Saturday, September 19, 2009

  • Breitbart: The Iron King


  • Siegmund Breitbart "The Iron King" shows how he got his nickname. Here, the famous strongman makes short work of a 10-foot long, 1-inch wide piece of flat iron. Note the arm and shoulder development that comes with this type of steel bending.

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    Saturday, September 19, 2009

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    Tuesday, May 12, 2009

  • Siegmund Breitbart


  • Siegmund Breitbart was a master of many traditional strongman feats (horseshoe bending, Nail driving, steel scrolling etc) but he also came up with a number of his own unique feats. Here's a shot of Breitbart supporting a full-blown motorcycle race on his chest!

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    Tuesday, May 12, 2009

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    Friday, April 03, 2009

  • Breitbart's Muscle Builder


  • In addition to his training courses and strength performances, Siegmund Breitbart also created some of his own training equipment. To work on his steel scrolling he devised this "muscle builder" apparatus, a series of flexible pieces of steel with a handle on either end. This setup allowed for a number of unique training movements similar to traditional steel bending as well as the ability to adjust resistance by adding or subtracting bands.

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    Friday, April 03, 2009

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    Friday, February 13, 2009

  • Siegmund Breitbart


  • Here's an interesting picture of famous oldtime strongman Siegmund Breitbart. It highlights his steel scrolls and hand-bent horseshoes. The structure behind him, however, is the real star, it was created with woodens boards Breitbart nailed together by hand.

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    Friday, February 13, 2009

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    Wednesday, December 31, 2008

  • Siegmund Breitbart: Chain Biter



  • Siegmund Breitbart was a strongman of many unusual talents...

    Like many of the oldtime strongmen, he performed feats such as bending steel bars,
    nail driving
    , supporting feats etc etc but one type of strength that he was simply in a class by himself was the strength of his jaw.

    He could pull cars or wagons with his teeth but even more amazing was that he could bite clean through steel chain links.

    Yes, real steel, real chains, one of which is pictured on the right. This feat is almost to incredible to be true. Amazingly enough, the Mighty Atom was able to accomplish this feat as well.



    ChainThe Actual Chain that Breitbart bit through

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    Wednesday, December 31, 2008

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    Tuesday, December 09, 2008

  • The Mighty Atom - Chain Biting


  • Among the Mighty Atom's incredible feats was the ability to bite steel chains and nails clean in half. The results are shown in the inset. Amazingly, The Atom was not the only strongman who could perform this feat Siegmund Breitbart could do it as well.

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    Tuesday, December 09, 2008

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    Wednesday, January 02, 2008

  • Arthur Saxon's Incredible Plank Feat

  • Arthur Saxon's Incredible Plank FeatArthur Saxon's Incredible Plank Feat

    If you needed further proof that Arthur Saxon was one of the strongest men who ever lived, behold the following:

    Arthur and the other members of the Saxon Trio used to perform several supporting feats in their act and for these feats, they employed a large, heavy wooden plank.

    Unbeknownst to many, they also used this plank as a training tool to develop grip strength, each taking turns lifting it in various ways between their shows. While the other brothers did their best to deadlift it, Arthur Saxon could actually snatch the plank overhead with ease, something no one else could duplicate and a feat which humbled noted Strongman Siegmund Breitbart who visited the Trio at the Bush Circus in 1922 Berlin, Germany.

    Kurt Saxon considered this to be Arthur Saxon's greatest strength feat... pretty impressive condsidering some of Arthur's other record achievements.

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    Wednesday, January 02, 2008

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    Sunday, December 16, 2007

  • Siegmund Breitbart vs. The Iron Girder

  • Siegmund Breitbart vs. The Iron GirderSiegmund Breitbart vs. The Iron Girder

    Siegmind Breitbart was a great Oldtime Strongman with a number of incredible strength feats in his repertoire. He was best known as a Steel Bender and a Nail Driver but here's one you probably haven't seen:

    Here's Siegmund Breitbart bending a 32-foot Iron Girder over his head. There's 12 people on each side. - YOW! This picture was taken October 29th, 1923 in Cleveland, Ohio.

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    Sunday, December 16, 2007

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    Saturday, November 10, 2007

  • Steel Scrolling

  • Steel ScrollingA Classic Oldtime Strength Feat: Steel Scrolling

    Steel Scrolling, also called "coiling," is a classic Oldtime Stength Feat that involves bending long steel bars by hand into artistic shapes.

    The list of great oldtime steel scrollers is actually quite extensive: Siegmund "Iron King" Breitbart, Alexander "The Amazing Samson" Zass, Indian Strongman Monotosh Roy, and, of course, Joe "The Mighty Atom" Greenstein.

    This lost art is still kept alive by several modern strongmen such as Slim The Hammerman, Dennis Rogers and Erik Vining.

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    Saturday, November 10, 2007

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    Friday, October 19, 2007

  • The Hand Bent Horse Shoe

  • Siegmund Breitbart Hand Bent Horse ShoeSiegmund BreitbartMany of the Oldtime Strongmen were strong enough to bend their own horseshoes by hand.

    On the left you'll see see a piece of square stock hand-bent by the famous Oldtime Strongman Siegmund Breitbart.

    Notice that it has bent on the edge, not the side, which is how you can tell this piece of steel has legitimately been bent by hand.

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    Friday, October 19, 2007

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    Monday, September 10, 2007

  • 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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    Monday, September 10, 2007

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