The Secret of the Iron Samson.

Alexander Zass (1888-1962) is one of the strongest men of the 20th century. Not naturally athletic, he achieved with the help of isometric exercises phenomenal power. Speaking in the circus, as a strongman and wrestler, he showed numbers that no one else could repeat.

1. He held a stone of 500 kg on his chest, and those who wished to break the stone with sledgehammers.
2. He carried a piano around the arena, along with a pianist.
3. Caught a core (90 kg) flying out of a cannon.
4. He lifted a beam weighing 220 kg with his teeth and carried it a couple of meters.
5. Tie metal rods into a knot.

Alexander fought well and, thanks to his strength, even defeated opponents that were much larger in mass, however, there were few who wanted to fight him. For example, in one of the fights, his opponent weighed almost 130 kg, although Alexander himself weighed about 75 kg (height 167.5 cm). Already at 4 minutes the opponent was lying on the mat, with a broken collarbone and a dislocated shoulder blade. Zass grieved about this outcome of the battle, but the desire to put all his strength was stronger than reason, since this fight was indicative that Alexander was taken to circus wrestlers. It was the first World War, Zass had just escaped from the prisoner of war camp, saw familiar names on the posters and hoped that he would find refuge in the circus (it is unlikely that the gendarmes would look for the escaped prisoner in the circus arena), but in order to be taken to the fighters, a demonstrative battle was needed.

Even before the war, when Alexander was younger and weighed only 64 kg, in the book “The Secret of Iron Samson” one of the fights is described in this way, with an opponent 48 kg heavier.
After evaluating the enemy, Alexander decided that only a thick layer of fat covering the muscles of an opponent superior in height and weight could hope for success. It is necessary to exhaust the obese guy, knock him out of breath, and then throw him on the carpet.

And it began, Alexander ran across the carpet, dived between the giant's legs, pounced on him and immediately let him go. With all his might, he tried to avoid the capture of huge hands and force the enemy to make as many unnecessary movements as possible until he saw that he was already tired and then went on the attack himself. He grabbed and tried to throw the enemy over his thigh, but he slipped out of the grip, then Alexander noticed that the guy’s body was smeared with oil, besides, he was not as tired as Zass decided. Having repelled the attack, the giant himself rushed to the counterattack, and almost caught Alexander on a nelson. Only amazing dexterity saved him.

Four times Alexander tried to throw the opponent on the carpet, but all attempts ended in failure. The giant was tired, very tired - the fat heart did not have time to drive enough blood into his lungs. He gasped. And then Alexander caught him "on the hip." The kid collapsed heavily on the carpet. "Shovels" - fixed the referee. The audience, who until the last minute did not believe in the victory of Alexander Zass, applauded vigorously.

foreign land

During the First World War, Alexander Zass was captured by the Austrians. He escaped from captivity three times, and on the third attempt he managed to leave Austria. But while he was in prison, he did squats, backbends, goose step, muscle tension (15–20 seconds holding the “on” muscles, then relaxing). And so many times in a row, while shackled hand and foot, ripping off the skin with shackles into the blood, biting his lips from unbearable pain. Gaining strength, he broke the chains and unbent the bars of the prison bars.

After the third escape from prison, there was a man who signed a contract with Alexander - he would work for 20% and receive English citizenship. Zass agreed, the main thing is to get out of Austria, where the pharaohs have already tortured his friends and at any moment can hide them in prison for harboring. Under the terms of the contract, no Zass no longer exists, now the mysterious Iron Samson will appear. Under this pseudonym, Alexander Zass later performed, surprising with his phenomenal strength.

Manchester Guardian:

"According to the announcements, he is the strongest man on earth, and after we saw him for ourselves ... this statement can be considered irrefutable."
Health & Strangs:
"In Samson, we have a true strongman whose accomplishments are completely open to scrutiny."
Health & Action:
“To see is to believe. Truly it seems that his muscles are made of steel.

Alexander Zass considered such notes in yellowed newspapers 40 years after his escape, bitterly regretting that in a foreign land he was always just a phenomenon, a mystery and did not leave behind disciples, successors. If he had lived in his homeland, everything would probably have turned out differently. The thought of the Motherland, which has been stirring up the heart with a vague longing all his life, becomes his greatest pain. Contracts… Damn contracts! From their tenacious networks, he could not get out all his life. Penalties that he could never pay, the eternal threat of judgment. It holds stronger than prison bars. The strongest man in the world turned out to be Gulliver, who was tied to the ground by tiny midgets.

................................................

Alexander Zass (Iron Samson)

It happened in 1938 in the English city of Sheffield. Before the eyes of the crowd, a truck loaded with coal ran over a man sprawled on a cobblestone pavement. People screamed in horror. But the next second there was an exclamation of delight: "Glory to the Russian Samson!" And the man to whom the storm of jubilation belonged, getting 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, did not leave the circus posters in many countries. The repertoire of his power numbers was amazing:

“He carried a horse around the arena or a piano with a pianist and dancer located on the lid;
caught with his hands a 9-kilogram cannonball that flew out of a circus cannon from an eight-meter distance;
tore off the floor and held in his teeth a metal beam with assistants sitting at its ends;
passing the shin of one leg through a loop of rope fixed under the dome, he held in his teeth a platform with a piano and a pianist;
lying with his bare back on a board studded with nails, he held a stone weighing 500 kilograms on his chest, which was beaten by those who wished 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 over the arena;
tore the chain links with his fingers;
hammered nails into 3-inch boards with an unprotected palm, and then pulled them out, clasping the hat with his index finger "
............................................

The performances of Alexander Zass were triumphant. This is explained not only by the original athletic numbers, most of which could not be repeated by any athlete, but also by the fact that he did not look like many strong men of that time, who had massive figures and great weight. His height - 167.5 cm, weight - 80 kg, circumference chest 119 centimeters, biceps - 41 centimeters each. He liked to say that big biceps are not always a sign of strength. Just like 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 strength. He answered that this was the result of purposeful work, a huge strain of all spiritual and physical forces. If you trace the entire life path of Alexander Zass, you can see that he consisted of constant training and a strict regimen. In one photograph, where Samson is depicted sitting at a table by a samovar, there is his entry: "5 minutes of rest", and he was then 74 years old, and he continued to work, though not in the power 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 a huge natural strength, which was the main difference between his ancestors. Once he visited the circus with his father in his native Saransk. The boy especially liked the mighty strongman, breaking the chains, bending the horseshoes. At the end of his performance, the artist, as was customary at that time, addressed the public, inviting them to repeat his tricks. Alas, no one could bend the horseshoe or tear off the ball bar with a thick neck from the ground. And suddenly Alexander's father, Ivan Petrovich Zass, got up from his seat and entered the arena. Alexander knew that his father was very strong. Sometimes he showed 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 off a huge barbell from the platform and, straightening his torso, raised it above his knees. The audience applauded like crazy. The circus strongman was embarrassed. He called the uniformist over to him. He ran backstage and brought a silver ruble. The artist raised his hand with the ruble and said: “But this is for you for the feat and for a drink!”. The father took the ruble, then fumbled in his pocket, pulled out a three-ruble note, and handed it to the athlete along with the ruble, saying: “I don’t drink! But you take it, 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 trapeziums, got hold of household weights, made a primitive barbell, and began to train with incredible perseverance. I tried to repeat what I saw. Having mastered the “sun” (large turn) on the horizontal bar, he began to fly from one crossbar to another, did back flips not only on the floor, but also on a horse. Pulled up on one arm several times. But all these activities were unsystematic. He persuaded his father to order books on physical development from Moscow. And soon the book of the then famous athlete Evgeny Sandov "Strength and how to become strong" came. The author talked about his athletic career, about victories over famous athletes, and even about the struggle with a huge lion, who was put on a muzzle and special huge mittens on his paws before the fight. The lion rushed at Sandov several times, but he threw him off each time. Then came eighteen exercises with dumbbells, that is, what was especially necessary for Alexander. And he began to study according to the Sandow system - his idol. But he soon felt that exercises with dumbbells alone could not develop the strength that a professional strongman needs. He turns to the famous athletes Pyotr Krylov and Dmitriev-Morro for help, who did not disregard the young man's request, and soon Zass received guidelines 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, juggled. With a barbell, he mainly performed bench press, push and press from behind the head. With its own weight of 66 kg, young Zass twisted (bench press with torso deflection) right hand 80 kg. But most of all he was attracted to 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, nails. And then he realized that repeated attempts to perform a trick - to break a chain or bend a thick metal rod - bring tangible results in development. physical strength. In essence, these were now widely known isometric exercises. Thus, in a purely empirical way (based on experience), Alexander Zass came to the conclusion that athletic strength can be developed by combining in training dynamic exercises with isometric. He later published his isometric system and this pamphlet caused a sensation. Once in the circus, Zass at one time worked as an assistant to the legendary trainer Anatoly Durov, then to the athlete Mikhail Kuchkin, and he often said to his assistant: “Someday, Sasha, you will become a famous strong man, I have not seen anyone who would be 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 numbers.

In 1914 the world war broke out. Alexander Zass was drafted into the 180th Vindava Cavalry Regiment. Once there was an incident that struck even those who knew well about the extraordinary power of Alexander. Somehow he was returning from another reconnaissance, and suddenly, already close to the Russian positions, they noticed him and opened fire. The bullet went 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, making sure that the danger had passed, did not want to leave the wounded horse. There was still half a kilometer to his regiment, but this did not bother him. Putting a horse on his shoulders, Zass brought it to his camp. Time will pass, he will remember this episode and will include wearing a horse on his shoulders in his repertoire. In one of the battles, Zass was seriously wounded by shrapnel in both legs. He was taken prisoner, and an Austrian surgeon began an amputation. But Zass begged not to do this. He believed in his mighty body and therapeutic gymnastics which he developed for himself. 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 notable. 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. Appearing before the owner of the circus, Zass frankly told him about his trouble, as well as about working in Russian circuses. Immediately, the director suggested that he break the chain and bend a thick metal rod. Of course, the hungry and tired Zass was not in good shape, but by 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 a military commandant came to his performance. He wondered why such a strong young athlete did not serve in the Austrian army. On the same evening, it turned out that Samson was a Russian prisoner of war. He was taken to the basement of the fortress, to a damp, dark room. But his strength and will were not broken. He made a new escape, breaking the chain connecting the handcuffs and breaking the bars. Now he gets to Budapest, where he gets a job as a loader to the port, and then - in the circus arena. He was helped by a wrestler, world champion Chaya Janos, whom Alexander met back in Russia. 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. Then he performed for three years in a troupe of wrestlers under the leadership of Chai Janos, alternating bouts on the carpet with athletic performances.

One day, Janos introduced a Russian strongman to the famous Italian impresario Signor Pasolini, who had heard a lot about the athletic abilities of Zass. Italian and offered to conclude a contract. The European tour of Zass begins, his fame is growing. Finally, he comes to England, where his performances generally aroused fantastic interest. Famous athletes such as Edward Aston, Thomas Inch, Pulum began to try their hand at repeating the tricks of Zass, but none of their attempts were successful. Mr. Pulum, director of the famous Camberwell weightlifting club and Chief Editor sports magazine Health and Strength, wrote about him: “Right in the heart of England has arrived a man capable of performing numbers in which common sense refuses to believe. If he were a huge kid, his numbers, perhaps, would be perceived as plausible. But pay attention at least to the excursion of the chest (the difference between inhalation and exhalation) of this short person. It is equal to 23 centimeters, which says a lot to specialists. Therefore, I affirm that he not only possesses an unprecedented physical force, not only a great 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 with one foot from a crane, lifted a metal beam from the ground with his teeth, and was transferred to the top of the building by a crane, in while the crowd, gaping, stood below. If the Russian opened his mouth, the crowd would never be able to tell what they saw.” Do not lag behind posters and newspapers. Daily Telegraph: “Mr. Samson is certainly the strongest man on earth. You can believe this when you see how easily he knits iron rods into knots.

Manchester Guardian: "According to the announcements, he is the strongest man on Earth, and after we saw him for ourselves ... this statement can be considered irrefutable."
Health and Strength magazine: “In Samson, we have a strong man whose achievements are completely open to verification. Indeed, his muscles are made of steel."
At the end of his life, Alexander Zass invented a wrist dynamometer, designed and manufactured a circus cannon for the Man-Projectile attraction. Samson died in 1962. He was buried near London, in the small town of Hockley.
...............................................

Since Alexander Zass mainly trained with static methods, he developed unique strength capabilities in himself, which he himself had no idea about. In 1914, as a cavalryman of the 180th Vindava Regiment, he fell into an Austrian ambush. He himself was not injured, but his horse was wounded in the leg. Without thinking twice, he picked up his four-legged friend and carried half a kilometer to the camp where the regiment was located. Having done this, Zass believed in the unique capabilities of his body and in the power of the spirit. Once in captivity, the strongman, shackled, broke the chain and unbent the bars of the prison bars. Later, recalling his escape, "Samson" admitted that without the concentration of moral forces he could hardly have done this. Later this property was noted by the director English club of Camberwell athletes, Mr. Pullum, writing about the "Russian strongman" as "a man who uses his mind as well as his muscles."

Literature: A.Drabkin, Yu.Shaposhnikov "The Secret of the Iron Samson".
http://www.labirint.ru/books/370107/
Movie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7nnUMV8Gxg

Among the famous Russians, to whom the whole world applauded, the hero Alexander Zass occupies an honorable place.
His name in his homeland is not as well known to the general public as the names of Poddubny, Zaikin, but in Europe it was he who was considered the most famous Russian strongman.

He started, like most of his colleagues, with performances in the circus. Crowds of people came to look at this kid, effortlessly lifting heavy weights. It was absolutely incredible, considering that Alexander weighed less than 80 kilograms at the time. For example, the weight of Ivan Zaikin was more than 120 kg., Ivan Poddubny - 135 kg.

The First World War abruptly changed the artist's life. He ended up on the front line, on the Austrian front. That's where his strength came in handy! Many times he pulled the cannons out of the mud where the horses could not do it, and once in hand-to-hand combat, Alexander killed two Austrians to death, hitting them with their foreheads and throwing them away on different sides ... And in one of the battles, he was wounded horse, and Alexander carried it on his shoulders for about a kilometer. Rumors about a Russian strongman spread on both sides of the front. Many could not believe these stories, but looking ahead - later Alexander Zass demonstrated this number more than once - wearing a horse on his shoulders ...

In one of the battles, Zass was seriously wounded by shrapnel in both legs. He was taken prisoner, and an Austrian surgeon began an amputation. But Zass begged not to do this. He believed in his powerful body and therapeutic exercises, which he developed for himself. 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 notable. 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. Appearing before the owner of the circus, Zass frankly told him about his trouble, as well as about working in Russian circuses. Immediately, the director suggested that he break the chain and bend a thick metal rod. Of course, the hungry and tired Zass was not in good shape, but by 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 a military commandant came to his performance. He wondered why such a strong young athlete did not serve in the Austrian army. On the same evening, it turned out that Samson was a Russian prisoner of war. He was taken to the basement of the fortress, to a damp, dark room. And then he made a new escape, breaking the chain connecting the handcuffs, breaking the bars on the window, and knocking out the guard guarding the dungeon.

After long wanderings, with the help of a Hungarian wrestler, familiar from pre-war times, Alexander Zass gets into the troupe of an Italian circus impresario, and his tour of Europe begins. The fame of a hero named Samson thunders throughout Europe, but most of all in England, where Alexander Zass ends up with his circus. Famous athletes such as Edward Aston, Thomas Inch, Pulum began to try their hand at repeating the tricks of Zass, but none of their attempts were successful. Mr. Pullum, director of the famous Camberwell weightlifting club and editor-in-chief of the sports magazine Health and Strength, wrote of him: “Right in the heart of England has arrived a man capable of performing numbers that common sense refuses to believe. If he were a huge kid, his numbers, perhaps, would be perceived as plausible. But pay attention at least to the excursion of the chest (the difference between inhalation and exhalation) of this short person. It is equal to 23 centimeters, which says a lot to specialists. Therefore, I affirm that he not only possesses unprecedented physical strength, not only a magnificent artist, but also a person 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 with one foot from a crane, lifted a metal beam from the ground with his teeth, and was transferred to the top of the building by a crane, in while the crowd, gaping, stood below. If the Russian opened his mouth, the crowd would never be able to tell what they saw.” Do not lag behind posters and newspapers. Daily Telegraph: “Mr. Samson is certainly the strongest man on earth. You can believe this when you see how easily he knits iron rods into knots.
Manchester Guardian: "According to the announcements, he is the strongest man on Earth, and after we saw him for ourselves ... this statement can be considered irrefutable."

In 1938 in the English city of Sheffield. Before the eyes of the crowd, a truck loaded with coal ran over a man sprawled on a cobblestone pavement. People screamed in horror. But the next second there was an exclamation of delight: "Glory to the Russian Samson!"

The repertoire of his power numbers was amazing:

He carried a horse around the arena or a piano with a pianist and dancer located on the lid;

He caught with his hands a 9-kilogram cannonball that flew out of a circus cannon from an eight-meter distance;

He tore off the floor and held in his teeth a metal beam with assistants sitting at its ends;

Having threaded the shin of one leg into the loop of the rope fixed under the dome, he held in his teeth a platform with a piano and a pianist;

Lying with his bare back on a board studded with nails, he held a stone weighing 500 kilograms on his chest, which was beaten by those who wished from the public with sledgehammers;

In the famous attraction "The Man-Projectile" he caught with his hands an assistant flying out of a circus cannon and describing a 12-meter trajectory over the arena;

I tore the links of the chains with my fingers;

He hammered nails into 3-inch boards with an unprotected palm, and then pulled them out, clasping the hat with his index finger.

They tried not to remember him in the Russian Empire, because he formally remained a soldier, but did not return to Russia. Some even called him a deserter.
Samson died in 1962. He was buried near London in the small town of Hockley.

There are several records of his later performances, when the athlete was over 55 years old ...

___________________________

From a specially designed circus cannon, designed by himself, a 90-kilogram cannonball is fired, which Samson catches

Samson did something similar in reality! An assistant was fired from a special cannon, which Samson caught!

Alexander (Samson) Zass. The numbers of the Russian strongman crushed the common sense of the British

For several years we have been publishing essays about the outstanding Russian strongman Alexander Zass. All these manuscripts were kindly offered to us by his nephew Yuri Vladimirovich Shaposhnikov. But the last publication in issue 2 of our magazine did not satisfy the interest in this fantastic figure, which was the reason for the appearance of today's memories.

For several decades, the name of the Russian athlete Alexander Zass, who performed under the pseudonym Samson, did not leave the circus posters in many countries. The repertoire of his power numbers 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 that flew out of a circus cannon from an eight-meter distance; tore off the floor and held in his teeth a metal beam with assistants sitting at its ends; passing the shin of one leg through a loop of rope fixed under the dome, he held in his teeth a platform with a piano and a pianist; lying with his bare back on a board studded with nails, he held a stone weighing 500 kilograms on his chest, which was beaten by those who wished 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 over the arena; tore the chain links with his fingers; hammered nails into 3-inch boards with an unprotected palm, and then pulled them out, clasping the hat with his index finger.

Very often Samson had to answer the question of how he achieved such strength. He answered that this was the result of purposeful work, a huge strain of all spiritual and physical forces. If you trace the entire life path of Alexander Zass, you can see that he consisted of constant training and a strict regimen. In one photograph, where Samson is depicted sitting at a table by a samovar, there is his entry: "5 minutes of rest", and he was then 74 years old, and he continued to work, though not in the power 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 a huge natural strength, which was the main difference between his ancestors. Once he visited the circus with his father in his native Saransk. The boy especially liked the mighty strongman, breaking the chains, bending the horseshoes. At the end of his performance, the artist, as was customary at that time, addressed the public, inviting them to repeat his tricks. Alas, no one could bend the horseshoe or tear off the ball bar with a thick neck from the ground. And suddenly Alexander's father, Ivan Petrovich Zass, got up from his seat and entered the arena. Alexander knew that his father was very strong. Sometimes he showed 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 off a huge barbell from the platform and, straightening his torso, raised it above his knees. The audience applauded like crazy. The circus strongman was embarrassed. He called the uniformist over to him. He ran backstage and brought a silver ruble. The artist raised his hand with the ruble and said: “But this is for you for the feat and for a drink!”. The father took the ruble, then fumbled in his pocket, pulled out a three-ruble note, and handed it to the athlete along with the ruble, saying: “I don’t drink! But you take it, 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 trapeziums, got hold of household weights, made a primitive barbell, and began to train with incredible perseverance. I tried to repeat what I saw. Having mastered the “sun” (large turn) on the horizontal bar, he began to fly from one crossbar to another, did back flips not only on the floor, but also on a horse. Pulled up on one arm several times. But all these activities were unsystematic.

He persuaded his father to order books on physical development from Moscow. And soon the book of the then famous athlete Evgeny Sandov "Strength and how to become strong" came. The author talked about his athletic career, about victories over famous athletes, and even about the struggle with a huge lion, who was put on a muzzle and special huge mittens on his paws before the fight. The lion rushed at Sandov several times, but he threw him off each time.

Then came eighteen exercises with dumbbells, that is, what was especially necessary for Alexander. And he began to study according to the Sandow system - his idol. But he soon felt that exercises with dumbbells alone could not develop the strength that a professional strongman needs. He turns to the famous athletes Pyotr Krylov and Dmitriev-Morro for help, who did not disregard 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, juggled. With a barbell, he mainly performed bench press, push and press from behind the head. With its own weight of 66 kg, young Zass twisted (bench press with torso deflection) with his right hand 80 kg. But most of all he was attracted to 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, nails. And then he realized that repeated attempts to perform a trick - to break a chain or bend a thick metal rod - bring tangible results in the development of physical strength. In essence, these were now widely known isometric exercises. Thus, in a purely empirical way (based on experience), Alexander Zass came to the conclusion that athletic strength can be developed by combining dynamic exercises with isometric exercises in training. He later published his isometric system, and this pamphlet created a sensation.

Once in the circus, Zass at one time worked as an assistant to the legendary trainer Anatoly Durov, then to the athlete Mikhail Kuchkin, and he often said to his assistant: “Someday, Sasha, you will become a famous strong man, I have not seen anyone who would be 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 numbers.

He was taken to the circus, and soon the news of the amazing athlete spread throughout the city. But one day a military commandant came to his performance. He wondered why such a strong young athlete did not serve in the Austrian army. On the same evening, it turned out that Samson was a Russian prisoner of war. He was taken to the basement of the fortress, to a damp, dark room. But his strength and will were not broken. He made a new escape, breaking the chain connecting the handcuffs and breaking the bars.

Now he gets to Budapest, where he gets a job as a loader to the port, and then - in the circus arena. He was helped by a wrestler, world champion Chaya Janos, whom Alexander met back in Russia. 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. Then he performed for three years in a troupe of wrestlers under the leadership of Chai Janos, alternating bouts on the carpet with athletic performances.

Mr. Pullum, director of the famous Camberwell weightlifting club and editor-in-chief of the sports magazine Health and Strength, wrote of him: “Right in the heart of England has arrived a man capable of performing numbers that common sense refuses to believe. If he were a huge kid, his numbers, perhaps, would be perceived as plausible. But pay attention at least to the excursion of the chest (the difference between inhalation and exhalation) of this short person. It is equal to 23 centimeters, which says a lot to specialists. Therefore, I affirm that he not only possesses unprecedented physical strength, not only a magnificent artist, but also a person 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 with one foot from a crane, lifted a metal beam from the ground with his teeth, and was transferred to the top of the building by a crane, in while the crowd, gaping, stood below. If the Russian opened his mouth, the crowd would never be able to tell what they saw.”

Do not lag behind posters and newspapers. Daily Telegraph: “Mr. Samson is certainly the strongest man on earth. You can believe this when you see how easily he knits iron rods into knots.

Manchester Guardian: "According to the announcements, he is the strongest man on Earth, and after we saw him for ourselves ... this statement can be considered irrefutable."

Health and Strength magazine: “In Samson, we have a strong man whose achievements are completely open to verification. Indeed, his muscles are made of steel."

At the end of his life, my uncle invented the wrist dynamometer, designed and built a circus cannon for the "Projectile Man" attraction. Samson died in 1962. He was buried near London, in the small town of Hockley.

Letters from Hockley from the legendary Samson

How did it all start? I remember my childhood years. Provincial Saransk, railway station Trinity Lane... We often had guests. My parents greeted them solemnly: they put on a gramophone record with some kind of march or an old waltz. Everyone sat down at the table - to the samovar.

Usually the meeting began with showing the family album. My mother Nadezhda Ivanovna Zass (Married Shaposhnikova) turned over the pages. First, there were photos of grandparents, and then she proudly said: “And here is my brother Alexander. He is a circus performer, a strong man!”. There were five photographs of my mother's brother in total. There was also his business card with the inscription: “Alexander Ivanovich Zass - wrestler". And a circus poster from 1913 listing the power stunts performed by Alexander Zass. Many times I re-read the text of the poster, trying to imagine these tricks.

I often went to the circus with my parents - by that time we moved to Izhevsk, I was eight or nine years old, but I remember well the parades of wrestlers, fights on the carpet (the fight was in the third division). I remember the famous Ivan Vladimirovich Lebedev (Uncle Vanya), Ivan Poddubny, Mikhail Borov, but I, a boy, was especially impressed by masked wrestlers and athletes with power numbers.

There were also two letters from Alexander Zass dated 1924. They came from England in the name of my grandfather Ivan Petrovich Zass, from them we learned about Alexander's fate full of adventures.

In 1914 he was drafted into the army. Front, severely wounded in both legs by shrapnel. Miraculously, amputation was avoided. He recovered, made several escapes from the POW camp. The last one was successful. He ended up in Budapest, where he began working in the port as a loader, then he came to the local circus. For three years he fought in a group led by world champion Chai Janos, then performed in different countries with athletic numbers. In 1924, Zass comes on tour to England, from here he wrote a letter to his grandfather.

Years passed. I continued to play sports, collected a collection on the history of athletics (postcards depicting wrestlers, magazines, books, various systems of physical development). Sports activities were interrupted by the Great Patriotic War. Returning from the army, he entered the GTSOLIFK, graduated from it in 1953. Worked as a teacher at the Department of Swimming.

One day, it was in 1958, I went into the Central research Institute of Physical Culture, Department foreign sports. There he met with senior researcher Georgy Pavlovich Tenno, who is rightly considered the founder of bodybuilding in Moscow, and even in the country. This charming man, by the way, who was fluent in English, had an encyclopedic knowledge of the history of athletics, was also an excellent weightlifting coach: his student Alexander Bozhko became the world record holder. Tenno was interested in the story about my uncle and recommended to look through bodybuilding magazines from the past years.

And so, in one of the issues of the English magazine "Health and Strength" I saw a photograph of my uncle and under it the caption: "The famous European strongman Alexander Zass, known as the "Amazing Samson", performs the sensational dramatic trick "The Man-Shell", in which he catches an assistant flying out of the muzzle of a circus cannon at a distance of 12 meters.

We decided to keep looking. Georgy Pavlovich sent an official request about Samson to the editorial office of the journal “Health and Strength”, and soon a response came from the editor-in-chief V. Pulum, by the way, a 9-time world weightlifting champion. It said that Samson was alive and working as a trainer. Some time later my mother received a letter from her brother. It turns out that he tirelessly searched for his loved ones. Then I began to receive letters, posters, photographs from my uncle. Soon came the book "The Amazing Samson", edited by Pulum. The book was published in 1925 in London. It tells about the amazing fate and athletic career of Alexander Zass. I began to send my uncle the magazine "Soviet circus", books on the circus. I also asked about his methods of training. Here is what he wrote to me in one of his letters: “I never aspired to big muscles, believing that the main thing is strong tendons, willpower and the ability to control your muscles. When I started performing in the circus as an athlete, I had biceps of only 38 centimeters. But the public needs a view, and I had to increase them to 42 centimeters (to a reasonable extent) through exercises with dumbbells and exercises for self-resistance.

In one of the magazines I received, it was reported that Samson, while wrestling, increased the volume of his neck to 56 centimeters! On this occasion, friendly caricatures appeared in the press. In 1961, the Soviet circus was on tour in London. Samson met with Vladimir Durov. He told him that in his youth he worked as an assistant to his grandfather, Anatoly Leonidovich Durov. He shared his dream - to come to Russia. Vladimir Grigorievich told me about this after returning from the tour. We were waiting for the arrival of Samson. But the letters stopped coming. And soon we were informed that Samson had died.

His wife, Betty Jackson, a former trainer, continued to correspond with us for some time. She sent sports magazines, photos of athletes. And one day an unusual gift came: Samson's cane. It was presented to Alexander in 1927 for picking up a barrel of beer with his teeth during the brewers' holiday. The barrel was huge and weighed about 180 kg! This cane is adorned with all sorts of metal plaques with monograms and texts from fellow artists. And here is a new tragic message: Betty died in a car accident. It should be said that by this time she was driving an invalid car, as she was seriously injured at one of the performances. Samson had a number in which, having threaded the foot of his left foot into a loop of a rope fixed under the dome of the circus, hanging, he held a platform with a piano in his teeth. Betty played the piano. And during one of the performances, the ceiling mount collapsed, and the artists fell. Betty had a spinal fracture and spent three years in the hospital. Samson was injured, but returned to work a month later.

Thus the connection was cut off. There were no replies to our letters. Years passed... I dreamed of going to Hockley, where Samson is buried. And then one Sunday in the spring of 1991, during a service in the church of Evangelical Christians in Konkovo-Derevlevo (my wife is a regular parishioner in her, and I, an Orthodox, was her escort), we quite by chance met an elderly married couple. Learning that they were from England, I said that my uncle lived in Hockley, and there he was buried. They cried out in amazement, because they themselves lived in this city. And when I told about Samson, they said that they knew his grave very well.

And these lovely people invited us to visit them. In the same year, my wife Lily and I went to Hockley to visit the Astolls. The next day we went to the old cemetery. Here, next to the Church of Saints Peter and Paul, is the tomb of Samson. The text on the monument is in Russian and English. Correspondents appeared, and the next day an article and a photograph of Samson carrying a horse on his shoulders were published in the Evening Echo newspaper. And also our photo at Samson's grave. Everyone who knew Uncle began to visit us. They brought old photographs, posters, newspaper clippings, booklets.

In one photograph, Samson lifts with his teeth (without resting on his knees) a huge roll of printing paper. The employees of the Daily Post printing house are standing around. And the booklet tells about the fight between the French wrestling champion in heavyweight(140 kg) by Gaston Zhevert and his winner Alexander Zass from Russia. I also saw a newspaper report, supported by a photograph, dated January 21, 1945. The note is called "He tames the" killers "with the help of words." “Circus strongman Alexander Zass (Samson) met in a cage with three ferocious three-year-old African lions. This story is about a 10-pound bet by A. Zass, a strong man from the circus. To win this bet, Samson risked his life. Armed only with a trident, Samson entered the cage. His soft, rhythmic, special words, spoken in Russian, German, French and Hungarian, were met with aggressive, abrupt animal movements that made the audience tremble with fear. There were moments when it seemed that his life was hanging by a thread. But Samson came out alive from the cage, and thus demonstrated his power over animals.”

Several photographs captured how cars with passengers move through Samson. Some - on the lower back, others - on the legs and chest. In the photographs, Samson lifts a car with people by the wheel. And here is a curious note about a trick that, at first glance, anyone can perform. The publication is called "I Can't Break a Match". Samson admits that there is one trick that is very difficult for him to perform. He could only do it twice. This trick is to break the match which is held between the thumb and forefinger.

And another message in the newspaper. One day Samson stayed in a rural one-story hotel in southern Hungary. At night, a gang of bandits broke in there. The owners began to scream, call for help, call the police. Samson grabbed the robbers and, without hesitation, threw them out of the window.

In Hockley, of course, we visited the house where Samson lived. The new tenants altered it a little, but in general it remained the same. The escorts, who knew Samson, showed us the stable, which Alexander Ivanovich himself had made. In recent years, he worked as a trainer, and he had several horses, ponies, dogs, monkeys.

Samson used to hammer nails into boards with his bare hand, and these famous nails are marked by the owners of the house. In another house, we were shown Samson's weight and several chains, which he tore with his hands. The metal core, which was fired from the circus cannon, has also been preserved; Samson caught it with his hands. The weight of that core is 90 kg! I was only able to move him. Apparently, the core inside is filled with lead.

Finally, we were invited to speak by Samson's student Trevor Barnet. His number is very effective. He performs in the belt of Samson, presented to him by Alexander Ivanovich. Uses both Samson's special table and nails to punch through the board. Barnet drove a nail into a 3-inch board with his bare hand and then pulled it out by the head with his teeth. In his teeth he carried a chair with a seated violinist. He bent thick metal rods into a horseshoe shape (in a competition with the audience), did a stretch with 12 spectators (the stage could accommodate such a number of people). Let me remind you that Zass did this number with 50 volunteers.

Trevor Barnet often comes to Hockley and brings flowers to the grave of his teacher - Samson. It's nice that Zass has such a good student in England. We also have a person in Russia who considers himself a correspondence student of Samson, since he studied according to his system of isometric exercises. This is pop artist Ivan Shutov. This means that not only in photographs and in old newspapers does the memory of my uncle live, of whom I am infinitely proud.

Permanent address of this article on the Internet:

"AiF" found relatives of the most powerful man in the world.

Legacy suitcase

In one of his crown numbers Zass he broke a powerful iron chain with a single effort of the muscles of the chest: the athlete simply took a deep breath, filling his lungs. At the same time, any of the spectators could check that the chain was not fake. With his palm, Alexander hammered 15-centimeter nails into a board 10 cm thick. During another number, Zass, rising under the dome of the circus, held a rope with his teeth (!) On which the piano swayed in the air - meanwhile an acrobat played the instrument. In the arena, up to 15 people could climb onto a special platform that the athlete held on his shoulders. So, during one of the performances, the future prime minister of England was also on the shoulders of Alexander Winston Churchill.

He hammered nails with his bare hands, and then with his fingers, like tongs, he pulled them back. Photo: from the personal archive of Yuri Shaposhnikov

The amazing Samson managed to catch with his hands a 90-kilogram core fired from a cannon. He easily took a horse on his shoulders and calmly walked around the arena with her. This number had a special history. In 1914, during the First World War, when Zass served in the tsarist army, his horse was wounded, and in order not to leave the animal to its fate, he put the horse on his shoulders and carried it to his own.

The title of "the strongest man in the world" was given to Samson by British and American journalists. During the life of Zass, no one was able to challenge this title. Here are two entries on the athlete's grave in the English town of Hockley. In English, if translated, it will be: "Alexander Zass (Samson) - the strongest man in the world, died on September 26, 1962 at the age of 74." And the second one in Russian: “Dear Shura, you are always with us. Sister Nadya Zass, nephew Yura.

Relatives of the strongman - that same nephew Yuri Vladimirovich Shaposhnikov, who will turn 95 in August, and his wife Lilia Fedorovna- "AiF" found in Moscow. The spouses' apartment is like a mini-museum of Zass: unique photographs of Samson, posters of performances, personal letters and things. " After the death of Alexander Zass, an English gentleman appeared on the threshold of our Moscow apartment He said that we can get the uncle's inheritance - a mansion in the city of Hockley, it's 40 minutes by train from London, some property and money in the bank. But for paperwork, you had to go to England».

Yuri Shaposhnikov with his wife. Photo: AiF / Maria Pozdnyakova

« Can you imagine what it is like to go to England from the USSR in 1962 to draw up an inheritance if you are an ordinary citizen? Unreal story, - Lilia Fedorovna spreads her hands. - We apologized. They said that we can not accept the inheritance". After a while, a suitcase with personal belongings of Zass came to them by mail, which they carefully store.

The famous athlete got in touch with relatives from the USSR shortly before his death.

« Alexander Zass was born in 1888. In addition to him, the family had two more brothers and two daughters. One of them - Hope - my mother- says Yuri Vladimirovich. - Uncle was a genius. The family lived in the provinces, and the future strongman subscribed to many magazines on physical culture. Contacted a famous professor Evgeny Sandov, who agreed to take him as a correspondence student. He sent young Alexander a list of exercises. Dumbbells were needed, but there was no money for them, and my uncle used stones that he tied with ropes to sticks. He worked a lot on the development of tendons, believed that the strength lies precisely in them.

Uncle was very sorry for his older brother who died in the war - he said that he was even stronger. During the First World War, Alexander Zass himself also suffered - shrapnel broke his legs. Wounded, unconscious, he was captured. Thanks to his endurance, he not only got to his feet, but also made an escape. However, the path to Soviet Russia was closed to him, a Cossack who fought in the tsarist army. In Europe, he began to perform in the circus - first in Hungary, then in France, and spent the last few decades in England. And then one day our friend, who knew English and read local magazines, said: “Your mother's brother is very famous in the West. Can we write to him? It was the time of the Khrushchev thaw. At Stalin we, of course, would not dare to write abroad. And then everything worked out. The editors of the English sports magazine gave us both the address and the phone number. Uncle immediately answered, we began to correspond and call back. He said that he really wanted to come to his homeland. Sudden death disrupted these plans. And my wife and I first visited his grave in the late 80s. Then perestroika began, and many foreigners appeared in Moscow. One couple we met turned out to be ... from Hockley - the city where Zass lived! Some kind of miracle. They arranged an invitation for us. And we, without a penny of money (we couldn’t buy currency), went to Hockley. We saw the uncle's house, they even let us inside. And one woman said that as a girl she was once amazed when, in front of her eyes, a Russian hero, doing household chores, drove a huge nail into the window frame with his palm.

The strong man is lifted under the dome of the circus, while he holds a rope with his teeth, on which hangs a piano with an acrobat playing on it. Photo: from the personal archive of Yuri Shaposhnikov

Dream burned in a fire

Our own investigation into the fate of Zass has already been carried out in our time Igor Khramov, President of the Eurasia Charitable Foundation. " The fact is that Zass first entered the circus arena in my native Orenburg he says. - During a business trip to England, I had to collect bit by bit the details of Alexander Ivanovich's biography. Zass had no children. He married only once. He was then 38 years old, and the bride, an aerial gymnast Blanche, - 16 years. The young wife died during childbirth. Her portrait always hung at the head of the Amazing Samson. Later, the widower Zass had a relationship with an aerial gymnast Betty. It was she who played the piano, which Alexander held in his teeth on a rope. Already after the death of Zass, in an interview, Betty admitted that she was jealous of him for other women, so she decided to part with him. She married a clown Sida. True, she continued joint performances with the Russian strongman. Once the rope broke, the girl fell into the arena, received a fracture of the spine. Neither the husband nor Zass Betty left. Thanks to their care, she returned from the hospital to the arena. However, the following injury permanently chained Betty to a wheelchair.

The last time Zass performed with power numbers was at the age of 66, after which he focused on training. He mastered the basics of this art back in Russia under the guidance of Anatoly Durov- the founder of the famous dynasty. When the grandson of Anatoly Durov Vladimir Durov came on tour to England, Zass met with him. He asked Durov to help organize his visit to Moscow».

In April 2011, the city council of Hockley, for the arrival of the Orenburg delegation, landscaped the burial place of Alexander Zass. A photo:

« Frankly, we were already waiting for a meeting with my uncle in Moscow. And suddenly comes the news of his death”, - recalls Yuri Vladimirovich.

The monument (sculptor Alexander Rukavishnikov) was erected in 2008 in front of the Orenburg circus. A photo: Provided by the Orenburg Charitable Foundation "Eurasia"

P. S. The riddle of Zass - where does such a phenomenal power come from in a person with such modest growth(1 m 68 cm) - they tried to unravel both during his lifetime and after the death of the Amazing Samson. Yuri Vladimirovich did this too - he managed to ask the famous relative a lot of questions and get answers to them.

In the article we will talk about Alexander Zass. This is an incredible person who at one time was very famous for his physical indicators. Otherwise, he was called "Iron Samson". The man was a circus performer and strongman, known for his outstanding physical form.

Childhood

So, who is he - Alexander Zass? We will begin to consider the biography of this person from the fact that he was born in March 1888 in the Vilna province. He spent his childhood in Saransk, where his family moved shortly after the boy was born. Already in childhood, he demonstrated his amazing qualities. With a weight of 66 kg, he did a bench press with his right hand, loaded with 80 kg.

Life path. Start

Alexander Zass, whose photo we see in the article, was born in a family of strong men like himself. If we conduct research and dig deeper into history, we will find out that all Zasses had quite impressive power. However, it was the hero of our article who managed to surpass all his relatives thanks to constant exhausting training. He multiplied a hundredfold what nature had given him in its infancy.

In his rare interviews, Alexander himself said that, perhaps, one incident that happened in childhood determined his future fate. Then he went with his father to the circus. Most of all, the little boy was impressed by two numbers. The first of them is the performance of the trainer together with the animals, and the second is a demonstration of the strength of the circus strongman. Alexander said that what he saw shocked and impressed him for the rest of his life. He constantly thought and could not get rid of the thought that he wanted to have the same power.

There was another interesting incident in the life of Alexander. So, he went with his father to the circus, and during the performance, the circus athlete bent an iron horseshoe. He succeeded, and the audience was delighted, applauding him. After that, he invited everyone from the auditorium to repeat this number. Naturally, there were no people who would like to show their weakness, so no one came out. However, at that moment, Alexander's father got up and went on stage. He decided to try, which caused surprise not only in the hall, but also on stage. Surprisingly, he was able, like an athlete, to unbend a horseshoe. To say that the auditorium and the athlete himself were in shock is to say nothing.

This case shows us that not only Alexander, but also his father was very fond of demonstrating their strength. However, all this happened most often among family and friends, while Alexander wanted to conquer the whole world. And he really succeeded, because after this event he could not think of anything else but the circus.

First steps

The boy persuaded his parents and arranged for himself in the backyard of the house a fairly spacious area for training. At first it was only 2 horizontal bars with trapeziums installed. However, gradually the boy brought more and more sports equipment to his little corner where he sat for hours. After a while there were weights, dumbbells, after that a barbell appeared.

After a fairly short period of time, the backyard turned into a gym, where Alexander spent almost all of his free time doing strength training. He did not only what, but tried to repeat athletic numbers.

Visiting the circus with his father, he memorized the most interesting tricks and tried to repeat them at home. Surprisingly, without any help from adults or specially trained people, he was already able to repeat one of the most difficult tricks of circus strongmen even then. So, he learned to do somersaults on a horse, pull himself up with one hand.

Despite the fact that the guy was praised and admired for his achievements, he understood that something was missing. So the training system of Alexander Zass appeared. Naturally, it was not formed immediately, because he changed it for a long time, chose certain elements and constantly improved it. Nevertheless, it was in his teens that he realized that in order to get really quality result some order and structure is needed.

Table book by Alexander Zass-Samson

Building his own system began after his father brought him a book called Strength and How to Become Strong. The author of this edition was quite famous at that time athlete Evgeny Sandov. For a teenager, he was a real idol, so he accepted the gift with incredible delight. This book was very interesting and became a reference book for Alexander.

He repeatedly said that thanks to her he was able to accurately determine his choice in life and understand many decisive moments for a circus performer. Eugene Sandow in the book talked not only about training and tricks, but also shared special moments from his biography.

So, he talked about a fight with a lion that happened in his life. However, Alexander was determined, practical information was important to him, so he did not pay attention. special attention on interesting cases, tried to take a grain of truth from the book. And he found it. The author talked about 18 exercises that must be performed with dumbbells. It was them that the future Iron Samson, Alexander Zass, took note of. The training methodology now consisted of his own exercises and the new 18. However, as time went on, the young man realized that even this was not enough for him. He clearly realized that exercises with dumbbells could not develop in him that incredible strength that he so aspired and dreamed of.

Search for mentors

They were quite interesting and famous athletes, they impressed the audience with their numbers. It was they who created for the young man a certain set of exercises that would help him achieve the desired heights. At the same time, it should be noted that the training methodology of Alexander Zass, which he originally came up with, has been preserved. In other words, athletes recognized its effectiveness and simply supplemented it with certain exercises. It is believed that Morro-Dmitriev made the greatest contribution to the development of the future Samson, because it was he who told young man about all the features, subtleties and tricks of working with a barbell.

By the age of 18, the young guy had developed tremendous strength in himself. He regularly visited the circus in order to look at the circus strongmen and learn something new from them. When he reached a certain peak, he decided to develop himself further. He did not want to stop, so he replenished his props with nails, metal rods, horseshoes, etc.

All this was new to him, because before that he had not encountered such elements. Nevertheless, he understood that if he stopped there, he would remain developed and strong, but an ordinary athlete. He himself admitted that it was then when he began to work with non-standard props that he realized that it was this that greatly developed physical spiritual strength, and not kettlebells and barbells. In order to work with such unusual tools, much more strength, endurance, patience and will are needed.

Path to glory

For the first time in the circus, a man performed in 1908 on the Orenburg stage. And all his further path was inextricably linked with this. He became famous for being the strongest man in the world. For several decades, he adorned all circus posters. Alexander Zass - Iron Samson was a welcome guest in every city and every country. They called him a rising star. This is not surprising, given how unusual and varied his circus performances were. He tried to be original and create something new, avoiding carbon copy. He did it very well, because his performances delighted and shocked the audience at the same time.

The incident that glorified this man occurred in 1938. Until that time, he was physical development, worked in the circus, but was not a star for the masses of people. So, in 1938, in a small town in England, he clearly demonstrated his capabilities. Alexander Zass was lying on the square and he was being run over by a truck filled to the top. All this was watched by people who were shocked and delighted with the capabilities of the Iron Samson. After that, he just stood up without a single scratch or dent on his body.

War has come

The First World War began precisely at the time when the guy entered the military age. He served in the Vindava Cavalry Regiment. It was during the war that an incident occurred that impressed not only ordinary people who were not aware of the guy’s strength and capabilities, but even his acquaintances and relatives who knew what he was capable of.

Once a guy was returning from reconnaissance and was ambushed by the Austrians. An Austrian soldier injured his horse's leg, but realized that he was near the Russian border, so he quickly hid away from problems. Alexander behaved quietly and calmly for some time in order to wait out the danger, and after that he got to his feet in order to move on. It was then that he saw that his horse had been seriously wounded in the leg, and he realized that he could not leave her to die. It was about 600 m to go to the regiment, but even this fact could not stop the man. He put the horse on his shoulders and carried it straight to the regiment.

After some time, when the war ends, Alexander will again remember this incident and will use it in his speeches. It is he who will bring him fame and become one of the brightest and most impressive numbers. However, the war for a man was a rather terrible event, which left a lot of sad memories for the rest of his life.

So, once he badly injured his leg, and it began to fester. As a result, the doctors decided on the necessary amputation, but the man begged them not to do this. He himself did not like to remember this moment, because it was very tragic for him, and this is quite understandable.

Captivity

Also, Alexander 3ass was captured 3 times and each time he fled. However, he was caught twice, after which he was rather severely punished, which for some time discouraged him. But only for a while. The third time the escape was successful and it was he who caused the man to climb the circus Olympus. Before the war, he was just a fairly well-known athlete, but did not regularly perform in the circus. He studied just for himself, although sometimes he visited the circus to watch this or that number.

Having escaped from captivity, he reached a small town in Hungary, where Schmidt's circus was touring just at that time. It was the most famous circus in Europe, which everyone aspired to get into. Alexander decided that this was his chance. He began negotiations with the owner of the circus, shared with him information that he was a prisoner and an escaped soldier. At the same time, he spoke about his capabilities and great strength. During the first meeting, the owner decided to check the guy. He gave him a large metal rod and an iron chain so that the guy showed his abilities.

It should be noted that before this, Alexander lived for several days without food and water, because he was on the run. However, he understood that his future depended on whether he could prove himself. Therefore, he gathered all his physical and spiritual strength and was able to break the chain with his bare hands, after which he still bend the rod. Immediately after this, the owner of the circus accepted him into the circus troupe, and the news of an incredibly strong athlete spread throughout the city.

However, not everything was so smooth. The training of Alexander Zass continued to excite and interest the public. He became more and more popular and interesting circus performer. But at one fine moment, the Austrian commandant drew attention to his performance. Togo was impressed by Alexander's numbers, so he became interested in his biography. Then he learned that Zass was a Russian prisoner who had escaped from the captivity of the Austrians.

After that, Alexander was severely beaten, and he ended up in a dungeon. However, he found a solution to this problem, again thanks to his strength. With his bare hands, he tears the chains and unbends the bars. This time he manages to escape and get to Budapest. There he meets a rather famous and good-natured wrestler named Chai Janos, who helps him get a job at the local circus. In the future, it is thanks to this man that the man will get into the troupe of the Italian circus.

Touring in Europe

The training of Alexander Zass, as well as his amazing tricks and numbers, impressed the Italian impresario, so he offered the man a contract. It was this agreement that brought world fame to Alexander in the future. He signed it and went on a European tour.

There, the man demonstrated numbers with lions, horses, lifting the piano and exercises with a belt. Alexander Zass tried to improve every time in order to surprise the audience again and again. As a result, it was after a chic performance in England that the greatest athletes of that time started talking about him. The most amazing thing is that they themselves tried to repeat certain numbers, but could not. The audience was delighted with Samson (Alexander Zass).

Rooms

So, consider the main numbers in the circus, which were represented by the strongman Alexander Zass:

He easily lifted the piano on which the girl was sitting. He not only lifted them, but also wore them around the arena.
With his bare hands, he caught a core weighing more than 9 kg. At the same time, it must be added that the core was thrown from a distance of 80 m, so during the flight it acquired additional weight.
He could hold a metal structure in his teeth, on which two people or two large animals sat.
He also tied himself under the dome of the circus by one leg, hanging upside down. In this position, he held the piano in his teeth.
Without a shudder, he could lie down with his bare back on a surface with nails and needles. After that, a stone weighing about 500 kg was still placed on his chest. But the test didn't end there. Usually they invited spectators from the hall, who could hit the stone with a sledgehammer with all their might. Alexander Zass did all this absolutely calmly, without a grimace of pain or at least discomfort.
He could break the links of a steel chain with just his fingers.
He skillfully hammered nails into thick boards with his bare palms.

Peculiarities

The athletic numbers that the man showed made a huge sensation. People paid a lot of money to admire the Iron Samson - Alexander Zass.

It must be said that his numbers and performances attracted not only the fact that they excited the worldview of a normal person. The highlight was that in appearance the man was a completely ordinary ordinary person. He weighed about 80 kg with a height of 170 cm. The volume of the biceps was approximately 40 cm. In other words, we can say that he did not look like a standard circus strongman who boasts huge muscles and a massive body.

Alexander Zass himself said that the presence of a pile of impressive muscles does not yet speak of human strength. He argued that the most important thing is the ability to feel your body, skillfully manage it and cultivate willpower. The man believed that these qualities could make a real strong man out of anyone.

Training and performances

As the circus performer himself recalled, most often he was asked how he could become so strong. He answered honestly, without embellishment or exaggeration. He spoke about the fact that strength is the result of exhausting work and strong tension not only of physical, but also of spiritual forces. He has always honestly admitted that his success is entirely based on constant work to the limit.

Alexander Zass never shrouded himself in some kind of fables and myths that he was born with such incredible strength and is a wonder of nature. He just worked hard towards his goal. The system of Alexander Zass will impress anyone, because he adhered to a very strict regimen all his life and constantly trained. If you try to briefly and succinctly describe his life, then it will be periods of training and performances. In fact, these are the two main occupations that occupied a talented and stubborn man throughout his life.

It seemed simply incredible that this man remained true to himself and his views even in his old age. So, in old age, he continued to work. Of course, he could no longer demonstrate any power numbers, but nevertheless continued his activities as a trainer. And yet he could not help but show a few power tricks during the performance, which only warmed up and excited the audience even more. Around this age, he still shocked viewers by holding a structure with two lions sitting on it with his teeth. He could not only hold them, but also walk around the stage with them.

However, the last public speaking took place when the circus performer was 66 years old. After that, he only worked "behind the scenes" and trained animals. He really enjoyed working with horses, dogs, monkeys and ponies. He also trained large animals such as lions and elephants.

Book

His book, published in 1925 in London, which is in fact his memoirs, was incredibly popular. It sold out very quickly, and a new edition was needed. It was called “The Amazing Samson. Told by him… and not only.” In Russian translation, it appeared only in 2010, to the great regret of our compatriots. So, in addition to the text, there were about 130 more illustrations, which were photographs of various documents, posters and real photographs of Alexander.

inventions

After concluding a contract with the Italian circus, Alexander was a circus performer until the end of his days. In general, he spent about 60 years in the arena. Interestingly, in addition to his unsurpassed performances and exercises, he left behind some inventions.

So, he invented a wrist dynamometer and a cannon that shot a person. Also, it is he who is the author of the idea of amusements "man-shell". In one of the rooms, he caught a girl who flew out of a cannon he invented. Surprisingly, before falling into his hands, she flew about 12 m.

Few people know that this man owned on high level several European languages. And this destroys the modern stereotype that "there is power - no mind is needed." There are a large number of excellent examples that this statement is a complete fallacy. Alexander is a clear proof of this.

Memory

The great circus performer died in 1962. He was buried in the small town of Hockley near London. It was in that area that he lived until his old age.

In honor of the great achievements, a monument to Alexander Zass was erected in front of the Orenburg Circus in 2008. The grand opening of the monument was timed to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the first performance of Zass in this circus with power tricks.

Summing up, we note that Samson is a man of incredible willpower. He was one of the most outstanding athletes of his time. Until now, not every athlete and strongman can repeat his numbers. The gymnastics of Alexander Zass is still very popular, and many novice athletes are trying to practice according to his system. However, we must remember that the point is not only in physical effort, but also in the education of mental stamina.