The Perfect Man: The Muscular Life and Times of Eugen Sandow, Victorian Strongman

One of the most interesting biographies I have ever read. It gives a wonderful picture of the Victorian/Edwardian era, e.g. how society dealt with sexuality, racism, health issues, war, and entertainment. Sandow was truly one of those wonders of the modern world, like we have had Ghandi of Einstein or Elvis since. His story is the classical Shakespearean tale of how both his physical magnificence and his flawed personality were a model of how an individual can shine. Like any great man, he put his stamp on time as well as being part of it. Being the master of the moment, like Churchill was, it seemed tailor made for him to shape it to his needs just like he shaped his body. He built his empire, but as in a Greek tragedy, the force of time was ultimately against him, causing the reversal of his fortune. Wonderfully researched, well-balanced and eloquent, this book will hopefully become the definite story of the Godfather of Body Building that will cherish not only the fact that his iconic body really once existed, but also save his transient life story from the obscurity in which it undeservedly ended.

A good and informative piece about the life of Eugen Sandow, the father of bodybuilding. Most of us have heard of the Mr. Olympia title, but personally, I didn't know much about Sandow, the man whom the Olympian trophy is modeled after. For any fans of bodybuilding, this is a good read and highly recommended.

In 1904 Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes, rolled his car and remained pinned under it unable to move or make a sound until a group of people were able to lift the car off of him and free him. He credited his ability to survive the incident with muscle building training that he had taken from Eugen Sandow, the world famous strongman and music hall performer, at his London based Institute of Physical Culture. Arnold Schwarzenegger is quoted as saying. "Before Sandow no one did more than two [lifting] repetitions of anything. The idea of developing strength was to take the heaviest weight you can lift,lift it one time, put it down,wait three or four minutes until you get your breath back. Sandow was the first one to do 50 repetitions. He would use a lighter weight. He was the first to shape his body with his muscles." Just imagine what a threat he was and is to exercise equipment manufacturers and gym owners when all of the equipment that you need to exercise with his system is a pair of 5 pound dumbells that you can buy for $10.00. I believe Sandow was influenced during his first trip to America by Alois P. Swoboda who developed and promoted a system that he called Conscious Evolution in the 1800s. Sandow and Swoboda corresponded with each other for years. Swoboda coined the term "muscle control" to describe his method of exercise and invented the mail order bodybuilding course to promote it. Swoboda suggested performing exercises stripped to the waist and exercising in front of a mirror which was a technique that Sandow added to his basic dumbell routine in his second book. Prior to Sandow performing strongmen tended to be of the 300 pound mastodon variety many of which were recuited from the German Beer Halls and given signing bonuses by the circuses who hired them of unlimited amounts of free beer. Sandow was more moderate saying,"I eat,drink,smoke and sleep quite in the ordinary way". In addition to his outstanding development Sandow also was a very gifted personal promoter which was an ability that he learned from his American Promoter the legendary Flo Ziegfeld. A number of circumstances helped to develop Sandow's career and his celebrity: 1. The industrial revolution and the end of the American Frontier threatened the self image of men and their definition of their own masculinity. 2. The movement of the population from farm to city concentrated the population and made the theater an increasingly popular and accessible form of entertainment. 3. Sandow's physique fit right in with the fad of increasing interest in Ancient Greek Culture During his era Sandow was accused of being both a philanderer and a homosexual and the author simply says that there is no proof of either allegation,but that he can neither prove them or disprove them. The fact that Sandow was a German living in England during World War 1 played a significant part in the failure of his business interests and had to be a contributing factor in his overall demise and possibly was even a factor in his death and his ultimate rejection by his family. This book has really expanded my understanding of Sandow and the world that he lived in. When someone gets famous like Sandow they lose control of their lives and people seek them out for their celebrity and little else and such relationships tend to be very temporary. I have come to believe that Sandow was basicly well intentioned and believed in his methods and to a large extent was on a mission to help the world. What he represented to some people though posed a threat to them and their Victorian era belief structure with its total denial of the human body and as a result they demonized him. I think that the following quote from "The Perfect Man" illustrates the source of those attitudes: "London was full of thousands of prostitutes,yet it was only in 1895 that a woman's bare feet were seen on the West End stage for the first time" This is a very interesting and well written book about a very interesting man. Let's not forget that Sandow was totally natural and represents human potential prior to the advent of steroids.

This is a delightful book about the life of a late Victorian strongman, Eugen Sandow, universally acknowledged in his day to have the most beautiful male body in the world. The modern craze for fitness began with Sandow. He went from poverty and obscurity to fame and fortune in the 1890s by winning a strongman contest in London. In an era when an exposed female calf was considered shocking, Sandow took off his clothes quite regularly on stage to perform astonishing feats of strength and show off his impressive musculature. No one was shocked because his body was felt to replicate classic Greek and Roman models of male perfection. David Waller had good reason to research Sandow. The strongman was his relative by marriage. At one especially charming point in the book Waller admits to buying antique Sandow dumb-bells on the Internet - and trying Sandow's 18-exercise regime, with rather good results. Waller follows Sandow through his remarkable life as a music hall sensation, a fitness advisor to kings and emperors, a frock-coated entrepreneur, a fanatical promoter of physical fitness, a shameless promoter of Sandow's cocoa and corsets, a patriotic British citizen (despite his heavy German accent), a loving husband and father, and a despised husband and father. Women threw themselves at Sandow, and gay intellectuals secretly collected his photos. Vintage photos of Sandow wearing nothing but a fig leaf appear throughout the narrative. These alone are worth the price of the book. How was the fig leaf attached? Waller shares the theories with us. Other fun illustrations include Sandow's very Victorian advertisements. The publisher, Victorian Secrets, has given this book quite an appealing design. Sandow was a fascinating figure from the margins of British history, and in describing his life Waller shows us fin de siècle popular culture from a new perspective. I'm grateful to the author for resurrecting his colorful, unjustly forgotten relative.

The Perfect Man: The Muscular Life and Times of Eugen Sandow This is an engaging and entertaining biography of Eugen Sandow by the author of The Magnificent Mrs Tennant: The Adventurous Life of Gertrude Tennant, Victorian Grande Dame . Eugen Sandow, born in the second half of the 19th century came from humble Prussian origins to become, with his perfect body, a major celebrity in his day throughout the British Empire and North America. In his native Prussia, he evaded military service by joining a circus as an acrobat When the circus ran out of money Sandow was stranded in Brussels where he met Louis Durlacher, alias Professor Attila who ran a gymnasium and took the young man under his wing, telling him he could make him the strongest man in the world. Soon, Sandow and Attila were performing to great acclaim on stage in Europe. Sandow became a huge music hall sensation with his strongman act which included grand pianos being played on his chest, fighting a lion and allowing a horse and carriage to be driven over a wooden bridge across his body. Victorian ladies were allowed to go backstage for private audiences with Sandow at which they were encouraged to feel his muscles - not at all the image we have today of how Victorian ladies behaved! Sandow made a considerable fortune not only from his music hall acts but from his schools of physical culture and sale of his magazine and the dumb bells for training. He even, though not very successfully, launched a brand of cocoa. His celebrity status at the peak of his career was like that of the Beatles or David Beckham. Perhaps today's celebrities should remember, however, Sandow eventually died in poverty and soon became forgotten by the world. Hopefully, this book will lead more people to learn about this extraordinary man's life and achievements. My only complaint is that I would have liked to learn more about his personal life with his wife and family. David Waller does say in the introduction he was frustrated by the lack of intimate biographical detail - no diaries or letters or scrapbooks. The book is illustrated with black and white photographs of Sandow, naked except for a fig leaf, adopting various classical poses. Mary Smith No More Mulberries

I had heard of Eugen Sandow and was curious to find out about life and why someone so fit didn't live beyond middle age. The book doesn't entirely explain this, although it comes up with some possible reasons for his early demise. All in all a very worthwhile read.

This is a fantastic account of the life and times of Eugene Sandow the Victorian Superstar. The author is an extremely gifted writer and the entire piece is obviously exquisitely researched and presented in a way that once you pick it up you struggle to put it down. A good book leaves you disappointed when you finish it and this definitely does that!

This was an interesting and informative biography. It was well written and the author does a good job in providing relevant background information and holding the reader's attention. I thought that the length of the book was just right. There were some very good photos and interesting source material. It is amazing to contrast Sandow to modern day bodybuilders. It does peter out a little towards the end but that is mostly due to the lack of reliable information and fortunately the book doesn't indulge in wild speculation. There were some amazing anecdotes in this book and is is fascinating to see how modern a figure he was whilst at the same time seeing how rooted he was in the culture of his time.

A terrific read