The Great Gama

Hi Dave,

I know you have some knowledge about the greatest ever GAMA ;-)

So my questions are:

1. Do you know how his workout looked like? A lot of hindsquats, press ups I think?

2. How did he developed this huge amount of size? He was an vegetarian, isn't it?

3. Would you recommend his type of body workout for selfdefense-training?

Thank you a lot,

Julian

Yes I do know a bit about his diet and training..

Gama was probably the greatest wrestler EVER to grace this world..
The 'Bear' himself Stanislaus Zbysko only lasted a few SECONDS against him.

His diet was a kind of broth made of any veg he could get his hands on boiled up and just devoured as and when the mood took him.. he could eat 6 times a day.
A bit like the Sumotori's 'Chanko'
Gama did love milk by the gallon as well.

his training was 3 times a day, each session on a different theme.. remember he was a sponsored full time pro, so he could train all day.

in the morning he would stretch and get a full body massage.. the stretching itself was for 2 hours.
after breakfast he would wrestle on whatever he wanted to work on... this would take him until noon. then he would eat and sleep.
in the evening he would do his conditioning work..

sets of 100 squats often for 100 sets.. WOW
Push ups (hindu style of course) 50 sets.. never found out how many reps he did.

he would finish with a type of isometric workout.. pushing trees, bear hugging trees and trying to uproot them, tying a long silk scarf round trees and puling them HARD..

then another massage, more food and bed..

he would retire at about 9pm and rise at 5am .. 7 days a wekek without fail.

tough sod!

for grappling training I MIGHT recommend his workouts, but not for self-defence as such as it was the accumulation of many hours a day that made him so phenomenaly strong..

we simply couldnt do it

as a strict Hundu, no meat, no fish, no alcohol, no tobacco etc etc..

hard regime for a hard man

thanks for the questions.. you picked a corker of a guy for them mate

Hindu push ups Dave?

they are a kind of 'two-way' rolling push up

you lift your hips (well arse actually) so that your nose is behind the arms, lower to the floor, almost 'slide' the nose along to go past the hands, then press back up, you then reverse the procedure, where-as you drop the nose IN FRONT of the hands, 'drag' it backwards then press back up

some do one set all one way then change, others change on each rep

either way they aint a walk in the park

How big did Gama get?

Were they any amazing feats he could perform with the strength?

Gama was 5ft 7inches and around 260 lbs.. 54 inch chest.

he picked up Zybsko who was 17 stones held him over his head and threw him on the floor

He could squeeze apples in each hand until they were mush, and according to George McKenzie, who was as straight as they come when he was part of the official wrestling lot.. he could do the same with potatoes.

Tom Cannon who was heavyweight champion of Europe in Catch wrestling said that he was 16stones when Gama lifted him with one arm when Tom was wearing a weight lifters belt

Gama's brother Ghulam was about the same as well

rare men

I think we usd to do them Dave, I think we called them swan dives though. We struggled at ten

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Gama

cheers.
Joe S.

some nice stuff there mate .. many thanks

One thing I am starting to notice, is that with the emergence of more info, some o fthe 'facts', tales etc that I have known for over 40 years are never EXACTLY as I remembered them??????

I did meet many of the old timers in both wrestling and what used to be termed 'physical culture'.. I even met Hackenshmidt.

Most of my wrestling 'facts' and tales come from a combination of old mags, scouring libraries and these days the internet, and anecdotal evidence from the old timers themselves.

I suppose any history is frought with possibilities that the facts arent 100% factual, but I am both pleased and a bit piqued that a lot of what I have genuinely believed for over 40 years sometimes doesnt always seem to be totally correct.

Pleased because the more evidence there is the nearer you can get to the truth, but piqued, because I have been re-telling these facts since the mid 1960's...

oh well

Dave,
Is Matt Furey's Gamma fitness course the same has the routine you mention?????
Jamie

I think Fury based most of his from Farmer Burns and some from Lou Thesz.. mind you Burns studied EVERYTHING so maybe

I dont want to open my big mouth yet again but frankly I dont like much of Fury's stuff... decent content .. high price.. but its ALL plagorised

He has a course called Gamma fitness, I think he got hold of old books and re-packaged it, and to be honest he says has much!!!!!
But if I can get some info for free without paying his very high prices that would be great.
Do you know any of Gamma's old routines?????
Jamie

Well Gama trained very simply but bloody hard.. the main problem for most of us is TIME.. Its all he did.

He had sponsors or backers (maharajas etc) who paid him to represent them.. so he didnt need a job as such.

When I spoke to Athol Oakley about Gama, he said he had it onthe highest authority that he trained something like below..

Rise 5am .. stretch and oil massage .. 2 hours
Breakfast mainly raw veg.
7am -10am calisthenics .. consisting of Hindu style squats.. in very high sets of 100 reps, often 2000 (20 sets) per day. Then Cat/Hindu style push ups done similarly
Then buckets of clay.. he would work his hands all the way in until they were about mid forearm deep in not too soft clay, and squeeze the clay between his fingers and hands for 30 minutes (I managed 30 seconds!!)
This took him to roughly 11am, when he would eat another light (fruit snack) and have an hours sleep.

12noon to 2pm he would practise various individual moves.. not the whole of them just the bits he wanted to work on.. maybe just the hold part of a lift, or an entry ..whatever.

he would sleep from 2pm to 4pm as it was so bloody hot!

4pm to 8pm he would just wrestle in various ways.. starting from his knees, against 2 at once or whatever.

8pm the main meal and a rest, then bed at 10pm

next day .. same again

Yes, that looks damn hard!!!!!
Thanks Dave!!!!!
Jamie