I can't find anything regarding Zass's ethnicity. Born in then Polish Wilno (Vilnius) but was he Lithuanian, Russian, Polish, Belorussian, German? I suppose ultimately it doesn't make that much of a difference but I'm a geneticist so I can't help but ask.
@@LesGrossman_69 He could have given up in the prison, loosing his strength and wasting away in chains. But even under those conditions he found a way to train and stay strong. That's the power of the mind.
@@LesGrossman_69 You think they gave enemy prisoners nourishing meals during a war? Food that would grow your strength? Prison was not the place that made him, what are you talking about? He was strong before prison and once in chains and chained to the floor he started loosing his strength. Did you watch the video at all? That's when he applied his will power and mind to find a way to get strong again in spite of being in chains. And that's when he developed isometric training. But by any rate, it is always a strong mind and strong will power behind any training that makes it successful. Being born with strong bones and tendons is only the tip of the iceberg.
Breaks off seals of a train to make dumbbells without stealing a pin from the train, rescues a dying horse out of bonding, escapes prison four times only to make it back to the circus, and leaves his entire estate to a colleague out of empathy. This guy must have been a demi god.
Exactly what I was thinking but with 1 omission: Never harmed anyone while escaping, and loved his animals. He actually sounds like a deeply compassionate, caring guy, who's strong + mentally tough. You know ... like how ... strong men make good times ... good times create weak men. ... weak men create hard times. ... rinse + repeat. 😢 where we are today withe the alphabet idiots.
@@trumanhw Your lack of self awareness in casting shade and contempt on people different from you in your own comment about this extraordinary man who was marked by both great strength AND great empathy & pacifism... You leave yourself in no such company but shame, lest you be a troll. You disgrace his memory. You said it yourself, he never hurt his captors... People who enslaved, beat, and tortured him... And he never sought revenge. All he ever did was fight his way out of his circumstances so that he could live his life the way he wanted to... Free from oppression. Not so different from what many oppressed people groups around the world are attempting themselves. I think it's time to look inward there, sparky. Play fetch.
that stoneage barbell was ingenious. he even added some rope for better grip. he took the rule "find something heavy and lift it" very seriously. He was truly a strongman both in body and mind. He was a surivivalist and very intelligent. What a life. Great documentary. Real great.
The (overcoming) isometrics training was my entry to strength training and is something I do to this day religiously. And from my experience I can tell everything Alexander says is true. I do shoulder presses, bicep curls, RDLs , rows, bench presses and squats all isometrically 3 times a week and just trying it once you'll see that it's no bs. Your muscles start burning after 3 seconds. And the gains? Lightning speed. I was as a beginner able to go from 0 to 4 pull-ups in 2 weeks with just isometrics. Granted newby gains also played a part in this, but I think it's nothing short of incredible nonetheless. What's also true that this kind of training builds powerful tendons and strong muscles, but not big muscles. Rather than big, voluminous muscles, this training builds dense, compact, rock-like muscles, which will leave no one doubting the power behind them. Bruce Lee would also train this way, as per his notes and famous photos of him performing a bicep curl and a reverse curl with a metal bar chained to the floor. And Bruce Lee was considered one of the strongest pound-for-pound human. And he was also very lean with small muscles, which were, however, as stated by his student, hard as a rock. Another example is the unbeaten Indian wrestler The Great Gama, who would push on trees as a part of his training. And when he was asked why he does it, he said (paraphrase) "Because compared to the tree, throwing humans is a piece of cake." Another strongmen to allegedly have utilised isometrics were Paul Anderson or The Mighty Atom. I can sing nothing but praises to this forgotten way of training and if I've piqued your interest, I recommend the RU-vid channels NoLimitSquad (who dedicates his entire channel to isometrics) and Red Delta Project (a modern-day fitness genius who's written a book on isometrics and talks about them often), but The Bioneer and Hybrid Calisthenics have also made videos about them. And there's also the channel Eric Moss, a modern day strongman who performs similar feats of strength nowadays, who also credits a big part of his strength to isometrics. All I can say about overcoming isometrics is a famous quote by Shia Laboeuf: "Just do it!"
Making an8x12 gym and I am installing a large eyebolt in the foundation for just that purpose. To hook a chain and bar to it and attempt impossible deadlifts.
Newbie gains are a thing my friend when you just start lifting almost any kind of stimulus will get you results. If you want to maximize your muscle growth of athletic ability I recommend watching some of Dr mikes videos from RP hypertrohy. They do more than just body build there.
If you program them correctly you can still reach new levels. I didn't get close to the one-arm pull-up till I started making most of my workouts overcoming isometrics with a dash of dynamic work every few days. And there are a few more of us out here. www.youtube.com/@studioathletics
Cause it's obvious that the numbers attributed to him are entirely fabricated. They just say "15 miles". So he ran that? Everyday? It'd take over 6 hours to walk that, one way. So we start with this made up bullshit. At this point I'd attribute this entire video to pictures of a man that's ideal with a made up story. All this is so ridiculous that it's unbelievable. By that I don't mean that it's real and wild. I mean it not believable.
There are so many folk who've lived fascinating lives whose experiences never get made into movies (few of which are even written about) - but, if it were otherwise so, then we'd have many more great movies to watch.
Thank you, what a heartbreaking story - especially when he stayed with his beloved horse and rescued it by carrying it home... What a beautiful person! ❤
It seems Hollywood doesn’t have much interest in this stuff. There’s a pretty good documentary made about The Mighty Atom but iirc it was funded but his family. I don’t know if there are any proper feature films made about old school lifters/strongmen.
There is a film documentary that was made in Québec in 2013 about Louis Cyr's life. You should definitely give it a watch! (Titled ''Louis Cyr'') @@NattyLifeYT
It reminds me quite a bit of a novel called Life on Umbriel, in which a 19th century strongman was groomed to take down a legendary outlaw who lived on top of a mountain.
I would like to be remembered for having taken the time to appreciate such people. Those featured on this channel are true champions, and history refuses to give them up. It is truly inspiring!!
This is an incredible documentary, most people today would have never heard of this man if it was not for this video. Those photos of him staring into the camera were chilling considering what that man had seen and experienced in his life.
As I've said in the past, I've faught a few. theres this method... It envovles the sences, does it smell clean ??? When she pulls her pant's down does it dring a tear to you're eye ???
I think it’s possible that his story is almost too ridiculous even for Hollywood to touch.. like how do you make a “true story” movie where a guy carries his horse off the battlefield?!? Some of his most heroic moments sound more like origin stories of a comic book hero than a real life one so it would actually be quite a challenge to make a movie that comes across as reality and not fantasy, no matter how real it actually is!
Zass is a true inspiration. Among Hercule Grün, Steve Reeves and Hermann Görner, these guys are more than just strongman. They give taste to life and show what the human mind and body is capable of.
IDK if you had already made a video about french canadian strongman Louis Cyr but if you didnt yet...YOU DEFINATELY SHOULD. a true legend .Im from Quebec myself and really proud of him.😊
these " little RU-vid videos " are really good quality mini documentaries and cool pieces of history, again really well done and peace and positivity to everyone.
Many thanks! I know it looks pretty simple when it’s all done, but as a one man show it’s quite a lot of time to put these together 😁. I’m really honoured that people would even call it a documentary though, I try to improve the quality a little bit every time. 💪
@@NattyLifeYTtrust me brother, at least from me, I notice the hard word, great job man, please make more videos like this👍 maybe one about that Greek that did progressive overload by carrying I think a bill everyday from a calf👍👍👍
@@Jgfhujnggg23342 Thank you brother! I already made a video about Milo of Croton, back when I read my scripts extra slow 🤣 ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-EaHoGlwOV9c.html
I subscribed to this channel when it had only a couple of thousand subs. I am watching a video after like 6 months now and I am glad to see the growth and the quality of videos are getting so much better! Bravo!
Maybe Turgenyev or Dostoyevski wrote that book, hesitated to publish it, but a fairy read it, used her magic and created a little boy. Who knows, maybe it is true!
Read his book myself and thought that if someone were to encapsulate it in a video, then there is no better candidate for this task but you. And you did so magnificently.
As a high school student more than 50 years ago I was considered to be the strongest on campus. Isometric training was certainly a part of my regimens. Thanks for this great video.
That was a fantastic video! Isometrics are exactly as Alexander zass said for the tendons, and they really do increase strength in a way you just can't get from regular barbell training, isometrics are great for anyone who is into grappling because it builds strength in many different angles/positions 🎉💪👍
The brain inhibites our true strength due to the risk of tear of tendons and articculations.So that is the secret of the super strenght of the bronze era
I can't thank you enough for posting this video. I honestly have never heard of this truly amazing human being. I love learning about people from the past who had such true hardships yet in the face of such difficulties persevered none the less. This man never gave up. He found his passion and though faced with possibly having to give up on that dream to satiate his fathers ambitions for him, fate once again intervened with a poster of the Circus while on his way to begin his apprenticeship for the train conductor career. I feel fortunate to now know about this man and his amazing story. For me this is what i appreciate about the internet. To learn about people that once passed this way and lived such incredible lives. If not for this video i may have never learned about this truly amazing man. Thank you sincerely. I also believe a great movie could be made about this guy and if placed in the right hands could become an Oscar worthy story.
As I recall, Charles Atlas also used isometric training as part of his program and a variation he called "dynamic tension". As a gymnast, we used isometric strength training as part of our workouts. For example, the iron cross and the planche are isometric strength moves. However, I learned the hard way that one should slowly relax the muscles after isometric contractions to avoid injury to tendons from the sudden release of contractions. I enjoyed the video immensely.
College was my peak strength period. We never used weights, but the first time I bench pressed I pressed way more than my body weight. Many years ago.@@johnmoyer5515
"Dynamic tension " is the movement of the muscles under contraction. The martial artist harry wong wrote a training book called " dynamic strength ". It works.
I used big sprockets from an engineering company. I also used 168lb kerb stones for shoulder pressing, bent over rowing and inclined bench pressing with a plank placed on a window ledge.
One of the most unusual and amazing stories on your channel. In addition to his physical prowess, Alex comes across as a very decent human being. Many thanks for this!
Yes, and there's more, like in his first escape, in order to make money, he proposed a money making scheme to a friendly prison guard, where in exchange for him smuggling him lamp oil, he would give him money, which he made from renting out an oil lamp he made out of tincans to the other prisoners so they could gamble in the dark.
The fact that a modern day (and at the time) world strongest man pumped full of as many chemicals as possible can barely walk with a horse on his back and this guy did it with relative ease in the middle of a warzone where he hadn't eaten for a day or two. I think calling him the strongest man on earth would seem somehow to be an understatement.
Looks like you don't know much about circus. Just like their American carny counterparts, circus strongmen have always manufactured outlandish stories about their strength feats, inflated their PBs and body measurements, retouched (crudely) their photos, used fake weights and wrestled against plants from the audience. Also, given the height of Zass, the horse he's carrying in that photo would barely qualify as a pony if it were standing next to you.
@@rh_BOSS can you disprove his story, because it wasn't just him who said it, it was the army as well. He is an older man in that photo and walking through water, of course it's going to be smaller. Also you do know how tiny human variation in height is you can tell the size of horse by it's comparison to a human, if he was what a foot taller that would make barely any difference in telling the size of that horse.
@@Alex-cw3rz You have no idea, how these things work, do you? Claims have to be proven, not disproven. The burden of proof lies on whoever is making the claims. "What can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence." Wikipedia cites a collection of anecdotes called "Pop Culture Russia" as the source for the horse story, which is laughable as far as the standard of proof goes. I bet, the story originated from Zass' 1925 autobiography and has never been independently corroborated. It's all a bunch of BS, just like the stories about The Mighty Atom flattening bullets with his forehead and biting through surgical instruments.
@@rh_BOSS but in this case the claim has been proven, he said it and the army said and I presume that means his commanding officier said it. Therefore you need to disprove it, it seems you've just presumed there was no evidence before actually doing any research.
@@Alex-cw3rz Can you cite even a single source? So far I haven't seen any. Anyone can claim that "the army said it" (whatever that even means). Find a transcript of someone in official capacity at the time referencing this story. At least cite a book that references an exact date and place. You'd think that such a story would be newsworthy at the time, especially when it's backed by army officials. Show me a news clipping from a WWI-era Russian newspaper. Anything beyond baseless claims.
Thank you for this brother. I did isometrics for a while, i didnt had money to train on a gym and i needed something new so i saw some things about this great man, bought a chain, and let me tell you, isometrics are a must. Incredibly painfull to do, you gotta be carefull but, the strength gain to me was almost godly after 4 months
I never enjoyed traaining in gyms. I built my own gym at home, in the kitchen (i lived with my parents). I used anything that could make resistance, or just anything heavy, in addition to doing pushups. I learned a lot more from this than in the gym. It's like the man in the video said, if u really wanna do this, ur gonna find a way
@@daviddupre5591Not necessarily, it can be performed with less intensity and longer duration, and also short duration and higher intensity, like with all training it should be done steadily at the start and progress in resistance/effort over time👍
Excellent work with this informative video,who should be considered by film writers to put in screenplay this life lived more than legend could possibly imagine,thanks again for posting this amazing piece!
Wow, came across this video. I live in Vilnius and I am writing this comment from Vilnius currently, these places, especially Lithuania produced a lot of strongmen and in general the men are strong, but not as much these days, as we are eating fake food and living in comfort
Thanks for this video. I couldn't get enough of this legend. My fitness journey started with watching my father do dynamic tension. I also became a student of Charles Atlas. My forte has always been out lifting guys that were bigger than me. I didn't know it then but I always valued building tendon strength.
It has always fascinated me when anyone comes across their destiny. When as a young boy he sees the circus, that is it for him. It is vital for anyone to help inspire young people to reach for something greater.There are so many distractions in social media for young people now and it makes them lazy.
Just wow!...I don't think I would wish to be as physically strong as he was as much as I would have his character, his discipline, his level of dedication to a goal.
Yes! I DO appreciate this as well as the light-hearted narrative. What an impressive man, one who never lost his compassion but was not a burden to anyone during his life, his prison time, his toils with animals.
Great history video. Loved it. Isometrics, especially Overcoming Isometrics but also static contractions like Maxick are the base for everything I do. If your tendon strength is there along with efficient and powerful muscle fibers the rest will come. I first started using them in 2016 and found that even though I was training for strength, it improved my stamina and explosiveness and I was reaching new heights in some of the physical tests we took in the Corps like the Combat Fitness Test(CFT).
I see a man who had a dream that was constantly held down but through mental fortitude and the inability to accept defeat his dreams became his reality. Lots of lessons to be learned, Alexander Zass strong inside and out
what a freaking legend oh my god. what stirkes me the most is his love for animal.s such an amazing thing. in my mind i feel like humans are meant to be strong and capable, that he proved, but also to be an aid to nature and its creations, and that he also did. what a lovely man, that is true masculinity honestly. i wish to only have a fraction of his strength, i oughta do more isometrics. 24.7.29
This was one of, maybe even the best video, from you, so far. Really fantastic story. I want a biopic movie of samson, right now! Can someone call Nolan or Scott? This story motivated me like hell for my upcoming training later. Thanks for your great work, really love your channel!
Wow, at the age of 60, an inspiration for me to continue training and implement isometrics! Thanks for this amazing story. It deserves to be seen on the Big Screen!
Watched this video twice and showed it to two others. Such an great historical account of an amazing story. The video is very well done and I love how you added additional commentary to make it funny lol.
Interesting story! His focus on strengthening the tendons before the muscles is completely in line with all traditional training in ancient China (kung fu, Qigong, etc.) and where rather small and lean men are able to perform incredible features.
Thank you! Truly inspiring…the next time I find myself lamenting my lot in life, I will remember his story and think how fortunate we are to be living in a more modern day with every type of convenience. Not to mention, that our society is relatively free, at least compared to his time. His life is more fantastic than any film could ever depict!
Loved the documentary! You told the story very well, and I liked how you put in the extra effort to find the historical pictures. This is definitely one of the best fitness channels on RU-vid. :)
Another example of a hero and someone to admire and look up to , these people we can learn from what an example of will mind and strength just listening to this has inspired me to push harder at all i do , thank you
This guy makes Schwarzenegger look like a chump. In addition to his intelligence, he also had a big heart. A true inspiration of what a real man can endure.
I had a very good doctor from China, who was once imprisoned in very small cell. He began from the feet, tightening muscles and holding for some time, then moving up to higher muscles. An article was published in a US health magazine about the technique. At 70 his skin was taunt as a child and he was very strong and healthy. He taught himself how to do acupuncture on his own body. He once released the frozen neck of the Prime Minister of Fiji, Sitiveni Rambuka, by inserting a very long needle into his spine at just the right spot. Rambuka used to hare to sleep in a chair with his head on a desk. He had been unable to sleep lying in a bed for several years due to this injury from a fall. Many other attempts for relief and normalization had failed.
Our minds limit our strength to protect our bodies from tearing our tendons etc. this dude unlocked this restriction. I worked with a dude that had this kind of mind over matter. He was mentally unstoppable, a truly unique man, and i witnessed him lift things that should not be possible.
Many thanks! Yeah it's a bit of a challenge. I used some AI generated pic here for the first time to help fill some of the space. I know some other people film themselves instead and cut to the face cam when they have nothing else to show, but I'm no good in front of the camera 😂
Very much inspiring story for humans who are living an ordinary life as well as for those who have big dreams to accomplish. Thank you very much for the presentation.
We still need a video on a true pioneer of modern strength Joseph Curtis hise, I’ve tried to promote him but RU-vid still hiding my channel from the good folk who watch this stuff.
