Sig Klein

Sig Klein inherited much of his great equipment when he married Professor Attila's daughter and took over his gym in New York. Of course, Sig had pretty good taste in equipment anyway often having custom-made barbells, dumbbells and kettlebells made.

Sig Klein

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Sig Klein's Roman Column

A look at Sig Klein using the Roman Column at his famous gym. It was actually Sig's father-in-law Professor Attila who invented the Roman Column. The Roman Column was actually used more as a demonstration of strength than as a means of developing strength. When used for strength feats, the performer would lower his body directly to the ground, pick up a weight and then sit up with it. Eugen Sandow was a master at this strength feat.

Sig Klein's Roman Column

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Lionel Strongfort

Lionel Strongfort

Lionel Strongfort, (Real name Max Unger) began his strongman career as a pupil of Professor Attila Strongfort went on to thrill audiences all over the world with his incredible and very dangerous Human Bridge feat where he supported over 7,000 pounds in the Tomb of Hercules position. Strongfort was also one of the most successful Mail Order Muscle Barons and his training courses on "Strongfortism," which only required bodyweight and some light dumbbells, were incredibly popular in the early 20th century.

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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