A Website Dedicated to the Study of Strength, Health, Fitness and Sport Across Centuries, Countries and Contests.
Bodybuilding, at a professional level, is a sport fuelled by anabolic steroids. This is not to take anything away from the competitors themselves, but is rather an acknowledgment that those at the elite level often resort to chemical means in order to further push the limits of human strength and muscularity. Certainly the Mr. Olympia... Continue Reading →
I'll admit it, although born in the early 1990s, I was a Hulkamaniac. Aside from growing up during the WWF attitude era, where individuals like Triple H, The Rock, Mark Henry and Stone Cold were living embodiments of strength, I regularly went through back catalogues of... Continue Reading →
This website has, at time of writing, been operating for a little over six years. When I began Physical Culture Study my intent was to shed some light on the weird and wonderful of the fitness industry. Little did I know at the time of all the things I could write on! Somewhat shamefully it's dawned... Continue Reading →
Published in Iron Man Magazine in 1967 by Arnold's friend Albert Busek, the following article details Arnold's rise to fame alongside his working routine of the time. A fine biography and reminder that even during the 60s, people marvelled at the Austrian's successes. JUST a short year ago his name was still generally unknown, but on October 30,... Continue Reading →
Strength sports, as an endeavour, are simultaneously a modern, and pre-modern, sport. Accounts of men engaging in contests date back to the Chinese practice of lifting heavy stones and cauldrons in 6000 BC (Hai-sheng, 2012). Likewise, Ancient Greece, Rome and Egypt, among other regions, had strength cultures (Crowther, 2007). That withstanding, strength contests and feats,... Continue Reading →
Outside the auditorium, or Pavilion, as it's called, it is a gorgeous Sunday afternoon at the Mountain Park amusement center in Holyoke, Mass. A roller coaster clatters up and down a wooden trestle. Children fly around in little whirly things that look like boats with wings. There are clam bars, pizza stands, dart throws, cotton-candy... Continue Reading →
This booklet will not only help you, the average man to become many times stronger than you are at present, but will give you the inside knowledge and information required for developing a body of dynamic muscular proportions. Let’s start off by dispelling a few misconceptions generally held of bodybuilding. Where muscle building is concerned... Continue Reading →
Although unknown to the modern olympic lifter, Abele was one of America’s finest lifters during the 1940s and 1950s. Unfortunately he was overshadowed by fellow US lifters John Grimek, Steve Stanko, and John Davis during the course of his career. Similarly the outbreak of the Second World War denied Abele the chance to lift at... Continue Reading →
Famed for his god-like mid section, Ivan 'Zabo' Koszewski, is often forgotten about by modern gym goers seeking inspiration for their training. Although smaller in stature than contemporaries like Arnold or Frank Zane, Zabo's physique was nevertheless the stuff of legend amongst his training colleagues. Today's post, written by Bob Hise for Strength and Health... Continue Reading →
I have a great story to share about the day I met the three best bodybuilders in the world on the same day. I was 14 at the time and had just started to get interested in bodybuilding. It was wierd because I had been interested in muscles and bodybuilding for a long time, from... Continue Reading →