The Mighty Samson's Nail Driving

The Mighty Samson's Nail Driving
Alexander Zass, aka "The Mighty Samson, was one of the greatest of the Nail Driving strongmen. He used the unorthodox style pictured above to drive the nail through a 3" wooden board -- and, like no other strongman I know of, also used to pull the nails out as well.

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Stanley Radwan: Conquerer of Iron

Stanley Radwan was a catch wrestler and strongman who performed during the 40s and 50s in the Cleveland, Ohio area. He is not especially well known outside of the Cleveland area but very well known and well loved inside the Cleveland area especially among the Polish community. This event poster from 1949 advertises him pulling cars with his teeth, biting through steel, breaking chains, bending horseshoes, bend nails and spikes, nail driving by hand, tearing decks of cards, and performing the human link feat. It was said he could also bend coins with his hands.

Stanley Radwan

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The Mighty Atom: Nail Driving

The Mighty Atom: Nail Driving
Like many of the Oldtime Strongmen, Joseph Greenstein aka The Mighty Atom was very adept at the nail driving feat... And like many Oldtime Strongman feats, this one must be accomplished in your mind before it can be accomplished in real life.

Here's the Atom driving a nail through several pieces of sheet metal and a thick wooden board.

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Nail Driving With Paul Anderson

Nail Driving With Paul Anderson
Paul Anderson accomplished many things in his life including an Olympic Gold Medal and World Records in just about every lift he tried but I bet you didn't know he was also an expert nail driver too...

When he traveled around for speaking engagements the quickest way to get an audience's attention was to perform an unusual feat of strength -- and a man driving a nail through a wooden board with his bare hand sure fits the bill!

There have been many excellent nail drivers throughout strongman history but I will cover them at another time.

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Joseph Greenstein aka "The Mighty Atom"

Joseph Greenstein aka "The Mighty Atom"
Joseph Greenstein aka The Mighty Atom twisted horseshoes, drove nails through boards with his bare hand, broke chains, bent iron bars, BIT nails in half, he even held back an airplane with his hair...

Find out more about the Might Atom from his #1 student Slim The Hammer Man

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Dennis Rogers: How to Drive a Nail Without a Hammer

Dennis Rogers: How to Drive a Nail Without a Hammer
Dennis Rogers is keeping many of the Oldtime Strongman feats alive. Here is Dennis performing one of his specialties: nail driving without a hammer, a feat performed by many of the greatest oldtime strongmen and stretching back well over a hundred years.

Dennis regularly drives nails through several inches of wooden boards at once, even those set on fire shown here.

On the Discovery Channel show "More Than Human, Dennis Rogers drove a nail completely through a wooden board and Teflon coated frying griddle with one blow of his fist.

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Siegmund Breitbart: The Iron King

Siegmund Breitbart

In the early part of the 20th Century, Siegmund Breitbart was one of the most well-nown strongmen the world had ever seen and stories of his great strength graced newspapers all across the country. He bent steel bars, drove nails with his hands, supported automobiles, twisted horse shoes, pulled wagons with his teeth and even bit through chains! Breitbart was from a family of blacksmiths and was known professionally as "The Iron King" -- like many strongmen of the period, he also had his own mail-order training course. He would probably have ended up a household name had he not tragically passed away from blood poisoning at the age of 42.

The movie "Invincible," (2001) directed by Werner Herzog, was loosely based on his life.

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Alexander Zass: The Amazing Samson

Alexander Zass: The Amazing Samson
As far as Oldtime Strongmen go, few were more impressive than Alexander Zass.

Bending or breaking nails, twisting horse shoes, driving nails, supporting feats, scrolling steel, breaking chains, carrying horses, -- he did it all.

The Amazing Samson attributed much of his strength to isometric training.

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