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)
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
A number of readers have reached out in the past month asking for book recommendations on the history of physical culture. As someone who has spent several years researching the topic, I've read my fair share of good, and not so good, books. Thankfully today's book, the first of our 'Brawny Books' book club, falls… Continue reading Brawny Books: David Chapman, Sandow the Magnificent.
I lift therefore I am. Or ... something like that. I've been training in gyms and with weights in some capacity for two decades (this year in fact!). I've yet to win a major bodybuilding, powerlifting or weightlifting title. Neither will my lifts, sacred though they are to me, ever be something to write home… Continue reading Why Do We Train?
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
Everyone has an opinion on how to squat. High bar, low bar, toes forward, knees out, belt on, belt off. Coaches argue, lifters swear loyalty, and internet experts defend technique like sacred doctrine. Yet most of the things we treat as universal truths in squatting are barely a century old. The movement has never been… Continue reading How the Back Squat Took Over the Gym (and Why Its Future Is Still Being Written)
For centuries, breath has been more than a sign of life. it has been a symbol of strength, balance, and awareness. In ancient India, yogic texts described pranayama as the bridge between body and mind - a discipline through which movement became conscious and refined. The Greeks, too, recognized the power of controlled breathing: in… Continue reading Guest Post: A History of Breath and Movement: From Ancient Practices to Modern Rehabilitation
The following excerpt comes from Dan Lurie’s Body Building System, a mid-century mail-order course that reflects the commercial and cultural ambitions of the American Physical Culture movement. Lurie, a one-time Mr. America contestant and tireless self-promoter, occupied a peculiar space between showman and health educator. His system, like those of his contemporaries, blended moral advice,… Continue reading How To Lose Weight Fast And Make Your Muscles Stand Out
Next month my new book When Fitness Went Global: The Rise of Physical Culture in the Nineteenth Century is published with Bloomsbury. It has been ten years in the making, and, in truth, a lifetime in the thinking. I began the project trying to understand why my obsession with lifting and movement felt so personal,… Continue reading How Fitness Conquered the World (and What It Still Teaches Us)
