"Maxalding" and Muscle Control
by Gil Waldron

Eugen Sandow definitely wasn't the first strongman, many had gone before him, nearly all huge ponderous men who trained on porter and ale and boasted enormous beer bellies. Sandow on his arrival showed the way not just to greater strength but also health. The saying "Health and Strength" was born. Sandow attracted many followers, and also took on apprentices, mainly one suspects to work as cheap labour in his gymnasiums. Remember, the man was also a successful businessman. One of these apprentices was a man named A.M. Woollaston, and possibly his brother Frank, who between them in later years went on to form a posing act called the Sculptor's Dream under the stage name The Montague Brothers. This show was very successful, and the brothers toured the European Continent with their act. A.M. Woollaston though had another talent, one he had learned from the great Sandow, and that was teaching.

He changed his name to "Monte Saldo" and went into partnership with a Strongman named "Apollo" and opened the Apollo-Saldo Club in Newport Street London. The club was very popular with strongmen and athletes of the day, and was visited by men like Hackenschmidt, Sandow and the South African Tromp Van Diggelen; in fact it was the latter that introduced to Saldo and the world a funny little Bavarian by the name of "Max Sick". Max stood just over 5 feet tall and weighed in at about 140 pounds, and was a sensation; he took the world's strongmen by storm. He caused people like Thomas Inch and other strongmen who were issuing challenges to all comers to run for cover. The name, though, had to go; a "Sick" strongman didn't sound right, so "Maxick" was born.

Not only was Maxick an exceptionally strong man, but also he was a master of muscle control, he could tense, relax and twitch every single voluntary muscle in his body. This ability fascinated Saldo, who was in the process of developing his own postal course, and he thought it would complement the purely mechanical exercises he intended to include in his own course. So after 12 months of experimenting with various methods, Maxalding, a combination of both names, was formed. The year was 1906. The course was so successful it continued up to the1970s until the death of the founder's son Court Saldo, who had run it successfully after his father had been badly injured by a bomb during World War Two.

For more information on Maxalding, and to view the original exercises in complete form (including training methods), visit the Maxalding site at:
http://www.maxalding.plus.com