Schwarzenegger Arnold, Dobbins Bill The New Encyclopedia of Bodybuilding Book 1

INTRODUCTION TO BODYBUILDING

Chapter 1. Evolution and History

At the end of the 19th century, a new interest arose in strong men - not in physical strength, as a means of survival and self-defense, but in the harmonious development of the muscles of the human body, embodied in the ideal images of ancient Greece.

This was the era when the ancient tradition of lifting stones began to evolve into the modern art of weightlifting. Weightlifting has evolved differently in different cultures. In Europe, lifting weights was a kind of entertainment that contributed to the emergence of professional strongmen: people who earned their living with a variety of power tricks. Their own physical appearance meant little to them or to the audience. As a result, they tended to be obese and massively built.

In America at that time, there was a fairly significant interest in the influence of physical strength on human health. Physical culture advocates advocated the consumption of natural, unprocessed foods, an idea that arose in response to the increased use of new food processing methods. Americans began to move from backwater farms and towns to large cities; automobiles made people easier to lift, reawakened the craving for travel. But at the same time, the lifestyle became more and more sedentary, and the ailments associated with overeating, malnutrition, lack of exercise and constant stress have already become apparent to many.

Proponents of a healthy lifestyle fought against this trend, relying on physical education, preaching moderation and harmonious balance in all aspects of life. Pot-bellied European strongmen who drank huge amounts of beer were definitely not their ideal. Their role model was more like the perfect proportions of the statues of ancient Greek athletes than the overweight outlines of the regulars of the Bavarian pubs. And they found such a person in the person of Evgeny Sandov, a superstar in the athletic sky in the era of transition from the last century to the present.

Eugene Sandow

Sandow gained a reputation in Europe as a professional strongman, challenging other athletes and surpassing them in the tricks that they themselves invented for public entertainment. He came to America in the 1890s; Entrepreneur Florenz Siegfeld awarded him the title of "The Strongest Man in the World" and organized a demonstration tour. But what really set Sandow apart was the aesthetic quality of his physique.

Sandow was handsome, there's no doubt about it. In addition, he was an exhibitionist and took great pleasure when people examined his body or watched his tricks. He posed behind a glass case, covered only by a fig leaf, and the women gasped and groaned, admiring the beauty and symmetry of his muscles. Such recognition of the aesthetic qualities of the naked male body was something completely new. In the Victorian era, men dressed very primly, and few artists depicted the male nude. Thanks to this, Sandow's charm was simply irresistible.

Eugene Sandow

Its popularity led to a frenzied demand for kettlebells, dumbbells and other weightlifting equipment. Sandow earned thousands of dollars a week and founded an entire industry selling books and magazines. Competitions were held where the physical characteristics of the participants were compared, and then Sandow handed the winners a golden figurine depicting himself. But in the end, he fell victim to his own halo of mystical male power. It is said that one day his car ran off the road and he decided to demonstrate his strength by pulling the car out of the ditch with one hand. As a result, the man whom King George V of England awarded the title of "Professor of Physical Education to His Majesty" died of a cerebral hemorrhage.

Eugene Sandow

Power tricks performed by the great Sandov

Around the same time, Georg Hakkenshmidt earned the title of "Russian Lion" for his outstanding qualities, which allowed him to win the Russian weightlifting championship in 1898, as well as become a champion in many international wrestling matches. After emigrating to England, he made a fortune for himself. He was also a skilled speaker and prolific writer, authoring philosophical works such as The Origin of Life, holding discussions with intellectuals like Bernard Shaw, and even inviting Albert Einstein to exchange scientific ideas.

Georg Hackenschmidt

There were many others - Professor Louis Attila, Arthur Saxon, Hermann Homer, Oscar Hilgenfelt and W. A. ​​Pallam. They became the founders of a remarkable galaxy of strongmen, which continues to this day, which also included Paul Anderson and the Russian weightlifter Alekseev.

Arthur Saxon

Arthur Saxon

One of those for whom the improvement of physical culture has become a real cult was the publisher and businessman Bernard McFadden - a man who can serve as a standard of fanatical devotion to a healthy lifestyle. Defending the idea that physical weakness is a sign of immorality, he created a magazine called "Physical Culture". He later began publishing the New York Evening Graph, a newspaper aimed at the uneducated and unsophisticated readership.

Herman Homer

Herman Homer

McFadden succeeded in spreading his principles. Beginning in 1903, he held a series of competitions for the title of "The Most Perfect Man in America" ​​at Madison Square Garden in New York. For the first contest, he established a $1,000 prize—a small fortune for the time—along with an honorary title. Both magazines and competitions have been successful for several decades. McFadden put his beliefs into practice, flaunting his daily bare feet from his home on Riverside Drive to his downtown office, and posing for photographs for his own magazine. He served as an example of perfect health and stamina even after he was over seventy.

It is possible that McFadden would not have approved of modern bodybuilding with its emphasis on external development of the body, rather than on athletic skills. However, he, like other advocates of a healthy lifestyle, played a large role in the evolution of bodybuilding. His competitions helped awaken interest in the appearance and physique of athletes, and not just in the strength of their muscles. It was there that a new star appeared - a man who was to become one of the most famous men in America in the next decade.

Angelo Siciliano was the winner of the 1921 McFadden Contest. To capitalize on his growing fame, this superbly developed athlete began to perform under the pseudonym of Charles Atlas and acquired the rights to create correspondence courses in physical training in a system called "dynamic For more than fifty years, boys have been looking at advertisements for courses in magazines and comic books. For example, this one: a skinny boy gets punched in the neck, he writes a muscle development course in the mail, and then returns to teach the fighters and get his girlfriend back. "Hey, skinny, your ribs are sticking out!" has become one of the memorable slogans of what writer Charles Gaines calls "the most successful advertising campaign in history."

Charles Atlas

TRANSITION TO BODYBUILDING

In the 1920s and 1930s, it became apparent that physical development was closely related to human health and that strength training was the best way to achieve maximum muscle growth in the minimum amount of time. Несмотря на свои рекламные объявления, Charles Atlas пользовался гирями и штангой, а не "динамическим напряжением" (которое на самом деле представляло собой ряд статических упражнений) для тренировки своего выдающегося тела. Knowledge about training was limited, but bodybuilders of the time could learn a lot by simply comparing their physique with the appearance of athletes of the previous generation.

For example, one of the most famous strongmen of the early 20th century was Louis Cyr, who weighed 300 pounds - powerful, massive, with a barrel-shaped chest and an immense waist. But by the 1920s, there were people like Sigmund Klein, who showed an excellent physique with a relief, harmoniously developed muscles and a minimum of adipose tissue. Klein gained great fame as a gym owner and author of works on training and nutrition. Although both he and Louis Cyr were strong men, they differed from each other like day from night. Klein, along with Sandow and other prominent figures in the physical culture such as Bernard McFadden, gradually convinced people that the appearance of the male body - and not just the ability to perform power tricks - was worthy of attention, since training leading to the development of beautiful muscles promotes health. generally. But before the onset of the era when the male physique began to be judged solely by aesthetic criteria, there were still a few years left.

Ludovic Cyr

The development of strength through weightlifting was regarded with some suspicion as early as the 1930s, as if strongmen for some reason, they still were not worthy of being called true athletes. It was considered almost a swindle when a person built up muscles in the gym, instead of participating in various sports. John Grimek, an Olympic weightlifter who served as a role model for many aspiring bodybuilders, rarely admitted that his magnificent muscles were the result of regular weight training, although it is clear that anyone who saw such muscles on the beach could understandthat no handstand or water polo game can develop it.

However, the tradition of athletic competitions continued, and in the late 1930s, boxers, gymnasts, swimmers, weightlifters, and other athletes often met at demonstrations. The contestants had to perform some sort of athletic stunt as well as show off their physique in the most favorable light, so in those days bodybuilders could be seen doing handstands and other gymnastic moves.

In 1939 things began to change. In Madison Square Garden, a competition was held for the title of "Mr. America", vying with the "Most Perfect Man in America" ​​McFadden. In the same year, the Union of Amateur Athletes