Sandow Archives - www.oldtimestrongman.com

Apollon Poster

Posted on Thursday, February 5th, 2015 by John Wood

Here’s a rare poster from Apollon 1897 tour of Germany. Unsurprisingly, heavy supporting lifts were the norm as they allowed rather impressive weights (and types of weights) to be used. It was probably Sandow who began this practice, lifting a horse with one arm and walking across the stage. As far as lifting bicycles and their riders, this feat made appearances for many years to come, (check out this and this.)

French Weightlifting Club, circa 1906

Posted on Monday, July 16th, 2012 by John Wood

FRench Weightlifting Club, 1906

A rare look at a French weightlifting club, and their awesome training equipment, circa 1906. One thing is for sure about the French lifters: they certainly had plenty of style. Their equipment is basic: globe barbells, globe dumbbells, block weights, chest expanders etc, but undoubtedly more than enough to get it done. Note the Sandow poster on the back wall. The president, Msr. Gustave Dechelpretre sits in the center.

Barletti

Posted on Monday, August 22nd, 2011 by John Wood

We couldn’t find much in our files about Mr. Barletti but the one thing we do know is that he liked to lift horses as a part of his act. He most likely copied this feat from Sandow, and I’d be willing to bet it wasn’t exactly done on stage like it is pictured here.