Lifters today often take machine training for granted. From leg presses to leg extensions, its easy to think that such inventions have existed since the dawn of the gym age. This of course, is entirely […]
Tag: History of Bodybuilding
The First Mr. Olympia
It all began in April 1965 in a Joe Weider magazine…
Sick and tired of conversations about who was the greatest bodybuilder, Weider had decided to create a competition pitting champions from around the World against each other. In the same year that the iconic Gold’s Gym opened, Weider’s ‘Mr. Olympia’ would see A Mr. Universe, Mr. World and Mr. America pose, flex and tense in front of thousands of fans to determine the best that Bodybuilding had to offer.
Why create a new tournament?
The History of the Smith Machine
Ah yes, the dreaded Smith Machine. Criticised for its unnatural movements, failure to fully tax the muscles and its generally unappealing design.
Who invented the Smith Machine? Why did they do it and how did it become so popular? These are some of the questions answered in today’s blogpost on the history of the Smith Machine!
1903 and the birth of American Bodybuilding
After three years of pumping up, slimming down and posing, Britain, and the world was treated to the first ever bodybuilding competition in 1901. Hosted by the legendary Eugen Sandow, the ‘Great Competition’ as it was known claimed to have found the most perfect specimens alive. Unsurprisingly it wasn’t long before other nations, notably America, began to hold their own bodybuilding shows.
Within two years of Sandow’s ‘Great Competition’, the US was hosting its own bodybuilding show. Today we tell their story.
