Earlier this year I had the wonderful opportunity to meet with Marcus Kment, who runs the highly popular Barbell Films account on Instagram. While I'm not on Instagram (I know... I know), I have been aware of the account for some time because of friends and family members who excitedly show me his latest posts.… Continue reading The World’s First Bodybuilding Competition Documentary
For reasons that I will happily discuss later, I was recently in London with my family and had a to-do list of physical culture-related materials that I wanted to check out. First, there would be a meal at the German Gymnasium. This was one of the first public gymnasiums to open in nineteenth-century London and… Continue reading Why I Wanted to Visit a Dead Man’s Grave
“SANDOW, as a muscular phenomenon is of comparatively limited interest to the public, save as an exciting, and doubtlessly engaging, curiosity; but Sandow, as the culmination of a system which will enable even the weakest to attain a perfect physical development, is an object of stu- pendous interest to everybody.” The above forceful dictum is… Continue reading How Sandow Became Muscular (1894 Article)
The Irish alcohol industry has, at its core, always been particularly adept at marketing. From Whiskey to Guinness, sellers have used a variety of inventive advertisements to flog their wares to a thirsty public. Illustrating this is today's post about a strange encounter between Eugen Sandow, a Prussian born strongman and Murphy's Stout based in… Continue reading Sandow and Stout: An Irish Story
Wladyslaw Kurcharczyk, or 'Bobby Pandour' is one of the most fascinating physical culturists of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. A gymnast by trade who published little in the way of training material, Pandour is widely regarded as having possessed one of the finest physiques of his time. That he claimed to have built… Continue reading Bobby Pandour: The Mysterious Muscle Man
Wladyslaw Kurcharczyk, or 'Bobby Pandour' is one of the most fascinating physical culturists of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. A gymnast by trade who published little in the way of training material, Pandour is widely regarded as having possessed one of the finest physiques of his time. That he claimed to have built… Continue reading Bobby Pandour: The Mysterious Muscle Man
It has frequently been remarked that men of the present day are not so strong as those of times past, and there are many reasons for this assertion. An inspection of ancient arbor is sufficient to convince one of the truth of this statement. In looking at specimens of ancient armor, we are at once… Continue reading G. Frank Lydston, ‘Muscle Building as Illustrated by the Modern Samson, Sandow,’ Journal of the American Medical Association, 1893, 419-422
Source: The Sketch, 2 May (1906), 69. In the early 1900s, a travelling vaudeville show known as 'The Dairymaids' briefly toured across Great Britain and North America. As part of the performance, every night would see the emergence of 'Sandow Girls' replete with mock dumbbells and form fitting clothing. They were of course, named after the… Continue reading ‘The Sandow Girl’, c. 1906
Conor Writing in 2024: Enjoy the below story everyone but I need to stress that the story of Sandwina defeating Sandow in a competition is completely fake. I have found no evidence of this contest and I am afraid it is untrue. This story now seems to have become internet lore and appeared in several… Continue reading Katie Sandwina: The Strongest Woman in the World
The Irish alcohol industry has, at its core, always been particularly adept at marketing. From Whiskey to Guinness, sellers have used a variety of inventive advertisements to flog their wares to a thirsty public. Illustrating this is today's post about a strange encounter between Eugen Sandow, a Prussian born strongman and Murphy's Stout based in… Continue reading Sandow and Stout: An Irish Story
