A Website Dedicated to the Study of Strength, Health, Fitness and Sport Across Centuries, Countries and Contests.
Photo courtesy of Flickr The way we look at physical fitness today is way too different from the way people used to consider it during the stone age or bronze age. Today, joining a fitness program is more of a status symbol than having an urge to get a strong and healthy body so that... Continue Reading →
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 wrong. While machines have crept into nearly every gym these days, lifters in the past century had to be inventive... Continue Reading →
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.... Continue Reading →
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!... Continue Reading →
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... Continue Reading →