Thanks for watching. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think. If you enjoyed the video please support my channel by hitting Like, Share and Subscribe. Thank you 👍
@@macka5515 As stated in the video, this is the only footage of Greg lifting weights and those that I have shown are the heaviest lifts from that video. There is no proof either way only his claims or claims from people who trained at the same gym. Take it as you will
I trained in the same gym(s) as him many years ago. The guy was enormous. He would shake your hand and it felt like you put your hand in a baseball mitt. Even when he'd cough, the whole gym would hear it. One of the biggest guys I've ever seen. Pictures and videos really don't do him justice.
Catch him putting up some nutty weights?? It's something else to watch people squat 5+ plates for reps in a commercial gyms, many of the people don't realize how insane that is witnessing in person
@@teuxrs9955 he was very strong. He would load leg press to the max and his lifts on the Smith machine were impressive. But the most impressive thing was just how enormous he was.
@@BrainDamageComedy Bro this isn't 2010 We shouldn't care how much steroids people use/used anymore. Non of them would've never been as impressive without steroids and everybody is on steroids nowadays so why should we really care?
I met Greg at Max Muscle in Denver back in the 90s. I stand 6' weighed about 275 and he made me look tiny dude was massive but shredded.. RIP BIG MAN..
It’s also worth noting that Kovacs’ Incline press, Bench press, and behind the neck press were all done on a Smith Machine. That’s a whole different animal and does remove quite a bit of difficulty from those movements.
Not really mate … if you do smith machine every week then go to free bar, you will struggle with the free bar. If you use free bar every week then change to smith, you’ll struggle with the smith machine.
@@paulwatkins2333this comment is bullshit. I’d only done free weights my whole life and my bench was 265, I went on the smith machine and I could do 295.
I met and watched Greg Kovacs when I was in my 20's and he was undoubtedly a freak in the bodybuilding scene. Regardless of whether or not he was the strongest bodybuilder of all time he still was an amazing man to watch throwing the iron around. RIP big man.
I trained at the same gym as Greg at Mississauga Gold's Gym in the 1990's. I remember seeing him do leg presses packed with 45lb plates with his wife sitting on the top of the slide.
I did not know him personally but in the summer of 95 I joined a gym on Thorold Stone Rd., I think across from where the Chevy dealership is now. One Sunday afternoon the place was empty, only him and I were there. I saw him put an insane amount of weight on the bar. I distinctly remember two things: 1) doing the math and realizing it was over 600 lbs with the bar; and 2) thinking I hope to god he does not ask me to spot him - he didn't - he repped with it (incline bench) and made it look easy.
Bottomline: Everything about Greg is exaggerated big time. Thank you Strength Universe for your research. Answered lots of speculations. He is definitely not the Strongest Bodybuilder. Both Ronnie and Markus are convincingly Stronger in my opinion.
So true. Remember his article or write up in muscleman. They said he did like 650 for 12 reps or something. It was smith Machine and he couldn’t do but the reps without getting a spot. I was never really impressed with his strength. Seemed like it was all drugs to me. Of course he dropped dead at an early age.
@Nimal Hey buddy, he was a big guy and undoubtedly very strong but I don't believe any of the claimed lifts although I stopped short of saying that in the video. As you say there are certainly stronger bodybuilders with verified lifts. I think the big give a way is in the video he states that he went to a powerlifting comp, went up to the 430lb weight and pressed it 19 times and he read about Ted Arcidi OHP of 360lbs for 4 reps when he was 405 for reps at 19 years old. If that were true, he knew how strong he was and would have wanted to make some big money by setting World records or by challenging Ted on WWF instead he choose bodybuilding when it was clear he never had the genetics to compete at the highest level.
It's completely true that he was the largest but very very difficult (make the impossible) to believe the claimed lifts especially considering that those numbers beat almost every Strongman competitor even today, some 25 years later.
@@StrengthUniverse your analysis is the best I've seen on him. That incline smith video is hilarious. Years back I thought he was actually pushing 7 plates per side.
It's a wonder his family didn't sue Muscletech for pushing him into the drug world to get so big and maintain that size for his image. No doubt they were at least partly responsible, not caring about his health at all as long as they had the imagine they could market. It probably would have been a lot easier if he had cycled off for longer periods to let his body recover. I do wonder what he would have looked like if he had been training consistently with top quality food but no drugs. He didn't seem to have the typical drug side effects that so many are afflicted with, at least not when he was competing.
I thought Greg was amazing. I trained with him a few times at World Gym in St. Catherine’s Ontario. He had a really really really nice attitude and was helpful whenever guys were curious as to what the proper technique would be to help them gain size or a strength.
@@mikerude5073 Large guys often have an innate natural confidence....for obvious reasons. Plus he had the height unlike so many short but very strong bodybuilders today.
If I recall correctly Ed Coan challenged Greg to a powerlifting contest saying if Greg beat him he would retire. Let's not forget that Ed was around 220 lbs which means he was giving up almost 150 pounds of bodyweight to Greg. Greg never responded and the contest never happened. I was also 13 years old at the time and this very well could have just been a gym rumor but it sounds about right.
This is a joke !! A 6inch leg press . Smith machine incline with obvious help . Ed Coan would have slaughtered him . Another juiced up overblown lifter .
I remember in the early 90s that Ed Coan was in Flex magazine compared to Dorian Yates, also they came pretty close in many major lifts. How strange... Now its just even more weird to think back on but nevertheless true. The article exist out there somewhere... Though, i cant verify its validity and purpose.
You never heard of him the media hyped them up like you would not believe he pushed all kinds of supplements they say bench like 750 pounds for five just all these ridiculous hype lifts that they would say he did they say he drank like 5 gallons of milk a day LOL I'm not kidding you one article I think said he ate 25,000 calories a day I mean all these ridiculous Hypes for the supplements they were selling he had all kinds of supplement deals that's all you've seen in every magazine was this guy with all these ridiculous claims of hype lifting and eating
I worked out at the same gym as Greg in the 90's. He used to show up with another bodybuilder who also died young, Nasser El Sonbaty. I witnessed Greg incline benching 675 for 6 reps while Nasser spotted him. Then Greg would go to the Lat pulldown back machine, he'd attach a 45lb weight to the 275 pound stack and do triceps pulldowns. The guy was a monster.
Greg was a friend of mine, signed autographs at my old MUSCLEMAG INT'L store and working out/training clients in my old studio in Hamilton Ont. I had the "pleasure" of trying to train with him a few times, and yes, I witnessed some insane lifts in our time at training at GOLDS Gym in Mississauga Ont. Behind the neck smith press, 12 reps, 5 plates, NEBULA leg press fully loaded with added dumbells on top, averaging approx 1800lbs for sets of 25! I think by using his training video to "confirm" his strength abilities is not an exact measure of what he could lift! GOLDS had a pair of 200 and 250lb dumbells specially made for him, and yes, he repped out with them! I made some great strides in my strength training with him, he was a really good guy, quiet personality and very approachable as I always saw people watch him and ask questions after workouts. He is missed by all of us here in the Southern Ontario fitness community! RIP my friend!
If more real proof of his incredible lifts are needed one just has to ask Henderson Thorn as it was his GOLDS Gym we trained at in Mississauga back in the mid to late '90s.
@@StrengthUniverse yes sir that be him! Henderson (AKA T) and I were doing squats in one smith machine and Greg comes along and puts 5 plates on the next one over, one more plate then T and I were squatting and he starts shoulder pressing it!! Needless to say T and I packed it in and went for a protein shake lol...good times!
340 KG x 15 squat while world record is Big Z 329 KG x 15 yeah sure . 306 KG incline for 6 reps ??? All this while training for bodybuilding in different era from today ??? Man when you are lying learn that you should make it believable not just straight breaking world records claims .
Hum i'm 75kg and incline press 140kg *6 tho and I barely ever train... A dud massuve and full of steroids training 24 7 like him can definitly incline 300 imo...
Died att 44 of heart failure. There was no way his heart could handle feeding that giant body anymore and on top of that with all that juice for decades. His legacy took its tool.
Yes definitely the body still has to carry all the weight around I'm 300 just now which I'm working on just now at the gym and if it was all turned to muscle I'd still be relitivly unfit has any one seen a bodybuilder trying to run the heart is the most important muscle what's the point in being huge if you're only going to live half of your life?.
Ahh, that famous photo of Cutler and Kovacs.,! Cutler's arms were 21" Kovak's were 25" at the time of this photograph.. Interesting how Kovak's arms look three times the girth when only 4 " bigger.
It's photoshopped buddy. And the tape is either shrunken or folded under. Smh please go look at Manfred Hoerbell ( sp) and Greg Valentino. Please look at EASILY DISTINGUISHED REAL PHOTOS OF ALL OF THEM. Everything...EVERYTHING about Kovacs is GROSSLY exaggerated. I wouldve HOPED you'd be able to distinguish from looking at it that s man 6" shorter , allowing for anywhere between 5 and 15lbs per inch of height, SHOULD BE ROUGHLY EQUAL SIZE... MAYBE BIGGER. Please watch that video, and, again...any Real footage of Kovacs and notice how these so-called 26" arms look SMALL compared to his body. With his height, he would HAVE to be 450+ VERY lean to match that. Closer to 5. Clearly that isn't the case. I do not THINK, I KNOW I'm right. If I've failed to convince you or anyone reading you simply don't want to believe it. I believe the photoshopped arms ( which dwarf his upper body) really ARE what they'd look like at 27" or whatever the old muscle tech adds said he got up to. If you STILL doubt me, look at rich Pianas arms which I believe were legitimately measured at 23". Only a couple inches shorter than Greg. compare the video here to Piana. He ( Rich)dwarves him. PLEASE DONT BELIEVE MUSCLE MAGAZINES, BUDDY. They are COMPLETELY FULL OF TURD...
A long time friend and training partner of Greg’s (so he claimed) came into the gym I worked at in the mid 90’s and we chatted for awhile, mainly about Greg. He told me a few things about his training, diet, and “supplement” use. Apparently he had told people that he fully expected to die before the age of 40, and considered it a hazard of the job when someone as big as him continued with the lifestyle.
Is there someone who's done heavier lateral raises than Kyriakos Grizzly? Great video btw, I know a lot of what was shown was exaggerated but he was still one heck of a strong dude.
Yes there is, a Powerlifter called George Leeman did 100lb lateral raises with excellent form. Take a look here: th-cam.com/video/5-IfWvInGjQ/w-d-xo.html
Greg came into the World's Gym in St.Catharines ON to workout a few times. I've only witnessed his leg workout, but holy f*ck was that guy strong......and not just for low reps......watched him load up a leg press machine with 45's, both horizontal and vertical horns and proceed to do 20 rep sets for what seemed like an hour. It was pretty incredible to watch someone like him in the gym.
My company would do office moves for Muscletech. I remember playing around in their gym. I was 5' 8 230 lbs at the time. This dude shows up one day and is literally twice my size. Absolute massive guy. Never forgot. His girlfriend looked like a small child next to him. Still got a Muscletech hat somewhere.
@@Virvum_Juggernaut Since I am really speechless and impressed by you, since I am only 4.2 feet tall and weigh 60 lbs are all achievements that only amaze me I admire this very much and have great respect for it
I saw this guy a few times at what was either Gold's or World gym in Brampton. I also as a teenager used to cut the grass for the owner of MuscleTech, who had a 20+million dollar home on lake Ontario in Oakville. It's no wonder they did so well in the pre-internet "steroid naive" era with guys like this promoting their products.
He used to train at a gym near me where I lived at the time. Olympia muscle and fitness. Never saw him but heard lots of stories about him dude was strong as fuck
Much like the hype for the “uncrowned Mr. Olympia” Victor Richards, I remember Kovac’s size and strength stats being thrown about in the bodybuilding mags of the day, the incredulous statements from people who’d witnessed him in the gym, but, unfortunately, what overshadows everything is the memory of an athlete who was killed pursuing-and, honestly, being addicted to-a medically risky profession he didn’t have the genetics for. Had he gone into powerlifting and strongman where he could’ve been as big and strong as he wanted without the need to be sculpted and shredded, I think he would’ve been fine, but instead he kept getting on stage and doing photo shoots and appearances and looking worse every time. Not just aesthetically worse (he had Palumboism before that was even a term), but unhealthy to the point of “Dude, maybe you should stop this before you die.” Little did I know.
Back then it was easier to fudge these lifts as this was before youtube and social media took off and especially nowadays with the modern era of powerlifters they are typically leagues ahead of the average bodbuilder in terms of strength to weight ratio
Regardless of exaggerated lift claims, he has some of the cleanest form I've ever seen, especially for the weight. The side by side with Coleman is telling as Coleman is visibly using more body english on his lifts.
Great comparison! 👍 I'm sure he would have had great success as a strongman at least finish easily in the finalists but his first passion was of course bodybuilding. R.I.P Greg
Not strongman, he didn't have great fitness and we never got to see if he possessed any athleticism. But he would have been a helluva powerlifter, IMO.
It's mad but there are several athletes military pressing this amount and more on video. At 275lbs bodyweight (over 100lbs lighter then greg) Larry Wheels has done 515lbs
Damn, I did shoulders today and was proud as hell of myself using the 25s on lateral raise and seeing this guy use GOOD form and ROM using 75s is really humbling.
Greg wasn't considerably bigger than Paul, he was only an inch taller. Paul's actual height is 6'3, Marx Max Muscle has a video about and Paul said in an interview that he lied about his height to make himself seem more impressive. I doubt a lot of Greg's numbers.
Graig kovacs has been as heavy as 430lbs offseason Paul dillet never got that big but onstage weight Craig kovacs was as heavy as 335 lbs lbs onstage Paul dillet did hit the stage at 317 lbs once
Greg was of the rarest pedigree of weight training athlete. He was GREAT. HE NEED NOT TO HAVE PICKED BODY BUILDING OVER POWER LIFTING, BECAUSE HE HAD THEM BOTH. 💪🏿💪🏾💪🏽💪🏻💪💪🏼
Musclemag International was also saying the same thing. More specifically, a writer called Greg Zulak. Being young and naive, at the time I believed these claims.
My dad met him many years ago in a gym here in the Falls, there was one time where he was holding a supplement in one hand and wiping sweat from his face in the other and said “if I sell you this sweaty rag you’d probably get more out of it than whatever’s in this bottle” with a huge smirk and my dad remembered he and his friends died laughing
Well here is a first for me. I trained in St Catharines Ont back in 1991. Many times I would be in the gym with my female workout partner watching Greg work out . At the time we could not get over the size of Gregs calves, at one point we saw Greg hold in each hand a 200 lb dumbells flat benching for many reps. HMMMMM ... just read some of the comments and i can tell you that many times i was jaw dropped by how much weight Greg was throwing around..... Then i was 200 pounds and i coundnt come close to lifting what Greg did. Yes he was super strong ,,, way beyond your average body builder. and this video doesnt show where or when Greg was at the point of his workout. was that his last set or his first set for the day. and lastly there was this one time i sat on a bench right beside GREG....he was probably around400 lbs at the time , I look like a small kid compared to him
Hi mark, Every set I have shown is the heaviest of that exercise. The original video was only about 30mins long so clearly heavily edited as it followed Greg through a fall week of training. No Doubt Greg was huge and very strong, the question is whether he was the strongest BB of all time and as strong as the magazines claimed and I guess that we will never truly know
Hard to determine if he'd been a great strongman because we were given no indication of his athleticism or fitness. From the stories I've heard, he'd be out of breath going from his car to the storefronts when doing appearances. I think he would have been a tremendous powerlifter though! I think he could have done huge numbers in that sport!
Hmmm, tough call on this one, some of the Flex claims are a little sketch, especially the bench claim, but it wouldn't surprise me if he could bench atleast 610lbs, maybe just maybe 630, and I mean shit even 620 would place him above the strongest bodybuilder builder bench so it's still very impressive. His legs were likly only a little stronger than Ronnie's, I don't see him pulling off 20 reps at 2000 lbs, even if he was not at his peak in that one video showing which he wasn't, you can clearly see his quads were not at his largest.
Don't know why some people think he was the biggest bodybuilder ever merely because he was 400 lbs of BULK in off season. When he cut down for a show, he was 300 lbs - not THAT big for a guy his height. Regarding his highly exaggerated lifts - thank MuscleTech for that. Advertising & sales folks. It's too bad he pushed the envelope so far to end his later years with a serious case of Palumboism. RIP Kovacs.
@@coystuart8583 Greg himself stated that his peak weight was 416lb…..some channels and media have rounded this up to 420. He was never 430. Most who knew him have stated his height as 6’2 but again all over the media he is stated as 6’4.
At my gym, they'll flip if they catch you adding just a few extra pounds onto a maxxed out machine. Got yapped at twice within a year. Now have to put up with 15 rep sets on the chest fly machine, I can't add any extra weight to get the reps down. Extremely frustrating.
IVE SEEN PHOTO SHOOTS IN GOLDS REDONDO BEACH BACK IN THE 90s WHERE THEY USED FAKE 45s - FOR MIKE QUINN AND MANFRED HOEBERL - now granted , these guys had to do multiple shots for the camera and so to get it right there's some facial acting involved (if you remember 80s/90s magazines) but you could imagine that a supplement company might use exagerated plates and numbers to sell product
Just because you post videos of what Greg pushed at that particular time while being filmed, doesn't mean he didn't actually at some point in time lift the claimed weight totals that was said. Not saying it was all truth, I am sure they were exaggerated to some extent, but point is these videos do nothing to DISPROVE his feats of strength in the gym. The guy was a juggernaut!
Greg was constantly marketed by Muscletech nutrition as the biggest and strongest Bodybuilder (and even man) in the world and yet when he does a promotional video for them he decided to workout out with 30%+ less weight than the claims???? Come on, if he could do the weights claimed this is the one time he absolutely would have. I'm sure he was very strong but the claims especially at that time seem way off
@@StrengthUniverse Fair enough, but like I said I’m sure it was exaggerated. I guess we’ll never truly know the full extent of what is truth and what’s marketing hype.
Do people know how bodybuilding works? When some of his exercises were taped here he could be doing a burn out set, drop set what ever and that could be the reduction of weight on certain things. I’m not saying a lot of his lifts we’re not exaggerative because they were I’m just pointing out that fact. I believe he was no doubt strong I do NOT believe overall he was stronger then Ronnie. No way.
Or just training in general. The strongest people in the world peak and deload. Thor doesn't deadlift 501 everytime he trains. I think Ronnie was the strongest bodybuilder in the world if you take volume into account. I don't think Kovacs was far behind. He was possibly the biggest bodybuilder that ever lived and came at a time that bodybuilders almost universally trained heavy. Big Ramy rivals Kovacs size and you hear almost nothing about his strength.
Just like the WWE does inflating heights and weght's of their wrestlers musletech did the same with Greg Kovacs. Despite being the Monsters they were and as strong as he was we all know advertising will lie to make their stars appear larger then life to make those sales. I did meet Greg Kovaks when working out at Ric Flair's Golds Gym in Charlotte N.C and i saw him do the entire weight stack plus a 45 pound plate on each side on the seated rows. He alss had told me for lunch he had 12 big macs . . at this time his weight was over 400 pounds. A monster!!!
I don't doubt the magazine exaggerated his lifts. However, those videos were probably not his PRs. And the fact that Ronnie hit some of his PRs while prepping "cutting wight" before competition is crazy!! and very impressive 💪
That's what I was thinking. Haters gotta hate and I could tell there was a lot of hating going on in this video. Tell the guy your video taping him to verify the magazine story...then watch what he does. Everyone's weight changes depending on first or second workout, calorie intake, pre show or bulking, traveling etc etc. Not what I would call a fair comparison...at least not from this video.
Thanks for watching. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think. If you enjoyed the video please support my channel by hitting Like, Share and Subscribe. Thank you 👍
Those clips prove nothing either way!
@@macka5515 I agree but they certainly prove that there is intent to mislead as is shown by the loading of 6 plates and only pressing 5
@@StrengthUniverse not really, because all you've done is show clips!
What someone has claimed can't be linked to those clips!!
@@macka5515 As stated in the video, this is the only footage of Greg lifting weights and those that I have shown are the heaviest lifts from that video. There is no proof either way only his claims or claims from people who trained at the same gym. Take it as you will
@@StrengthUniverse exactly...so the point of your video is worthless!
I trained in the same gym(s) as him many years ago. The guy was enormous. He would shake your hand and it felt like you put your hand in a baseball mitt. Even when he'd cough, the whole gym would hear it. One of the biggest guys I've ever seen. Pictures and videos really don't do him justice.
Catch him putting up some nutty weights?? It's something else to watch people squat 5+ plates for reps in a commercial gyms, many of the people don't realize how insane that is witnessing in person
@@teuxrs9955 he was very strong. He would load leg press to the max and his lifts on the Smith machine were impressive. But the most impressive thing was just how enormous he was.
@@teuxrs9955 k
the amount of shit he talked was certainly impressive 🤣🤣
@@BrainDamageComedy Bro this isn't 2010 We shouldn't care how much steroids people use/used anymore. Non of them would've never been as impressive without steroids and everybody is on steroids nowadays so why should we really care?
Something tells me Greg Kovacs had a son named Brad and later down the line when his son got older, he changed his last name to Castleberry.
Comment of the century 🤣🤣🤣
Lol. Dinkleberry.
@@KoujiIsAmazing all day long baby! 💪
Dingleberry?
Those fakeweight plates passed down, from father to son.
I met Greg at Max Muscle in Denver back in the 90s. I stand 6' weighed about 275 and he made me look tiny dude was massive but shredded.. RIP BIG MAN..
Yo bro sorry you broke your neck
@@randomers7870 Right on Brosef
It’s also worth noting that Kovacs’ Incline press, Bench press, and behind the neck press were all done on a Smith Machine. That’s a whole different animal and does remove quite a bit of difficulty from those movements.
Not really mate … if you do smith machine every week then go to free bar, you will struggle with the free bar. If you use free bar every week then change to smith, you’ll struggle with the smith machine.
@@paulwatkins2333 thats true
Im from Toronto...was it here?
@@paulwatkins2333this comment is bullshit. I’d only done free weights my whole life and my bench was 265, I went on the smith machine and I could do 295.
@@_THE_NUT_smithmachine is much easier idk what that guy was talking about
I met and watched Greg Kovacs when I was in my 20's and he was undoubtedly a freak in the bodybuilding scene. Regardless of whether or not he was the strongest bodybuilder of all time he still was an amazing man to watch throwing the iron around. RIP big man.
I trained at the same gym as Greg at Mississauga Gold's Gym in the 1990's. I remember seeing him do leg presses packed with 45lb plates with his wife sitting on the top of the slide.
I did not know him personally but in the summer of 95 I joined a gym on Thorold Stone Rd., I think across from where the Chevy dealership is now. One Sunday afternoon the place was empty, only him and I were there. I saw him put an insane amount of weight on the bar. I distinctly remember two things: 1) doing the math and realizing it was over 600 lbs with the bar; and 2) thinking I hope to god he does not ask me to spot him - he didn't - he repped with it (incline bench) and made it look easy.
I remember seeing this guy on the cover of Flex and Ironman back in the 90s. Exaggerating numbers but was obviously a strong dude.
Bottomline: Everything about Greg is exaggerated big time. Thank you Strength Universe for your research. Answered lots of speculations. He is definitely not the Strongest Bodybuilder. Both Ronnie and Markus are convincingly Stronger in my opinion.
So true. Remember his article or write up in muscleman. They said he did like 650 for 12 reps or something. It was smith Machine and he couldn’t do but the reps without getting a spot. I was never really impressed with his strength. Seemed like it was all drugs to me. Of course he dropped dead at an early age.
He was a victim of marketing and it quite literally killed him.
The incline press numbers sounded a bit ridiculous.
@Nimal Hey buddy, he was a big guy and undoubtedly very strong but I don't believe any of the claimed lifts although I stopped short of saying that in the video. As you say there are certainly stronger bodybuilders with verified lifts. I think the big give a way is in the video he states that he went to a powerlifting comp, went up to the 430lb weight and pressed it 19 times and he read about Ted Arcidi OHP of 360lbs for 4 reps when he was 405 for reps at 19 years old. If that were true, he knew how strong he was and would have wanted to make some big money by setting World records or by challenging Ted on WWF instead he choose bodybuilding when it was clear he never had the genetics to compete at the highest level.
Once i seen his training video, i knew his lifts were nonsense
Muscletech sponsored him and they completely forced the idea of him being the largest and strongest bodybuilder of all time. It was ridiculous.
It's completely true that he was the largest but very very difficult (make the impossible) to believe the claimed lifts especially considering that those numbers beat almost every Strongman competitor even today, some 25 years later.
@@StrengthUniverse your analysis is the best I've seen on him. That incline smith video is hilarious. Years back I thought he was actually pushing 7 plates per side.
It's a wonder his family didn't sue Muscletech for pushing him into the drug world to get so big and maintain that size for his image. No doubt they were at least partly responsible, not caring about his health at all as long as they had the imagine they could market. It probably would have been a lot easier if he had cycled off for longer periods to let his body recover. I do wonder what he would have looked like if he had been training consistently with top quality food but no drugs. He didn't seem to have the typical drug side effects that so many are afflicted with, at least not when he was competing.
I thought Greg was amazing.
I trained with him a few times at World Gym in St. Catherine’s Ontario.
He had a really really really nice attitude and was helpful whenever guys were curious as to what the proper technique would be to help them gain size or a strength.
That's what everyone has to say about Greg. He was very friendly to everyone he met.
@@mikerude5073 Large guys often have an innate natural confidence....for obvious reasons. Plus he had the height unlike so many short but very strong bodybuilders today.
If I recall correctly Ed Coan challenged Greg to a powerlifting contest saying if Greg beat him he would retire. Let's not forget that Ed was around 220 lbs which means he was giving up almost 150 pounds of bodyweight to Greg. Greg never responded and the contest never happened. I was also 13 years old at the time and this very well could have just been a gym rumor but it sounds about right.
This is a joke !! A 6inch leg press . Smith machine incline with obvious help . Ed Coan would have slaughtered him . Another juiced up overblown lifter .
Ronnie would have beaten Kovacs, and even if he lost I wouldn't be surprised because he's literally over 400lbs .
I remember in the early 90s that Ed Coan was in Flex magazine compared to Dorian Yates, also they came pretty close in many major lifts. How strange... Now its just even more weird to think back on but nevertheless true. The article exist out there somewhere... Though, i cant verify its validity and purpose.
Ed Coan was way above any bodybuilder in strength , including Markus and Coleman.
@@jsims1617 In powerlifting moves yes. But in many other exercises Coan will lose.
His arms measuring around 25" inches was one thing that was true.
Never heard of him but damn this guy was an absolute unit
You never heard of him the media hyped them up like you would not believe he pushed all kinds of supplements they say bench like 750 pounds for five just all these ridiculous hype lifts that they would say he did they say he drank like 5 gallons of milk a day LOL I'm not kidding you one article I think said he ate 25,000 calories a day I mean all these ridiculous Hypes for the supplements they were selling he had all kinds of supplement deals that's all you've seen in every magazine was this guy with all these ridiculous claims of hype lifting and eating
He had 25" arms and a 70" chest.
@@MrPAULONEAL Imagine being lean and having a bigger chest than the Big Show
I worked out at the same gym as Greg in the 90's. He used to show up with another bodybuilder who also died young, Nasser El Sonbaty. I witnessed Greg incline benching 675 for 6 reps while Nasser spotted him. Then Greg would go to the Lat pulldown back machine, he'd attach a 45lb weight to the 275 pound stack and do triceps pulldowns. The guy was a monster.
what did Nasser look like in person
@@karimtemri1664 i dont know but apparently he walked like an Egyptian
@@patrickmurphy5842
😂🤣
Nasser the biggest 5'9" 330lb off season!! WITH DEFINITION!!!!!MAX.
@@patrickmurphy5842 hahahah. that is good stuff.
Greg was a friend of mine, signed autographs at my old MUSCLEMAG INT'L store and working out/training clients in my old studio in Hamilton Ont. I had the "pleasure" of trying to train with him a few times, and yes, I witnessed some insane lifts in our time at training at GOLDS Gym in Mississauga Ont. Behind the neck smith press, 12 reps, 5 plates, NEBULA leg press fully loaded with added dumbells on top, averaging approx 1800lbs for sets of 25!
I think by using his training video to "confirm" his strength abilities is not an exact measure of what he could lift!
GOLDS had a pair of 200 and 250lb dumbells specially made for him, and yes, he repped out with them! I made some great strides in my strength training with him, he was a really good guy, quiet personality and very approachable as I always saw people watch him and ask questions after workouts. He is missed by all of us here in the Southern Ontario fitness community! RIP my friend!
If more real proof of his incredible lifts are needed one just has to ask Henderson Thorn as it was his GOLDS Gym we trained at in Mississauga back in the mid to late '90s.
Hey Marshall, thanks for your comment, do you mean this Henderson Thorn? facebook.com/henderson.thorne
@@StrengthUniverse yes sir that be him! Henderson (AKA T) and I were doing squats in one smith machine and Greg comes along and puts 5 plates on the next one over, one more plate then T and I were squatting and he starts shoulder pressing it!! Needless to say T and I packed it in and went for a protein shake lol...good times!
Exactly, this is just a training vid, absolutely no way to determine if he is going all out here
Greg was the strongest of all time most of his lifts in this video are perfect form and hes sitting down in a alot of them
circa 2000 i saw Kovacs walk by in toronto and my jaw hit the floor... the size of these guys in real life is really something else.
Do Cbum vs Arnold next.
340 KG x 15 squat while world record is Big Z 329 KG x 15 yeah sure . 306 KG incline for 6 reps ??? All this while training for bodybuilding in different era from today ???
Man when you are lying learn that you should make it believable not just straight breaking world records claims .
Brad Castleberry enters the chat:
yea 306kg 6 reps incline my ass, proceeds to do like 220 kg for 4 reps with spotter on smith machine when laying almost flat... lol
Hum i'm 75kg and incline press 140kg *6 tho and I barely ever train... A dud massuve and full of steroids training 24 7 like him can definitly incline 300 imo...
Thank you for the video as always. Strong guy ,but definitely believe the numbers are exaggerated quite a bit.
Died att 44 of heart failure. There was no way his heart could handle feeding that giant body anymore and on top of that with all that juice for decades. His legacy took its tool.
legacy took its toll*. your education took its toll*.
@@joys8634 your manners takes it toll on all that read your needless comment, tool. That’s not a type o either. ;-)
Ye 400 of lbs of muscle is the same as 400 lbs of fat your body and heart don't know the difference
@@davebremner5989 You could argue that pound for pound extra muscle is harder on the heart than fat. It requires more oxygen than fat.
Yes definitely the body still has to carry all the weight around I'm 300 just now which I'm working on just now at the gym and if it was all turned to muscle I'd still be relitivly unfit has any one seen a bodybuilder trying to run the heart is the most important muscle what's the point in being huge if you're only going to live half of your life?.
Ahh, that famous photo of Cutler and Kovacs.,! Cutler's arms were 21" Kovak's were 25" at the time of this photograph..
Interesting how Kovak's arms look three times the girth when only 4 " bigger.
It's photoshopped buddy. And the tape is either shrunken or folded under. Smh please go look at Manfred Hoerbell ( sp) and Greg Valentino. Please look at EASILY DISTINGUISHED REAL PHOTOS OF ALL OF THEM. Everything...EVERYTHING about Kovacs is GROSSLY exaggerated. I wouldve HOPED you'd be able to distinguish from looking at it that s man 6" shorter , allowing for anywhere between 5 and 15lbs per inch of height, SHOULD BE ROUGHLY EQUAL SIZE... MAYBE BIGGER. Please watch that video, and, again...any Real footage of Kovacs and notice how these so-called 26" arms look SMALL compared to his body. With his height, he would HAVE to be 450+ VERY lean to match that. Closer to 5. Clearly that isn't the case. I do not THINK, I KNOW I'm right. If I've failed to convince you or anyone reading you simply don't want to believe it. I believe the photoshopped arms ( which dwarf his upper body) really ARE what they'd look like at 27" or whatever the old muscle tech adds said he got up to. If you STILL doubt me, look at rich Pianas arms which I believe were legitimately measured at 23". Only a couple inches shorter than Greg. compare the video here to Piana. He ( Rich)dwarves him. PLEASE DONT BELIEVE MUSCLE MAGAZINES, BUDDY. They are COMPLETELY FULL OF TURD...
A long time friend and training partner of Greg’s (so he claimed) came into the gym I worked at in the mid 90’s and we chatted for awhile, mainly about Greg. He told me a few things about his training, diet, and “supplement” use. Apparently he had told people that he fully expected to die before the age of 40, and considered it a hazard of the job when someone as big as him continued with the lifestyle.
Sick video, thanks. Your voice is so calming!
Thank you, pleased you enjoyed the video
Is there someone who's done heavier lateral raises than Kyriakos Grizzly? Great video btw, I know a lot of what was shown was exaggerated but he was still one heck of a strong dude.
I dont think so, no.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
I know there is a video of George leeman from back in the day lateral raising 100 lbs for a bunch of reps.
I genuinely doing think that there is footage of such a feat occurring
Yes there is, a Powerlifter called George Leeman did 100lb lateral raises with excellent form. Take a look here: th-cam.com/video/5-IfWvInGjQ/w-d-xo.html
Greg came into the World's Gym in St.Catharines ON to workout a few times. I've only witnessed his leg workout, but holy f*ck was that guy strong......and not just for low reps......watched him load up a leg press machine with 45's, both horizontal and vertical horns and proceed to do 20 rep sets for what seemed like an hour. It was pretty incredible to watch someone like him in the gym.
My company would do office moves for Muscletech. I remember playing around in their gym. I was 5' 8 230 lbs at the time. This dude shows up one day and is literally twice my size. Absolute massive guy. Never forgot. His girlfriend looked like a small child next to him. Still got a Muscletech hat somewhere.
You would have looked pretty massive yourself man at 5’8 and 230lbs. I’m 5’9 and 210lbs and everyone thinks I’m juicing. Props bro!
@@Virvum_Juggernaut Since I am really speechless and impressed by you, since I am only 4.2 feet tall and weigh 60 lbs are all achievements that only amaze me I admire this very much and have great respect for it
@@oliverempting8551 I wish all the best
Really appreciate the amount of time and research that goes into this
Great video my friend more like myth busters type 😂👌
I remember when i was buying flex magazines back then.
Good catch on the one less plate.
I saw this guy a few times at what was either Gold's or World gym in Brampton. I also as a teenager used to cut the grass for the owner of MuscleTech, who had a 20+million dollar home on lake Ontario in Oakville. It's no wonder they did so well in the pre-internet "steroid naive" era with guys like this promoting their products.
He used to train at a gym near me where I lived at the time. Olympia muscle and fitness. Never saw him but heard lots of stories about him dude was strong as fuck
Great video, and fantastic job!
Thank you very much!
Much like the hype for the “uncrowned Mr. Olympia” Victor Richards, I remember Kovac’s size and strength stats being thrown about in the bodybuilding mags of the day, the incredulous statements from people who’d witnessed him in the gym, but, unfortunately, what overshadows everything is the memory of an athlete who was killed pursuing-and, honestly, being addicted to-a medically risky profession he didn’t have the genetics for. Had he gone into powerlifting and strongman where he could’ve been as big and strong as he wanted without the need to be sculpted and shredded, I think he would’ve been fine, but instead he kept getting on stage and doing photo shoots and appearances and looking worse every time. Not just aesthetically worse (he had Palumboism before that was even a term), but unhealthy to the point of “Dude, maybe you should stop this before you die.” Little did I know.
Greg was our trainer and friend in the 90’s RIP my dear friend ❤
I’m 485 kg bodybuilder but I don’t show anyone my muscle I live in Australia 🇦🇺
Thank you for the research and video! I always wondered how strong he was 💪👌👍
No Worries mate, thanks for your suggestion. I just wish there were more videos available
Solid vid. Great info.
Glad you liked it!
6:23 my heart legit skipped a beat 😂
Spirit of bred costelbery lives in many people.
From Egypt i respect your presidential talking and voicing calm brother ..
Even soundtracks bro you are the best
Thank you!
Back then it was easier to fudge these lifts as this was before youtube and social media took off and especially nowadays with the modern era of powerlifters they are typically leagues ahead of the average bodbuilder in terms of strength to weight ratio
I met Greg Kovacs briefly at golds gym Edmonton alberta Canada..I couldn't believe a human can be that big..cool
This TH-cam channel is amazing 🔥🔥🔥
Greg's bulking Diet
Meal 1: 6 whole eggs, 2 cups egg whites, 4 pieces toast, and orange juice
Meal 2: 2 scoops whey protein powder and 2 bananas
Meal 3: 6 whole eggs, 2 cups egg whites, 8 slices bacon, 2 cups oatmeal, and orange juice
Meal 4: 12 ounces chicken breast, 2 cups white rice, and broccoli
Meal 5: 2 scoops whey protein powder, 4 rice cakes, and peanut butter
Meal 6: 12 ounces steak, 16 ounces potatoes, and asparagus
Meal 7: 12 ounces chicken, 2 cups white rice, and broccoli
Meal 8: 2 scoops casein protein and ice cream
Greg's cutting Diet
Meal 1: 3 whole eggs, 1 cup egg whites, and 1 cup oatmeal
Meal 2: 1 scoop whey protein and 1 banana
Meal 3: 3 whole eggs, 1 cup egg whites, and 6 slices turkey bacon
Meal 4: 8 ounces chicken breast, 1 cup white rice, and broccoli
Meal 5: 2 scoops whey protein powder, 2 rice cakes, and peanut butter
Meal 6: 8 ounces lean steak, 8 ounces potatoes, and asparagus
Meal 7: 8 ounces chicken breast, 1 cup brown rice, and broccoli
Meal 8: 2 scoops casein protein and Greek yogurt
So he was today’s version of brad castlebarry
Remember Gregg in early 2000s magazine's in Flex when in my early 20s. Dude was a MONSTER
Beast for sure, but a total fraud
Regardless of exaggerated lift claims, he has some of the cleanest form I've ever seen, especially for the weight. The side by side with Coleman is telling as Coleman is visibly using more body english on his lifts.
Ronnie Colman is all shriveled up now
Great comparison! 👍 I'm sure he would have had great success as a strongman at least finish easily in the finalists but his first passion was of course bodybuilding. R.I.P Greg
Not strongman, he didn't have great fitness and we never got to see if he possessed any athleticism. But he would have been a helluva powerlifter, IMO.
The wilt chamberlain of lifting and bodybuilding
saw him once in montreal , i said to my self wtf?
So what have we learned from this video.....Ronnie is a monster lol
I don't think I'll live long enough to see a Mr. Olympia better than Ronnie in his prime.
I saw this guy military press with 4 plates at a Canadian gym like it was nothing.
How is this possible!?!?
It's mad but there are several athletes military pressing this amount and more on video. At 275lbs bodyweight (over 100lbs lighter then greg) Larry Wheels has done 515lbs
@@StrengthUniverse that’s insane.
the thing is the guy dont cheat! he did perfect moviments
There is no denying that, his form was excellent on every lift
@@StrengthUniverse He was a stickler for proper form, he wanted to make sure every rep counted!
And no wraps on the hack squats...
greg was swinging those dumbell curls and side laterals.
Damn, I did shoulders today and was proud as hell of myself using the 25s on lateral raise and seeing this guy use GOOD form and ROM using 75s is really humbling.
its a shame he doesn't have video of these magazine lifts. maybe more people would think of him as legit strongest bodybuilder if the did.
There are no video's only photo's and it's well known that many of the photos taken by the magazine were staged with fake weights
Keeping with the Canadian theme, Hugo Girard and J.F. Caron would be a cool comparison
Had 2 fans running on him whenever possible because he was always sweating so much.
Greg wasn't considerably bigger than Paul, he was only an inch taller. Paul's actual height is 6'3, Marx Max Muscle has a video about and Paul said in an interview that he lied about his height to make himself seem more impressive. I doubt a lot of Greg's numbers.
Graig kovacs has been as heavy as 430lbs offseason Paul dillet never got that big but onstage weight Craig kovacs was as heavy as 335 lbs lbs onstage Paul dillet did hit the stage at 317 lbs once
First music name please
It's: Away - Patrick Patrikios
I think Greg did achieve those strength feats but with major help from the spotters
Most of his stuff was on smith and not BB as well.
If he could do any of that he would have filmed it
Can you check marko Savolainen from Finland and make some vs videos about him? Great bodybuilder from 90s and early 2000s and had great strengt
0:24 so Greg started lifting at 17 and at the age of 17 he was that big? You better check what u're saying man...
Correct, he started lifting at 17 and the picture is him at 17.
Greg was of the rarest pedigree of weight training athlete. He was GREAT. HE NEED NOT TO HAVE PICKED BODY BUILDING OVER POWER LIFTING, BECAUSE HE HAD THEM BOTH. 💪🏿💪🏾💪🏽💪🏻💪💪🏼
He only had power lifting, it was evident that bodybuilding was no success for him
Musclemag International was also saying the same thing. More specifically, a writer called Greg Zulak.
Being young and naive, at the time I believed these claims.
My dad met him many years ago in a gym here in the Falls, there was one time where he was holding a supplement in one hand and wiping sweat from his face in the other and said “if I sell you this sweaty rag you’d probably get more out of it than whatever’s in this bottle” with a huge smirk and my dad remembered he and his friends died laughing
Supplement as in steroids?😮
@@Qwer-eg1rj oh nah i meant a protein powder tub
@@Gobfull meh then the joke doesn't hit as much
I’ve trained with him trust me he was a beastttttt super great guy miss him
Well here is a first for me. I trained in St Catharines Ont back in 1991. Many times I would be in the gym with my female workout partner watching Greg work out . At the time we could not get over the size of Gregs calves, at one point we saw Greg hold in each hand a 200 lb dumbells flat benching for many reps. HMMMMM ... just read some of the comments and i can tell you that many times i was jaw dropped by how much weight Greg was throwing around..... Then i was 200 pounds and i coundnt come close to lifting what Greg did. Yes he was super strong ,,, way beyond your average body builder. and this video doesnt show where or when Greg was at the point of his workout. was that his last set or his first set for the day. and lastly there was this one time i sat on a bench right beside GREG....he was probably around400 lbs at the time , I look like a small kid compared to him
Hi mark, Every set I have shown is the heaviest of that exercise. The original video was only about 30mins long so clearly heavily edited as it followed Greg through a fall week of training. No Doubt Greg was huge and very strong, the question is whether he was the strongest BB of all time and as strong as the magazines claimed and I guess that we will never truly know
Dan Green vs John Haack please
No solo era una montaña de músculos también tenía una FUERZA brutal.. descanse en paz
Flex Magazine, come on now, these are WWE numbers
Hard to determine if he'd been a great strongman because we were given no indication of his athleticism or fitness. From the stories I've heard, he'd be out of breath going from his car to the storefronts when doing appearances. I think he would have been a tremendous powerlifter though! I think he could have done huge numbers in that sport!
That's true he was always out of breath and sweating profusely.
Hmmm, tough call on this one, some of the Flex claims are a little sketch, especially the bench claim, but it wouldn't surprise me if he could bench atleast 610lbs, maybe just maybe 630, and I mean shit even 620 would place him above the strongest bodybuilder builder bench so it's still very impressive.
His legs were likly only a little stronger than Ronnie's, I don't see him pulling off 20 reps at 2000 lbs, even if he was not at his peak in that one video showing which he wasn't, you can clearly see his quads were not at his largest.
Me watching who still struggles with 100lbs
👁👄👁
Don't know why some people think he was the biggest bodybuilder ever merely because he was 400 lbs of BULK in off season. When he cut down for a show, he was 300 lbs - not THAT big for a guy his height. Regarding his highly exaggerated lifts - thank MuscleTech for that. Advertising & sales folks. It's too bad he pushed the envelope so far to end his later years with a serious case of Palumboism. RIP Kovacs.
He was 330lbs on stage which is heavier than any professional BB. hew was 416lbs in the off season still with good separation.
He was 6'4" and offseason he was 430lbs and he has been onstage at 335lbs
@@coystuart8583 Greg himself stated that his peak weight was 416lb…..some channels and media have rounded this up to 420. He was never 430. Most who knew him have stated his height as 6’2 but again all over the media he is stated as 6’4.
10kg is a huge difference when it comes to flys. I can also go heavier on an incline bench with flys.
First picture w/o shirt: yeah, he juiced af
Is this a fake thumbnail? Because he's twice the size of jay
He was built like Jotaro Kujo at 17
At my gym, they'll flip if they catch you adding just a few extra pounds onto a maxxed out machine. Got yapped at twice within a year. Now have to put up with 15 rep sets on the chest fly machine, I can't add any extra weight to get the reps down. Extremely frustrating.
IVE SEEN PHOTO SHOOTS IN GOLDS REDONDO BEACH BACK IN THE 90s WHERE THEY USED FAKE 45s - FOR MIKE QUINN AND MANFRED HOEBERL - now granted , these guys had to do multiple shots for the camera and so to get it right there's some facial acting involved (if you remember 80s/90s magazines) but you could imagine that a supplement company might use exagerated plates and numbers to sell product
Exactly!
He was in wrong sport he was born to be a strong man. He may still be alive too as the regime would have suited his body better.
I agree, he never had the symmetry to make it in Bodybuilding but definitely have the size and strength to be a strongman
Just because you post videos of what Greg pushed at that particular time while being filmed, doesn't mean he didn't actually at some point in time lift the claimed weight totals that was said. Not saying it was all truth, I am sure they were exaggerated to some extent, but point is these videos do nothing to DISPROVE his feats of strength in the gym. The guy was a juggernaut!
Greg was constantly marketed by Muscletech nutrition as the biggest and strongest Bodybuilder (and even man) in the world and yet when he does a promotional video for them he decided to workout out with 30%+ less weight than the claims???? Come on, if he could do the weights claimed this is the one time he absolutely would have.
I'm sure he was very strong but the claims especially at that time seem way off
@@StrengthUniverse Fair enough, but like I said I’m sure it was exaggerated. I guess we’ll never truly know the full extent of what is truth and what’s marketing hype.
The fact that he was curling only 60s and side lateralling 70s doesn’t compute. It must be that set of curls was at the end of a workout
Could be but why would you release a marketing video that showed you being weaker then you really were?
No vid didn't happen . Why would you not have film of record crushing lifts
Exactly
I am sure weights/reps were exaggerated but he is squeezing the crap out of lots of these reps, and very strict reps in most cases. Excellent video.
No knee wraps for legs though
Just learned my dad went to school with Greg in Niagara Falls LOL
Damn! that's amazing
Greg was definitely the biggest bodybuilder ever. He might not of been as strong as Ronnie but sure as hell stronger than all else
Naah
Craig Monson was stronger
@@MrYodeezy haha Craig was full of shit
@@letsgobrandon4043 There’s video on TH-cam though. I don’t think you’d say that to his face even today.
@@MrYodeezy haha I’m sure I would even back then
Geez when he's loading those plates onto that bar he looks uncannily just like Brad Castleberry!
Big, strong guy but what a story teller!
More static strength than eddie hall while also being more shredded than Mariusz? Total BS
I agree it's BS but back in those days there was no internet to research these claims and the claims about the supplements made by MuscleTech
Do people know how bodybuilding works? When some of his exercises were taped here he could be doing a burn out set, drop set what ever and that could be the reduction of weight on certain things. I’m not saying a lot of his lifts we’re not exaggerative because they were I’m just pointing out that fact. I believe he was no doubt strong I do NOT believe overall he was stronger then Ronnie. No way.
Or just training in general. The strongest people in the world peak and deload. Thor doesn't deadlift 501 everytime he trains.
I think Ronnie was the strongest bodybuilder in the world if you take volume into account. I don't think Kovacs was far behind. He was possibly the biggest bodybuilder that ever lived and came at a time that bodybuilders almost universally trained heavy. Big Ramy rivals Kovacs size and you hear almost nothing about his strength.
Lo fue en absoluto
Excellent detective work .
And this video is for everybody - me included - who forgot that Big Ronnie is NOT Human .
kovack was stronger than coleman's cripple haha
@@ninodelamadre2264nothing funny about what you said
Ótimo vídeo parabéns
Just like the WWE does inflating heights and weght's of their wrestlers musletech did the same with Greg Kovacs. Despite being the Monsters they were and as strong as he was we all know advertising will lie to make their stars appear larger then life to make those sales. I did meet Greg Kovaks when working out at Ric Flair's Golds Gym in Charlotte N.C and i saw him do the entire weight stack plus a 45 pound plate on each side on the seated rows. He alss had told me for lunch he had 12 big macs . . at this time his weight was over 400 pounds. A monster!!!
Wow so he was strong as hell still. Who would eat 12 Big Macs though. Nasty. I’d be nauseaos after two. Lol
@@larrytate1657 He weighted jsut north of 400 pounds . .thats alot of man to maintain
I don't doubt the magazine exaggerated his lifts. However, those videos were probably not his PRs.
And the fact that Ronnie hit some of his PRs while prepping "cutting wight" before competition is crazy!! and very impressive 💪
That's what I was thinking. Haters gotta hate and I could tell there was a lot of hating going on in this video. Tell the guy your video taping him to verify the magazine story...then watch what he does. Everyone's weight changes depending on first or second workout, calorie intake, pre show or bulking, traveling etc etc. Not what I would call a fair comparison...at least not from this video.