Sandow was already a great admirer of Greek and Roman statues of gladiators and mythical heroes when his father took him to Italy as a boy. By the time he was 19, he was already performing strongman stunts in side shows. The legendary Florenz Ziegfeld saw the young strongman and hired him for his carnival show. He soon found that the audience was ...
Classic, Greek God-like physique, with musculature like ancient statues and near perfect, gymnast like muscular control, matched by true strength for a light-heavyweight lifter (180 lbs.).
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Fact
1
In 1898, Sandow was considered the most famous man alive when he started publishing the magazine Physical Culture which later became Sandow's Magazine of Physical Culture.
2
Sandow invented equipment, such as spring-grip dumbbells.
3
Sandow showed off his physique on postcards only wearing a fig leaf to cover up.
4
He was one of two strongmen who were so frail as children that they were not expected to live very long; the other was Bernarr McFadden, who became the publisher of the world's first fitness magazine.
5
The Mr. Olympia bodybuilding trophy is named "The Sandow" in his honor.
6
At the time of his death in 1925, a story was released that Sandow died prematurely at age 58 of a stroke shortly after pushing his car out of the mud. The actual cause of death was more likely the painful complications from syphilis, according to Sandow's biographer, David L. Chapman in his book, Sandow the Magnificent.
$14 Million
