Today, most of the attention at the Olympics is aimed at doping, so it’s very easy to overlook all other medical interventions that happen during the most important sporting event in the world. However, doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, diet experts and all other medical staff play a huge role in keeping athletes healthy, safe and happy.… Continue reading Guest Post: A Brief History of Medicine at the Olympics
A friend of mine recently made a very serious and from my perspective funny discovery. Having spent months training in a University gym replete with shiny new barbells, he decided to join me in my own gym for a catch up and quick training session. Ever the opportunist, he decided it was 'Chest Day' and… Continue reading The History of the Olympic Barbell
A friend of mine recently made a very serious and from my perspective funny discovery. Having spent months training in a University gym replete with shiny new barbells, he decided to join me in my own gym for a catch up and quick training session. Ever the opportunist, he decided it was 'Chest Day' and… Continue reading The History of the Olympic Barbell
Performance enhancing drugs seem to become more problematic every year. Athletes are getting bigger, stronger and faster. Spectators are getting curious, suspicious and concerned. Performance enhancing drugs have touched nearly every major sport at one level or another. It's a modern problem right? Well not exactly... Research into the Ancient Greek Olympics has uncovered evidence… Continue reading Drug-taking in Ancient Times
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 Louis Abele Training Programme
It was the first time that the Olympic Games were held outside of Europe and the first time they were held in an English speaking country. It was heralded as a monumental step in the internationalisation of the Olympic spirit and it was prompted as such. Unfortunately, the reality of the 1904 St. Louis Olympics proved to… Continue reading Weightlifting at the 1904 Olympics
This work is largely a retelling of Andrew Charniga Jr.'s excellent post 'Why Weightlifting Shoes' available on his website here. Any errors are of course my own and I do recommend you check out the original. A regular problem for gym goers concerns the right type of shoes to wear and this is especially the… Continue reading The History of Weightlifting Shoes
Note:Â This article is about the legal history of Anabolic Steroids in the United States and not an endorsement or discussion about steroids and performance. There is perhaps no other topic in sports that garners as emotional a reaction than the use of steroids or performance enhancing drugs by professional athletes. For some the ends justify… Continue reading Friends to Enemies: Steroids and the United States
1896 was a special year for athletes. Long touted in the making, 1896 marked the first Olympic Games in over 2,000 years. Through loans, promises and sheer determination, Pierre de Coubertin and his cohort of plucky fitness enthusiasts had somehow managed to organize an international sporting event comprising over 280 athletes from 14 different nations… Continue reading The fight for Gold! Weightlifting at the 1896 Olympics
Previously on this site we've looked at fitness in the classical age and today we'll be continuing that theme with a brief examination of the Greek Halteres. The halteres were the Greek equivalent of the modern day dumbbell and had a variety of uses from athletics to aesthetics. Whilst many date the creation of the… Continue reading Halteres: The Dumbbell of Ancient Greece
