especially considering Krylov was the King of the Kettlebells, not the king of the barbells.
– Crucifix with 100lb/45kg kettlebells
– Bent press 280lbs/127kg
– Clean & jerk 320lbs/145kg
– Chest press with 282lbs/128kg from the “wrestler’s bridge” position
Although the average Russian born in that era didn’t live to 40, Peter Krylov was in his prime at 43. He’d cut back his heavy lifting sessions to 3x a week instead of 5 (something most people seemed to agree on at that time), & he did those in the evening, alternating days with wrestling in the medium sessions.
He began every day with a light workout of chest expander work, calisthenics, & light dumbbells. He’d perform during the day, and then in the evening would do the following.
Press/Push Press- 5x10x80kg
Bench Press (in a wrestlers bridge)- 5x10x80kg
Double KB Press- 5x10x32kg
Squat- 10x10x80kg
Various BBing exercises with 20lb DBs
These workouts usually took 2hr, after which he’d get a massage.
That adds up to 10-12 workouts/wk, plus strength performances, cycling, running, & walking (& wrestlers of that era would squeeze a rubber ball as they walked to get extra grip work. Get some ideas for ways to crank up the intensity of your workouts by banging the link in my profile & grabbing 365 Days of Brutality. I’s packed with the routines of dozen of GOATs so you’ll have endless inspiration for ass-kicking, muscle-building, &record-setting in 2025!
