Customer Reviews

Strongman

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Tom Thurston has done a brilliant job of portraying Doug Hepburn's remarkable life. Hepburn seems to have wanted to be depicted "warts and all" and Thurston's rendering is unflinching.

Born with a club foot and badly crossed eyes, Doug Hepburn had the courage and strength of will to become arguably the strongest natural (i.e. trained without benefit of steroids or other performance enhancers) man in history.

Weight lifters and others who wish to train without risking their health--Hepburn retained his incredible strength into his later years--can use this book as a training manual. It ought to be required reading for young athletes.

But Thurston's book is much more than a training manual, or dry recitation of weights lifted and contests won (although the book has all of these statistics). The raw honesty of its narrative coupled with the astonishing achievments of its subject combine to make it make it a compelling read. It's a page turner as hard to put down as a best selling novel.

And yet it's all true, often painfully so. This is no mere homage or whitewashed "Biography Channel" version of Doug Hepburn's life. Thurston depicts those qualities of spirit which determined Doug Hepburn's greatness as an athlete, while at the same time letting us see those aspects of his life and character which were at odds with his natural gifts and self-determined destiny.

In short, a great read even if you don't care about weight-training, or other athletic achievment at the world-class level, and a must read if you do.

Hello! I'm a 26 year old weightlifter, and had heard the name Doug Hepburn a few times in strength and bodybuilding magazines. However, I really didnt know much about the man until I purchased this book. I can honestly say, this man's story was inspiring and yet sad at times. It's one of the best reads I've had in a while, and those who are involved in weight training will want to pick up a copy of this book.

I really came away feeling inspired and grateful. With all the hogwash out there written by juiced-up "athletes," it's good to know people like Mr. Hepburn were truly the strongest of the strong naturally and that it IS possible to become strong without chemicals. Had I known of him years ago before his passing, he truly would have been someone I'd want to meet in person.

Also, many thanks to the book's author, Mr. Tom Thurston, who took the time to respond to my letter and answer my questions.

Pick it up and I doubt you'll put it down. This book is nothing more than an honest look back at a life lived to the fullest, through ups as well as downs, on and off the lifting platform.
Some nice information on Doug's simple yet effective training methods are included as well.
HAIL DOUG!!!

Strongman - the Doug Hepburn Story

by Tom Thurston

Tom Thurston's aptly titled biography of Doug Hepburn, Strongman, is a telling tale of one man's aspirations to greatness, while struggling with the material world. For me, this book represents a very humanizing portrait of an inspiring boyhood hero from the fifties. Doug wrestled with the temptations of being exploited into the image of a larger than life, plastic fantastic, comic book like action figure. It is the story of one very human being. Combining insightful sensitivity with brutal reality, Tom delivers a penetrating study into Doug's indomitable spirit.

This book is a must read, from those casually interested in fitness to the competing athlete. This is the story about one man who actually did live by the creed: no tricks, not gear, not drugs.

Bill Owens

Comox, BC

Canada

STRONGMAN, THE DOUG HEPBURN STORY was a book I could not put down once I started reading it.

I was aware of world champion strongman Doug Hepburn and was excited upon noticing his name and freight-train physique upon the attractive book cover. What was fascinating about Hepburn was that while the world was aware of his physical strength, it was his mental strength and determination that was even more paramount. What could fuel such an obsession? A deformed leg was an insecurity he fought to overcome.

When Doug first traveled to New York City to display his power to the American strength community I found myself visualizing that I was riding in the train with him. In New York it was one thing to witness the poundage this massive man could lift, but even better watching the look of awe on the faces of the strength crowd watching as they realized this man had no match. This trip to New York City was a necessary confidence step in Hepburn's climb to winning the World Championship in Sweden in 1953.

The insecurities to succeed to the top of the weight-lifting world continued to enigma Hepburn as his life continued. I thank Doug for his illumination as he explained how his LSD therapy in the early sixties made him aware of how negatives from childhood stay embedded in a person's conscience and it is up to each of us to attempt to eliminate these adversities as best as possible.

I found STRONGMAN, THE DOUG HEPBURN STORY both entertaining and motivational, a great read.

Impossible to read "Strongman: The Doug Hepburn Story" without coming away both drained and inspired. Thurston's approach to the telling of Hepburn's life is as remarkable as the great man himself. Hepburn should have died long before he did. That he beat the odds to once again become the champion he once was, is the stuff that makes a legend. A fantastic read!

This is quite a frank story of a young man, who rose by hard work to the top place on the podium, for lifting weights. He had a few strikes against him, an alcoholic father for one, which worked pain into the family, and, he had a withered club foot, and crossed eyes.

As one reviewer says, Hepburn seems to have wanted the story to be told 'warts and all'. Thusly, it seems, Hepburn is trying to tell us that we need find what natural gift we have, and what we dream and desire to achieve, and that while we may have to carry on on our own, that by hard work, we can achieve wonderful things. He wanted his personal struggles and darkness told, to demonstrate that these may be faced, albeit with help, and that even if it takes years, these sort of struggles of the soul may be overcome. Faith in God and in Jesus, which gives a sense of purpose is vital in this, but so too is perseverance. Or, as a pastor used to say "By the grace of God and a fast outfield, we shall prevail." We must admit that we need help.

I was a bit put off at first by all of the details of the struggle that this man had, but looking back, it seems that the book was written as he wanted it to be, and I think this is quite a good thing.

Hepburn replaced John Davis, who had been undefeated in international competition for many years, at the top of the podium in the 1953 world championship. He had to pay his own way to the world championship too, and he didn't have a coach with him.

In a writing of his found elsewhere, he says that he sought to follow the pattern of pressing that John Davis used, Hepburn thought that Davis was the best presser he ever saw. He had one more triumph in his young weightlifting life, in terms of medals won, which was at the British Commonwealth Games. Besides this, he set many world records in the military press, my goodness there were press records that he set.

This book has a good deal of information about training, at the end it has Doug Hepburn's own course. He is encouraging to us, seeks to give us a longer range view of training for strength, from someone who was there, he gives us a view. Very sensitive and resourceful human being, and he wanted to help people, that was one thing that he wanted best to do.

Hepburn liked to use the barbell curl. For one thing, it helped him in the press, he felt, in that when he got the bar cleaned to his shoulder, he found that if his bicep were thick, that it gave him additional base for some oomph in his press. He also held the bar a bit farther out, as he felt that he used the pectorals in giving him more of a push or boost from resting on his shoulders. He liked to bench press as an assisting exercise. Interesting thoughts from one of the great pressers of all time, and who did this without the help of any chemicals. Milk and squats were part of his training, and bananas.

Well, may he enjoy the fact tha he was of a good deal of help to those who came after him. Thanks Doug Hepburn.

You don't get to read about athletes like Doug Hepburn much these days. I'm talking about the kind of athlete who makes it to the top of his sport with no motivation other than the pure love of the sport, and the outright desire to just do it. In Strongman, Tom Thurston has captured the essence of Doug and I found the book to be a great read.

This book is a 'must read' for anyone trying to uncover the secrets of success in sports, or in life itself. I knew Doug personally, and I recall a conversation I had with him regarding the mental barriers that can prevent regular gains in weightlifting. I asked him specifically what to do about that. Doug put it simply, "it depends how badly you want to lift the weight".

That succinct statement eludes many athletes. They get so caught up in tactics and theory, they forget about the human spirit and the power of the mind itself. Doug wasn't advocating anything silly, like pushing through serious pain. He was referring to the little tricks the mind can play to set up a barrier to improvement. We're talking about sucking it up in order to get to the next level. Doug was a master of that and Tom Thurston captures that indominatible spirit in his book.

I thought I knew a lot about Doug until I read Strongman. Through Tom Thurston's painstaking research I now realize there was a lot more to the man. Doug was a humourous, self-effacing, likeable character and the last thing you'd see in him was a man who destroyed world records and won Olympic Gold Medals. What I had not realized was the incredible struggle behind his success.

That makes Doug all the more amazing in my mind and I strongly recommend this book.

This auto biography was dictated to T. Thurston who did a nice job writing it down. It is a good read for any strength aficionado. However, upon completion, I felt profoundly sad for the man. Doug Hepburn, although a world champion at one point, never attained anywhere near his potential. He was never an Olympic medalist, never attained an education or a profession, failed to reach any modest financial success,never had a normal personal relationship with either of his divorced parents or with a woman, never married, never had kids. He suffered depression and self destructive tendencies most of his life and fought alcoholism.

Doug attained only two titles: gold in the 1953 World Weightlifting Championships in Stockholm and gold in the 1954 British Empire Games in Doug's hometown of Vancouver. In Stockholm he set a new world total in the heavyweight class and therefore was considered "the worlds strongest man". From there it was pretty much downhill, although he did eventually stop drinking.

Doug was a figure to admire due to the fact that he was born with a clubbed foot yet still managed to become a great lifter and athlete. However, I completed the book with a profound feeling of sadness.

I picked up this book out of nostalgia, as I was once a serious weightlifter, and was born in Doug's hometown of Vancouver. I remember the impact he made when he won the '54 Olympics. When I read the book, I found it revealed a man with a magnificent will to win against all odds; a man who knew how to make demands on himself. The self destructive impulses that Hepburn reveals are latent in all of us, and particularly those who attempt to excel. Hepburn confronted these fully, and as a result achieved maturity and self knowledge. He is a man of great strength and great humility, and that combination is rare. Like so many other of the reviewers, once started, I couldn't put the book down. Best wishes Doug (wherever you are) and thanks for the book, Tom!