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 P.H. Clias: An Early Pioneer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o20TY1LGlqIAs part of my writing with Barbend I'm currently in the middle of an article on Naim Süleymanoğlu, the great Turkish weightlifter from the 1990s. Naim's story is one of Cold War politics, individual athleticism and raw feats of strength. The above video, found on the Olympics' own Youtube channel is such a wonderful idea… Continue reading Naim Süleymanoğlu and the Importance of Public Histories
A point previously discussed on this website was the regularity with which early physical culturists promoted light weight training as opposed to heavy lifting. The reasons for this are numerous. In the first instance, light weightlifting is easier to promote to the general public than heavy weightlifting. It requires less equipment, can be done in… Continue reading Eugen Sandow on Heavy Weightlifting
Face it. Every now and then you want to try something new in the gym. A new lift, a new rep range or an entirely new style of training. The mind gets bored of monotony, something which the lifters of yore were all too acquainted with. Today's post on the Sig Klein challenge will not only… Continue reading The Sig Klein Challenge
I frankly confess that when I was young I was just as much hypnotised by professional "strong men" as you are today. I was as strong as the average boy; maybe a little stronger, for I could take a 65 lb. solid iron dumb-bell and push it slowly above my head with my right arm. But… Continue reading Alan Calvert, ‘Are Weight-Lifters Stronger Than Other Men?’, Confidential Information on Lifters and Lifting (Philadelphia, 1926)
Born at the turn of the twentieth-century, Tony Sansone is perhaps one of the most famous physical culturists never to turn his hand to bodybuilding. Nevertheless his influence on bodybuilders and those seeking to get in shape was remarkable. Training under both Bernarr McFadden and Charles Atlas, Sansone developed one of the most sought after… Continue reading Tony Sansone’s Weight Gain Diet
Randy Roach's Muscle, Smoke and Mirrors series has had a profound influence on my life. It was of the first historical books on fitness I stumbled across during my college days and it's probably, in part, one of the reasons why I became so interested in the history of fitness. Having read, and reread the series several times,… Continue reading Covid 19 and the Return to Physical Culture
At the end of the nineteenth century a new interest in muscle- building arose, not muscle just as a means of survival or of defending oneself, but a return to the Greek ideal-muscular development as a celebration of the human body. The ancient tradition of stone-lifting evolved into the modem sport of weightlifting. As the… Continue reading ‘History and Evolution,’ Arnold Schwarzenegger Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding (New York: 1987), 30-38.
I HAVE often been asked what it feels like to press 350 pounds with one hand, and perhaps to my readers the different sensations experienced will be interesting. In the first place, immediately I start to press the weight away from the shoulder I become perfectly oblivious to everything except the weight that I am… Continue reading Arthur Saxon, ‘What It Feels Like to Lift 350 Pounds with One Hand’, The Development of Physical Power (London, 1905), 23-24.
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.
