Dip belts emerged in the modern strength culture as an answer to the ceiling effect of bodyweight-only training. The late 20th century witnessed a revolutionary surge in dip belts’ adoption in bodybuilding, powerlifting, calisthenics, and subsequently, in home-training solutions. The modern dip belt is a waist-worn belt with weights suspended with a chain. It was… Continue reading Guest Post: The Popularization of Dip Belts in Modern Strength Culture
The Velocity Diet broke my compulsive eating. It was also, almost certainly, a sophisticated marketing operation. Both of those things matter, and sitting with that contradiction is the only honest way to write about it. I was a teenager eating without thinking, reaching for food out of boredom, anxiety, habit, without hunger ever really entering… Continue reading What a Protein Shake Diet Taught Me About Online Culture
You’ve heard this story a thousand times. Ancient Greek wrestler Milo of Croton invented progressive overload by carrying a calf every day until it grew into a bull—the first gym bro to crack the code of getting stronger by gradually increasing the load. It’s all over Instagram fitness posts, repeated by influencers and treated as… Continue reading Milo of Croton Did Not Invent Progressive Overload
The farmers walk is now a staple of strongman contests and strength training programmes. Two heavy handles. A short distance. Grip, posture, lungs, and will tested all at once. As a formal event, it entered the public imagination in 1983 when Worlds Strongest Man introduced the Fergus Walk, named after Scottish strongman Fergus McCann. The… Continue reading From Fergus Walk to Farmer Carries: A Short History of Moving Weight
I’ve been spending a lot of time lately in 1930s Britain, at least archival-wise, working through old Health & Strength magazines from the period. It’s one of my favourite physical culture publications: it first appeared in the late 1890s and, in various forms, survived right up until the last decade. The article below comes from… Continue reading How Beginners Learned to Lift Weights in 1939
Reg Park was one of the most influential figures in mid-twentieth-century strength culture. A multiple-time Mr Universe winner and widely regarded as the strongest bodybuilder of his era, Park built his reputation on heavy barbell lifting as much as physique display. He believed that muscular development without demonstrable strength was incomplete, and he spent much… Continue reading Why Reg Park Believed Bodybuilders Should Lift Heavy
The trap bar, or the hex bar, is now a commonplace addition to contemporary gyms, athletic training and rehabilitation environments. Its unique hexagon and neutral grip handles are the opposite of the straight barbell that ruled strength training for decades. However, this now universally used device originated as an expedient remedy to a highly particular… Continue reading History of the Trap Bar: Al Gerard’s Hexagonal Innovation
I once spent a few days training with the legendary Mr. Olympia winner Frank Zane. One of the best purchases I ever made, I was always struck by Zane's observation that our bodies are, in many ways, the sum total of the equipment we have access to. If your gym has machines and no free… Continue reading Before lifters added weight with plates, they poured it in by hand.
Owing to the inquisitive nature of a PCS reader, I've finally gotten my act together, or at least come close enough to some semblance of normality, to go down the rabbit hole once again. The topic of todays post, is the rather more niche but nevertheless effective Glute Ham Raise (GHR) machine. Having spent years… Continue reading The History of the Glute Ham Raise
You cannot spend a third of a century around physical culturists and barbell men without coming to a few conclusions. You see many enthusiasts who thrive on their training schedules and attain a perfectly satisfactory degree of physical development. You see others work and strain without noticeable improvement for months or years. Quite often these… Continue reading Harry B. Paschall, ‘How Barbell Men Go Wrong’, Muscle Moulding (London, 1950)
Studying the History of Fitness
