By Peter Vuono
Frank Ciavattone lifting the Dinnie Stones on September 24th, 1996.
According to Greek Mythology, twenty-five hundred years ago, the evil goddess Hera looked to avenge herself for an indiscretion perpetrated by Zeus. The perfidious queen sent two vipers to do away with the son of Zeus. When the child’s mother, Alcmene, raced into the room, she viewed her infant son crushing with one hand, both of the vipers. It was the beginning of the legend of Hercules.
Super heroes like Hercules continued to inspire, teach and amaze down through the ages. Theogenes, Polydemos ,Samson, Peter Francisco and so many more showed their god-like might to the world. Here in southeastern MA., we have our legendary prodigy of strength in Frank Ciavattone.
At the age of 12, in 1967, Frankie was inspired by Olympian Paul Anderson and Frank’s beloved Godfather, Ralph. He was given a 75 lb. weight set and since the York Barbell Co. courses were the most accessible, Frank followed their instructions to the letter.
One summer while working for the town of Norwood, this East coast prodigy, at age 18 decided to push a fully loaded dump truck by himself! Tired of inanimate objects to move, he joined the wrestling team to garner a 32 and 2 career which would later, in 2015, put Frank in the MIAA Wrestling Hall of Fame. One particular training technique in his wrestling career that should be noted was his ability to do a reverse planche balancing on hands and feet with face up, with a full grown man sitting on his chest!!!
As one would imagine, Frank became bigger, faster and stronger with age. He dogged the Olympic lifts to give him 15 state Olympic lifting titles and 10 New England Championships!! It was here that a series of very important events occurred in Frank’s life that would lead him to becoming one of the greatest strongmen of all time.
Frank, in the summer of 1986 won the New England Strongest Man contest while suffering from strep throat and torn psoas muscles! It was at this contest that this author talked with noted CT lifter, Frank Gancarz. Frank had mentioned that he had never seen someone quite so strong as Ciavattone. Ironically, it was Gancarz who by promoting an odd-lift meet, would be the one to spark interest in Frankie of being a strong man. At about the same time, notable lifter Bill Clark let it be known to Frankie that there was an incredible organization called the United States All-round Weightlifting Association which sanctioned strong man type meets and lifts.
With Frankie’s new found success in Gancarz’ meet, he decided to shift gears and become a lifter who would be one of the most notable strong men of modern times! Frank went on a record rampage in the International All-round Weightlifting Association. Outside the Hotel of Potarch in Glasgow, were two enormous boulders made long ago to tether horses. One weighed 445lbs and the other 340 lbs. Each stone had embedded in it an iron ring of one half inch diameter; just narrow enough to get one’s hands around a ring. Strongman Donald Dinnie made the stones famous by lifting them both from the ground simultaneously! While competing in Scotland, Frankie became part of a rare fraternity by lifting the stones without straps!!!! As if this weren’t enough; back in the states, he proceeded to place himself in the pages of the coveted Guiness Book of World Records by lifting 808lbs strapped to his neck! !This record occurred in 2005. It was obvious that Frank’s strength was incomparable and out of a liking for it he decided to specialize in one hand deadlifting which hadn’t been practiced to great degree since the famous California strong man Art Walge.
Frank broke the world record in multiple weight classes and multiple age groups in the one handed deadlift making every lift official. He ended up with a prodigious one handed 562 in the one handed deadlift and 402 behind the back !!! It’s safe to say that he has been the most successful and greatest practitioner of this lift ever. So one would wonder just how this strong man trained on the lift.
Franks’s program is both basic and sound. He trained three times a week on the lift. One day he specialized in strengthening his grip. One day he would train on doing heavy singles with the lift and one day he would concentrate on a high set of five repetitions. Like all strong men, he would accessorize his routine with assistance work of reverse curls, the thumbless deadlift, and the Ciavattone deadlift.
This last exercise is a deadlift named for the great strongman in that it is done with knuckles forward in each hand and NO hook grip! It’s inconceivable that these records will be broken save for one thing; the strength of Frankie’s heart. It’s the only thing stronger than his amazing strength. His kindness, mentoring and inspiration deeply touches all those that meet him. So strong is this effect that just maybe one day, a young man or woman will be inspired enough to go beyond where Frankie left off.
“A man is not known by the size of his strength but by the strength of his heart”- Zeus
