Train like an old school strongman. Iron, muscles and mustache - in our review
In Russia in the middle of the 19th century, in the tsar’s office there was a position of “Chief Observer of the Physical Development of the Population.” Representatives of the Russian population who developed under such supervision still surprise with their very development.
For example, in weightlifting, those who “pulled” less than 100 kilograms had nothing to do in the Strong Club.
Sergei Eliseev (1876 – 1938). Lightweight weightlifter
Sergei Eliseev and Georg Hackenschmit
A world record holder, a hereditary hero of small stature, he accidentally became famous at a city festival in Ufa - he won a belt wrestling tournament against a multiple champion. The next day, three rams were brought to Eliseev’s house as a generous act of recognition from the defeated ex-champion.
Trick. He took a weight of 62 kg in his right hand, lifted it up, then slowly lowered it to the side with a straight arm and held the hand with the weight in a horizontal position for several seconds. Three times in a row he pulled out two untied two-pound weights with one hand. In the two-arm press he lifted 145 kg and clean and jerked 160.2 kg.
Ivan Zaikin (1880 – 1949). Chaliapin of Russian muscles
World champion in wrestling, champion in weight lifting, circus performer, one of the first Russian aviators.
Foreign newspapers called him “the Chaliapin of Russian muscles.”
His athletic performances became a sensation. In 1908, Zaikin toured in Paris. After the athlete’s performance, the chains that Zaikin had broken, the iron beam bent on his shoulders, and the “bracelets” and “ties” he had tied from strip iron were displayed in front of the circus. Some of these exhibits were acquired by the Paris Cabinet of Curiosities and were displayed along with other curiosities.
Trick. Zaikin carried a 25-pound anchor on his shoulders, lifted a long barbell onto his shoulders, on which ten people sat, and began to rotate it (“living carousel”).
Georg Hackenschmidt (1878 – 1968). Russian lion
World champion in wrestling and world record holder in weightlifting. Since childhood, Gaak trained: he long jumped 4.9 meters, high jumped 1.4 meters, and ran 180 meters in 26 seconds. To strengthen his legs, he practiced climbing the spiral staircase to the spire of the Olivest Church with two-pound weights.
Gaak got into sports by accident: Doctor Kraevsky - “the father of Russian athletics” - convinced him that “he could easily become the strongest man in the world.” In 1897, Haack rushed to St. Petersburg, where he smashed the capital's heavyweights to smithereens. Training with Kraevsky, Gaak quickly takes all the first places in Russia (by the way, he ate everything he wanted, but drank only milk), and goes to Vienna. Next - Paris, London, Australia, Canada, America - and the title of the Russian Lion and the Strongest Man of the late 19th - early 20th centuries.
Trick. With one hand I pressed a barbell weighing 122 kg. He took 41 kg dumbbells in each hand and spread his straight arms horizontally to the sides. I pressed a barbell weighing 145 kg on a wrestling bridge. With his arms crossed on his back, Gaak lifted 86 kg from a deep squat. I squatted 50 times with a 50 kg barbell. Today the trick is called “gaak-exercise” or simply “gaak”.
Grigory Kashcheev (present - Kosinsky, 1863 - 1914). Giant downshifter
A hero from the village with a height advantage of 2.18 m. At the village fair, he defeated the visiting circus performer Besov, who immediately convinced him to go with him - “to show strength.”
“Grisha and I are coming to a remote, remote town. They never saw people like us there. Kashcheev (Kosinsky’s pseudonym) is shaggy, like a beast, and my last name is Besov. We have no human form. They decided that we were werewolves... Without saying a bad word, they lassoed us, took us out of the city and said: “If you don’t leave our city on good terms, then blame yourself!”, Besov recalled.
In 1906, Grigory Kashcheev first met world-class wrestlers and became friends with Zaikin, who helped him enter the big arena. Soon Kashcheev put all the famous strongmen on the shoulder blades, and in 1908, together with Poddubny and Zaikin, he went to Paris to the World Championship, from where they brought victory.
Trick. It would seem that now Kashcheev’s real wrestling career had begun, but, having refused the most lucrative offers, he abandoned everything and went to his village to plow the land.
“I had to see a lot of original people when I was the director of wrestling, but still I have to think that the most interesting in terms of character was the giant Grigory Kashcheev. In fact, it is hard to imagine that a gentleman, who had made a European name for himself within 3-4 years, would voluntarily leave the arena back to his village and take up the plow and harrow again. That same gentleman was of enormous strength. Almost a fathom tall, Kashcheev, if he were a foreigner, would have earned large capital, because he surpassed all foreign giants in strength" (Hercules Magazine, No. 2, 1915).
Pyotr Krylov (1871 – 1933). King of weights
A Muscovite, who changed his profession as a merchant navigator to an athlete, went all the way from fairs and “shows of living miracles” to large circuses and French wrestling championships. He (attention!) was a permanent winner of competitions for the best athletic figure, taking the example of the athlete Emil Foss as a child, who entered the arena in silk tights and leopard skin. He began his first training at home with irons, which he tied to a floor brush.
Trick. Krylov set several world records. In the “wrestling bridge” position, he squeezed 134 kg with both hands, and 114.6 kg with his left hand. Bench press in a “soldier’s stance”: with his left hand he lifted a two-pound weight 86 times in a row. The founder of spectacular stunts, which were then repeated by other athletes, and today by paratroopers: bending a rail on the shoulders, driving a car over the body, raising a platform with a horse and rider. While performing athletic performances, Krylov cheerfully commented on them. His remarks were always convincing. For example, when he smashed stones with his fist, he invariably addressed the audience with the following words:
“Gentlemen, if you think that there is falsehood in this number, then I can break this stone with my fist on the head of anyone from the public.”
From practice, Krylov could easily switch to theory and give a lecture on physical culture.
Alexander Zass (1888 – 1962). Russian Samson
Alexander Zass's father was just the man who could go up against a visiting strongman in the circus and win the fight. It is not surprising that Alexander ended up in the circus and took up everything at once: aerial gymnastics, horse riding, wrestling. In 1914, the World War broke out, and Alexander was drafted into the army in the 180th Vindavsky Cavalry Regiment. One day he was returning from reconnaissance and suddenly, already close to Russian positions, the enemy noticed him and opened fire. The bullet shot through the horse's leg. The Austrian soldiers, seeing that the horse and rider had fallen, did not pursue the cavalryman and turned back. And Alexander, making sure that the danger had passed, did not want to leave the wounded horse in no man's land. True, there was still half a kilometer left to the regiment's location, but this did not bother him. Alexander shouldered the horse and brought it to his camp. In the future, Alexander will include in his repertoire carrying on the shoulders of a horse. Having fallen into Austrian captivity, the strongman escapes on the third attempt, fortunately he knew how to bend bars and break chains. Once in Europe, he defeated all the strongmen of Europe and became the “Russian Samson.”
Trick. For several decades, his name, or rather his pseudonym - Samson, did not leave the circus posters of many countries. His repertoire of power moves was amazing: he carried a horse or a piano around the arena with a pianist and dancer located on the lid, and caught with his hands a 90-kilogram cannonball, which was fired from a circus cannon from a distance of 8 meters. “Russian Samson” lifted a metal beam with assistants sitting at its ends from the floor and held it in his teeth. Having threaded the shin of one leg into the loop of a rope fixed under the very dome, he held the platform with the piano and the pianist in his teeth. Lying with his bare back on a board studded with nails, Zaas held a stone weighing 500 kilograms on his chest, which those who wished (from the public) hit with sledgehammers. In the famous "Projectile Man" attraction, he caught with his hands an assistant flying out of the mouth of a circus cannon and describing a 12-meter trajectory above the arena. In Sheffield in 1938, he was run over by a truck loaded with coal in front of a crowd. Samson stood up and, smiling, bowed to the audience.
Frederick Müller (1867–1925). Evgeniy Sandov
Few people know that the weightlifting record holder and “wizard of poses” Evgeniy Sandov is Frederic Müller. Not only a strong athlete, but also a savvy businessman, Muler realized that a career in strength sports would go faster if he took a Russian name. The newly minted Sandow differed from the frail Müller in his outstanding strength, achieved through training and physical education.
Trick. Weighing less than 80 kg, he set a world record with a one-arm bench press of 101.5 kg. He did a backflip, holding 1.5 pounds in each hand. Within four minutes he could do 200 push-ups.
Business trick. In 1930, under his Russian name, he published the book "Bodybuilding", giving the name to this sport in all English-speaking countries and also giving reason to believe that bodybuilding was invented by the Russians.
People who are different from the majority inevitably attract the attention of others, especially if they stand out with physical strength.
Bogatyrs have always been held in high esteem by all peoples: defenders of their native land, fighters for truth, warriors of goodness. And the root of this word in Russian hints at a gift from above, from God.
HANS STEYER (Bavaria, 1849-1906), standing on two chairs, raised 16 poods with his middle finger (threaded into a ring). His “live horizontal bar” was a hit with the audience: with straight arms, Steyer held a 70-pound (31.7 kg) barbell in front of him, on the bar of which his son, who weighed 90 pounds (40.8 kg), was doing gymnastic exercises.
Steyer was also famous for his eccentricity. His cane weighed 40 pounds (18 kg), the snuffbox he held in his palm while treating friends weighed 100 pounds (45 kg). Sometimes he put a cylinder weighing 75 pounds (34 kg) on his head and, arriving at a cafe, left it on the table, then asked the waiter to bring his cylinder (Remember: 1 Russian pound = 409 g; trade pound = 453 g; 1 pood = 16.38 kg).
At the beginning of the 17th century in England, the athlete TOM TOFAN was very popular. Of average height, proportionally built, he easily lifted stones weighing up to 24 pounds (393 kg) from the ground with his hands, tied an iron poker around his neck like a scarf, and in 1741, in a square crowded with spectators, he lifted it with straps placed on his shoulders. three barrels of water weighing 50 pounds (819 kg).
In 1893, a competition for the title of “world champion in weight lifting” was held in New York. The strongest athletes of that time came to the competition. Louis Cyr came from Canada, Evgeniy Sandov came from Europe. American James Walter Kennedy twice lifted an iron cannonball weighing 36 pounds 24.5 pounds (almost 601 kg), lifting it from the platform by 4 inches. None of the athletes could repeat this number. The set record turned out to be fatal for the 33-year-old athlete: he overstrained himself and after that was forced to perform only with a demonstration of his muscles. The athlete died at 34 years old.
SERGEY ELISEEV
World record holder, Russian athlete Sergei Eliseev, took a weight weighing 61 kg in his right hand, lifted it up, then slowly lowered it to the side with a straight arm and held the hand with the weight in a horizontal position for several seconds. Three times in a row he pulled out two untied two-pound weights with one hand.
IVAN PODDUBNY
Ivan Maksimovich Poddubny ("champion of champions", 1871-1949) had great physical strength. They say that he could hold three people on one outstretched arm. Without specially training in athletic routines, he lifted his biceps - purely, without cheating - 120 kg! His wrestling career was very long - at 66 he was still on the mat. Despite the fact that he met with the strongest wrestlers of his time, he died without ever having been on his shoulder blades. The total weight of the medals received is over 2 pounds.
The enormous success of the Estonian strongman, world champion Georg Lurich, was brought not only by records, but also by the harmony and beauty of his physique. He posed more than once for sculptors such as Rodin and Adamson. The latter's sculpture "Champion" won first prize at the World's Fair in America in 1904.
In the arena, Lurich demonstrated the following performances: standing on the wrestling bridge, he supported four men, and at the same time he held a 7-pound barbell in his hands. He held five people on one hand and held two camels with his hands, pulling in opposite directions. He lifted a 105 kg barbell with his right hand and, holding it at the top, took a 34 kg weight from the floor with his left hand and lifted it up.
IVAN MIKHAILOVICH ZAIKIN (1880-1949)
Famous Russian athlete, wrestler, one of the first Russian pilots. Zaikin's athletic numbers caused a sensation. Foreign newspapers wrote: “Zaikin is the Chaliapin of Russian muscles.” In 1908, Zaikin toured in Paris. After the athlete’s performance, in front of the circus, on a special platform, the chains torn by Zaikin, the iron beam bent on his shoulders, “bracelets” and “ties” that he had tied from strip iron were displayed. Some of these exhibits were acquired by the Paris Cabinet of Curiosities and were displayed along with other curiosities. Zaikin carried a 25-pound anchor on his shoulders, lifted a long barbell onto his shoulders, on which ten people sat, and began to rotate it (“a living carousel”), while an I-beam was bent on his shoulders.
GRIGORY KASCHEYEV
This man had enormous strength. Almost a fathom tall (218 cm), Kashcheev, if he were a foreigner, would have earned a lot of money, surpassing all foreign giants in strength. In 1906, he met world-class wrestlers for the first time. He became friends with Zaikin, who helped him enter the big arena. Soon Kashcheev put all the famous strongmen on the shoulder blades, and in 1908, together with Poddubny and Zaikin, he went to Paris for the World Championship. Our heroes returned to their homeland in victory. It seemed that Kashcheev’s real wrestling career had begun, but he still gave up everything and returned to his village.
IVAN SHEMYAKIN (1877-1952)
In 1905, huge posters adorned the streets of Paris proclaiming that “The terrible Russian Cossack Shemyakin lifts six Japanese with one hand.” The posters were wrong about one thing: although Ivan was dressed in a Cossack costume, he did not belong to this brave tribe. In fact, this was his first foreign tour, and it was a triumph. For several evenings in a row, along with athletic performances, he demonstrated a power trick on a topical topic (after all, the Russo-Japanese War was at its height), with one hand he lifted six uniform athletes dressed in Japanese costumes.
Louis Cyr - "American Miracle", (1863-1912).
This strongest man on the American continent amazed with his size. With a height of 176 cm, he weighed 133 kg, chest volume 147 cm, biceps 55 cm. A curious incident happened with 22-year-old Louis in Montreal, where he served as a policeman: one day he brought two hooligans to the station, holding them under his arms. After this incident, at the insistence of friends, he began to develop strength and perform athletic performances in which for a long time he did not know competitors. He lifted 26 pounds (425.8 kg) to his knees with one hand, and lifted a platform with 14 adult men on his shoulders. Held a 143 lb (64.8 kg) load in front of him at arm's length for 5 seconds.
FRENCH ATHLETE APOLLO (Louis Huni) lifted five weights of 20 kg each with one hand. He lifted a barbell weighing 165 kg with a bar 5 cm thick. Only 20 years after Apollo, this barbell (the axis from the trolley) was able to lift the 1924 Olympic Games champion Charles Rigoulot, who, by the way, holds the world record in the snatch with his right hand - 116 kg . In the famous "cage release" trick, Apollo used his hands to push apart the thick bars and exit the cage.
EVGENY SANDOV
Eugene Sandow (Frederick Miller, 1867-1925) enjoyed enormous popularity among the British. He was called the "magician of poses" and the "strongest man." Weighing no more than 80 kg, he set a world record by squeezing 101.5 kg with one hand. He did a backflip, holding 1.5 pounds in each hand. Within four minutes he could do 200 push-ups. In 1911, King George V of England awarded Sandow the title of Professor of Physical Development.
A golden statuette depicting Sandow was awarded to the winner
athletic competition in 1901 (now it is awarded to the winner of Mr. Olympia). In 1930, one of his many books entitled "Bodybuilding" was published, giving the sport its name in all English-speaking countries.
ALEXANDER IVANOVICH ZASS
Russian athlete, better known as Samson, or Iron Samson.
Here are some of his achievements:
Suspended by one leg from the crane, he held a metal beam with his teeth while it was moved to the top of the building by a crane. Carried a 300 kg horse for about half a kilometer. He carried a piano with a pianist and a dancer located on the lid. Lying with his bare back on a board studded with nails, he held a stone weighing 500 kg on his chest, which was hit by those from the public with sledgehammers. Having threaded the shin of one leg into the loop of a rope fixed under the circus dome, he held a platform with a piano and a pianist in his teeth. He caught with his hands a 9-kilogram cannonball flying out of a circus cannon from 8 m. He lifted a metal beam with assistants sitting at its ends from the floor and held it in his teeth. In the famous attraction, the “Projectile Man” caught with his hands an assistant flying out of a circus cannon and describing a 12-meter trajectory over the arena. He tore the links of chains with his fingers; He hammered nails into 3-inch boards with his unprotected palm, and then pulled them out, grasping the head with his index finger.
GEORG HACKENSCHMIDT (“Russian Lion”), world champion in wrestling and world record holder in weightlifting, pressed a barbell weighing 122 kg with one hand. He took 41 kg dumbbells in each hand and spread his straight arms horizontally to the sides. I pressed a barbell weighing 145 kg on a wrestling bridge. With his arms crossed on his back, Gaak lifted 86 kg from a deep squat. Nowadays this exercise is known as the “gaak exercise” or simply “gaak”. Already 82 years old, Hackenschmidt jumped over a rope stretched across the backs of two chairs, pushing off the floor with both legs at the same time.
YAKUB CHEKHOVSKAYA
In 1913, at a weightlifting competition in Petrograd, in the former Mikhailovsky Arena, athlete Yakub Chekhovskaya demonstrated a sensational strength trick - he carried six soldiers of the Guards regiment in a circle on one arm, for which he was awarded an honorary “golden belt”. This record number has not yet been repeated by any athlete in the world. Chekhovsky himself constantly demonstrated it in his performances. The athlete’s other numbers are no less amazing. While making the “bridge”, Yakub Chekhovskaya supported ten people. A platform was installed on his chest, on which a brass band of 30 musicians was located. On the shoulders of the athlete, 40 people bent an I-beam metal beam. 3 trucks carrying the public drove through his chest. While serving in the hussar regiment, he carried a horse weighing 400 kg on his shoulders.
PETER KRYLOV ("The King of Weights").
One of the strongest athletes of the beginning of our century. His love for the circus forced him to change his profession as a merchant navy navigator to that of an athlete. The path of the young strongman was not easy. At first, he performed in booths, traveled to fairs in provincial cities, where several times a day he not only demonstrated athletic performances, but also belt wrestled with amateurs from the public. Soon Krylov's name becomes famous - he begins to perform in large circuses, where his performances are a huge success. Along with demonstrating power tricks, Krylov competed in French wrestling championships and won prizes, and in competitions for the best athletic figure he invariably received first prizes.
Pyotr Krylov set several world records. In the “wrestling bridge” position, he squeezed 134 kg with both hands, and 114.6 kg with his left hand. Press in a soldier's stance with the left hand of a two-pound weight - 86 times in a row. He created a number of athletic tricks that became widespread: bending a rail on the shoulders, driving a car over an athlete’s body. He was a passionate promoter of physical culture. Gave lectures on athletic sports.
NIKOLAI VAKHTUROV
Nizhny Novgorod hero.
“Nikolai Vakhturov!” - and from the “parade”, smiling affectionately, the colossal figure of the Nizhny Novgorod hero steps out ponderously. A spontaneous fighter. In the scope of his nature and in his temperament, the epic Vaska Buslaev, brought to us in the 20th century. This is the “idea of onslaught” embodied in a muscular body. ". A reckless Russian wrestler who breaks everyone who falls into his arms. Even a very reserved stall breaks out into applause, which turns into a real storm in the gallery," the Hercules magazine wrote about him (1913).
Sometimes Vakhturov demonstrated strength tricks: he unbent horseshoes, carried a load weighing 24 pounds, and threw a two-pound weight over a railway carriage.
This is how Nikolai Vakhturov, a world champion and student of Ivan Poddubny, entered the history of Russian sports.
WILLIAMS MOORE–Znamensky (Alexander Znamensky, 1877-1928), Moscow.
A professional circus athlete, he performed record strength feats: he did a somersault with two-pound punches in each hand, carried a piano with a tapper on his back, held a platform with an orchestra on his chest, bench pressed 132 kg from a wrestling bridge, squeezed two two-pound punches with his right hand, placing them one on top of the other. Contained a paid arena. He had an attractive appearance and a powerful figure: height 170 cm, weight 88 kg, chest 118 cm, waist 82 cm, neck 46, biceps 43, calves 40, thigh 61 cm.
VLADISLAV PYTLASINSKY (1863-1933), St. Petersburg, Warsaw.
A student of Kraevsky, he himself became a professional coach - in 1898 he opened a paid athletics school in St. Petersburg, and in 1911 - in Odessa. He successfully competed in international championships of wrestlers and athletes. He achieved results that were high for those times: he squeezed 98 kg with his right hand, pushed 115 kg with both hands without tying them up, pulled out two two-pound weights with one hand, and squatted 175 kg. His measurements in 1903: height 184 cm, weight 105 kg, biceps 44 cm, neck 46, chest 128, thigh 69, calves 44 cm.
In 1807, Captain D.A. was killed in a battle with the Turks. Lukin, nicknamed the "Russian Hercules" in the navy. Eyewitnesses describe his victory with 12 sailors over a crowd of several hundred people. He easily broke horseshoes, could hold pound cannonballs in his outstretched hands, and pressed nails into the wall with his finger.
"Petersburg Leaflet" dated July 3, 1893 wrote about a certain Ivan Chekunov, who, in the presence of a crowd of people, freely lifted an anvil weighing 35 pounds (560 kg).
The most powerful governor: Evpatiy Kolovrat
Evpatiy Kolovrat, despite the epic aura, is a historical figure. He was born in the village of Frolovo, Shilovsky volost. According to the “Tale of the Ruin of Ryazan by Batu,” Evpatiy Kolovrat learned about the Mongol invasion of the Ryazan principality and with a small detachment moved to the rescue, but found the city already devastated. “...the sovereigns were killed and many people were killed: some were killed and flogged, others were burned, and others were drowned.” Having overtaken the Mongols already in the Suzdal lands, Evpatiy Kolovrat’s squad killed the Mongol-Tatar rearguard. “And Evpatiy beat them so mercilessly that their swords became dull, and he took Tatar swords and cut them with them.”
Batu sent his best warrior Khostovrul against Kolovrat, but Evpatiy defeated the Tatar hero in a fight, cutting him to the saddle. Despite the huge numerical superiority, the Tatars could not defeat Kolovrat’s squad until they came up with the idea of using stone siege weapons against them. In tribute to the Russian warrior, Batu gave the body of the murdered Evpatiy Kolovrat to the remnants of his squad and ordered them to be released in peace. The case for the history of Ancient Rus' is extraordinary.
"San Sanych": Alexander Karelin
If you ask anyone, even someone far from sports, to name a famous Russian wrestler, the name of Alexander Karelin will come up. And this despite the fact that he left big sport 15 years ago, in 2000. At birth, “San Sanych” weighed 6.5 kilograms, at the age of 13 he was 178 cm tall and weighed 78 kilograms. At 14, he enrolled in the Greco-Roman wrestling section in his native Novosibirsk.
The first coach, Viktor Kuznetsov, remained Karelin’s mentor throughout his entire sports career. 4 years after joining the section, Karelin already became the world champion among youth. During his sports career, the wrestler collected all kinds of titles, won 887 fights, and lost only twice. He won Olympic gold three times, became world champion 9 times, European champion 12 times, and gold at the championships of the USSR, CIS and Russia 13 times. Alexander Karelin was awarded the “Golden Belt” four times as the best wrestler on the planet.
In 1999, the popular Japanese fighter Akira Maeda, who was considered invincible in his homeland, decided to put on a bright show at the end of his career and challenged Alexander Karelin. The Russian wrestler had to be persuaded for a long time, but in the end he agreed - sports ambition played a role. The fight took place on February 20, 1999. Karelin used only the arsenal of his native Greco-Roman wrestling in the ring. Maeda managed to land a few kicks at the beginning of the fight, but within a minute he turned into a training dummy for practicing throws. The Japanese wrestler’s “swan song” did not go well.
“Russian Bear”: Vasily Alekseev
Vasily Alekseev can be called the last hero of the Soviet era. He was born in 1942, and since 1966 he has lived almost constantly in the Rostov city of Shakhty. Despite his worldwide fame, Alekseev led a modest life, devoting himself entirely to his favorite activity - weightlifting.
The “Russian Bear” (as foreign fans nicknamed him) became the Olympic Champion twice, the World Champion six times, the European Champion six times, and held first place at the USSR championships for seven years. During his sports career, Vasily Alekseev set 80 world records and 81 USSR records. He is also the “eternal” holder of the current world record for the sum of three exercises - 645 kg (currently there are no competitions in this discipline).
Vasily Alekseev competed with himself, setting new records at the championships over and over again. It was he who opened the era of the “six hundred men”, being the first to conquer the six hundred kilogram peak. From 1989 to 1992, Alekseev coached the national team and the United Weightlifting Team. During his coaching work, not a single member of the team was injured. His training system can be called revolutionary. He criticized lifting extreme weights in training, trying to focus on strength endurance and combining types of training. Thus, he liked to take a barbell and go to barbecues, trained in the breaks between swimming and rest, lifted the barbell in the water, and often worked out in the fresh air . Vasily Alekseev died on November 25, 2011 in Munich at the age of 69. One of his loyal fans is Arnold Schwarzenegger.
“Iron Samson”: Alexander Zass
Alexander Zass remained in history as “Iron Samson”. Fame came to him during the First World War. He escaped from Austrian captivity, carrying a wounded horse from the battlefield. He found his destiny in the Hungarian circus, he designed acts himself, carried a horse or a piano around the arena with a pianist and dancer sitting on the lid; caught with his hands a 90-kilogram cannonball, which was fired from a circus cannon from a distance of 8 meters; he tore a metal beam with assistants sitting at its ends from the floor and held it in his teeth; having threaded the shin of one leg into the loop of a rope fixed under the very dome, he held the platform with the piano and pianist in his teeth; Lying with his bare back on a board with nails, he held a stone weighing 500 kilograms on his chest, which they hit with sledgehammers.
"Samson" toured a lot. He was with his performances in Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland, England, Ireland. Since 1924, Zass lived permanently in England, where he was awarded the title “The Strongest Man on Earth.” In 1925, the book “The Amazing Samson” was published in London. Told by himself." One of Zass’s merits can be considered the system of isometric exercises he developed aimed at strengthening tendons. Such training allowed him, despite his rather modest dimensions for a strongman, to withstand enormous loads. Unfortunately, in the USSR, until the 80s, practically nothing was known about him - “Samson” was considered “alien” to the Soviet system. Alexander Zass died in 1962. He was buried near London in the small town of Hockley, where his home was.
Invincible: Ivan Poddubny
Oddly enough, the sports career of the invincible Poddubny began with defeat. He worked as a loader at the port, then he decided to try his hand at wrestling in the circus of Ivan Beskoravainy. Ivan lost his first fight. From that time on, he set himself a strict training regimen, exercised with two-pound weights, a 112-kilogram barbell, gave up tobacco and alcohol, and doused himself with cold water. Until the end of his life he carried a cast iron cane with him. He soon became one of the most famous wrestlers not only in Russia, but also in Europe.
His main opponent was the Frenchman Raoul de Boucher. They met three times. Despite the dirty methods that the Frenchman practiced, Poddubny not only defeated him, but also gave the cunning Frenchman 20 minutes of shame in St. Petersburg, holding him in an iron grip. An eyewitness to this fight described what he saw as follows: “By the end of the fight, it was a pity to look at Pons: his trousers came down, as if he had suddenly lost twenty centimeters at the waist, his T-shirt rode up, crumpled and turned into a rag that you wanted to wring out.” Poddubny conquered and America. There he filled the halls, competing according to the rules of American wrestling. He actually fled from the USA, terminating the predatory contract and leaving the fees due to him to the Americans. He himself said more than once: “I am a Russian wrestler.” And the strong man Poddubny had a sad relationship with the “weaker sex.” He admitted that the only force that could defeat him was women: “All my life, I, a fool, have been led astray.”
could, bending his arms along his body, lift 120 kg with his biceps!
Winner of bulls and bears: Grigory Rusakov
The turn of the 19th-20th centuries was surprisingly prolific for strongmen. One of them was Kursk resident Grigory Rusakov, born in 1879 into the family of a simple peasant. As a wrestler, Rusakov performed in 1909 in the Donbass, where he worked in a mine. Rusakov quickly became a local champion and received an invitation to work in the Moscow circus. So he became a professional wrestler. Fortunately, the parameters allowed - two-meter height and 150 kilograms of weight. Having gained popularity in the capitals, Grigory Rusakov began touring throughout Russia, and then around the world - he won world championships in Argentina (1913) and Paris (1915).
Rusakov, like other famous wrestlers, was personally exempted from military service by Nicholas II, but the 1917 revolution cut short the wrestler’s professional career. According to some sources, he lived quietly and peacefully in the Kursk province in the settlement of Mikhailovka, according to others, he earned his living in Murmansk, competing against local strongmen. Not everything was smooth in Rusakov's life. He was prosecuted three times in 1929, 1938, 1944.
For example, the following incident remains in history: once Rusakov was training at a mill, throwing sacks of grain. The grain spilled and Rusakov was sentenced to three years, but he was released after two - at the request of Ivan Poddubny. Rusakov was also known for repeatedly engaging in exhibition fights with bears, bending horseshoes and rails, and once in London defeating a bull in a fight. Grigory Fomich died in an absurd way: he fell from a truck when he wanted to break a tree branch hanging over the truck while moving. The fall left him paralyzed. A year later he died.
The most powerful king: Peter the Great
Peter the Great can hardly be called a simple tsar. Among the Russian autocrats, he stood out for his physical stature (height 204 cm) and his love for manual labor (he mastered 14 craft specialties, was one of the best shipbuilders not only in Russia, but also in Europe, and personally operated tools). The irrepressible energy of the Russian emperor amazed his contemporaries.
Peter twisted coins with his fingers and rolled cast-iron frying pans “into a ram’s horn.” Returning from the Great Embassy in 1698, near Riga, he bought a horse, which later received the name Lisette, and decided to reforge it. The king tested the strength of the horseshoe in his own way. If he can twist it, it’s a bad horseshoe. If she can’t, she’s good. The blacksmith remade the work several times. Finally, Peter was satisfied with the quality, he gave the blacksmith a copper nickel. The blacksmith also turned out to be not so simple. Twisting the nickel with his fingers, he said that he was not satisfied with the quality of the coin. So the blacksmith reached the “golden price”. The people even created a fairy tale about this episode from the life of the king.
HANS STEYER(Bavaria, 1849 - 1906), standing on two chairs, raised 16 poods with his middle finger (threaded into a ring). His “live horizontal bar” was a hit with the audience: with straight arms, Steyer held a 70-pound (31.7 kg) barbell in front of him, on the bar of which his son, who weighed 90 pounds (40.8 kg), was doing gymnastic exercises.
Steyer was also famous for his eccentricity. His cane weighed 40 pounds (18 kg), the snuff box, which he held in the palm of his hand when treating friends, weighed 100 pounds (45 kg). Sometimes he put a cylinder weighing 75 pounds (34 kg) on his head and, arriving at a cafe, left it on the table, then asked the waiter to bring his cylinder (Remember: 1 Russian pound = 409 g; trade pound = 453 g; 1 pood = 16, 38 kg).
ANTON RIKHA
The Bohemian Anton Richa was famous for his ability to carry enormous weights. In 1891, he raised 52 pounds. (851 kg)
AT THE BEGINNING of the 17th century, the athlete was very popular in England. TOM TOFAN. Of medium height, proportionally built, he easily lifted stones weighing up to 24 pounds (393 kg) from the ground with his hands, tied an iron poker around his neck like a scarf, and in 1741, in a square crowded with spectators, he lifted three barrels of water weighing 50 pounds (819 kg). In 1893, a competition for the title of “world champion in weight lifting” was held in New York. The strongest athletes of that time came to the competition. Louis Cyr came from Canada, Evgeniy Sandov came from Europe. American James Walter Kennedy twice lifted an iron cannonball weighing 36 pounds 24.5 pounds (almost 601 kg), tearing it off the platform by 4 inches. None of the athletes could repeat this number. The set record turned out to be fatal for the 33-year-old athlete: he overstrained himself and after that was forced to perform only with a demonstration of his muscles. The athlete died at 34 years old.
SERGEY ELISEEV
World record holder, Russian athlete Sergei Eliseev, took a weight weighing 61 kg in his right hand, lifted it up, then slowly lowered it to the side with a straight arm and held the hand with the weight in a horizontal position for several seconds. Three times in a row he pulled out two untied two-pound weights with one hand.
IVAN PODDUBNY
Ivan Maksimovich Poddubny ("champion of champions", 1871-1949) had great physical strength. It should be noted that he left the wrestling mat at the age of 50. Without specially training in athletic routines, he could, by bending his arms along his body, lift 120 kg on his biceps!
LURICH
The enormous success of the Estonian strongman, world champion Georg Lurich, was brought not only by records, but also by the harmony and beauty of his physique. He posed more than once for sculptors such as Rodin and Adamson. The latter's sculpture "Champion" won first prize at the World's Fair in America in 1904. In the arena, Lurich demonstrated the following numbers: standing on a wrestling bridge, he held four men on himself. and at that time he was holding a 7-pound barbell in his hands. He held five people on one arm. held with his hands two camels pulling in opposite directions. He lifted a 105 kg barbell with his right hand and, holding it at the top, took a 34 kg weight from the floor with his left hand and lifted it up. (Sculpture "Champion").
IVAN MIKHAILOVICH ZAIKIN(1880 - 1949), famous Russian athlete, wrestler, one of the first Russian pilots. Zaikin's athletic numbers caused a sensation. Foreign newspapers wrote: “Zaikin is the Chaliapin of Russian muscles.” In 1908, Zaikin toured in Paris. After the athlete’s performance, in front of the circus, on a special platform, the chains torn by Zaikin, the iron beam bent on his shoulders, “bracelets” and “ties” that he had tied from strip iron were displayed. Some of these exhibits were acquired by the Paris Cabinet of Curiosities and were displayed along with other curiosities. Zaikin carried a 25-pound anchor on his shoulders, lifted a long barbell onto his shoulders, on which ten people sat, and began to rotate it (“living carousel”)
GRIGORY KASCHEYEV
This man had enormous strength. Almost a fathom tall (218 cm), Kashcheev, if he were a foreigner, would have earned a lot of money, because he surpassed all foreign giants in strength. In 1906, he met world-class wrestlers for the first time. He became friends with Zaikin, who helped him enter the big arena. Soon Kashcheev put all the famous strongmen on the shoulder blades, and in 1908, together with Poddubny and Zaikin, he went to Paris for the World Championship. Our heroes returned to their homeland in victory. It would seem that now Kashcheev’s real wrestling career had begun, but he still gave up everything and went to his village.
IVAN SHEMYAKIN(1877-1952)
In 1905, huge posters adorned the streets of Paris proclaiming that “The terrible Russian Cossack Shemyakin lifts six Japanese with one hand.” The posters were wrong about one thing: although Ivan was dressed in a Cossack costume, he did not belong to this brave tribe. In fact, this was his first foreign tour, and it was a triumph. For several evenings in a row, along with athletic performances, he demonstrated a power trick on a topical topic (after all, the Russo-Japanese War was at its height), with one hand he lifted six uniform athletes dressed in Japanese costumes. The applause of the French drowned out the sounds of the orchestra.
LOUIS CIRE
Louis Cyr ("American Miracle", 1863 - 1912). This strongest man on the American continent amazed with his size. With a height of 176 cm, he weighed 133 kg, chest volume 147 cm, biceps 55 cm. A curious incident happened with 22-year-old Louis Cyr in Montreal, where he served as a policeman: one day he brought two hooligans to the station, holding them under his arms . After this incident, at the insistence of his friends, he began to develop strength and perform athletic performances in which for a long time he did not know competitors. He lifted 26 pounds (425.8 kg) to his knees with one hand, and lifted a platform with 14 adult men on his shoulders. He held a 143 lb (64.8 kg) load in front of him at arm's length for 5 seconds. He put a sheet of paper under a barrel of cement and offered to pull it out. Not a single athlete was able to complete this task, but Louis Cyr himself lifted this barrel every evening.
FRENCH ATHLETE APOLLO(Louis Huny) lifted five weights of 20 kg each with one hand. I lifted a barbell weighing 165 kg with a very thick bar (5 cm). Only 20 years after Apollo, this barbell (the axis from the trolley) was able to lift the 1924 Olympic Games champion Charles Rigoulot, who, by the way, holds the world record in the right-arm snatch of 116 kg. In the famous "cage release" trick, Apollo used his hands to push apart the thick bars and exit the cage.
EVGENY SANDOV
Eugene Sandow (Frederick Miller, 1867-1925) was extremely popular among the British. He was called the “magician of poses” and “the strongest man.” Weighing no more than 80 kg, he set a world record by squeezing 101.5 kg with one hand. He did a backflip, holding 1.5 pounds in each hand. Within four minutes he could do 200 push-ups. In 1911, King George V of England awarded Sandow the title of Professor of Physical Development.
A golden statuette depicting Sandow was awarded to the winner
athletic competition in 1901 Now, as you know, it is awarded to the winner of Mr. Olympia. In 1930, one of his many books entitled “Bodybuilding” was published, giving the sport its name in all English-speaking countries.
ALEXANDER IVANOVICH ZASS This happened in 1938 in the English city of Sheffield. As the crowd watched, a truck loaded with coal ran over a man sprawled on the cobblestones. People screamed in horror as the front and then rear wheels ran over the body. But the next second a cry of delight was heard from the crowd: “Hurray for Samson!”, “Glory to the Russian Samson!” And the man to whom this storm of jubilation was concerned, stood up from under the wheels, as if nothing had happened, smiling, and bowed to the audience. His real name is Alexander Ivanovich Zass. The numbers of the Russian athlete are amazing. With his own weight of no more than 80 kg, he carried a horse weighing up to 400 kg on his shoulders. He lifted with his teeth an iron beam weighing 135 kg, at the ends of which two assistants sat, a total of 265 kg. For fun, he could lift a taxi and drive the car like a wheelbarrow, break horseshoes and break chains. He lifted 20 people on the platform. In the famous "Projectile Man" attraction, he caught his assistant in his hands, who, like an artillery shell, flew out of the muzzle of a circus cannon and described a 12-meter trajectory above the arena. A. Zass lifted such a platform with the help of straps put on his shoulders (W. Churchill on the far right). (Read the book about Samson on our website).
GEORG HACKENSCHMIDT(“Russian Lion”) - (also read about him and about his training), world champion in wrestling and world record holder in weightlifting, pressed a barbell weighing 122 kg with one hand. He took 41 kg dumbbells in each hand and spread his straight arms horizontally to the sides. I pressed a barbell weighing 145 kg on a wrestling bridge. With his arms crossed on his back, Gaak lifted -86 kg from a deep squat. And with a 50-kilogram barbell - 50 times. These days this exercise is known as the "gaak exercise" or simply "gaak exercise." Already 82 years old, Hackenschmidt jumped over a rope stretched across the backs of two chairs, pushing off the floor with both legs at the same time.
YAKUB CHEKHOVSKAYA
In 1913, at a weightlifting competition in Petrograd, in the former Mikhailovsky Arena, athlete Yakub Chekhovskaya demonstrated a sensational strength trick - he carried six soldiers of the Guards regiment in a circle on one arm, for which he was awarded an honorary “golden belt”. This record number has not yet been repeated by any athlete in the world. Chekhovsky himself constantly demonstrated it in his performances. The athlete’s other numbers are no less amazing. While making the “bridge”, Yakub Chekhovskaya supported ten people. A platform was installed on his chest, on which a brass band of 30 musicians was located. On the shoulders of the athlete, 40 people bent an I-beam metal beam. 3 trucks carrying the public drove through his chest.
PETER KRYLOV("King of Weights").
One of the strongest athletes of the beginning of our century was Pyotr Fedotovich Krylov. His love for the circus forced him to change his profession as a merchant navy navigator to that of an athlete. The path of the young strongman was not easy. At first, he performed in booths, traveled to fairs in provincial cities, where several times a day he not only demonstrated athletic performances, but also belt wrestled with amateurs from the public. Soon Krylov's name becomes famous, and he begins to perform in large circuses, where his performances are a huge success. Along with demonstrating power tricks, Krylov competed in French wrestling championships and won prizes, and in competitions for the best athletic figure he invariably received first prizes.
Pyotr Krylov set several world records. In the “wrestling bridge” position, he squeezed 134 kg with both hands, and 114.6 kg with his left hand. Pressing a two-pound weight in a soldier's stance with his left hand - 86 times in a row. He created a number of athletic feats that became widespread: bending a rail on the shoulders, driving a car over the body of an athlete. He was a passionate promoter of physical culture. Gave lectures on athletic sports.
NIKOLAI VAKHTUROV Nizhny Novgorod hero.
“Nikolai Vakhturov! - and from the “parade”, smiling affectionately, the colossal figure of the Nizhny Novgorod hero steps out ponderously. A spontaneous fighter. In the scope of his nature and in his temperament, the epic Vaska Buslaev, carried over to us into the 20th century. This is the “idea of onslaught” embodied in a muscular body. ". A reckless Russian wrestler who breaks everyone who falls into his arms. Even a very restrained stall breaks out into applause, which turns into a real storm in the gallery," the Hercules magazine wrote about him (1913). This is how Nikolai Vakhturov, a world champion and student of Ivan Poddubny, entered the history of Russian sports.
WILLIAMS MOORE-Znamensky(Alexander Znamensky, 1877-1928), Moscow. A professional circus athlete, he performed record strength feats: he did a somersault with two-pound weights in each hand, carried a piano with a tapper on his back, held a platform with an orchestra on his chest, bench-pressed 132 kg from a wrestling bridge, squeezed two two-pound weights with his right hand, placing them one on top of the other. Contained a paid arena. He had an attractive appearance and a powerful figure: height 170 cm, weight 88 kg. chest 118 cm, waist 82 cm, neck 46, biceps 43, calves 40, thigh 61 cm.
VLADISLAV PYTLASINSKY(1863-1933), St. Petersburg, Warsaw. A student of Kraevsky, he himself became a professional coach - in 1898 he opened a paid athletics school in St. Petersburg, and in 1911 in Odessa. He successfully competed in international championships of wrestlers and athletes. He achieved results that were high for those times: he squeezed 98 kg with his right hand, pushed 115 kg with both hands, pulled out two two-pound weights with one hand without tying them, and squatted with a weight of 175 kg. His measurements in 1903: height 184 cm, weight 105 kg, biceps 44 cm, neck 46, chest 128, thigh 69, calves 44 cm.