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
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
There are some exercises so basic, so ubiquitous and so difficult that their origins are often taken for granted. Previously when detailing the history of the squat, we encountered the difficultly of tracing a movement found in every culture and arguably every human movement. The Chin Up and the Pull Up exercises offer a similar… Continue reading The History of the Pull Up
Over the past couple of years, I have stopped buying gym equipment that promises to make training smoother or more efficient. Instead, I have accumulated a small collection of odd and old fashioned tools that mostly make things harder. None of these were bought as part of a plan. They just solved problems I kept… Continue reading
I did not go looking for F. A. Hornibrook. He turned up while I was chasing something else, which is usually how these things happen. A name in an advertisement. A reference that did not quite make sense. A photograph that looked familiar in a way that was hard to explain. He never arrived all… Continue reading When Did Everyone Start Looking Like This?
“The band is to remind you that your ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure!” What if one piece of easy fitness equipment could totally change your home workout? It's exactly what Joseph Pilates saw more than a century ago - and it's what modern Pilates resistance bands (also known as… Continue reading Guest Post: A History of Pilates Resistance Bands: From Hospital Bed Springs to the Ultimate Home Fitness Essential
In the late nineteenth century, before the internet, before broadband, before anyone had even heard the word influencer, people still argued about fitness with the same mix of certainty, panic and wounded pride you find today in any comment thread. They just did it on paper. They did it with fountain pens and postage stamps.… Continue reading The First Fitness Comment Section
If you think that a strong core, a flexible and agile body, and a calm mind are wishes of the modern 21st century person alone, you are wrong. Ancient civilizations, though technologically backward, were aware of the importance of the connection between physical, mental, and spiritual health. Perhaps even more than us. Let’s have a… Continue reading Guest Post: From Ancient Practices to Screens: History of Fitness & Top 10 Wall Pilates Apps
I spent last week in the Sma Glen and lifted one of the most unusual stones in Scotland. The Saddlin Mare looks ordinary from the road. A rounded stone of about two hundred pounds lies at its base. The task is straightforward. Pick up the stone. Bring it to the plinth. Work it up the… Continue reading Saddlin the Mare, Or Why I Pushed a Rock Up a Boulder
WITH regard to the routine of training, I again repeat, my idea is not to develop muscle at the expense of either health or strength. It is really impossible for me to prescribe special exercises with fixed time limits for same, and fixed days for each individual who may ready this book, as we are… Continue reading Arthur Saxon, ‘Routine of Training’, The Development of Physical Power (London, 1906)
