Alexander Zaas is one of the most powerful athletes and wrestlers of the early twentieth century. He was best known under the pseudonyms ‘Samson’, ‘Iron Samson’ and ‘Amazing Samson’. According to some sources, he is considered the first pre-revolutionary Russian heavyweight champion.

The life of a great strongman. Biography of Alexander Zass.

Childhood and youth

Alexander was born in 1888 in Vilno (Vilno now Lithuania), then part of Russian Empire.
Alexander Zass was born on February 23 (old style) 1888 on an unnamed farm in the Vilna province, part of the Northwestern region of the Russian Empire. Shura was the third child in the family. In total, Ivan Petrovich and Ekaterina Emelyanovna Zassov had five children: three boys and two girls.

Soon after the birth of Alexander, the Zass left the Vilnius region and moved to the outskirts of Tula, and when the boy was four years old, the family moved to Saransk. The reason for the change of place was that my father received the position of clerk. Despite the fact that the landowners' estates, which were managed by Ivan Petrovich, were located between Saransk and Penza, the Zasses lived mainly in the city itself. It is curious that both the town house itself and the bank accounts were registered not in the name of the head of the family, but in the name of the mother, who was a very purposeful and strong-willed woman. It is known that she even ran and was elected to the Saransk City Duma. Ivan Petrovich, skillfully managing the household, involved all his children in work. Later, Alexander Ivanovich recalled:

My childhood was spent in the fields, for our family was essentially peasant. There was plenty of food and drink, and yet we had to work hard for everything we had.

By his own admission, Alexander’s childhood years were not particularly interesting and consisted mainly of hard work. As he grew older, his father began sending him on long trips on horseback with large sums of money, which he had to deposit in the bank into the account of the owner of the estates. In the future, his father wanted to give Alexander a technical education and dreamed of seeing his son as a locomotive driver. Zass himself did not have the slightest desire to drive locomotives. Traveling around different cities and villages, he had the opportunity to see quite a lot of traveling troupes and tent circuses, for which Russia was famous in those days. The life of a circus performer seemed to him the most beautiful in the world. However, Alexander could not allow himself even a hint of such thoughts - his father was very strict and could mercilessly flog him for disobedience.

One day, Ivan Petrovich took his son with him to the fair to sell horses. In the evening, after a successful transaction, they went to a performance of a traveling circus located nearby. The sight he saw struck the boy to the core: To the music, screams and laughter, people soared in the air, horses danced, jugglers balanced various objects. But he especially liked the strongman who could easily lift heavy weights, break chains and twist iron bars around his neck. Many spectators, including Father Alexander, following the invitation of the presenter, got up from their seats and tried to repeat these tricks without much success. Returning to the inn, father and son had dinner and went to bed. But sleep did not come to Alexander, slipping out of the room, he rushed to the circus tent and, having paid the required amount from his pocket money, went in to watch the performance again.

He returned home only the next morning. The father, having learned about his son’s absence, took a shepherd’s whip in his hands and flogged him. Alexander spent the rest of the day and all night in a separate room without food or sleep, tormented by a fever. Early in the morning he was given some bread and told to go to work immediately. Already in the evening, the father informed his son that he was sending him to a distant southern village for a year as a shepherd. There, a twelve-year-old teenager had to help shepherds graze a huge herd - almost 400 cows, 200 camels and over 300 horses. From morning to night, he was in the saddle under the scorching sun and made sure that the animals did not fight, did not wander off and did not climb into other people's possessions.

All the time spent away from home, Alexander did not stop thinking about the circus and its wonderful life. He learned to shoot well - more than once or twice the shepherds had to fight off wolves. Communication with animals also gave a lot to the future circus actor. He tried to teach horses the same tricks that he noticed from riders in the circus, and improved in horse riding and vaulting. Soon the boy began to feel as confident on the horse’s back as on the ground. However, what especially surprised the shepherds and what Alexander himself considered his main victory was his friendship with the guard dogs. He managed to find mutual language with six huge, ferocious and merciless wolfhounds, who then accompanied him everywhere.

After returning to Saransk, Zass began collecting magazines and various instructions “on improving the figure and developing strength.” Reading them, he tried to understand the intricacies of sports and circus terminology, learned athletic exercises, learned about famous wrestlers, gymnasts and strongmen. Alexander's favorite hero was the outstanding athlete of the nineteenth century, Evgeniy Sandov.

Zass's early day now began with gymnastics and jogging. He spent his free minutes in the backyard of the house, devoting them to performing various exercises. He didn’t have dumbbells or weights, so the guy tied stones of varying weights to wooden sticks. In addition, he carried cobblestones, trying to hold them only with his fingers, and jogged with a calf or foal on his shoulders. Zass also trained with thick tree branches - he tried to bend them without support with just his hands. Later, he made two horizontal bars for flying from one bar to another.

The first successes came as a reward for hard work - Alexander felt his body getting stronger and filled with strength.

He learned to “spin the sun” on a bar, do one-arm pull-ups, and catch 8-kilogram stones thrown from a throwing board.

There were also injuries. One day he failed to hold a stone projectile and fell with a broken collarbone. After spending a month with his arm in a sling, he started all over again.

Having become older, Zass turned for help to famous athletes of that era - Pyotr Krylov, Dmitriev, Anokhin. They all reviewed the young man’s letters and sent him their methodological recommendations. By training according to their exercise systems, Alexander Ivanovich further developed his abilities. None of his peers could do what he did. Weighing 66 kilograms, the young man confidently twisted 80 kilograms with his right hand and juggled 30-kilogram weights. Rumors about his extraordinary strength quickly spread throughout the surrounding villages and villages. They began to invite him to various parties and celebrations, where people were not averse to measuring their strength with him. However, for all his outstanding abilities, Alexander Ivanovich grew up as a surprisingly calm and not pugnacious person; in the summer he took care of his father’s affairs, and in the winter he attended school.

Work in the circus

The turning point in his fate came in the summer of 1908 (when he was 20 years old). Despite Alexander’s timid protests, Zass Sr. sent the twenty-year-old guy to Orenburg to the local locomotive depot to study as a fireman, or, if he was lucky, as an assistant driver. And at the beginning of October, Orenburg newspapers announced the arrival in the city of “the first-class Andrzhievsky circus with its huge troupe.” Alexander, of course, came to watch the performance. A couple of days later, Zass, having mustered up the courage, appeared before the director, to whom he told about how he was attracted to such a life. Dmitry Andriyuk, and this is how Andrzhievsky was actually called, was himself an excellent trainer and wrestler, and performed athletic performances. To Alexander’s great surprise, he said: “Do you want to work in the circus? Well, okay, you can join us as a laborer. You will help where needed. But life here is difficult, no doubt about it. You will work long hours, and it may happen that you will have to go hungry. Think carefully." However, Alexander did not hesitate.

Andrzyevsky Circus

At first, the young circus performer really had a hard time. In addition to various “menial” labor such as cleaning animals or cleaning the arena, he helped the athlete Kuratkin during his performances. Over time, Kuratkin became attached to the young man - he taught him the various intricacies of circus strongmen, and trained him in balancing with heavy objects. And a few months later, Alexander received his own, small act - demonstrating strength, he threw a huge stone over his head from hand to hand.

He wrote to his family that he was diligently studying to become a locomotive driver.

This was only partly a lie - Zass really put his whole soul into the hard work of a circus performer.

Andrzhievsky's circus tent operated for six months in Orenburg and nearby settlements, and as soon as the fees began to fall, the troupe got ready to go. Zass had to make a difficult decision - to go to his father in Saransk and inform him of his choice of life path or to openly continue his circus career. Andrzhievsky, having learned about this, ordered Zass to return home, repent and trust in his father’s mercy. He refused all the young man’s requests to take him with him.

However, Zass did not go home at all. He took the train to Tashkent, and upon arriving in the city he immediately went to the circus of the famous entrepreneur Yupatov. He had heard a lot about Philip Afanasyevich. Yupatov kept his circuses in Tashkent, Samarkand and Bukhara; his troupes included the most famous “stars”, each of them an unsurpassed specialist in his genre.

The performance of the Tashkent troupe made a huge impression on Zass. After the Andrzhievsky Circus, the performances performed amazed us with their unique technique, brilliant invention and purity of execution. When the performance ended, the young man went to the ringmaster to talk. Introducing himself as an artist from the Andzhievsky Circus, he explained his desire to get a job with Yupatov very simply: “I want to earn more.” Half an hour later he was already invited for negotiations with the director of the circus, who, barely looking at Zass, announced that he was ready to hire him as a laborer on the condition that he pay a “deposit of integrity” of 200 rubles. Alexander did not have that kind of money, and he was given a week to get it.

The very next morning he wrote a letter to his father, saying that he had found a promising job with a good salary. He wrote that a large enterprise offered him training, but required him to pay 200 rubles as proof of integrity. Four days later, the required amount of money came from his father along with congratulations, and Zass became a full participant in Yupatov’s performances.

Circus Yupatov

Initially, he became an assistant to the legendary trainer Anatoly Durov. After six months of working on his team, Alexander was unexpectedly transferred to the cashier position. Wage there was more in this place, and Zass even managed to repay the debt to his father, who now did not particularly delve into the essence of his son’s “profitable” work. And soon he was returned to the arena, but not to Durov, but to the troupe of horse riders. As soon as Alexander got comfortable in this friendly and cheerful company, he was transferred to the aerialists. This is how Philip Afanasyevich raised young circus performers. In order to identify their true inclinations, and also to have replacements if necessary, he “passed” them through many specialties. Zass, despite the fact that he liked the work, did not stay with the trapeze gymnasts for long and was sent to a group of wrestlers led by the 140-kilogram giant Sergei Nikolaevsky.

Some time later, after numerous discussions, a plan was born for Alexander to perform independently, not related to wrestling matches. The basis was strength exercises, in which Zass was especially good - breaking chains with the force of the chest and arms, bending iron rods. These tricks were complemented by less difficult numbers, but also very effective. For example, demonstrating the strength of the pectoral muscles, Alexander lay on his back, and on his chest there was a platform that could accommodate up to ten people. Alexander could also successfully hold the platform in his teeth on which the two heaviest wrestlers were sitting.

People flocked to Yupatov's performances, and the box office was excellent. However, the happiness of circus performers is short-lived. One dark August night, the circus menagerie caught fire. Perhaps the matter was not without competitors, but it was not possible to find out. The damage from the fire was catastrophic - most of the animals were burned and property was lost. There was nothing to pay the artists, and the troupe disbanded. Horse riders left for the Caucasus, Durov went to St. Petersburg, and Alexander Zass, along with six wrestlers, went to Central Asia. Along the way, the athletes earned their living by performing, and the arena for them was best case scenario central square villages, and more often - a street or roadway. Thus, the emaciated and weakened strongmen reached Ashgabat, where they got a job in the circus tent of a certain Khoytsev.

Khoytsev Circus

With the advent of Yupatov’s artists, Khoytsev’s circus became mainly a wrestling circus, since against their background all other genres were losing. Performing in various cities and villages as an ordinary wrestler, Alexander continued to train intensively. His day began with a three-kilometer run, then there were exercises with breaking chains and with iron rods - he bent them on his knee, curled them in a spiral, and tied them in a knot. He devoted a lot of time to developing the back and pectoral muscles. Having finished the morning training, Zass rested and trained for the second time in the evening. During these classes, the athlete practiced horseback riding with vaulting, practiced balance, developed jaw and neck strength by lifting 170-kilogram steel beams from the ground.

Such activities helped him gain more muscle mass, which was necessary not so much for performing various tricks, but for obtaining a “marketable” appearance, since Zass was not taken seriously in the arena for a long time. Indeed, in an era when in world athletics 150- and 170-kilogram heroes were considered the embodiment of physical power, the short and thin Zass with his 168 centimeters of height and 75 kilograms of weight had a hard time compared to them. Later, Alexander Ivanovich will write that “large biceps cannot be considered a criterion of strength, just as big belly- is not a sign of good digestion.” He claimed that

a large man does not have to be strong, and a modestly built man does not have to be weak, and all the strength lies in the tendons, which is what needs to be trained

During a tour of the Khoytsev circus, Zass finally found a summons ordering him to report for military service.

Military service

Recruits were called up according to their place of birth, and Alexander had to go to Vilna, where he was from. There his forehead was shaved and he was assigned to serve in the 12th Turkestan Infantry Regiment, located on the Persian border. During his three-year service, he worked as a gymnastics instructor and also continued to practice wrestling and horse riding.

Life in Krasnoslobodsk

At the end military service Zass went to Simbirsk (Ulyanovsk), where he was offered a position as a coach of women athletes, and after some time he moved closer to his family in the city of Krasnoslobodsk, where he and his father purchased a cinema. However, things didn’t work out for him, and he was forced to turn to weightlifting again. Zass began performing solo performances, and at the same time developed new unique power tricks. The first job offers came from a number of circuses, but then the First World War began.

War

Mobilization took place hastily, and Zass ended up in the 180th Vindavsky Infantry Regiment, which was transferred from Saransk to Lublin at the beginning of the war. Alexander Ivanovich was enlisted in regimental reconnaissance and, as part of a small group, carried out horse raids on enemy rear lines. A pedant and an ardent “regime official” in peaceful life, at the front he turned into a stern and dashing warrior. It is known that he was promoted to rank for his bravery in combat. There is also a legend about how

During the next foray, the stallion Zass was wounded in the front leg. The athlete did not abandon the animal in trouble, waiting until nightfall, he put the horse on his shoulders and went out with him to our trenches

Alexander Ivanovich did not fight at the front for long - during the next battle, a shell exploded next to him, hitting both legs of the Russian hero with shrapnel. He woke up in an Austrian hospital. There he was operated on, but the first operation was unsuccessful, and soon Alexander Ivanovich underwent a second and third. The wounds did not want to heal properly, and doctors warned the athlete that he might have to lose his legs. Left to his own devices, Zass used some of the principles of his passive exercises. He continued to study hard every day until all fears of losing his legs completely disappeared. Full recovery did not come immediately. At first, Alexander Ivanovich learned to move on crutches and helped care for other prisoners. And when he was able to move without crutches, he was transferred to a prisoner of war camp.

Captivity and first escape

In this “institution” everything was different. They fed poorly, forced to work a lot - from morning to evening, prisoners were busy building roads and temporary hospitals for the wounded on both sides, who continued to arrive in countless numbers. Zass spent about a year in this camp. The place was well guarded, the barracks were surrounded by barbed wire. Together with another prisoner named Ashaev, Alexander Ivanovich began to prepare to escape. With great difficulty, friends managed to get a diagram railway tracks no roads and a small, almost toy compass. They also managed to save some provisions. The last barrier to escape was barbed wire, completely hung with hundreds of bells and tins. Straining their brains in search of a way out, the prisoners very soon came to the conclusion that they had only one way beyond the wire - to make a tunnel. On moonless nights, Zass and Ashaev dug a hole, and when it was finished, they escaped. By dawn, tired and exhausted, they ran to the forest and took refuge under the shade of trees. There was no chase. The goal of the fugitives was to reach the Carpathians, where, in their opinion, the forward posts of the Russian army were located. However, these plans were not destined to come true; on the sixth day they came to the attention of a field gendarmerie patrol. They tried to escape, but they were caught up and, after being brutally beaten, they were taken to the nearest commandant’s office. After interrogation, Zass and Ashaev, to their surprise, were not shot, but were sent back to the camp. There the fugitives were brought before a military court, which gave them a relatively “mild” decision - they were sentenced to thirty days of solitary confinement on bread and water. At the end of the punishment, the prisoners were returned to their old duties, but were transferred to another, more guarded part of the camp. Here Alexander Ivanovich stayed for several more months, and then, due to a lack of male strength, he was sent to Central Hungary to an estate that was breeding horses.

Second escape

Life here turned out to be much easier, and after a couple of months, taking advantage of the carelessness of the guards, Zass and a Cossack named Yamesh left this place. This time the Russian athlete was much better prepared, had a reliable map and compass, and enough money. They remained free for two and a half months, until a patrol caught them near the Romanian city of Oradea. The friends were placed in the city prison, and when it was revealed that this was Alexander’s second escape, he was put in a dark underground casemate for six weeks. After this, he was transferred to a regular cell and was engaged in minor prison work. And then he was transferred to street work, which prompted Alexander Ivanovich to make another attempt to escape.

Third escape, work in the circus and again captivity

This time, having already learned from bitter experience, he did not try to break through to the Russian units. Zass reached the Romanian town of Kolozsvar, where the famous Herr Schmidt circus was located and asked to meet with the owner. Alexander Ivanovich openly told the director of the troupe about his troubles, as well as about his activities in Russian circuses. Fortunately, Schmidt's program did not include any strength athletes or wrestlers. Zass's stories about the tricks he could show convinced the owner. Schmidt was pleased with the first performances of the Russian hero, who, by the way, was not in his best shape, and helped him buy new clothes and paid a huge advance. However, Alexander Ivanovich's luck was not destined to last long. Circus posters announcing the appearance of "The Strongest Man on the Planet" attracted the attention of the local military commandant. Curious why such a fine fellow did not serve in the Austrian army, he arrived at the circus, and by the evening of the same day he found out that Zass was a Russian prisoner of war. Taking into account that Alexander Ivanovich did not kill or maim anyone during his escapes

the military tribunal limited himself to imprisoning him in the fortress until the end of the war

Zass was placed in a damp and cold basement, into which air and light penetrated through a tiny window located at a height of six meters and overlooking a moat with water. The legs and arms were shackled, which were removed only twice a day during feeding.

Fourth and final escape

Escape seemed impossible, but the Russian hero did not lose heart. Pulling himself together, he began to train. Shackled in arms and legs, he worked hard - he did goose steps, backbends, squats, tensed his muscles, kept them “on,” and relaxed. And so many times a day. The ostentatious humility and obedience somewhat changed the conditions of his detention. Three months later, Zass was allowed a daily half-hour walk around the territory of the fortress, and after a while, knowing about his circus past, he was offered to train local dogs. Alexander Ivanovich agreed, thereby freeing himself from the leg shackles and gaining some freedom for his hands. This turned out to be quite enough for him. After some time, the Russian strongman successfully made his next, final escape.

He successfully reached Budapest, where he got a job as a port loader. Zass stayed at this job for quite a long time, gradually regaining his strength. And when the Beketov Circus came to the city, he turned there, thinking of getting a place as an athlete or wrestler. But the circus director, who was experiencing financial difficulties, refused him, nevertheless giving him a letter of recommendation for the famous wrestler Chai Janos, who had his own troupe. This good-natured Hungarian treated Alexander Ivanovich with attention. After listening to the story of the Russian hero and testing him in a duel, he took him into his team.

Life in Europe - Iron Samson

For three years after this, Zass performed in the wrestling troupe of Chai Janos, alternating fights on the carpet with acts with dogs. He visited Italy, Switzerland, Serbia. Zass did not return to Soviet Russia, believing that, as a soldier of the tsarist army, the path there was closed forever. In the early twenties, tired of wrestling, the athlete moved to the circus of his old friend Schmidt, where he began performing athletic tricks that later brought him world fame. At the director’s suggestion, he took the stage name Samson, under which the European public knew him for many decades.

In 1923, Zass received an unexpected offer to work in Paris. He signed a contract, but did not stay long in the French capital. A year later, at the invitation of the head of British variety shows Oswald Stoll, he went to England, where he lived until the end of his life. It is curious that Stoll’s representatives, who met the famous strongman at London’s Victoria Station, at first did not pay any attention to the inconspicuous, stocky man who did not know a word of English. However, soon photographs of the Russian athlete took over the front pages of local newspapers. He visited Bristol, Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh... His fame grew, and his performances aroused fantastic interest.

Circus acts by Alexander Zass

Zass was truly unique; common sense refused to believe in the numbers he performed. To demonstrate the gigantic load on his shoulders, he built a special tower. Being at the top, he held suspended platforms with people on his shoulders. In one of the photographs, Zass holds thirteen people on his shoulders, including Winston Churchill. Zass developed another unique number, “Projectile Man,” from a trick shown by other strongmen.

They were catching a nine-kilogram cannonball fired from a cannon, but the Russian hero chose a ninety-kilogram projectile for himself. Then, together with foundries and blacksmiths, he developed a particularly powerful cannon capable of throwing this cannonball so that it would slide along a given trajectory over the arena. By the way, Alexander Zass’s technical studies brought him considerable benefit in the future. Many years later, he developed the wrist dynamometer, first as a competition device and then as a training device. Successful performances with cannonball catching were not enough for him; Zass knew well how to conquer the audience. After much thought and calculation, a miracle gun was created that fired not with cold metal, but with girls. Flying eight meters across the stage, they invariably fell into the hands of the athlete.

Working with a jack, Alexander Ivanovich easily lifted trucks off the ground on one side. He generally had a craving for cars - in one city or another in England he loved to organize “road shows”. The strong man lay down on the ground, and cars full of passengers passed over him - along his lower back and legs. In public, Zass also practiced stretching with horses. At the same time, he held back two horses rushing in different directions.

Putting future karatekas to shame, Zass broke through concrete slabs with his fists and bent iron beams into a pattern more intricate than on the gates of Westminster Abbey. Alexander Ivanovich’s traditional performances were: hammering huge nails into a thick board with the palm of his hand, flying under the circus dome with a 220-kilogram beam in his teeth, carrying across the stage with a 300-kilogram horse on his shoulders. Many famous British athletes tried unsuccessfully to repeat Zass's tricks. And the Russian hero challenged anyone who was ready to knock him down with a punch in the stomach. Professionals have also participated in this more than once. There is a photo of the world heavyweight boxing champion, Canadian Tomi Burns, trying to knock down the Russian hero.

The repertoire of power routines by Alexander Zass was varied. For example, he carried a piano around the arena with a musician and a dancer playing it. Total weight his burden was about 700 kilograms. He lifted two dozen people on the platform, lying with his bare back on a board studded with nails, holding a stone weighing 500 kilograms on his chest.

Life in England

In 1925, Zass met the dancer Betty - she became a participant in one of his numbers. The athlete hung upside down under the circus dome and held in his teeth a rope on which a platform with a girl playing the piano was suspended. Later a short time they began to live together. In 1975, 68-year-old Betty would say: “He was the only man I truly loved.” But Alexander Ivanovich was always popular with women and reciprocated. Betty forgave him a lot, and only ten years later life together in 1935 they decided to end their relationship and remain friends. Later she married Zass's best friend - clown and circus rider Sid Tilbury.

Shortly before the war, Alexander participated in filming in the small town of Hockley, located a forty-minute drive from London. Here he saw a site on Plumberow Avenue that he really liked. In 1951, Zass, Sid and Betty purchased this house for three. Alexander Ivanovich lived there on short visits, during breaks between tours. In 1954, Zass worked as the chief administrator of the New California Circus in Wokingham, and also performed with his famous Scottish ponies and dogs. On August 23 of the same year, the BBC television company organized the athlete's last public performance with power tricks. And although he was already 66 years old, the numbers shown were impressive. After this, Zass continued to work tirelessly, but as a trainer. Nevertheless, he liked to include strength numbers in his programs as entertainment for the public. For example, at the age of seventy he carried two lions around the arena in a special yoke.

Connection with the Motherland

In the summer of 1960, Alexander Ivanovich received a letter from Moscow from his sister Nadezhda. A correspondence began between them. In his messages, Zass asked if he could come and visit his relatives, stay in Russia, get a job there as a coach or physical education teacher. And in 1961, when the Soviet circus came on tour to London, the athlete met with Vladimir Durov, the grandson of the legendary Anatoly Leonidovich, for whom he worked as an assistant in his youth.

Death and memory of the legendary strongman

In the summer of 1962, there was a fire in Zass's caravan. 74-year-old Alexander Ivanovich bravely rushed into the fire to save his animals. In doing so, he received serious burns to his head and damaged his eyes. These injuries greatly damaged him. He felt that he did not have much time left in this world, and gave Betty detailed instructions about own funeral. One of the main wishes was the time of burial - “in the morning, when the sun begins to shine.” It was at this time that circus performers used to leave their seats and hit the road. Alexander Ivanovich died on September 26, 1962 in a hospital in Rochford, where he was taken the night before with a heart attack. He was buried in Hockley in accordance with his wishes.

In 2008, on the centennial anniversary of the artist’s first performance with power routines, a monument to Alexander Zass, made by sculptor A. Rukavishnikov, was unveiled and installed in front of the Orenburg Circus building.

In 1925, the memoirs of Alexander Zass were published in London, and in 2010 they were published in Russian translation by the Orenburg Book Publishing House. In the book “The Amazing Samson. Told by himself... and not only” also includes more than 130 illustrations - photographs, documents, circus posters.

Strength records

The most common question Alexander Zass heard was how he managed to become so strong. To which the athlete honestly answered:

My strength is the result of exhausting work, incredible tension not only of all physical, but also of spiritual strength to the last

• he carried a horse or a piano around the arena with a pianist and dancer located on the lid;
• caught with his hands a 9-kilogram cannonball flying out of a circus cannon from an eight-meter distance;
• 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 dome, he held a platform with a piano and a pianist in his teeth;
• lying with his bare back on a board studded with nails, he held a stone weighing 500 kilograms on his chest, which was hit by those from the public with sledgehammers;
• in the famous attraction “Projectile Man” he caught with his hands an assistant flying out of a circus cannon and describing a 12-meter trajectory above the arena;
• he broke 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.
• with his own weight of 66 kg, young Zass twisted (press with torso deviation) with his right hand 80 kg.

Books about Alexander Zass

“Amazing Samson. Told by him... and more"

I offer the reader a translation of “The Amazing Samson” into Russian. As illustrations, the book uses materials donated in 2006 by the Orenburg charitable foundation“Eurasia” as a gift to the Museum of the History of Orenburg, the State Archive of the Orenburg Region, photographs by Igor Khramov, Rustem Galimov, Oleg Kudryavtsev, Sergei Zemtsov, photographic materials and documents donated by Richard and Leslie Wingow, Dan Leonard, Jacqueline Ricardo (UK), copies of documents provided Yuri Vladimirovich and Liliya Fedorovna Shaposhnikov (Moscow)

"The Secret of Iron Samson"

Rare boy Soviet Union I didn’t hold in my hands the book “The Secret of Iron Samson” by Alexander Drabkin and Yuri Shaposhnikov. A fascinating story about an athlete, with youth who dreamed of working in a circus, who worked hard on his own and eventually became the legendary Samson, opened up the world of strength and sports for many thousands of children. It was this wonderful book, published in a hundred thousand copies in 1973, and even later publications of “Letters from Hockley” by one of its authors - Alexander Zass’ nephew Yuri Vladimirovich Shaposhnikov - that were sorted into quotes on the Russian-language Internet.

• • in the USSR, almost until the death of Alexander Zass, practically nothing was known about him - “Samson” was considered “alien” to the Soviet system.
  • When performing in Europe, he was the most sought after artist.
  • at the end of his life, he invented a hand dynamometer, designed and manufactured a circus cannon for the “Projectile Man” attraction.
  • developed his own training system aimed at strengthening tendons. This system was successfully used by martial artist Bruce Lee
  • in the family of Alexander Zass, besides him, they were distinguished by their extraordinary strength - father, brother and sister

Photos by Alexander Zass

“I don’t believe in big muscles unless there is real strength in the tendons.”

“Big biceps are not a sign of strength, just as a big belly is not a sign of good digestion.”

Alexander Ivanovich Zass was known as one of the most strong people of the past century. Not possessing naturally heroic abilities, he made himself with the help of isometric exercises and achieved phenomenal results. Performing in circuses as a wrestler and strongman, he performed acts that no one else has been able to repeat to this day.

The exact date of birth of Alexander Zass is unknown, some biographers point to October 14, 1888, others say that it happened on October 4. But one thing is known for sure - in a small farm near Vilno in the fall of 1888, a fifth child was born into the family of a poor farmer Ivan Petrovich Zass, who family council decided to christen him Alexander. The year turned out to be a lean year, it is quite possible that little Alexander would not have been able to survive it if his family had not decided to sell off their simple property and moved to live and work beyond the Volga. On the estate of Princess Yusupova, where the Zassov family came, both young and old worked. From the age of four, Shura began working in the fields with his older comrades. They had to work from early morning until late at night to help feed a large, poor family. And so, from month to month, from year to year. People from different places, during a short rest they talked about the places they happened to visit. From one such story, Shura learned about a wonderful tent in which beautiful horses in silver harness gallop, driven by brave riders, and clowns and strongmen enter the arena. Believing and not believing in this story, Alexander told his father about the magic tent, he grinned and promised the boy that in the fall they would definitely go to the fair, and he would be able to see this wonderful tent with his own eyes.

And the miracle really happened soon. In the booth horses danced, people flew in the air, and the world-famous strongman Ivan Pud lifted a barrel of water, broke horseshoes and easily threw a heavy stool with his teeth. This clumsy, fat man won my heart forever little boy. That evening, Alexander firmly decided for himself who he would be in this life. He will not work as a laborer from dawn to dusk for greedy and evil owners - he will be a world-famous strongman, and he will also be applauded by an admiring audience.

From that time on, Alexander literally fell ill with the circus. Near his house he made a horizontal bar and a trapeze. I begged some household weights from the storekeeper and made a homemade barbell out of them. He spent every free minute in the makeshift “stadium” and trained like a man possessed. Something started to work out: he was able to do a “sun” on the horizontal bar, then a large turnover was mastered. A smaller horizontal bar was added to the large horizontal bar and Alexander began to train flights from one horizontal bar to another, but these exercises were spontaneous and unsystematic. Realizing this, Zass convinced his father to buy him literature on physical development. The book he liked most was “Strength and How to Become Strong.” The book described in detail the system of the famous athlete, and Alexander began to train according to the system of his idol. But he soon felt that exercises with dumbbells and barbells alone would not make him an outstanding strongman. He writes letters to famous athletes of that time - Krylov and Dmitriev-Morro. And they answer the young man, moreover, they give him methods for strength training with weights and a barbell.

Alexandra's training begins new stage- he squeezes two-pound weights, makes a “mill” with them, and juggles the weights. The barbell is now pressed strictly according to the method: overhead press, barbell press with one hand. The first results are starting to come. With his own weight of 66 kilograms, Alexander successfully copes with a barbell that weighs eighty kilograms. But still, he is more fascinated by power tricks, which he spied on other athletes at circus performances. He stocks up with chains, horseshoes, thick metal nails, which he tries to bend or tear. His results become significantly better and Alexander comes to the conclusion that dynamic exercises must be combined with isometric ones. In the future, he will even publish his own system of human physical development using isometric exercises with chains.

After many years of training, Alexander Zass tries his hand at circus performances. He is trained in wrestling, horse riding, and aerial acrobatics. He works as an assistant to the famous trainer Anatoly Durov and the famous athlete Mikhail Kuchkin. The latter, at parting, honestly admitted to the young athlete: “Sasha, definitely.” You will definitely become a great strongman. Believe me, I have never seen anyone who has so much strength with your height and weight.

In Orenburg, in 1908, Alexander received his first independent circus act: he lifted three people with one hand. The audience cheered with delight. Then more crowning numbers were added: Alexander held a platform with two huge heavyweight wrestlers with his teeth, broke horseshoes, tore chains, hammered nails into the board with his bare hand, and then pulled them back out with two fingers. The performances went simply with a bang, fame and the first fans appeared.

But the war began, and Zass was drafted into the active army. He ended up in the 180th Vindava Cavalry Regiment. He took part in battles and was awarded military decorations. One day Alexander carried a wounded horse on his shoulders for half a kilometer. His act quickly spread around the front, and many officers came to look at the strong man. Again and again he had to lift the horses and carry them tens of meters. From that moment on, the trick of carrying a horse and rider around the circus arena appeared in his repertoire.

In one of the battles, in 1914, Alexander was wounded by shrapnel in both legs, was captured, miraculously avoided amputation and managed to recover with the help of his own gymnastics. Despite the pain, he constantly worked on his wounded legs, and a miracle happened - he could walk again. The prisoner was transferred to a camp, from where he made several escapes. He was caught twice, and only the third time he managed to break free. In Kaposvár, in the south of Hungary, Schmidt's circus was touring in those days. Alexander came to the owner and told him everything honestly - about the captivity and about the escapes. He demonstrated several of his signature tricks and was happily hired. But the rescue turned out to be illusory; the military commandant became interested in the young athlete and, having learned that he was a Russian prisoner of war, ordered Alexander’s arrest. Heroic strength saved Zass this time too. He broke the handcuffs, tore out the bars in his cell and climbed out the window to freedom.

Now he became more cunning, walked at night, hid in forests or abandoned buildings during the day, and soon ended up in Budapest. He no longer went to the circus to survive and feed himself - he got a job at the port as a loader, but the dreams of returning to the arena did not leave him. And then luck smiled at him ghostly - the world champion in wrestling, Hungarian, Chaya Janos introduced Alexander to the Italian impresario Pasolini. The cunning businessman very quickly realized what material fell into his hands and what were Zass’s chances of returning to the circus. He offered the athlete an enslaving contract - only 20% of the fees. But the strongman simply had no choice, and he was forced to agree to these conditions.

Pasolini quickly organized a tour of the circuses of Europe: Italy, France, Switzerland and Germany applauded the strength and endurance of the Russian athlete. On the posters was Alexander’s pseudonym – Samson. The public flocked to Samson's performances in droves. The next tour in England coincided with the European wrestling championship there. Famous athletes of that time came to the circus performance. After the performance, they surrounded Alexander Zass and asked to give them the opportunity to repeat his tricks. Alexander smiled broadly and led them into the arena. Strong, strong men tried their best to repeat his signature numbers, but in vain. Only the legendary Samson could perform these “tricks”. After this incident they started talking about him seriously. His talent and strength were appreciated not by ordinary people, but by recognized masters. Their recognition is worth a lot. Finally came recognition, fame and love from fans.

Here is what the newspapers of those years wrote about Alexander:

“Samson truly is the strongest man in the world. You can see this by seeing how he ties thick iron rods into knots,” Daily Telegraph.

“According to the advertisements, he is the most strong man on earth, and after we have seen it ourselves... this statement can be considered irrefutable”, Manchester Guardian.

“In Samson we have a real strongman, whose achievements are completely open to verification,” the popular Health and Strength magazine.

Alexander triumphantly goes on tour to different countries. He often updates his repertoire, carefully studies the work style of other athletes, always trying to complicate any of the tricks he likes.

In 1925, the book “The Amazing Samson” was published under the editorship of nine-time world champion Pulum. The book was published in England. It tells about the amazing fate and athletic career of the Russian athlete Alexander Zass. Alexander Ivanovich Zass is the author of several systems of physical development, he invented the hand dynamometer, and he himself designed the cannon for the “Projectile Man” attraction.

Iron Samson died on September 26, 1962. He was buried near London in the small town of Hockley.

This happened in 1938 in the English city of Sheffield. In front of the crowd, a truck loaded with coal ran over a man sprawled on the cobblestone street. People screamed in horror. But the next second there was a cry of delight: “Glory to the Russian Samson!” And the man to whom the storm of jubilation was felt, stood up from under the wheels as if nothing had happened, bowed to the audience with a smile. For several decades, the name of the Russian athlete Alexander Zass, who performed under the pseudonym Samson, has not left the circus posters of many countries. His repertoire of power routines was amazing:
he carried a horse or a piano around the arena with a pianist and dancer located on the lid;
caught with his hands a 9-kilogram cannonball flying out of a circus cannon from an eight-meter distance;
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 dome, he held a platform with a piano and a pianist in his teeth;
lying with his bare back on a board studded with nails, he held on his chest a stone weighing 500 kilograms, which was hit by those from the public with sledgehammers;
in the famous attraction “Projectile Man” he caught with his hands an assistant flying out of a circus cannon and describing a 12-meter trajectory above the arena;
he broke 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.

Alexander Zass's performances were triumphant. This is explained not only by the original athletic performances, most of which could not be repeated by any athlete, but also by the fact that he was not like many strongmen of that time, who had massive figures and great weight. His height is 167.5 cm, weight is 80 kg, chest circumference is 119 centimeters, biceps are 41 centimeters each. He liked to say that big biceps are not always an indicator of strength. Just like a big belly does not mean good digestion. The main thing is willpower, strong tendons and the ability to control your muscles. Very often Samson had to answer the question of how he achieved such power. He replied that this was the result of purposeful work, enormous tension of all spiritual and physical forces. If you trace the entire life path of Alexander Zass, you can see that it consisted of constant training and a strict regime. In one photograph, where Samson is captured sitting at a table near a samovar, there is his note: “5 minutes of rest,” but he was then 74 years old, and he continued to work, although not in the strength genre, but as a trainer, but often included in their performances are power tricks. So, at the age of seventy, he carried two lions around the arena on a special yoke! Of course, Alexander Zass had enormous natural strength, which is what distinguished his ancestors in general. Once in his native Saransk he visited the circus with his father. The boy especially liked the mighty strongman who broke chains and bent horseshoes. At the end of his performance, the artist, as was customary at that time, addressed the audience, inviting them to repeat his tricks. Alas, no one was able to bend a horseshoe or lift a ball barbell with a thick bar off the ground. And suddenly Alexander’s father, Ivan Petrovich Zass, rose from his seat and entered the arena. Alexander knew that his father was very strong. Sometimes he demonstrated his strength to the guests. And so the strong man handed his father a horseshoe. To the surprise of the public, the horseshoe in the hands of Zass Sr. began to unbend. Then Ivan Petrovich tore the huge barbell off the platform and, straightening his torso, raised it above his knees. The audience applauded like crazy. The circus strongman was embarrassed. He called the uniform man over to him. He ran backstage and brought a silver ruble. The artist raised his hand with a ruble and said: “But this is for your feat and for a drink!” The father took the ruble, then rummaged in his pocket, pulled out a three-ruble ruble, and handed it to the athlete along with the ruble, saying: “I don’t drink! Here you go, but drink only tea! " Since then, his son lived only in the circus. In the backyard of the house, with the help of adults, I installed two horizontal bars, hung trapeze bars, got hold of household weights, made a primitive barbell, and began to train with incredible persistence. I tried to repeat what I saw. Having mastered the “sun” (large rotation) on the horizontal bar, he began to fly from one bar to another, doing backflips not only on the floor, but also on a horse. I did one-arm pull-ups several times. But all these activities were unsystematic. He convinced his father to order books on physical development from Moscow. And soon a book by the then famous athlete Evgeniy Sandov, “Strength and How to Become Strong,” arrived. The author talked about his athletic career, about victories over famous athletes, and even about fighting a huge lion, which before the fight was given a muzzle and special huge mittens on its paws. The lion rushed at Sandow several times, but he threw him off each time. Then came eighteen exercises with dumbbells, that is, what Alexander especially needed. And he began to study according to the Sandov system - his idol. But he soon realized that exercises with dumbbells alone could not develop the strength that a professional strongman needs. He turns for help to the famous athletes Pyotr Krylov and Dmitriev-Morro, who did not ignore the young man’s request, and soon Zass received methodological recommendations from these athletes. Krylov recommended exercises with weights, and Dmitriev - with a barbell. He squeezed two-pound weights simultaneously and alternately (“mill”), pressed them upside down, and juggled. With the barbell I performed mainly bench presses, clean and jerks, and overhead presses. With his own weight of 66 kg, young Zass twisted (press with torso deviation) with his right hand 80 kg. But most of all he was attracted by the power tricks that he saw in the circus. And he visited the circus constantly. His sports props began to be replenished with horseshoes, chains, metal rods, and nails. And then he realized that repeated attempts to perform a trick - breaking a chain or bending a thick metal rod - bring tangible results in the development of physical strength. In essence, these were the now widely known isometric exercises. Thus, purely empirically (based on experience), Alexander Zass came to the conclusion that athletic strength can be developed by combining dynamic exercises with isometric ones in training. He later published his isometric system, and the pamphlet created a sensation. Once in the circus, Zass at one time worked as an assistant to the legendary trainer Anatoly Durov, then as an athlete Mikhail Kuchkin, and he often told his assistant: “Someday, Sasha, you will become a famous strongman, I have never seen anyone who was so strong , like you, having such a small height and weight.” In general, Zass worked in the circus for about sixty years, and almost forty of them - with athletic acts.

In 1914, world war broke out. Alexander Zass was drafted into the 180th Vindavsky Cavalry Regiment. One day an incident occurred that amazed even those who were well aware of Alexander’s extraordinary strength. One day he was returning from another reconnaissance mission, and suddenly, already close to the Russian positions, they 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. Zass, convinced that the danger had passed, did not want to leave the wounded horse. There was still half a kilometer left to his regiment, but this did not bother him. Having shouldered the horse, Zass brought it to his camp. Time will pass, he will remember this episode and will include carrying a horse on his shoulders in his repertoire. In one of the battles, Zass was seriously wounded by shrapnel in both legs. He was captured, and the Austrian surgeon began amputation. But Zass begged not to do this. He believed in his powerful body and therapeutic exercises which I developed for myself. And he recovered! Soon he, along with other prisoners, was sent to heavy road work. He made several unsuccessful escapes, after which he was severely punished. The third escape was remarkable. Having escaped from the camp, Alexander found himself in the city of Kaposvár in southern Hungary, where the Schmidt Circus, known throughout Europe, was on tour. Presenting himself before the owner of the circus, Zass openly told him about his misfortune, as well as about his work in Russian circuses. Immediately the director suggested that he break the chain and bend a thick metal rod. Of course, hungry and tired, Zass was not in good athletic shape, but through an effort of will he coped with the task. He was taken to the circus, and soon the news of the amazing athlete spread throughout the city. But one day the military commandant came to his performance. He became interested in why such a strong young athlete was not serving in the Austrian army. That same evening it turned out that Samson was a Russian prisoner of war. He was taken to the basement of the fortress, into a damp, dark room. But his strength and will were not broken. He made a new escape by breaking the chain connecting the handcuffs and breaking down the bars. Now he gets to Budapest, where he gets a job as a loader at the port, and then at the circus arena. The wrestler, world champion Chaya Janos, whom Alexander met back in Russia, helped him. This good-natured, powerful Hungarian treated the unfortunate Zass with sympathy. He took him to the village to his relatives, where Alexander’s strength gradually recovered. He then performed for three years in a wrestling troupe led by Chai Janos, alternating wrestling on the mat with athletic performances.

One day, Janos introduced the Russian strongman to the famous Italian impresario Signor Pasolini, who had heard a lot about Zass’ athletic capabilities. The Italian offered to conclude a contract. Zass's European tour begins, his fame grows. Finally, he comes to England, where his performances generally aroused fantastic interest. Famous athletes such as Edward Aston, Thomas Inch, Pullum began to try their hand at repeating Zass's tricks, but not a single attempt was successful. Mr Pullum, Director of the famous Camberwell Weightlifting Club and Chief Editor the sports magazine Health and Strength wrote about him: “A man has arrived right in the heart of England, capable of performing numbers that common sense refuses to believe in. If he had been a huge fellow, his performances might have been perceived as believable. But pay attention at least to the excursion of the chest (the difference between inhalation and exhalation) of this short man. It is equal to 23 centimeters, which says a lot to specialists. Therefore, I say that he not only has unprecedented physical strength, not only a magnificent artist, but also a man who uses his mind as well as his muscles.” And here is what the poster of the famous Alhambra hall, where Alexander Zass was supposed to perform, testifies: “In Manchester during construction work Samson, suspended by one leg from a crane, lifted a metal beam from the ground with his teeth, and was carried to the top of the building by a crane, while the crowd stood gaping below. If the Russian had opened his mouth, the crowd would never have been able to tell what they saw.” Posters and newspapers did not lag behind. Daily Telegraph: “Mr Samson is certainly the strongest man on earth. You can believe this when you see how easily he ties iron rods into knots.”
Manchester Guardian: "According to the advertisements, he is the strongest man on Earth, and after we have seen him for ourselves ... this statement can be considered irrefutable."
Health and Strength Magazine: “In Samson we have a strongman whose achievements are completely open to scrutiny. Truly, his muscles are made of steel."

At the end of his life, Alexander Zass invented a hand dynamometer, designed and manufactured a circus cannon for the “Projectile Man” attraction. Samson died in 1962. He was buried near London, in the small town of Hockley.

Alexander Zass specially developed a training system aimed at developing human strength. His program was called the isometric system and consisted of tendon training.

Alexander Ivanovich Zass
Born: 1888 *
Height: 168 cm
Weight: 75 kg *

About 35 years ago Alexander Zass made a sensation in the sports world using isometric exercises. Many athletes have achieved great results after incorporating these exercises into their training.
At the beginning of the century Alexander used his isometric exercises in his training, and in the twenties used a system of dynamic exercises using chains. The author’s main words were: “Muscles by themselves will not hold horses pulling in different directions, but tendons will, but they need to be trained, they need to be developed, and there is a way to strengthen them.”
While working in the circus, Zass acquired professional skills in many genres: horse riding, aerial gymnastics, wrestling. Zass worked in the circus for about 60 years, where he performed athletic acts.
In 1924, the English magazine “Health and Strength” published side by side portraits of Alexander Zass and his idol Evgeniy Sandov on a special color spread. The following year, edited by Pulum(nine-time world champion) was The Amazing Samson book published. This book was presented in London. It told about the difficult fate and career of the Russian athlete Alexander Zass. This famous Russian athlete invented the hand dynamometer, designed and manufactured a cannon for the Projectile Man attraction. Alexander Zass died in 1962.

The main principle of the Zass system– a person’s strength is concentrated not in huge biceps and developed muscles, but in the strength of the tendons. It is the developed tendons and ligaments that allow a person to fully use the strength of their own muscles. To achieve maximum physical strength, Zass strongly advised strengthening, first of all, tendons, and only then paying attention to building muscle mass. " It is necessary to develop what underlies the muscle, especially the tendon, and not the volume of the muscle"- Zass wrote in his works.
The Zass system includes two types of exercises - dynamic and isometric.
Dynamic exercises, as recommended by Zass, must be performed to build muscle mass and harmonious development of the body. However, he based the exercises for acquiring strength on isometric exercises aimed at strengthening and developing the athlete’s tendons. So, let us present to you a complex of these two programs.

IP- initial position

Dynamic exercises

• First: IP - feet shoulder-width apart, bag (weight) on the floor near the socks. Bend over with your knees bent, grab the bag with your hands and lift it to your chest. Hold for a few seconds and return to the starting position. Repeat 10-15 times.

• Second: IP - standing heels together, toes apart, bag in hands on chest. Sit down slowly on your toes while simultaneously squeezing the bag up onto your straight arms. Then fix and lower the bag onto your chest while straightening your legs. Repeat 10-15 times.

• Third: IP - standing with feet shoulder-width apart, bag in the palm of one hand near the shoulder. Squeeze the bag with your straight hand and turn it twice left and right. Return to starting position. Repeat the exercise until failure. Then change hands.

• Fourth: IP - standing, feet slightly wider than shoulders. Hold the bag in the palm of your bent arm near your shoulder, and move your elbow to the side. Throw the bag from one hand to the other so that the bag describes a semicircle in flight. Then repeat the exercise in reverse order, increasing the flight path. Repeat 10-15 times.

• Fifth: IP - standing, legs wider than shoulders, slightly bent at the knees. Throw the bag above you 1.0-1.5 m, straightening your legs. Catch this bag on your shoulder blades and neck. Then throw it off yourself and, without letting it fall to the floor, catch it with your hands. Repeat 10-15 times.

• Sixth: IP - lying on your back, take the bag located on the floor behind your head with straight arms and slowly lift it up until your arms are vertical. Lower onto your chest, squeeze out and slowly return to the starting position. Repeat 10-15 times.

• Seventh: IP - the same as in the previous paragraph. Raise your legs, bend them at the knees, place the bag on the soles of your feet and squeeze, straightening your legs. After fixation, lower it into IP. Executes until failure.

• Eighth: IP - standing, heels together, toes apart, hands with a bag below. Raise the bag above your head, arc upward to the left with straight arms, and then arc down to the right, lower it into the IP. Repeat the exercise in reverse order. Perform 10-15 times.

Isometric exercises

The duration of isometric exercises depends on the degree of muscle tension. If 60-70% of the maximum force is applied, then the muscle effort should last 8-10 seconds, if 80-90% - 4-6 seconds, and at 100% - 2-3 seconds. As you train, the maximum effort can be increased to 6 seconds. Each exercise is repeated 2-5 times. The workout should not exceed 25 minutes.

• First: Chain in bent arms in front of the chest, elbows at shoulder level. Apply force and try to stretch the chain.

• Second: The chain is in bent arms behind the head. Try to stretch the chain.

• Third: To perform this exercise you will need two chains to the ends to which the handles are attached. Place your feet into some of the handles, and take the others into your bent arms and lift them to your shoulders. Stretch the chains up. Then hook the handles to the level with your head, then above your head.

• Fourth: Place the foot of your right foot into one handle of the chain, and take the other in your right hand and lift it up. The arm should be slightly bent at the elbow. Straighten your arm and stretch the chain upward. Repeat the exercise with your left hand.

• Fifth: As you inhale, wrap the chain around your chest and secure it. Then, taking a deep breath, tensing the pectoral muscles and latissimus dorsi, try to break the chain.

• Sixth: Place your feet wider than your shoulders. Hold one handle of the chain with your straight left hand at the same knee, the other with your bent right hand at the waist. In this position, stretch the chain. Then change the starting position of your hands.

• Seventh: Attach one end of the chain to a hook in the wall at waist level, and take the other in your hands. Place your feet wider than your shoulders. Pull the chain, trying to pull the hook out of the wall.

• Eighth: Attach one end of the chain to a fixed hook in the floor, attach a handle to the other end and grasp it with your hands at knee height. Straining your legs, back and arms, try to lift the hook off the floor. Then do the exercise holding the handle of the chain at waist height and behind your back.

Nutrition

Alexander considered daily training to be the key to his phenomenal strength and good health. In addition to the hard training developed according to his program, he ran 3 km daily, performed gymnastics, maintained an exceptionally healthy lifestyle, did not drink or smoke. The athlete always tried to eat right and rest, although he did not leave any special recommendations on diets and daily routine for his successors.

We have revealed in more detail this topic in the following articles:

• Breakfast of the champion
• Diet Basics
• Nutrition during training
• What you need and healthier to eat for breakfast

Video

Samson's speech

Training with chains

Earlier articles discussed training programs:

• (Mr. Olympia 2012)
• (Mr. Olympia 2009)

As they say: " nothing is given to us so cheaply and is valued so dearly as politeness".

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Celebrity workouts

• Phil Heath
• Jay Cutler
• Tom Hardy
• Taylor Lautner
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• Christian Bale
• Jason Statham
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• Gerard Butler

Phil Heath is an American professional bodybuilder. He received multiple wins in the US Championship in 2005, 2006 in Colorado and New York, and in 2008 in the Ironman Pro. However, the most significant victory is first place in the Mr. Olympia competition 2010 and 2011.

Jay Cutler is an American actor and bodybuilder. He is a four-time winner of the Mr. Olympia title. Jay also received the Grand Prix in competitions in Austria, Romania, and Holland. He is currently the only bodybuilder in IFBB history to regain the Mr. Olympia title after losing in 2008.

Tom Hardy is slowly approaching success. He starred in such famous films as “Dot the i’s”, “Star Trek: Into Darkness”, “Bronson”, “Inception”, “Warrior”, “This Means War”, “The Dark Knight Rises”. This is a unique actor; from one role to another he either loses weight or gains muscle again. How does he manage to do this?

Iron Samson (1888-1962) is one of the strongest people of the last century. He developed a method based on dynamic exercises, with the help of which he cultivated incredible strength. He always maintained that pumped up muscles are not an indicator of strength. Power depends on strong tendons and the ability to feel the body. This is probably true, otherwise how can one explain the miracles that the strongman Alexander Zass demonstrated on stage without possessing phenomenal physical abilities.

Anthropometry

• His height did not exceed 170;
• weight was 75 kg;
• biceps size 42 cm;
• chest – 120 cm.

“My potential is the result of hard work and incredible mental and physical stress.”

Man-made wonders of Zass

Iron Samson devoted his entire life to the circus. People came to see a man who lifted a piano with a sitting girl and carried it around the arena. He held a structure with two circus pieces in his teeth, hanging upside down in the air, and held a rope with a tied piano in his mouth. Alexander easily caught a 9 kg cannonball fired from a distance of 80 m, broke the links of a metal chain and tied them with a bow. He could hammer a 3-inch nail with his palm and pull it out with his fingers. In his arsenal there were always many power tricks that captured the imagination of the public.

Children's hobby

Alexander Ivanovich Zass born in Vilnius. My love for the circus began with my first visit to the show. What shocked the boy the most was the number with trained animals and the performances. The event that happened at the end of the speech determined the path of life. When the circus performer invited those who wanted to unbend the horseshoe, Sasha’s father came on stage and repeated his act. The boy realized that he had potential, but it needed to be developed.

Alexander read many books about physical development, got acquainted with Anokhin’s training and. The latter’s book on body building became a sports bible for the teenager. He built a trapeze arena, stone weights, and began using dumbbells. I trained my agility with the help of a throwing board, grabbing a flying stone in the air. The sports corner was constantly improved by adding new equipment.

Iron Samson's training methods

Later, Sasha met famous athletes Krylov and Dmitriev-Morro. The guys developed a complex for him and helped him master the barbell. Every day he started from a 3-kilometer run, then unbent iron rods on his knee and twisted them into spirals. For back and chest development raised a platform with stones. After a series of approaches, I stood in a “bridge” and stretched the muscles. I finished my morning exercises by lifting bags to gain weight. First I filled them with sawdust, then every day I poured out a handful and added sand. After completely replacing the filler, I used shot. As a result, the package, which initially weighed 7 kg, became 10 times heavier.

The second training session took place in the evening. Alexander Zass practiced horse riding and developed his balance by vaulting. Special techniques for performing on a horse while moving at a gait, trot or calm walk perfectly developed balance.

Alexander did not deny the importance of power techniques and used them for himself to improve texture. At the very beginning of his career, he weighed 63 kg, and he was faced with the task of increasing his volume.

“I believe in muscles if the tendons are strong, otherwise it’s just an illusion.”

To strengthen them, I performed them to overcome resistance. To increase the contractility of muscle fibers, he combined them with dynamic practices.

Glory

There was a lot of tragedy in Zass's life. He survived the first world war, was captured, broke his chains three times and escaped. The last time he was lucky, and Alexander made it to Hungary, where Schmidt’s circus was touring. He passed the strength test and became a member of the troupe. Here he met wrestler Chai Janos and signed a contract for a world tour. The press wrote:

“Zass is the only one in the world whose mind and body are in harmony. What he does, no one else will repeat.”

In total, Zass devoted 60 years to the circus. During this time invented hand dynamometer, gun for the “Man Projectile” attraction. Hard training did not prevent me from living in good health into old age. The strongman was buried near London in the town of Hockley.

Authentic footage in the biographical video about Alexander Zass