Author Archives: Dennis Mitchell

The Saxon Trio

by Dennis Mitchell

The Saxon Trio

Back in he late 1890s Eugene Sandow was the king of strength in England. A gentleman by the name of Arno Saxon (His real name was Arno Patschke) saw the interest that the public had for strong men acts and also the possibility of making a good living by forming his own strongman act. Arno was a German wrestler and strongman. Traveling back to Germany in 1897, he formed the first Saxon Trio. Arno Saxon teamed up with  Oscar Hilgenfeld and the 19 year old Arthur Hennig, who later changed his name to Arthur Saxon. The three traveled to England and put on a genuine strong man act. There were no false weights, tricks, or illusions. Just honest lifting, supporting and juggling heavy weights.
The first to leave the trio was Oscar Hilgenfeldt. He joined with Albert Attilla to form their own act called The Attilla Brothers. His place was taken by a man named Somerton. Somerton stayed with the trio only a short time and was replaced by another German named Adolf Berg. More changes were to come when the originator of the group, Arno Saxon left. Arthur Saxon had his 17 year old brother, Hermann, take his place. Once again the ever changing trio changed again when Adolf Berg left and was replaced by Arthur’s youngest brother, Kurt. We now had the true Arthur Saxon Trio. But not for long as Hemann decided to do a solo act and once again Adolf Berg returned. After a time Hermann returned and once again the three brothers were billed as the Arthur Saxon Trio.


Arthur was born April 28, 1878. Hermann was born March 17,1882 and Kurt, March 11,1884. All were born in Leipsic, Saxony. They started training at an early age using stone weights, and putting on shows in their back yard when Arthur was 15 years old, Hermann,11, and Kurt 8 years old. They offered ten Pfenning (2.5 cents) to any one up to the age of 15 who could defeat them. When Hermann was still 16 years old he could bent press 100 kilos by holding together two 50 kilo kettle-bells. Kurt at the age of 11 could swing 50 kilos. Even as the members of the trio kept changing they were quite successful and traveled with the Wirth Brothers Circus through Europe and India. Not only did they lift weights but were quite skilled in wrestling.


Other than their outstanding lifting the Saxon Brothers were “Strong Eaters.” At a typical breakfast they would eat 24 eggs, 3 pounds of smoked bacon, porridge with cream, honey, marmalade and tea with lots of sugar. Lunch served at about 3PM consisted of 10 pounds of meat, with vegetables, sweet fruits, sweet cakes, salads, pudding, and tea with lots of sugar. Supper was usually smoked fish and cold meat. There was never any whiskey or brandy, but they did drink some beer. The stories of their beer drinking were greatly exaggerated. After their 3 o’clock meal they would rest for a couple of hours. During this time Kurt would do the shopping for their next days food. He was the cook.
It was now time for their workout. They never did a light workout and did a large variety of lifts with ring weights and barbells. They would warm up with leg presses. (No leg press machines) The bent press was done at every work out, doing as many as thirty lifts at each training session. The only non lifting exercises the did was jumping and swimming, and sometimes wrestling. They trained six days a week for four hours.


When Arthur died, August 6, 1921, Hermann and Kurt continued the act for a wile with great success. However Hermann did not have the heart to continue, as it was not like the old days. Kurt continued on his own until he was injured August 24, 1924, when a bridge and car that he was supporting collapsed and put an end to his career as a strong man. He then worked at the University of Leipzig as a trainer, and for a wile ran his own gym until it was destroyed during the second world war. Kurt died September 5, 1952, and Hermann, February 12, 1961. Arthur was best known for his bent pressing, an official lift of 371 pounds, and the two hands any how lift of 448 pounds. Listed here are some of Herman’s and Kurt’s lifts.

Kurt                          Hermann
Right hand snatch                                                        213 pounds                  206 pounds
Left hand snatch                                                           189 pounds                  202 pounds
Right hand bent press                                                332 pounds                   332 pounds
One hand clean & bent press, right hand             275 pounds                  272 pounds
Kettle bell swing right hand                                         187 pounds                  196 pounds
Two hands clean and jerk                                            341 pounds                  330 pound

Below is a comparison of their measurements taken by Dr. Sargent of Harvard University.

Kurt               Hermann                    Arthur
Height                                       68.1″               67.6″                         69.5″
Neck                                         15.5″               16.0″                         16.5″
Chest                                        43.0″               45.0″                         45.7″
Hips                                          36.0″              36.5″                          36.5″
Biceps                                       15.5″              16.0″                          16.5″
Forearm                                    14.2″               14.5″                         14.2″
Wrist                                         8.2″                 8.1″                           8.1″
Thigh                                        23.0″               22.0″                         23.2″
Calf                                          16.0″               15.0″                         15.7′
Weight                                    164 pounds      163 pounds                204 pounds
Age                                          26 years          28 years                     32 years

Joe Rollino – The Last Coney Island Strongman

by Dennis Mitchell

Joe Rollino

Joe Rollino was born in New York, March 19, 1905. He was one of ten children. By age ten he had developed an interest in being strong. His first sport love was for boxing, after he saw Jack Dempsey knock out Jess Willard. As a boxer in the 1920s he had over 100 bouts. Because of his small size, 5’5″ and weighing under 135 pounds, he fought men much bigger than himself. He stated that in spite of this he was never knocked out. He fought under the name of Kid Dundee. He credited his strength and long life to being a vegetarian, and never smoked or drank alcohol. Along with boxing he was an avid weight lifter and swimmer. He belonged to the Iceberg Athletic Club, and swam daily in the ocean regardless of the weather. In his prime he could lift 475 pounds with his teeth, do a one finger lift of 635 pounds, and a hand and thigh lift of 1500 pounds. He is credited with a lift of 3,200 pounds “On his back”. He had a physique that would have placed him very high in any body building contest. He performed for many years at Coney Island and in the circus. During the second World War he served in the Pacific area for five and one half years, and was awarded three Purple Hearts, a Silver Star, and a Bronze Star. At the age of 104 years he could bend a quarter in his teeth, and stated that when he was younger he could do the same with a dime. For many years he was a member of the Association of Oldtime Barbell and Strongmen. On January 11, 2010, on his way home from his daily three mile walk, he was hit by a Mini Van and died a few hours later . He would have been 105 years old in March of 2010.

Siegmund “Zisha” Breitbarth – The Ironking

by Dennis Mitchell

Siegmund "Zisha" Breitbarth

Siegmund “Zisha” Breitbarth was born in Starwieschtch, City of Lodz, Poland in 1883 in an orthodox Jewish family. He was the second of seven children. His father was a blacksmith. The first evidence of his strength was at age three. While playing in his father’s shop, a heavy bar fell on him and he was able to lift it off and free himself. By age four he was helping his father with his work. He was a bit of a trouble maker and was expelled from several religious school for demonstrating his strength on his fellow students.

During the first World War he served in the Russian army and was a prisoner of war in Germany. After the war he remained in Germany and made his living by performing as a strongman in the market place. It was there that he was spotted by the manager of “Circus Bush”, the largest circus in the world at that time. He traveled with the circus performing as a clown, acrobat, and as a strong man, and was featured as the opening act. From the circus he went into vaudeville, performing in Vienna. At that time political events were quite unsettled. The emerging Nazi Party was active as a result of France’s occupation of the Rue. There were many bloody confrontations. Even with the anti-Semitism, hostility, and prejudice at a post war high, Siegmund was very popular in Vienna, more than any other entertainer or sports figure at that time.

In 1923 he emigrated to the Unite States, and in 1924 became a citizen. He continued to work in vaudeville and was reported to be earning $7,000 a week, an unbelievable amount of money in the 1920s. His act consisted of bending iron bars (that’s where he got the name “Ironking”), breaking horse shoes, pulling a wagon full of people with his teeth, supporting an elephant in the event known as the “Tomb of Hercules”, and carrying a baby elephant up a ladder. He would support a car full of people on his chest while lying on his back. He could drive a spike through a thick plank with his bare hands.

He wrote a book called Muscle Power, and also sold a mail order body building course. He thought of himself as a modern day Samson, and wanted to train an army of strongmen in order to free Palestine from British rule. While touring Europe he pierced his leg with a rusty spike while driving it through a plank with his hand. He developed blood poisoning, and in spite of two surgeries, died in Berlin Germany Oct. 12th, 1925 at the age of forty-two.

At the age of thirty-one he had the following measurements: Chest 50″, neck 19″, arms 15.5″, waist 35″, and calf 17″. There are no records of what Siegmund could lift with either barbells or dumbbells. He said that the audiences were more interested in his supporting events and bar bending.

George Barker Windship, MD

by Dennis Mitchell

One of the very few pictures of George Barker Windship, MD (Courtesy of the Massachusetts Historical Society)

George Barker Windship was born in 1834 in Roxbury, Massachusetts, and entered Harvard University at age 16. He stood five feet tall and weighed one hundred pounds. Because of his small size he was constantly teased and tormented by his classmates. He started practicing gymnastics at the Harvard gym in an effort to build himself up. He spent some time every evening after classes at the gym doing chins, dips, and working on the rings and various bars. By the time he graduated he was well known for his strength. He could chin twelve times with one arm, and do a one arm chin with either arm using just his little finger.

On a trip to Rochester New York, he saw a lifting machine and lifted 420 pounds in what was similar to a Hand and Thigh Lift. After returning home he made his own hand and thigh apparatus, lifting a barrel that he would fill with rocks and sand. He became a dedicated weight lifter.

He returned to Harvard University and following in his father’s, grandfather’s, and great grandfather’s foot steps entered medical school. However, he stated that his main reason for medical school was to learn about the human body in order to improve his lifting.

He graduated in 1857, and had increased his Hand and Thigh Lift to 1208 pounds. He also fashioned a yoke type apparatus similar to the Harness Lift and could lift 2200 pounds. At this time he also added dumbbells to his training and in time could press a pair of 100 pound dumbbells. He also added barbell lifting with a globe barbell that he could vary the weight from 141 pounds to 180 pounds by adding shot to the globes. He was never a very big man reaching the height of 5’7″ and weighing 147 pounds.

This is a lifting apparatus designed and built by George Barker Windship, MD. It was patented in 1893, and is a forerunner of the Universal Machine.

Dr. Windship had his gym next to his medical office, and would tell his clients that if they would spend more time in his gym they would spend less time in his medical office. Dr. Dudley Sargent, the head of the Harvard Physical Education Department, after watching Dr. Windship work out, stated that, “he was exceeding strong and that he used very heavy weights in a number of different movements and angles with both weights and on machines that he invented”.

Dr. Windship gave many lectures on the health benefits that would come from being strong, and would end his lectures with a demonstration of his strength. He preached that heavy lifting was a form of medical therapy.

He had patents on various equipment. He made a dumbbell that could be adjusted in half pound increments from eight pounds to one hundred and one pounds. He invented the forerunner of the Universal Machine, and invented a leg and hip machine. his training methods were quite modern and he stressed very heavy short workouts with ample rest between training sessions. One of his patents in 1870 was for a machine that used compressed air in a piston for resistance in a rowing machine and a cable apparatus used for working the chest.

On September 12th, 1876, at the age of just 42, Dr. Windship died of a massive stroke. There were those who were against heavy lifting stating that it was dangerous, and used Dr. Windship’s death as proof. It did have a negative affect on lifting and for some years lifting was looked on as being dangerous.

Cyprien Noe Cyr – World’s Strongest Man

by Dennis Mitchell

Louis Cyr

Cyprien Noe Cyr was born October 10, 1863 in Saint Cyprien Napierville Canada ( now Quebec ). He was the second child of seventeen children born to Pierre and Philomene Berger Cyr. He was never a frail or slight child as he weighed 18 pounds at birth. His father was quite strong and worked as a lumberjack and farmer. However Cyprien Noe inherited his exceptional physical power from his mother who stood 6′ 1″ tall and weighed 265 pounds, and could toss around 100 pound sacks with ease. At the age of 8 years, it is reported that he carried a calf in from the field when it did not want to return to the barn. He went to school from age 9 to 12 years, and then went to work in the lumber camps in the winter, and on the farm in the summer. Though gentle by nature, he soon had the admiration of his fellow workers for his unusual strength. Legion has it his mother decided he should let his hair grow long like Sampson in the Bible, and was said to curl it regularly. In 1878 the Cyr family moved to the United States in hopes of greater financial gains. It was at this time that Cyprien Noe changed his name for a more American of Louis. By age 17 he weighed 230 pounds, liked to play the violin, dance and work out with weights. In spite of his size and strength, his chubby pink cheeks and long blond curls gave him a babyish look, and made him the butt of jokes and teasing. At the age of 18 he entered his first strongman contest in Boston where he lifted a full grown horse off the ground. The horse stood on a platform that had two handles attached. The total weight was three quarters of a ton. There were no more jokes or teasing. His family moved back to Quebec in 1882. He was married that year to Meline Comptois and for a while worked as a lumberjack. From there he and his wife moved to Saint-Helene, where his parents had moved to. They soon organized “The Troupe Cyr” and performed through out the province with great success. For about two years he worked as a policeman, and for a short time owned a tavern. But soon organized another troupe of wrestlers, boxers, and weightlifters. He later defeated Canadian strongman David Michaud in one hand lifting and by lifting 2,371 pounds on his back. He also worked for Ringling Brothers Circus for a year and then with Horace Barre opened their own circus, with jugglers, strongmen, and acrobats. They performed for five years. In 1900 Cyr’s health started to fail. His over eating and large size and the onset of Brights disease put an end to competition and performing. He died at his daughter’s home November 10, 1912 at the age of 49. Dr. Dudley Sargent of Harvard University measured Cyr when he was 32 years old. He measured him at 5’8.5″, neck 20″, biceps 20″, forearms 16.3″, wrists 8.2″, chest 55.2″(expanded 60″) waist 47.4″, thighs 28.5″, and calfs 19.2″. His weight at that time was 291 pounds. He did reach the weight of 365 pounds later. Some of his bests lifts were: 500 pound one finger lift, back lift 4,337 pounds, bent press (more of a side press) 273 pounds, hand and thigh 1897 pounds, crucifix 94 pounds right , 88 pounds left, one hand dead lift with 1.5″ bar 525 pounds, and a “Platform” squat of 2,371 pounds.

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