Bodybuilding

GYM LORE: The History of Bodybuilding

Bodybuilding, as a sport goes way back to the 12th century in India where the first training techniques and bodybuilding nutrition were invented. By the 16th century, bodybuilding has become a national pastime and by this time, people from various parts of the world have also taken up its concept and used stone and wood to create the first dumbbell, thus spawning the vital component of bodybuilding which is weightlifting.

The late 1800s to the early 1900s led to bodybuilding becoming a widely popular commercial sport, especially among the general public. This was also the period where the first national and international bodybuilding competitions took place mostly around Europe.

Eugen Sandow was a key figure in pushing bodybuilding into the kind of sport it is today. Known as ‘The Father of Modern Bodybuilding,' he incessantly promoted his fitness and bodybuilding ideology and even published one of the first bodybuilding magazines, Physical Culture. His persistence in endorsing bodybuilding finally bore fruit when the first official weightlifting contests were held. The sport was first incorporated into the Olympic Games as a main event in the 1896 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. And five years after that, Sandow was honored as one of the judges in a bodybuilding event that drew 2,000 spectators in the Royal Albert Hall in London.

The 1920s saw bodybuilding as an increasingly popular sport and a very profitable industry. New muscular celebrities like Charles Atlas came to the spotlight, adding more to the whole furor over bodybuilding. Commercially manufactured dumbbells and barbells were selling like hotcakes all over the world while new developments in exercise devices, diet plans, and bodybuilding strategies were increasing in volume every year.

The Golden Age of Bodybuilding happened around the 1940s to the 1970s. This was the era of muscle beaches, movie franchises like Hercules and Tarzan that featured bodybuilders-turned-actors, and bodybuilding legends like Joe Gold, Harold Zinkin, and the two-time Mr. America John Grimek. During this time, bodybuilding separated itself formally from weightlifting. Its basic ideology was finally solidified and its goals set on health, strength, fitness, and aesthetic muscular building.

From 1966 to the present, the latest breed of professional builders led by the charismatic Arnold Schwarzenegger promoted the sport to new heights. Using his talent, charisma, and amazing physique, Mr. Universe Arnold Schwarzenegger transformed his body into the materialized version of every bodybuilding fans' ideal form to achieve.
It was also around this time that anabolic steroids were gradually introduced in professional bodybuilding and other competitive sports. Its existence and the role it plays tainted bodybuilding as a sport but even so, bodybuilding retained its universal appeal for its core values never changed.