Alexander Ivanovich Zass did not possess outstanding physical attributes: his height was 168 cm, and his weight, even at his best, did not exceed 80 kg. However, through persistent training, he became one of the most famous Russian circus performers in Europe. Before reaching adulthood, Sasha Zass lived near Saransk, where his father worked as a steward on an estate. One day, after a fair, they attended a performance by a traveling circus. Seeing the strength tricks of the acrobats, Zass became fascinated with this art. He began training on his own, lifting large stones on the ends of sticks and bending iron rods. In Orenburg, during his studies, he joined the local circus troupe and immediately amazed the audience with his act "balance with a samovar," in which he walked around the arena balancing a samovar filled with hot coals on his forehead.

However, his career in Russia was interrupted. In 1915, he was drafted to the front, where he served in the cavalry and displayed incredible bravery. It was said that one night he carried his beloved horse off the battlefield on his shoulders. But fortune turned against him: he sustained serious injuries to both legs and woke up in Austrian captivity. The doctors planned to amputate his legs, but Zass insisted on surgery, and his limbs were saved. Later, he escaped from captivity and found work in a Budapest circus under a false name.

There, success awaited him again: the audience was amazed as he bent the bars of a tiger cage, juggled dumbbells, and caught cast-iron balls fired from a cannon. Another popular act was "the devil's forge," where he lay on a board of nails, and a 500-kilogram stone was placed on him, which assistants smashed with a hammer. The audience was thrilled. Once, the circus director asked him about the secret of his success, and Zass replied, "The main thing is to strengthen not the muscles, but the tendons." After ending his career at the age of 66, he took up dog training. Death caught him in the circus while he was saving animals from a burning enclosure, and he suffered severe burns to his head.