Tribute To Slim The Hammerman

As a young boy in Pennsylvania, little Lawrence Farman sat down at Zern's Farmer's Market in Gilbertsville at 8 years old while his parents did their shopping. One particular table was part of a crowd of people looking on at very old and past his prime strongman by the name of Joeseph Greenstein a.k.a The Mighty Atom. Atom would lecture the benefits of eating healthy and what it can do to help you live your life with great enthusiasim and love. During these lectures he would bend spikes, drive nails through boards and break chains with great ease to name a few. He had been doing it about 25+ years. This boy however was just amazed at what this old as rock old-timer can do and kept going there for many years.

Slim would start to grow like a tree and as a late-teen began working at a Rock Quarry. For up to 14 hours a day 6-7 days a week he would be breaking rock and stone by the ton with his heavy sledgehammer. As time went on he was just so powerful and strong with that hammer that his mates would start to take notice and be in awe of his rugged and extreme strength.

When most strongmen back in the days f the follies and industrial revolution they usually were no more then 5'8 and weighed no more then 170 pounds at best. Very few men at that time were over 200 pounds and 6' tall. Slim however surpassed these numbers and got to be 6'6 and over 220 pounds of hard, rugged and steel corded muscle. During one lecture the Atom asked the audience "How is it I, an old man among you, Am the only person to bend this spike?" One man spoke out and this was the same kid who had watched Atom at 8 years old now in his late-teens early-twenties and made the statement that started a chain-reaction for what would be now legendary "You ain't talking to me old man."

Atom asks the rugged, sinewy young man to come on up and show him. Slim is twice the size of Atom who is 5'4 and 155 pounds soaking wet. He takes the spike and puts his hands on the top to get ready but Atom stops him and says "No...You can't bend it like that, its impossible." Slim decided to still do it because it felt comfortable to him. He bends the spike in full and for the first time in all of the years Atom has been performing had never seen a man do that. Atom asked Slim "Is there anything else you do?" Slim tells him he cuts stone with a sledge hammer and can raise it from horizontal to vertical from the ground using just the bottom of the handle. The Atom didn't think this was possible and asked Slim to show him. The following week, Slim brings his 16 pound hammer and shows the Atom what he can do. Each time this powerful man levered the hammer, Atom was flabbergasted and never has he seen anyone else do this.

From that day on Atom would have his chance to reveal his true secrets of the Old-Time Strongman and took Slim under his wing or because of the giant's height above his wing LOL. Over the years Slim and Atom performed together and Slim would start to build super muscle and extremely strong tendons with his Hammer Levering working up to almost 50 Pounds with 2 hammers. He just couldn't stop getting stronger. When the time came it came in 1975 in Madison Square Garden when Slim would rise to become the Legend that Atom always saw in him and came full circle when he lifted his world record 56 pound hammers. This night was the birth of one of the last remaining Old-Time Strongman.

Most men when they turn 40 begin to feel that they're over the hill and can't accomplish what they used to 15-20 years earlier. Slim would have none of it and threw away that mindset and guess what happened? At age 40 he didn't peak his strength. It kept getting stronger. He was bending steel, driving through boards and hammering his way past what most men think is impossible. between 40 and 50, Slim began feeling invicible and his strength just kept rising. When you are that dangerous at that age you don't want to be messing with that kind of power I don't care who you are.

As the years flew by and long after The Atom had passed on and the torch went to Slim, This once little kid who is now by all means The World's Strongest Man was breaking ground and every time he lifted a hammer, his legendary status was just as breathtaking as it was when he first levered that hammer infront one of the most famous Strongmen himself. His potential has reached far beyond what most people even himself can ever imagine.

An important aspect of the Old-Time Strongman is whether muscles or tendons are the most important to train. From the mouth himself, Slim firmly believes that its the tendons that are a key. You can build muscle any way you want but its the tendons that reveal a person's true power and strength. I believe this to be true.

Recently the now 75 year old strongman was inducted into the York Barbell Hall Of Fame with his late mentor and one time best friend The Mighty Atom and for them its an honor that has been long overdue and took way too damn long to finally come up. These 2 men paved the way for many premiere strongmen today. It is fitting that Slim has hammered his way in the halls of some of the greatest men in the iron game in history. In my opinion he should've been in the hall of fame just when he began to peak. As a strongman myself I'm honored to have learned from his training DVD and has helped me become stronger for the feats I want to perform. He is now immortalized and Slim's records will never be matched and if one man can do I want to see it along with other greats of the iron game today. Like what Babe Ruth is to Baseball, Slim The Hammerman is to Old-Time Strongman.

Slim, this is for you old man and I pray I get to one day speak with you and learn from you. You are a man among men and you are without question a strongman's strongman. Thank you for all you have done and I believe from the bottom of my heart from what I read about The Atom, he couldn't have chosen a better suited man then you.