A Website Dedicated to the Study of Strength, Health, Fitness and Sport Across Centuries, Countries and Contests.
Okay, I admit it. I have become, for want of a better word, a home gym fetishist. What began out of necessity during the Covid-19 pandemic has now become a delightful, but expensive, obsession of mine. We recently moved home and, for the first time in two years, my home gym now has a roof!... Continue Reading →
LONG before Arnold Schwarzenegger became a movie star and pumping iron a glamour business, weight lifting built the York Barbell Company into a strapping success. York Barbell, founded 54 years ago, put York on the map as Muscletown U.S.A., and still brings Olympic weight lifters here to train. The company still dominates the barbell business,... Continue Reading →
For American weightlifters of the mid-twentieth century, Bob Hoffman was the guru of the Iron Game. Owner of York Barbell, Hoffman's ambitious career saw him produce some of the first protein supplements, work with giants of the game like John Grimek and coach thousands of young lifters interested in building their physiques. For interested parties,... Continue Reading →
The history of Bodybuilding and Physical Culture is full of those great 'what if' moments. What if Joe Gold never opened Gold's Gym? What if Arnold never took up the sport? And what if drugs never infiltrated physique competitions? Another great 'what if' moment that many of us are unaware of comes from the 1940s,... Continue Reading →