Dates

• Existence: 2 April 1867 - 14 October 1925

Biography

Friedrich Wilhelm Müller aka Eugene Sandow, was born on 2 April 1867 in Prussia. Although his parents were of Jewish origin, they became Lutherans and wanted Eugene to become a Lutheran minister. However, Eugene became interested in bodybuilding at a very young age and in 1885, he left Prussia to avoid military service, after which he started to travel around Europe with a circus, performing as an athlete under the stage name of Eugene Sandow.

By the late 1880s, he was training with strongman Ludwig Durlacher aka Professor Attila and soon started competing and winning awards and fame.

By 1894, Eugene had become so famous that he featured in a short film by the Edison Studios, doing his characteristic poses flexing his muscles. In 1901 Eugene organised the world's first major body building competition at the Royal Albert Hall in London. The judging panel was form by himself, author Arthur Conan Doyle and sculptor Charles Lawes-Wittewronge.

Eugene travelled extensively around the wold giving exhibitions of strength and lectures on physical exercise and diet. He eventually settled down in England where he married Blanche Brookes in 1896 and opened several Institutes of Physical Culture, where he taught methods of exercise, dietary habits and weight training. His ideas on physical fitness were revolutionary at the time and became very influential. In 1898 he also started his own specialist magazine called Sandow's Magazine of Physical Culture and over time wrote several books.

From 1909 he trained aspirant recruits to the British Territorial Army and during the First World War volunteers for active service.

Eugene died on 14 October 1925 of a brain haemorrhage aged 58. It is believed that it was caused by straining himself after lifting a car out of a ditch after a road accident. Eugene Sandow is considered the father of modern bodybuilding.

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