This man is responsible for some of the methods on how we train today,he was before his time in terms of strength training,with a lot of strength and conditioning coaches and fitness professionals resorting back to what types of training that was used by Saxon.
Saxon, born Arthur Hennig, was a strong man and all round circus performer in the late 19th century/early 20th century. Dropping out of school at the age of 14, Saxon studied Steinmetz stone sculpture and began to create and sculpt his own weights , and at the young age began to start training. This is a key factor here,especially with our nation and Britain's obese culture of laziness,lack of exercises and junk food, is to start children exercising and enjoying it from as young an age as possible,it does not have to be to the magnitude of Saxon's strength training,but something that they enjoy!
It became a family affair when his two brothers, Kurt and Hermann, holding feats and strength contests in the family back garden,competing against one and other with different movements and exercises. The events help in their garden,soon became something of a neighbourhood competition,allowing any one over the age of 15 to enter (for a whopping two and a half cent prize!) by overcoming a lifting challenge set by the brothers and beating the weight that they had lifted, otherwise they would compete in belt wrestling.
*Swiss Belt Wrestling - The contest would be each person wearing a belt,ring attached at each side,with the only way to win,by grabbing the rings on the belt,and grappling to the opponent was on the ground.
The trio were never defeated in their youth contests.
So what was Saxon famous for and how did he train?
It is unlikely that in the early days of his training he would have used any barbells,just based his training around early kettlebells, Olympic ring and early dumbbells. If we look at training today,we see that these instruments and currently being still used to this day,and are even more so in the dawn of strength and conditioning becoming an actual science.
As his training progressed,barbells were introduced as it became prevalent that more weight could be added. Saxon's famous lifts included bent press for a then world record of 370lbs/176 kg. As well as the "two hands anyhow " lift of 448 lbs/203kg.
Saxon vs Sandow, Old Lion overtaken by the Young Cub...
In what would become "The Sheffield Showdown" this is when these two Goliaths of that time clashed when Saxon threw down the challenge to any audience members in a lifting contest.Eugen Sandow was in the audience,and stepped up to the challenge.Onto the stage he came.
it was something that he would surely regret.
With each challenge that was laid down, Saxon Conquered, with Sandow choosing not even to compete in some. The main challenge being the bent press that is pictured above, with Saxon having five attempts to do it standing erect, doing so on his second attempt.
Saxon began trumpeting his triumph over Sandow in his advertising posters. But Sandow’s contract required that he be billed as the "World’s Strongest Man," so he sued Saxon. Sandow won – he had gotten the 264-pound barbell to arm’s length, and the judge, being ignorant of the rules of the bent-press, declared that Sandow had lifted it.
PART TWO COMING THIS WEEK!
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