1. The passage discusses the history of strongman training from early pioneers in the late 19th/early 20th century like Arthur Saxon, Louis Cyr, and Eugene Sandow to modern athletes. 2. It highlights Alexander Zass, considered the founder of isometric training, who famously escaped from a POW camp by breaking his chains using isometric exercises. 3. The passage emphasizes the importance of training under expert supervision and using proper safety equipment to avoid injury when performing challenging strongman exercises.

1. From the old-time strongman strength training legacy and beyond.
I wonder who knows today about any strongman athlete besides Brian Shaw,Hafthor
Julius “Thor”or “The Mountain”Bjornsson,Zidrunas Savickas,Jon-Pal
Sigmarsson,Bill Kazmaier.The pioneers of this field lived a long before these fellows
started training,using names like Arthur Saxon,Louis Cyr,Eugene Sandow,”The
amazing Samson”Alexander Zass,Charles Atlas and others.
Alexander Zass in particular is considered “the father of isometric training”(and thus
strength) and had escaped from a p.o.w.(prisoner of war) 3 times,when as a prisoner
of Austrians in first world war at least the last time he broke his chains.Although he
had been a great athlete until being captured and was disappointed at the thought that
all his strength and physical condition would be lost;well,he found out that by pulling
and stretching with the chains with which he was tied up his practice was continuing
and he was becoming even stronger.Some may be thinking that I am a story-teller.The
saying is that he became very strong using this isometric practice,strong enough to
break those
chains(maybe all-rusty chains I should imagine,nevertheless…).For this,he had
numerous honours from the then queen of England,opponent of the Austrians in that
war(Zass flourished during the first half of the 20th
century,like most of his kind).We
can see Youtube videos of him bending chains,horseshoes or I don’t know what
else,and the fact is that if those persons were able to break chains wrapped around
their chest ,obviously a rusted chain,even thick enough,would not stop them.
They are supposed to all be sickly children(see Charles Atlas’s case) beaten by other
kids,who when visited zoos saw the powerful cats(tigers,lions…) stretching(like
Atlas)or museums
and saw the ancientgreek-style statues posing having very musculine physique,driven
to the result that the ancient sculptors had seen actual people with those proportions,
and it was thus possible(Eugene Sandow and others).Sandow,for example,figured out
that due to this fact he should train every muscle of his body separately(which is
something not many people can do so well)and that he did,using his
dumbbells,common and also ones created by himself (with coils/springs placed
widthwise in the dumbbells’ handle).This is taking it to the limit.
Louis Cyr(an artistic nickname)like many others was amazed by the story of super-
athlete of greek antiquity Milon of Croton,who carried a baby bull every day until it
become a strong and mighty bull.Exaggeration?Of course,since a whole-grown bull
weighs many hundreds of kilos,but the story is very clever and shows superbly the
principle of progressive rise of training burdon.Our friend,Cyr,tried it but after a
period of time the
little bull kicked him furiously so the experiment differed from that time:the little bull
was replaced by a flour bag to which about a hundred libres were added each day.You
can still see a statue of this guy(as the strongest man of all time)in a Quebec,Canada
park,
courtesy of his fellow Canadians.He too exhibited his strength before royalty,of
course.
Another one had this act in which he was catching a cannonball shot out a cannon-of
course he lost 2 or 3 fingers before he perfected his act-or until he didn’t have these
fingers complicating his act anymore.He too stood before royalty to perform this
dangerous act.It is like the opposite of Panagis koutalianos famous act,in which the
Greekman from the today lost greek provinces(Koutali of Propontis)held attached to
his body,standing,three loaded cannons to which he set fire him himself,standing

2. totally still while they were firing all at the same time(not all of them to the same
direction,which would be lethal for him,of course).
There are also sad facts like the death of a great strongman from bleeding because of
the following unfortunate event:this man’s most famous act was the rapid pinning of a
nail on a wooden plaque using his bare hand;unlikely there are only a few ways to
hold the plaque still while pinning with the other hand:he chose to do it on the other
thigh.The last time he performed this(which is also performed by relatively modern or
modern Greek
folk strongmen in more safe ways)the nail passed through the wood and caused the
fatal bleeding I said about;the main artery of the thigh has huge blood circulation.
The final cause of death recognized was infection of the blood because of the nail;
neither the cutting of both his legs did any help;he passed away soon after.This is
mentioned to put emphasis on the dangers of strongman training(and all training).
You will ask:what is common between that old strongman training and
today’s,carrying atlas
stones,pulling busses and all?or why is it beneficial and important to perform it
today?or why is it good training? I will tell you.
Everyday life is virtually impredictable:you can lift a well-shaped and formed
object,but you will become stronger if you lift an “odd” object;this may secure you
for
the impredictable need mentioned (Arnold Schwarzenegger called it:”Shock the
muscle!” for strength evolution) and involves the grip better in the movement and
more convincingly than a common dumbbell-in a way a common dumbbell
wouldn’t.Of course all this needs the
supervision of an expert or else there wouldn’t be a need for physical education
professionals.Also the “strange”dumbbell(remember the Eugene Sandow dumbbell
mentioned above)strengthens the grip and all hand and shoulder zone in a way the
plain dumbbell can’t because it develops endurance to strength in a way the common
dumbbell can’t.
When someone practices strongman training he must always have a waist-protecting
belt(like the weightlifter’s)in reach and never proceed “to a next level” before he has
mastered the previous level enough as to perform his usual exercises without the
belt.That’s a rule!
It was in my own thought essential to write this text in order to define the borderlines
between strongman training and oldtime strongman training,as an attempt to help in
the direction of making clear the very essense of strength training to any person who
is confusing terms and meanings about this subject,as it is very important that no
misunderstanding is made about it and that people should always perform these
exercises in an expert way,which is a direction to which I hope there are enough
efficient
physical education teachers to enlighten,help,show the right way(which is one and
only.As not everyone can be a doctor,in a similar way not anyone can be a physical
education teacher).
I wish to add to this article in the future or write another one or more on this subject.
Just one more emphasis put:the strongman training described is,for reasons already
analysed,a complete synonyme to the “functional training” term.I hope you liked my
article.Keep well!