The Eugen Sandow Workout You Can Do At Home
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Want to train like legendary strongman Eugen Sandow? And do that at home? Then follow this plan!
You Are Lazy
After putting a nice and neat version of Eugen’s book Strength and How to Obtain It online, free to download and share, I repeatedly got questions about his workout plans.
I wondered why. They are in the book, you just have to sort through a bit of the elaborated Victorian English.
Admit it, you were too lazy to do that, weren’t you?
Eugen Sandow’s Workout
But, insanely good-hearted that I am, I adapted everything in the below schedule, so you can use it straightaway in a form similar to my own workout plans. The exercises and their order all come from Eugen’s book, recommending the exact amounts of reps he thought useful.
The links either go to my own videos or to ExRx. Some of Eugen’s exercises you don’t see done anywhere and for those I’ll one by one do an extra video.
| Exercise | Repetitions | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Dumbbell Biceps Curls | 50 reps per arm, increase by 5 per day | Eugen does these alternating: left, right, left, right etc. |
| Reverse Barbell Curls | 25, increase by 2 per day | |
| Eugen’s Side Dumbbell Curls | 10 per arm, increase by 1 per day | You do this left, right, left, right etc. like the dumbbell curls above. This is tough on the shoulders. Check how yours get along with it! |
| Eugen’s Side Dumbbell Curls | 10, increase by 1 every 3 days | The same exercise as before, but now you do the move with both arms at the same time. |
| Standing Chest Flyes | 5, increase by 1 every two days | This looks similar to a standing cable flye, but the mechanics are very different! |
| Alternating Shoulder Presses | 15 per arm, increase by 1 every 2 days | The way Eugen does the exercise is very similar to this ExRx example: hold dumbbells in both hands and alternate between the arms. |
| Alternating Front Raises | 10, increase by 1 every 2 days | Many people today go very high with these, but Eugen did them to shoulder height. And he was right: that or a little beyond is enough. |
| Eugen’s Wrist Flexors | To failure | Hold your outstretched arms to your sides with a dumbbell in each hand. Turn the wrists, so the palm faces upwards and downwards. |
| Eugen’s Wrist Rotations | To failure | I tried my best to do demonstrate these as Mr. Sandow wanted. Keep in mind what I said about the joints! |
| Eugen’s Shoulder Lunge | 10, increase by 1 every 2 days | This is a combination of the regular lunge and the alternating front raise. Hold a dumbbell in each hand and raise the left outstretched arm in front of you, while taking a step forward with the right foot. Repeat the other way around. |
| Push-Ups | 3, increase by 1 every 3 days | |
| Push-Ups With Added Resistance | 2, increase by 1 every 3 days | Eugen does this with a workout machine consisting of very complicated rubber straps. For the sake of our sanity, we’ll do wide push-ups as I explained them as the final stage in the push-ups video. |
| Eugen’s Sit-Ups | 3, increase every 2 days | It’s basically a push sit-up, but your arms start stretched out behind you and you do it on the floor. Note that sit-ups can cause problems! |
| Squats | 10, increase every 2 days | Be careful with this one! |
| Side Bends | 15, increase every 2 day | Eugen advises that these you can do with or without weights. |
Before you now go off and become your own 21st century Victorian strongman, read the clarifications below!
About The Reps And Weight
The weight you should start each exercise with is the one where you can do Eugen’s recommended minimum amounts of reps.
And when and by how much should you increase the weights? Eugen says that when you reach 120 reps in an exercise, you add 2 lbs (1 kg) and start over with the beginning number of reps.
Saying that Eugen Sandow believed in high rep ranges would be an understatement.
How Often?
Eugen wants you do this every day, but in my opinion that’s overkill. Not only does it takes ages to go through this program, it also doesn’t give the muscles time to rest. And resting is when growth happens. In my opinion it suffices if you do it 2 – 3 times per week.
That also leaves room for something else important for your health: cardio. In Eugen Sandow’s time people didn’t know that it is as useful for your health as lifting weights. In the entire Strength and How to Obtain It the word “running” never appears and “walking” is mentioned once – when he picks someone up and smashes him through a table.
Caveat Emptor
Even when heeding all this, do remember that Eugen wrote that plan almost 120 years ago. A lot of things he got right, but we also made advances in researching strength training. One good example is him not being aware how important cardio is. Another is the warning about sit-ups I gave you above – no one knew that in 1897.
Picture courtesy of the Library of Congress.
16 Comments
Hey, I’ve been following your blog for a long time and I have a question unrelated to this post, but about the number fluctuating repetitions in a set.
Some weeks I manage to do more repetitions in a set than others, and it’s a real motivation-killer when one week I am so close to reaching, for example, 6/6/6/6 doing bench presses, but the next week I am down to 5/4/4/3. I understand that a lot of factors come into play, like the amount of energy at any given session, but still I am perplexed that it can vary so much. Hopefully you can shine some light on this matter and maybe get me to not worry about it so much.
Hey yate, in my opinion it’s one of two things: your body is too stressed or you’ve done 5 low rep sets for too long a time.
If the latter, try 3 sets for 6 – 12 reps and don’t hold back on the first set!
Hey, thanks for this! But it’s one complicated plan!
Oh, it sure is!
I do the workout every other day and it is amazing. Ive struggled with a lot of different plans, but this is the best for me. Mine has evolved a bit, incorporating some tricep kickbacks after the reverse dumbell curls, dumbbell deadlift/good mornings, and bench press on the floor. I felt i needed these to help my physique. Also i found that i don’t need a crazy diet, just eating anything that is homemade works
cant wait til i get up to 20lbs 
Hey Matt, cool to hear how you get along with it! Eugen would be proud that after all these years his plan still gets people healthier and stronger!
this I still a solid workout, even over a year later. ive started to use the basics of powerlifting and Olympic lifting too (with the exception of bench presses) like the second half of his book. I do these in a rota with the above workout. Im very happy with my results at the moment. its a slow burner, but solid nonetheless. hows everyone else doing with this???
The whole point of his book and workout were to use the mind to lift the muscles. You’re not lifting the weight for the sake of the weight – the weight is just a prop. You’re focusing on lifting with only the target muscle. For instance, in the bicep curls, you focus on, visualize and use only the biceps as you raise the weight, and don’t let any other muscles assist. Just mindlessly going through the reps will do very little, and Eugen says so many times. The better you get at the mind-muscle connection, the harder the workout becomes and the fewer reps you can do. This is why Sandow expressly states that 5lbs is more than enough for any man, ever. You don’t just reach the target reps and increase the weight. That would be really easy. You life with the mind.
I only mention this because I don’t see it mentioned in the article.
Great article idea though, and it’s great to see it posted, as it’s pretty much forgotten and thought of as an outdated methodology. All of the old time strongmen worked out this way (supplemented by the heavy lifting of their nightly shows) before they realized they could make money selling heavy weights, and the accepted methodology and even the general look of the physique changed to the pec-heavy, thin waisted look favored today.
Yes, there is truth to that. Although I had a hard time convincing my shoulders of this, when I did some of his exercises
So all the reps in one set? This looks awesome.
Hey Freddie
I think I’m going to try this workout for the next couple of months. I’m thinking about making a vlog about it, you know, see/show how it works/if it really does (although I’m sure it will). I’ll try to keep you updated, and if I do post the videos, I’ll let you know.
Also, quick question. You say “The weight you should start each exercise with is the one where you can do Eugen’s recommended minimum amounts of reps”.
Does that mean till failure? I.e. find the weight that when you get to 50 your done? That’s what I assume it means. Thank you.
Hi Don,
In his book he says, rest as required between reps.
It is about the volume of reps. Stop couple of reps before failure. Contract muscles at the peak and allow slow negatives, not just dropping the weight
For those who doubt – I’m 60 and no Charles Atlas, or Sandow, for that matter. This training routine works, as long as you learn to focus intently on your muscle-structure and keep perfect form, you’ll get a result. It might take a little longer than ‘burning it up’ with 30 or 40 lb weights, but so what ?
I just wanted to say thank you for this routine, and for every explanation you have made on the exercises you covered. You have a very simple way of explaining how to do every exercise and it really is a pleasure to watch you.
I wish you a good day my friend
This works. I have been doing the Sandow workout on and off.
Couple of pointers.
1. Do all the exercises with the same weight
2. Follow the reps as prescribed
3. Contract muscles at the peak and allow slow negatives, not just dropping the weight
4. Start with a 2Kg weight as prescribed. It may seem easy but it is not
Mistake I made
1. Used a 10 Kg weight initially but could only do few exercises. Later realized starting with the right weight was very important.