Eugen Sandow's Influence

Eugen Sandow

"...Strength enthusiasts of today should feet a debt of gratitude towards Eugene Sandow, who thrilled audiences in Europe and America during the last decade of the nineteenth century with his wonderful showmanship and the remarkable shapeliness of his physique. Witnessing the perfection of his muscular development and apparently super human strength undoubtedly caused more men and boys to become interested in the improvement of the human body than the efforts of any other single human... "

- Physical Training Simplified by Mark Berry, Chapter 30

---

Sandow's Combination Outfit

Sandow's Combination Outfit

Eugen Sandow was quite the entrepreneur in his day. This "combination developer" is a chest expander which also comes with other attachments specifically designed for leg work which you can just make out in the open box. Pretty cool... This one's mint and I got it for a song.

---

Sandow's Books

The great Eugen Sandow wrote a number of books over his lifetime. Here is a look at them, in order of publication:

Sandow's System of Physical Training (1894) Strength and How To Obtain It (1897) The Gospel of Strength According to Sandow (1902) BodyBuilding - or Man in The Making(1904) The Construction and Reconstruction of the Human Body (1907) Strength and Health (1912) Life is Movement (1919)

Eugen Sandow

---

The Brothers McCann

The Brothers McCann
The Brothers McCann, Henry and Louis, were known as Hercules and Samson when they became professional strongmen in the late 1800s. In 1890, they challenged Eugen Sandow to a match - and Won!

... although they were defeated by Louis Cyr in a similar contest a few years later.

---

Charles Sampson

Charles Sampson
Charles Sampson was a turn-of-the-century strongman who, unlike any of his contemporaries, claimed his great strength was not from physical training but a result of having been struck by lightning as a small child!

As noted in Physical Training Simplified by Mark Berry, Sampson did perform a Harness Lift with 4008 pounds and frequently collaborated with the famous coin breaker Franz "Cyclops" Bienkowski.

Sampson and Cyclops were both handily defeated by Eugen Sandow in a famous challenge match in 1889.

---

Sandow's Pushup Machine

Sandow's Pushup MachineWhen someone says "the old timers never used machines" it's because they really don't know their strength history...

Here's Eugen Sandow (about as "Oldtime" as you can get) back in 1902, using a unique training machine of his own design -- using chest expander strands, Sandow devised a machine which could add resistance to the simple pushup, thus making it a more intense exercise.

---

Al Treloar "The Most Perfectly Developed Man in the World"

Al Treloar
Al Treloar was a stage assistant to Eugen Sandow who went on to develop his own strongman performance.

Treloar went on to win the title of "The Most Perfectly Developed Man in the World" on January 16th, 1904 at the very first large-scale bodybuilding competition in America which took place at the original Madison Square Garden in New York City.

It was said that Treloar could tear four decks of playing cards at once.

After graduating from Harvard University, Treloar became the director of physical education at the famous Los Angeles Athletic Club in California, a position he held for the next forty-two years.

---

Sandow's One Arm Deadlift

Sandow's One Arm Deadlift
Sandow was a master of many different kinds of strength feats. Don't know if he ended up lifting this 1500 lb. block of sandstone (doubtful) but he sure looked like he could.

While you may not have a stone like this around, the one-arm deadlift while straddling two benches or platforms to increase the range of motion is an excellent exercise. Normally I don't recommend straps but Sandow can get away with it when he's lifting that kind of weight.

---

Sandow Lifts The Rolandow Barbell

Sandow Lifts The Rolandow Barbell
I've mentioned the Rolandow Barbell before. And as I also mentioned, it goes back a long way and that several famous strongmen have lifted it...

Here's a look at Eugen Sandow rocking the Rolandow Barbell back into position so that he can bent press it in 1902 or so.

The thick handle is, of course, a distinguishing mark of real "Oldtime" barbells and Rolandow lifted it many times.

Kind of amazing that a century later you can go to the York Barbell Company Museum (where the Rolandow Barbell Currently Resides) and touch the very same weight that so many great strongmen once lifted.

---

Heavy One-Arm Overhead Supports

Heavy one-arm overhead supports were very popular with oldtime strongmen since they could work up to some truly impressive weights which always wowed their audiences. Sandow was able to lift a horse in this manner. Here Anton Matysek supports well over a quarter ton overhead.

Heavy One-Arm Overhead Supports

---

The Look of Power

The Look of Power
You'll often hear talk of the "look" of power... Sandow unquestionably had it. He trained with light dumbbells, heavy dumbbells, block weights, chest expanders, muscle control, heavy supports, bodyweight calisthenics, gymnastics exercises and a whole lot more --- but however he trained, he did so progressively...

---

The Roman Column

The Roman Column
As mentioned several times on this blog, it was Professor Attila who invented the Roman Column.

Shown here, the Roman Column is an actual column in which the traineee hangs suspended vertially and moves to a horizontal position using the power of his legs and abdominal muscles.

Eugen Sandow used to perform this feat either holding a heavy barbell or a human being.

On the left is the original Roman Column, in one corner of Sig Klein's Time's Square Gym.

---

Professor Attila

Professor Attila was one of the true innovators of the Iron Game. It was Attila who came up with the idea for hollow equipment which could be loaded with shot to increase the weight. Professor Attila also invented several oldtime strongman exercises such as the bent press, the Roman Chair, the Roman Column and the feat of tearing decks of poker cards in half. It was also Attila who inspired a young Eugen Sandow to start strength training after Sandow watched Attila's strongman performance -- eventually, Attila became Sandow's mentor and coached him to even greater heights.

Professor Attila

---

The Rolandow Barbell

The Rolandow Barbell
The Rolandow Barbell once belonged to the Swiss Strongman G.W. Rolandow who would bent-press it each night in his performance. This barbell has been lifted by many famous strongmen, including Eugen Sandow.

The Rolandow Barbell has had many famous owners over the years. It was purchased by Professor Attila, then Sig Klein (as shown). The Rolandow Barbell can currently be seen in the York Barbell Company Museum in York, Pennsylvania.

---

Eugen Sandow

It's not hard to see why Eugen Sandow was well received as bodybuilding's first superstar a hundred years ago. Sandow's physique is still impressive by today's standards -- probably even more so. Sandow built his strength with basic exercises and the double-progressive technique.

Eugen Sandow

---

Sandow's Chest Expander

Sandow's Chest Expander
Eugen Sandow promoted the very first commercially available strength training equipment. Sandow had a number of different chest expanders through the years. The chest expander above has dumbbells for handles which adds a pretty unique twist to chest expander training.

---

Sandow's Health and Strength Cocoa

Sandow's Health and Strength Cocoa
Eugen Sandow was bodybuilding's first superstar and lent his likeness to a number of different products, including cigars, pins and as shown above, a chocolate cocoa drink.

Sandow's Cocoa didn't last long. Some of other big chocolate manufacturers saw Sandow's brand as a threat. They who lowered their prices and forced Sandow out of the market.

The factory, which opened in 1913, shut down production in 1916. Tokens, like the one shown above, were used for some form of promotion and are quite rare.

---

Sandow Lifts a Horse

Among posing, and several other amazing feats of strength, Eugen Sandow used to finish his act by carrying a horse from one end of the stage to the other. I'm sure that one brought the house down and must have been quite a sight to see. You may not have a horse around to lift but heavy overhead supports are still a great way to build upper-body strength and power. I read that John Grimek worked up to being able to support over 1000 pounds overhead with the use of a power rack.

Sandow Lifts a Horse

---

Sandow Cigarette Card

Eugen Sandow

Things were just a little different back at the turn of the century -- if you had a persistent cough a doctor might tell you to take up smoking. In any case, here's a look at one of several different Eugen Sandow Physical Culture Cigarette Cards that you would get if you took up the habit a hundred years ago.

---

Louis Durlacher aka Professor Attila

Louis Durlacher aka Professor Attila
It was Louis Durlacher aka Professor Attila who trained a young Fredrick Mueller and changed his name to Eugen Sandow.

It was also Professor Attila who invented many of the feats of strength we know today, such as the Roman Column, the Roman Chair, supporting feats in the human bridge position, tearing packs of playing cards; and the the hollow globe-ended barbells and dumbbells we know today.

Attila was also the first man to bent press over 200 pounds and in addition to Sandow, Professor Attila could also list many other famous strongmen among his students:

Including: Warren Lincoln Travis, Anthony Barker, Horace Barre, Arthur Dandurand, Lionel Strongfort, George Rolandow, Louis Cyr, Bobby Pandour and Adolph Nordquest.

In 1894, Professor opened his famous Studio of Physical Culture in downtown New York city. His daughter, Grace, later married Sig Klein.

If Eugen Sandow was the "Father" of Oldtime Strongmen, surely Professor Attila, was the Grandfather.

---

Eugen Sandow's School of Physical Culture

Eugen Sandow's School of Physical Culture
There are a lot of strength history "firsts" associated with Eugen Sandow - one of those "firsts" is that he established the very first commercial gym franchise.

Im 1900, Sandow opened five of his Schools of Physical Culture in London, with others in Manchester and Liverpool. Pictured above is Sandow's School of Physical Culture, 185 Tottenham Court Road, circa 1901.

Notice sets of Globe Barbells, Dumbbells and Chest Expanders along each wall.

---

Henry Holtgrewe: The Cincinnati Strongman

Henry Holtgrewe: The Cincinnati Strongman
Henry Holtgrewe was born in Hanover, Germany in 1872 but came to live in the United States at an early age. He settled in Cincinnati, where he ran a saloon near old Chester Park in Northside.

In his spare time he delighted in performing feats of strength, especially lifting barbells and dumbbells with thick handles -- which not only confounded smaller-handed competition, but also allowed Henry Holtgrewe to build a tremendous 15-1/2 inch forearm in the process.

Holtgrewe also out "pressed" the great Louis Cyr with a single-arm lift of 287 pounds. It was said that each time Eugen Sandow performed in Cincinnati Holtgrewe challenged to a lifting contest -- and each time Sandow refused.

In 1904 Holtgrewe backlifted two opposing baseball teams at Redlands Field in Cincinnati. The combined weight was estimated at 4103 pounds easily placing him among the strongest backlifters of all time.

---

Sig Klein's Gym

Sig Klein's Classic Old-Time Gym
Here's another look at one of the classc gyms we have featured before: Sig Klein's place in New York City. This was the original location -- he moved into a facility overlooking Times Square later on.

Notice the mirror on the right revealing a set of globe barbells on the far wall, block and ring weights in the foreground and you can just make out a Roman Column on the extreme left.

There's nothing like Classic Equipment to make your training special. You can tell a lot of great workouts happened down at Sig's Place.

Sig Klein inherited much of the equipment after he married Professor Attila's youngest daughter in 1927. Professor Attila, of course, was the man who taught Eugen Sandow how to train.

---

The Sandow Statue

The Sandow Statue
Just over a century ago, Eugen Sandow held the very first physique contest known simply as "The Great Competition." The first place prize for this contest was a magnificent gold statue of Sandow himself, holding a globe dumbbell.

In 1977, the promoters of the Mr. Olympia contest decided to honor Sandow and Bodybuilding's past and resurrected this statue as their first place trophy -- which it has become most well known as today. (The first Mr. Olympia Sandow Statue winner was Frank Zane.)

---

Eugen Sandow

Eugen Sandow was THE prototypical strongman and the first true strength Superstar.

He thrilled audiences all over the world with his classical physique as well as his amazing feats of strength. Many of the most famous Iron Game luminaries such as George Jowett and Alan Calvert were inspired to begin training after seeing Sandow in action. Once he tired of the performing life, Sandow established the very first "Health Studios," mail order training courses and physical culture magazine. Even to this day he still inspires millions to develop their health and strength.

Eugen Sandow

---

Sandows Spring-Grip Dumbbells

Back in 1899, the hottest thing going was Eugen Sandow's Spring-Grip Dumbbells. These weights consisted of two dumbbell "halves" joined together by a series of springs. As one followed the suggested workout movements, they could build their forearm strength by keeping the two halves "crushed" together while they increased the rest of their bodily strength. Sandow's Spring-Grip dumbbells came in a variety of styles and types -- ranging from "Basic Black" to nickel-plated models with leather handles. Some of the later versions had a bell that rung as you squeezed the handles (Left) or were ergonomically fitted to your hand. (Middle)

An Early Ad Sandow's Spring-Grip Dumbbells

The smaller version, shown in the right of the picture, was nickel-plated and had only three springs as it was the "Youth" version.

---