System of Physical Training

In my opinion Sandow was more interested in self-promotion than in conveying his knowledge.

Ordered this book because I wanted to get some information about training in the old days and what methods Sandow would instruct his pupils in.This book is about 3 quarters biography with little in the way of actual exercise instruction.I have already read the David L Chapman book about Sandow's life so I didn't really want to read the same information again. Few photos with the instructons and instructions tend to be too wordy,as the writing style in those days tended to be,and a bit misleading.Almost have to use your imagination as to how to perform some of the movements and exercises. Probably might have liked the book a bit more if I hadn't read the bio already.Sort of interesting in a historical context.Was interested in the 5lb dumbbell workout.Wanted to see how and if Sandow's program differed from Professor Attila's.Doesn't appear to be a great difference.A few less movements The technique regarding muscle tension during the movements is not explained here like I had hoped it would be which I understand is key to success in the program.

Sandow wrote this book at 27, so it's mostly based on his strength act in England and America. His accomplishments are embellished a little but it was a common practice in training books of the time. The last few chapters are his training system around this time. Worth the read but I like Georg Hackenschmidt's How to Live in Health and Strength better.

Eugen Sandow is the father of body building and was dominant during the Victorian era on a world wide basis. Before Sandow strongmen had tended to be of the mastodon type with many of them weighing over 300 pounds.In his act Sandow lifted heavy weights, an ability that he developed by lifting heavy weights. The secret to his development,however, was training with dumbells as light as 7 pounds, but combined with great concentration and projection into the muscle.In earlier books Sandow had emphasized the importance of using "the will" for the development of strength and muscularity which he had learned from his mentor Professor Attila.In this book,however, he takes the concept of muscle control and mental projection to a new level which is probably the result of his having come in contact with Alois P. Swoboda on his trip to America. Swoboda was the inventor of the mail order muscle building course which he used to promote his "Conscious Evolution" mind and muscle control course and was the mentor of Charles Atlas who said,"Everything that I know I learned from A.P.Swoboda".This is a very interesting and historically significant book about the bodybuilding industry.

Fantastic piece of workout history. Obviously a little dated, but the read is more for the historical perspective contained within. The quality of the book itself, while not really bad, does leave a little to be desired. Most notably the cover feels cheap and the trimming of the edges is a tad sloppy.

I know some reviewers have said the language was too antiquated, but I had no problem reading. It was an interesting look into strength culture from its modern re-birth.

Bought this for the "old timey" strength training info. Unfortunately, it is written in such an arcane style that it was difficult to extract. Not really the books fault so I didn't downgrade it for that reason. Lots of interesting stuff. It just wasn't as useful as I had been hoping.

As a body builder it gave some great history and insites of the sport

Eugen Sandow is can and should be an inspiration to any skinny bullies kid, that they can, with regular practice, be as strong as an ox, with a waist of James Bond.

Good book but somtimes hard to read

these old time strongmen were the real deal, their way of training was the best because they did it all naturally, no supplements or steroids in those days.