Physical Culture: A Brief History of Bodybuilding

By

Daniel Tallowin

(Fitness Clinician)

Back in the late 1800’s/ early 1900’s bodybuilding was viewed in a much different context as it is seen

today. The pursuit of building lean muscle mass was seen as the optimal path to health and wellness,

it was respected as a practice invoking both the mind and body, much like the ancient Greeks had

espoused thousands of years earlier. This practice lived under an umbrella of health and fitness known

as physical culture. A faction of people who chose to partake in physical culture used bodybuilding

style training to develop the muscles, but these individuals didn’t just look aesthetically pleasing they

demonstrated their strength and physical prowess also, by participating in events such as vaudeville

shows. In these shows, these athletes would astound and dazzle the crowds that gathered, with

incredible feats of strength, flexibility and skill. An early proponent of physical culture was an

individual by the name of Bernarr Macfadden, who founded one of the earliest bodybuilding

publications called ‘Physical Culture’. Another practitioner, was a man named Eugene Sandow, who

was dubbed the ‘father of modern bodybuilding’.

The general public viewed these physical culturists as supermen of the time, they not only had muscles

to show but they were ‘functional’, fit and healthy specimens to

go along with it. You could say they embodied the complete

package of fitness. Their diets were based around wholesome

and healthy foods, there were no supplements at the time,

although they did start to experiment with concocting their own

protein style health shakes. Other than that, their diets were

very simple and ‘clean’, focusing on grains, fish, milk, eggs, lean

meats, nuts and seeds along with plentiful amounts of fruits and

vegetables. Drugs in the form of anabolic steroids certainly

hadn’t made an appearance on the scene yet, when they

eventually did, this started the de-evolution to what we see in

bodybuilding and fitness today. The food industry also played a

role in the downfall of physical culture, as food was becoming

increasingly more processed, but we won’t belabour that topic

here.

The physical culturists workouts were very interesting to note too, in

that, generally they were training the whole body as a unit on average

three times a week, allowing rest days in between the workout days. Their workouts may last

anywhere from forty-five minutes to an hour. This was in complete contrast to how the bodybuilders

of the 70’s began training which was often upward of six days a week, especially before competition,

whilst utilizing a split routine (where select body parts are trained). They would often train twice a day

also, for several hours a workout. Obviously, the drugs were playing a role in their recovery at this

time.

Figure1: Eugene Sandow.

It was in this era of physical culture that bodybuilding wasn’t viewed as something where you had to

enter a competition on stage, or be freakily ‘huge’, or wear posing trunks or have a spray tan. It was

viewed as a lifestyle, a discipline to optimize naturally what a person could achieve with his or her

physique, using resistance training as the corner stone, along with healthy eating and mental / spiritual

practices. It really was the epitome of health and fitness.

Fast forward to the 1940’s and 50’s where drugs like Dianabol started to creep into athletics (even in

the war, the German soldiers were using these drugs apparently), Dr. John Ziegler, the person

responsible for bringing Dianabol to America, began spouting the effects of these wonder drugs on

athletes. This was around the time when the Russian athletes were dominating all the weight lifting

competitions, it was thought they had some sort of top secret training weapon, or secret program

they were using, when in reality it was these steroids that they were supplying the athletes with, that

was greatly enhancing their abilities! As the pharmaceuticals began proliferating the scene the whole

physical culture faction began collapsing, it was here that bodybuilding and even weight training

became bastardized.

As the physical culture scene began to destruct, lots of new myths began to float in and form a fog

over what was once a clear, healthy practice. Suddenly, building muscle became strange, it was

deemed as unhealthy as it would put strain on the heart, other myths were that it will make the athlete

slow and inflexible, even muscle bound, or that the muscles looked good but they were ‘useless’ (un-

functional) and not as strong as they looked. Another myth perpetrated was that once a trainee ceased

bodybuilding training the muscles would turn to fat. This one is rather funny, because muscle and fat

are both two completely different tissues, and the muscles would simply atrophy over time. In any

case, all these so called ‘myths’ were/ are complete hogwash and yet they began to denounce what

was once seen as the corner stone of a successful health/ fitness regime.

Then, moving into the 1970’s a massive commercial surge of publicity was given to bodybuilding, in

one way, it moved bodybuilding into the spotlight commercially, but yet in another way it was nothing

like what was originally practiced by the physical culturists of yore. The 70’s period is often referred

to as the golden age of bodybuilding, where Arnold Schwarzenegger and number of other well-known

bodybuilders, pushed bodybuilding to the masses. This was also when steroids were being used in

greater quantities, although they were taking a lot less than what the pros are doing today. Split

routines were being used over full body training now and more frequent training was being utilized.

Joe Weider had the monopoly over bodybuilding at this time also, he promoted lots of these

bodybuilders in his muscle magazine publications,

where they were really about selling his protein/

weight gain powders over decent training advice and

what worked for the average ‘Joe’ (excuse the pun!) He

made no mention that the bodybuilders secret

ingredient was not his magical protein powders, but

were in fact down to the use of anabolic steroids (which

he was providing for the bodybuilders via his own

medical doctors). This led many a trainee down a

frustrating road of no progress, or at the very least

slower progress. Weider’s portrayal of the

bodybuilding lifestyle he promoted in his magazines

appealed and inspired lots of young men to begin training, although it was really an illusion he created

within the pages, for example the ‘Weider Research Clinic’ he spoke about in the magazines, was in

reality a broom cupboard! It didn’t exist.

Figure 2: Joe Weider (left) with Vince Gironda.

Two individuals who challenged Joe Weiders suspect and confusing training advice, were Vince

Gironda and Arthur Jones. These two individuals had different training ideologies yet both systems

they employed had more going for them for the average trainee…not taking drugs. Girondas’ training

philosophy was based around high-density training, a lot of work in a short space of time, while not

training all out (sub-failure) and whilst utilizing a training split

routine for three times a week. Whereas, Jones’ training philosophy

was that of ‘all out’ (to failure) training, just one set per body part

or low volume, on a full body program performed upward of three

times a week. Jones’ style of training would become known has High

Intensity Training or HIT (later made popular by Mike Mentzer).

These two training systems were in stark contrast with what Weider

was promoting, his high volume, high frequency and often

ambiguous training advice was all over the place in terms of how to

apply it. Whereas, Gironda and Jones had a much more sane and

rational approach to their applications Although having said that, all

protocols had something of value to offer.

Moving into the mid 1970’s, Dr. Kenneth Cooper cropped up with

his research regarding his findings in a craze that would sweep the

fitness industry off its feet and possibly shape the industry as we

know it today. Enter the ‘aerobics’ craze.

The fitness industry, by and large, was now being sold on the idea that

‘aerobic’ training or cardiovascular training, mostly down to Dr. Kenneth

Cooper’s research, could prevent heart disease and prolong life. Cardiovascular machines began

flooding the commercial gyms everywhere, they looked the part by being shiny and inviting. For this

reason alone, popularity and sales could be greatly increased by lining the gyms with this type of

equipment. After all, there was a profit to be made. At this stage, these cardio machines began to

replace the resistance training equipment. Arthur Jones (whom I mentioned earlier) also had a line of

bodybuilding machines he was marketing around this time, this line of equipment was marketed under

the name Nautilus (later as MedX for rehab), which is still a brand name within the industry today.

These machines looked intimidating when compared to the cardio machines, but worked extremely

well and were used in his High Intensity Training programmes. Jones was one of the first people to call

‘BS’ on Dr. Coopers findings and research with the effectiveness of ‘aerobic’ training, he even went as

far as to say he had proof that his research tests and results were rigged or fixed. Jones claimed he

could get a better response (cardio and

strength) from a circuit on his machines

using his exercise principles than Dr. Cooper

could on a bike or treadmill. Jones went

further, by talking about the dangerously

high forces that were subjected to the

skeletal system when performing on a

treadmill or jogging, and also the wear and

tear on the body from cardio in general. In

any case, ‘aerobic’ training was being fed to

the masses, again denouncing its resistance

counterpart.

Figure 3: Vince Gironda.

Figure 4: Arthur Jones at Nautilus.

As a side note, Dr. Cooper, who authored several books (Aerobics, The New Aerobics, Aerobics for

Women) and who originally coined the term ‘aerobics’, and had been promoting its use for the past

twenty-five years, now admits he was wrong. Stating himself that ‘aerobic’ training carries with it a

great risk of injury, and that “gross overuse activities such as running may be so damaging to the body

as to be carcinogenic”.

As far as bodybuilding goes, in the 1980’s, it got another resurgence into the mainstream with movies

and television, where actors/ actresses were becoming increasingly more muscular or ‘toned’. It is

now a given that the hero has a good physique or is at least in some kind of ‘decent’ shape.

Bodybuilding has fully transitioned into an accepted sport now, where lots more drugs are being used,

to the point where it has lost its aesthetic appeal, at least in my opinion, to what it had previously.

Even back when Arnold was competing, you could tell the physiques of each person apart. Their

physiques had a certain amount of individuality to them still, even when chemically enhanced, you

could tell apart Arnold’s pecs from Frank Zanes, or Mike Mentzer’s legs from Lou Ferrignos, without

even needing to see a picture of the person’s

face to identify. The bodybuilders back then,

had a certain balance and symmetry along

with enough muscle mass. Whereas now, it

has become a ‘size at any cost’ type of deal,

therefore making the person lose the

aesthetic ‘flow’ and look to their physiques.

Also, the bodybuilders today seem to have

excessively bloated midsections, when years

previous the waist was to be as small as

possible, adding to that sought after v taper.

Originally, bodybuilding was the epitome of

health and fitness as it provided multiple

benefits to the human body to support this

view. Muscles produce movement and as we

age muscle mass declines to the point where movement is restricted, resistance training the muscles

effectively will prevent this loss. Muscle is metabolically active, in other words, the more muscle you

acquire, the more calories (i.e. body fat) you will burn on the body, keeping your body composition

healthy. Correct resistance training of the muscles will make them stronger, and stronger muscles will

translate to greater functional ability (i.e. speed, power etc), as well as increased flexibility. This would

provide increased proficiency in sports performance or every day activities. By bodybuilding training,

you can train the muscles at multiple angles, which will prevent injury and provide more stability

around the joints. The function of the cardiovascular system is to support the muscular system, so

correctly performed weight training will aid to strengthen the muscles, which in turn will provide

improvements in cardiovascular function. When stacking cardiovascular training against resistance

training, consider how much wear and tear, especially on select muscle groups, cardio training

exhibits. Then, there’s the low force/ impact nature of weight training when compared to cardio

activities such as jogging.

The aforementioned is simply just to illustrate a few of the benefits bodybuilding style of training has

to offer.

Figure 5: Arnold Schwarzenegger (far left) with bodybuilders from the 'Golden Era'.

Therein is a brief history of what shaped the iron game or even the fitness industry at large. Lots of

trends will come and go within fitness, yet resistance training will always be there at the root or

foundation of health and fitness.