John Pulskamp attended The Ohio State University. He had started weightlifting at the Apollo Gym to build up his body for other sports, but quickly turned to competitive lifting. He was intercollegiate champion in 1958-59 as a middle-heavyweight and founded the OSU Weightlifting Club. Pulskamp competed at the 1959 World Championships, but had to withdraw due to a back injury, and was an alternate to the 1959 Pan American Games team. He just missed a medal at the Roma Olympics, placing fourth. In 1960, Pulskamp qualified for the US team by winning the AAU meet as a middle-heavyweight.

Pulskamp attended medical school at Ohio State and then joined the US Navy from 1961-65, where he worked on submarines, with the underwater demolition service, and the Navy SEALS. He completed a residency in orthopaedics at the Ochsner Clinic in New Orleans from 1965-69, and then practiced orthopaedics until 1992 when he retired. He then traveled the world in his 40-foot sloop “Brenda,” circumnavigating the globe in 1999.