Maxalding, Sandow & The Golden Age of Iron Men

[Andy62]

You mention Disney and Davy Crockett. In the US, the heros of the American Frontier were totally mytholigized and where I believe a lot of this stuff started in the US. That was our heroic age and the inventor of the comic book Colonel Ned Buntline [ the horrendous bullshitter] is really a interesting character and started the forerunner of the super hero comic book.
http://www.xphomestation.com/nbuntline.html

In the early days of physical culture in the US it seems that most of the strength athletes and instructors knew earh other, in many cases trained together and in some cases supported each others courses. Earle Liedrman and Charles Atlas were in a vaudeville strength act together,but they both had their base development by that time. Atlas and Jowett even helped Liederman promote his course.: http://www.sandowplus.co.uk/Competition/Liederman/musc-dev(7)/m-dev(7)01.htm

The contact and exchange of information in those early days was worldwide:.
It was after Sandow had the final meeting with Tromp Van Diggelen { the inspiration behind Maxalding] that he adopted a form of "muscle control" or " isometric pulse contraction" that he referred to a "flicking" as the only exercise that he did when he was traveling. Perhaps feeling competitive pressure from Alois P. Swoboda's course, Sandow wrote a letter to Swoboda in 1905 questioning how one could get a build like Swoboda's just using the methods that Swoboda was then teaching. Swoboda fired back with a response asking Sandow which one of his friends told him that he was the world's best built man. Business competitors; both asserting their strong egos.

Swoboda didn't advertise in physical culture publications as far as I can tell. Instead he advertised in magazines such as The Literary Digest, Harpers, and related magazines. with more mature and diverse subscribers.
http://www.sandowplus.co.uk/Competition/Swoboda/Ads/swoboda-ads.htm

In Atlas' authorized biography " Yours In Perfect Manhood" it says that Atlas did explore MacFadden's teachings and sent for courses. It does not mention specifically that he sent for the Swoboda Course., but then that was an authorized biography and the authors depended heavily on Charles Roman for information to write the book and nobody ever had a greater commercial interest than Charles Roman because he was hoping to revive the course which was failing at that point.. To tie Atlas directly to Swoboda we have to depend on more impartial sources such as "The Peoples Almanca Of The 20th Century and other sources

I feel fortunate to have a copy of the Swoboda Course in my collection. It is definitely unique and definitely not a "mass market" oriented course such as most of the physical culture courses of that time . I would describe it a a personal development course,both mental and physical, that like yoga and various martial arts courses is directed at developing the individual's total "intenal strength" [Chi, Ki, Prana] or "Nerve Force".but not just limited toward internal body functions as in yoga or physical strength as in the martial arts. However, I have been unable to find any direct connection between Swoboda and Yoga and the martial arts.

The purpose of the course is to activate universal and individual energy toward giving the individul the intuitive, instinctive,. and other abilities necsssary to help them adapt to a changing universe successfully. That in my opinion is why Swoboda attracted students who were US Presidents, Supreme Court Justices and leaders in all walks of life. It may also be a big part of the reason why Atlas was so greateful to Swoboda as the course not only taught him to develop his body,but also had an influence on attracting the people and events that were responsible for his successful career and why we still remember him today..

[Andy62]

Go to the Liederman section and then to the 1920 brochure 7th edition.






http://www.sandowplus.co.uk/Competition/Liederman/liederman-index.htm

[RPR]

This is all very interesting. In just thinking about Atlas and Liedermann on a vaudeville circuit, travel in those days would have been by train. It would have been very difficult for them to be traveling & working out on trains with weights. Even bodyweight exercises would have been problematic. The idea of them doing DSR & DVR type workouts makes sense. In fact it would have been about the only way to workout in the cramped quarters of Pullman cars in those days.

Although we rarely, if ever, read about him on the forums Joseph Pilates was an interesting character from that period also. Dancers in NY took to his exercise system, but it never caught on to the general public until recently, and here was the guy that trained the great German boxer Max Schmelling.

The west gave us interesting characters, to say the least. In the recent film about the Alamo they present Crockett as a victim of the myths around him. There is probably some truth to it. Bill Cody thrived on his myths & profitted greatly from them, but Wild Bill Hickock couldn't. He tried doing the early West shows with Cody in NY & couldn't stand it, only to go back west to be killed by a coward. Real life that's stranger than fiction.


I appreciate your love for physical culture & it's history. It would be interesting to have an actual museum dedicated to it. Maybe some serious histories will be written about it.

[Andy62]

Your observation is very interesting about Liederman and Atlas using DSR and DVR exercises while traveling. Also remember that Sandow only did DVR type exercises, which he called "flicking," when he was traveling. Tromp Van Diggelen introduced Maxick and Monte Saldo and thus put the forces in motion for the formation of Maxalding. As a child Tromp Van Diggelen had been very weak and his mother took him to Sandow who recommended the use of cables. Tromp was too weak to pull the cables and so he started flexing his muscles and using muscle control - it's an interesting story: http://www.maxalding.co.uk/Tromp/tromp-biog.htm

Swoboda predated all of these guys with his course and used the term "Muscle Control" before any of them. After Sandow's encounter with Tromp is when he started using DVRs while on the road. There is correspndence between Sandow and Swoboda concerning DVRs in 1905.

It appears to have been a very small world in the physical culture industry at that time and all of the players appear to have known what was going on while promoting their individual courses to their advantage. That is just business.

[RPR]

[Andy62]

I don't think that you are going to get any disagreements there.

[KettlebellKalloway]

[Andy62]

One of the most popular weight training routines during the early 1900s was called "the squat and milk" system. Squats of course work the thighs which are one of the larger muscle groups. By concentrating on heavy squats and drinking huge quantities of milk one could put on a considerable amount of body mass in a relatively short period of time.

[Andy62]

Alois P Swoboda may have had more knowledge of yoga than I previously thought. I recently came across the below linked history of yoga which is the most comprehensive that I have found. The important information in the article is that knowledge of yoga was present in America since the late 1800s. In 1893 a prominent yogi participated in a major conference in Chicago. It increases the possiblities in my mind that Swoboda came across these principles from those sources. Previously this internal power had been applied too developing bodily control in yoga and physical and mental strength for the martial arts. Swoboda changed the orientation of those same cousciousness developing exercises and principles. He redirected them not only to developing the body and physical strength ,but also improved functioning ability in contemporary western culture from increased intuitive abilities and mental agility.



http://www.myyogaonline.com/yoga_article_32_History_of_Yoga.html

[KettlebellKalloway]

[Andy62]

Your friend is very lucky. A skiing collision with a tree is usually fatal. I have heard of several people that has happened too. That is how Sonny of Sonny and Cher died.

[KettlebellKalloway]

Okay, here is the scoop.

I did not say the name of the guy because I saw no need, he's not that well known, I think I said "I only knew of someone" and I found out from the blog entry of Joe Parkin, a former cyclist who mainly rode in Belgium (that's what his book is about) http://www.6yearsinaraincape.com/ at this website the story should be on the main page. Since this is about cycling stuff, I saw no reason to name names.

What it is is former bicycle racer and every summer the Tour De France colour commentary man Bob Roll had a ski accident. I assumed he hit a tree but that actually hasn't been stated, only that he had a ski accident and broke his femur. Of course, he is well known to cycling fans in the USA every time July comes and the Tour is on TV.

Not only are the quadriceps in the thigh area a big muscle group, it made me curious, how someone could break it skiing and also that all of those muscle fibers would have to be gone through to break the femur. Not a pleasant thought. But luckily, for what ever happened, maybe he skiied off of a big slope and game down, maybe that's how he broke the femur but whatever it was, you'd really have to have a lot of impact for that to happen.

I think I only said I know of someone who had an accident, if I said friend, pardon me. Here is the original story and the only thing really to go by since I haven't heard a real description of the incident.

"I'm sure that many of you know by now that Bob Roll was seriously injured in a skiing accident. In the crash Bobke managed to break three ribs and his femur. I've been friends with Bob for twenty-five years now, and have always known him to be a tough dude. I've broken my own fair share of ribs, and would wish that incredibly inconvenient pain on no one but, according to the Blob, breaking a femur takes pain to a whole new level."

By contrast, the lower leg, shin area and all, seems to be a lot leaner. I watched the lad Aaron Ramsey unfortunately suffer a leg break in that game Arsenal vs. Stoke City and leg breaks in the calf area in football/soccer are not that rare but breaking the upper leg part seems much more rarer. I don't even know if it has ever happened in a professional soccer/football game, very possibly I guess because the side and the back of the thigh and down near the kneecap now that I think about it could possibly be a bit vulnerable. A rather sturdy area of the body all the same.

The story itself makes one curious as to know what happened.