Bodybuilding as we know it seems to have come into vogue around the early 1900's. But what of before that? The info seems scarce on the training methods of strongmen,gladiators, soldiers etc. etc.

They must have had their routines and equipment. And they must have known something regarding diet.

Anybody have any archived pics, articles or links on this?

For instance...at what point did someone say " You know, I just thought of this terrific mass builder...I'm going to call it the squat".

Or..." Hey Hercules...your form is just awful on that bent-over row".

Or.."Next time you club a Mastodon, try to use full range of motion".

?

I'm a history MA student, which gives me perhaps a shred of credibility on this subject...here's what I can tell you...

"Free time" is a relatively new concept. It's in response to the industrial revolution when a scheduled work day was created for factories. I can't give you an idea of when the modern idea of bodybuilding came about, but my guess is that it was a response to the industrial revolution when productivity was valued uber alles.

That said, one should consider the idea that for much of history fatness meant wealth and the end to this idea is difficult to pinpoint. My guess is that this is a result of the industrial revolution, but if I wanted to narrow it down I would look up the history of industrial production of weights themselves. That would probably be where I would start if I were planning to write a history of modern bodybuilding.

You should consider that muscularity has long been linked with fertility, and since fertility has been an important characteristic in a mate for centuries there have probably been ideas about how to gain muscularity as a purpose toward gaining fertility in the eyes of a mate.

I think you're looking at a relatively modern idea (i.e. the Schwartzenegger-era) if you're asking when people started talking about caloric deficit and when people started creating bench-press machines and such...

How far are you wanting to go back in history to find your answer?

Bodybuilding as we know it seems to have come into vogue around the early 1900's. But what of before that? The info seems scarce on the training methods of strongmen,gladiators, soldiers etc. etc.

They must have had their routines and equipment. And they must have known something regarding diet.

Anybody have any archived pics, articles or links on this?

For instance...at what point did someone say " You know, I just thought of this terrific mass builder...I'm going to call it the squat".

Or..." Hey Hercules...your form is just awful on that bent-over row".

Or.."Next time you club a Mastodon, try to use full range of motion".

?

I guess bodybuilding is relatively new, but strengthtraining/fitness has been around for a long time. To me it seems logical that the ones who were in to training was primarily the fighting class (knights, samurai,...).

But I guess strength to these men came from training for battle. I can't imagine a medieval knight saying to the other: 'Well yes, I can wield this greataxe with ease and can mount my horse while completely armed, but I'm a bit concerned about my bf levels, there's no visuable definition in my abs and no vascularity at all.'

Strength training yes, aesthetics no.

I've noticed in some hollywood movies they show Roman or early soldiers/gladiators training for events and they they are using crude and rudimentary equipment pertaining to the skills needed.

But...were these real or just some writer's product of imagination?

The Greeks were into sports bigtime...but I rarely if ever see any thing they were using for training.

The only story I've heard is about this guy that picked up and carried a calf for half a mile very day. Of course the calf grew bigger so all the time the weight was increasing.

I've noticed in some hollywood movies they show Roman or early soldiers/gladiators training for events and they they are using crude and rudimentary equipment pertaining to the skills needed.

But...were these real or just some writer's product of imagination?

The Greeks were into sports bigtime...but I rarely if ever see any thing they were using for training.

The only story I've heard is about this guy that picked up and carried a calf for half a mile very day. Of course the calf grew bigger so all the time the weight was increasing.
I think it's possible that some people were able to train with rudimentary equipment...but once again, this is highly related to free time, which was available only to a select few. This few would probably include the aristocracy (varying by region), warriors, and *perhaps* prisoners although my guess is that this is highly overstated in films like Gladiator.

As far as aristocracy, as I mentioned in my last post, this is probably a regional issue. Depending on what physical fitness meant in terms of wealth and virility are the important issues at hand. As a broad generalization, Greek/Rome valued physical fitness as a sign of a strong leader whereas Gual/UK valued obeseness as a sign of virility because it meant wealth (in terms of the Middle Ages).

To be sure, you can focus your ideas into military operations where free time was available to use for physical fitness. In these cases, drills probably sufficed for physical activity.

Maybe you ought to look up books about the early Olympic games. I'm not sure what socio-economic group was able to compete, but they were certainly people with time to spend working on physical skills.

I'm sure people throughout time have used all sorts of methods for physical training, so perhaps the story of the calf is true or partially-true...all I can think is that this would be a really cool dissertation/thesis topic :D

I would look at track athletes and wrestlers as examples of what fitness meant in Ancient Greece. Men would throw and carry things, sprint, hurdle, leap, and wrestle.

In the late 1800's, men would go to gyms and do rope climbing, deadlifting, overhead pressing, rowing, curling, etc. as well as basic gymnastic exercises on the horse, bars, ladder, and rings.

I would guess that the squat is a fairly recent invention, though carrying things on the back has definitely been around forever. There's no good way, without a rack, to get a barbell up onto the back of your shoulders. From what I've read, racks weren't used for weights up until bodybuilding got under way. You picked a weight up or you "cleaned" it to the shoulders; there was no formalized Olympic lifting technique, so the weight you could get to your shoulders was limited.

I would guess that the squat is a fairly recent invention, though carrying things on the back has definitely been around forever. There's no good way, without a rack, to get a barbell up onto the back of your shoulders. From what I've read, racks weren't used for weights up until bodybuilding got under way.

Some information is here. (http://www.hickoksports.com/history/powerlifting.shtml)

Also, leaf through the online books here: http://www.sandowplus.co.uk/Competition/compindex.htm

BTW, Home Gymnastics by Professor Hoffmann recommends no less than nine miles per day of walking at no less than four miles per hour if that is the only exercise you take up. (Pg. 23) :eek:

Here's (http://www.maxalding.co.uk/) a few more Sandow era links and exercise (http://www.maxalding.co.uk/exercises/exercises.htm) guides. It's funny how we think of alot of this stuff we try as being new or cutting edge. :read:

The only story I've heard is about this guy that picked up and carried a calf for half a mile very day. Of course the calf grew bigger so all the time the weight was increasing.
Ahh, that is a good story, I forgot about that one. :tucool: