Life Story of Eugen Sandow: Father of Bodybuilding

You’ve seen his statue being handed out as a trophy to every Mr. Olympia. Yet, do you know why earning a Sandow became the highest honor in bodybuilding? Well, one thing’s for sure: You have to be an extraordinary man to become the symbol of a sport and earn the nickname The Father of Bodybuilding. However, calling Eugen Sandow extraordinary may even be an understatement.

Eugen Sandow (born Friedrich Wilhelm Muller) on April 2, 1867, in Konigsberg, Prussia (now Kaliningrad, Russia) was an average kid. While his German father and Russian mother wanted him to become a Lutheran minister, the youngest had other things in mind. Sandow dreamed of achieving the physique of Greek gods after being inspired by classical Greek sculptures. He also gravitated toward achieving feats of strength.

Eugen Sandow the strongman

Wanting to pursue his dream, a young Friedrich Wilhelm Muller left Prussia and became a performing circus athlete. No one held the World’s Strongest Man competitions in the late 1800s. Just like bodybuilding, no one considered strongman a sport. However, there were no shortages of strongmen, and they performed in circuses. This is where Friedrich Wilhelm Muller became Eugene Sandow.

The father of bodybuilding adopted the stage name Eugen and Germanized his mother’s last name. He changes one letter in his mother’s last name, turning Sandov into Sandow. During his career in the circus, Sndow met Ludwig Durlacher, aka the then-famous Professor Attila. Atilla realized the strongman’s potential and took Eugen Sndow under his wing.

Under his mentorship, Sandow shined. While there were no sanctioned competitions at an international level, famous strongmen of the time took part in periodic competitions in London. After arriving in London, the circus strongman beat the reigning champion and began doing shows. Besides his incredible strength, Sandow never lost sight of his dream physique.

Eugen Sandow developed training methods and designed diets for himself that he used to achieve an unbelievable physique for his era. While Sandow didn’t have the wide shoulders or X-frame of modern bodybuilders, his musculature and six-pack abs made him no less than a Greek statue. The strongman and bodybuilder also knew how to use all the tools in his box.

Eugen Sandow the showman

Eugen Sandow also understood he had to promote himself to attract people to his shows. So, the strongman often devised unique strategies to promote his shows. One of Sandow’s most famous antics earned him immense publicity in Amsterdam. There were strength testing machines sprinkled throughout public gathering spaces in the city.

Eugen Sandow discovered that these strength machines stood no chance against him. Despite never intending to damage the machines and following all the instructions, Sandow broke the first machine he tried. So he found another, and the same thing happened. So, the strongman decided to use them as tools for promotion.

Soon enough, the police learned of someone going around Amsterdam to break strength testing machines. When they apprehended Sandow, he told them he was simply too strong for the machines. The police didn’t believe him and procured a new one to prove it. They watched in awe as Sandow used his arm strength to break the machine in front of them.

The incident became so popular that, alongside the crowd, even the policemen reportedly attended Sandow’s show the following day. The bodybuilder similarly crashed into a show by two other strongmen of his time. Strongmen Smason and Cyclops performed at one of the halls in London and offered money to anyone who could match their strength.

Samson specialized in hand strength, and so Sandow dressed in overalls as a business challenge. However, just as the audience and Samson thought Sandow was average, he dramatically ripped off his overcoat to reveal his Greek god physique. The father of bodybuilding followed his dramatic entrance by besting Samson’s feats of strength. This is how Sandow cemented his popularity. However, it wasn’t until he met Florenz Ziegfeld. 

Becoming the father of bodybuilding

Ziegfeld was the one who realized that people didn’t just flock to watch Eugen Sandow for his feats of strength but also his physique. With Ziegfeld’s assistance, Sandow started including muscle display performances in his shows. Sandow’s displays continued to showcase the inspiration he reaped from Greek and Roman sculptures.

The bodybuilder made smart use of lighting and used a black background to highlight his chiseled physique. He even recreated famous statues by posing. Eugen Sandow even powered himself white to look like a living work of art. While bodybuilding has mandatory poses today, Sandow was the first to truly show off each muscle and establish poses like the front-double biceps, side trices, and many more.

During this time, Sandow became the only person to feature in a 42-second 1894 film by Thomas Edison’s production company, Edison Studios. After years of performing his displays and earning immense fame, Sandow organized the world’s first bodybuilding competition. The competition took place in 1901 at the Royal Albert Hall.

Eugen Sandow had become so popular that the venue sold out. Reportedly, many people were turned away due to lack of seats. Inside, Sherlock Holmes author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and sculptor Sir Charles Lawes joined Sandow to judge the 60 participants. William Murray won the first Sandow Trophy in history by winning the Royal Albert Hall Physical Development Display.

Eugene Sandow put bodybuilding on the map and kickstarted what became the first era of bodybuilding. In fact, he was the man who coined the term when he wrote a book titled Bodybuilding. After the father of bodybuilding turned into a competitive sport, others started training solely to develop the ideal physique. This is why the Sandow Trophy will forever be the most coveted prize in bodybuilding.