Iron Roots Ep 17: Jan Dellinger Pt 1 of 7 🎙️ Strength & Health Magazine, John Grimek & John Terpak

Listen to Jan Dellinger share stories of when he was first hired to work at York Barbell and Strength & Health Magazine. 

Brought to you by PLAE

• What were Jan's first experiences working with York Barbell, John Grimek and The NSCA

• Working with John Terpak Jr

• The work schedule at York Barbell

•  How Grimek welded some of his own equipment and first began using a MILO barbell set

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I had a dream about speaking with Bob Hoffman and talking training......

Dreams of typed letters from Mr.Hoffman as he feared that the future of Strength & Health would fade away....

So Bob Hoffman shared stories with me in the hopes that I will keep spreading the world of old school strength and York Barbell.

Here is the first letter:

From the Desk of Bob Hoffman
Strength & Health Magazine
York Barbell Co. – York, PA

Dear Friend in Strength,

It was a fine July afternoon—the kind only Pennsylvania gives us when the sun hangs high, and the scent of barbecue and ambition fills the air.

We were holding one of our famous York Strength Picnics. The kind where Olympic champions rubbed elbows with farm boys, where iron met dirt, and stories got passed around with the same weight as plates on the bar.

That day, I found myself sitting under the shade of a tree, beside none other than John C. Grimek—our own "Monarch of Muscledom."

Now, you’d expect a man like Grimek to be deep in some intricate program or following a rigid plan with a clipboard and stopwatch.

But I asked him straight:
“John, what’s your training like these days?”

He leaned back, cracked a smile, and said:

“Bob… I just lift what I feel like lifting. I train hard. I train often. But I don’t let rules box me in.”

He wasn’t chasing numbers anymore—he was chasing the feeling of strength.
The joy of movement. The challenge of the iron.

One day it might be heavy presses.

The next, he’d string together handstand pushups, Jefferson lifts, and front squats—all done with precision, power, and complete control.

And here's what struck me:
John was still flexible—literally.

Not just in mindset, but in body.

He’d bend, twist, squat deep, reach high, and move like a gymnast wrapped in muscle.
You wouldn’t believe how mobile he was until you saw it with your own eyes.

Here's what Grimek reminds us, even now:

✅ You don’t need a rigid program to stay strong—you need consistency, intensity, and love for the work.

✅ Flexibility isn't just for yoga folks—it’s what keeps a man powerful and pain-free into his 50s, 60s, and beyond.

✅ The best training plan? One you’ll actually do. One that makes you feel alive, not trapped.

✅ Strength should serve your life—not just your ego.

So I ask you, my friend:

Are you training to impress strangers on the internet?
Or to be a strong, capable, resilient man for the long haul?

If it’s the latter, then I invite you—
Not just to train, but to join a brotherhood of men who live by the old ways...

The OLD SCHOOL STRENGTH Collective

Built for men who’d rather train like Grimek than scroll like an influencer.

The fire of York still burns — If you’re man enough to carry the torch.

Yours in Strength & Health,
Bob Hoffman

Publisher, Strength & Health Magazine
York Barbell Co.
“Health—Strength—Success”