Many strongmen performed The Human Link Feat but around 1920, The Amazing Samson upped the ante by a bunch. He not only held back a pair of draught horses, he also bent a steel bar over his leg at the same time! Amazing indeed. It should also probably be mentioned that he attempted this feat as a result of a bet.
The old rock-on-the-chest-pounded-with-a-sledge-hammer routine is a popular one in strongman lore but here’s a whole new twist: “The Amazing Samson” Alexander Zass has a thick stump split residing on his noggin split with the hefty swing of an axe. This one is no walk in the park no matter how you slice it. You’d have to be pretty sure of yourself even just to try it. — I’m certainly impressed.
If you ever get a flat tire, you won’t need a jack if “The Amazing Samson” Alexander Zass is on your friend list. This picture was taken around 1920. Cars were pretty heavy back then and there isn’t much leverage to be had from this position, this is no small feat.
One of the all-time best strongman feats is to drive a nail through a thick board with your bare hand. There are two different techniques for doing so, the “slap” technique and the “punch” technique shown here demonstrated by The Amazing Samson, Alexander Zass. You’ll probably be better at one more than the other but it pays to practice both of them.
“The Amazing Samson,” Alexander Zass was a master of many different types of lifts. Here’s the man making a harness lift of over a ton without even breaking a sweat. Harness lifting was always very popular with performing strongmen since they could be done with very heavy weights, and could use audience members as ballast. Aside from the performance benefits, our research indicates that heavy supporting lifts may be a great contributor to greater overall body strength.
Here’s a Human Chain” feat of a whole different sort. That’s “The Amazing Samson” Alexander Zass suspended in mid-air while also lifting a 500-pound iron girder in his teeth. That’s a pretty awesome feat no matter how you slice it, one that we have never seen equaled before or since.
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, Big Paul figured 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! Other great nail driving strongmen include Alexander ‘Amazing Samson’ Zass, Siegmund Breitbart, Dennis Rogers, and The Mighty Atom.
Alexander Zass “The Amazing Samson” shows his stuff with a little nail driving action. Looks like those “Oldtime” training methods seem to have been working pretty well… I doubt “Samson” ever did a concentration curl in his life, but any bodybuilder would kill for that kind of arm development.
As far as Oldtime Strongmen go, few were more impressive than “The Amazing Samson” Alexander Zass. Bending and breaking nails… twisting horse shoes …driving nails by hand… supporting feats… scrolling steel… breaking chains… teeth lifting… carrying horses or pianos on his back… Samson did it all. Interestingly, Zass attributed much of his strength and development to isometric training.
The Amazing Samson!
