The First Bodybuilder

Eugen Sandow (1867- 1925) was born in Königsberg, now Russia, as Friedrich Wilhelm Müller.

During the 1880's he was in Brussels with no money in his pocket, he met Louie Dirlaherr, known as the professor Attila.

In that time there ruled an opinion that a man shouldn’t lift up more than 3 kg. If he was to do something like that he was in threat for his muscles to wrinkle and stay paralyzed.

Professor Attila, as he also was dedicated to exercising, wanted to prove the nonsense of that believing.

At the end of 19th and the beginning of 20th century, name of Eugen Sandow was a synonym for strength, muscles, good looks, success and fame. Expressions like “Strong as Sandow” were used all over the world.

This guy is rather fascinating. It seems he was not jus a pretty face and a strong body.

He was also exceptionally good at selling himself and what he was doing in a time when a soft rounded figure was popular for men.

There are more great pictures and the article on StellasMagazine.

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