THE BIRTH OF BODYBUILDING

by: Hector Lopez

BODYBUILDING

•Definition- the act or practice of exercising, lifting, weights; so as to develop the muscles of the body.

EARLY BEGINNING

• Bodybuilding goes all the way back to ancient Greece. The athletes of Greece trained in gymnasiums but they only trained as a way to improve their skills in the sport they played; not as a form of body modification.

• It was in the 11th century India when bodybuilding was first formed. The Indians would use primitive dumbbell weights carved from stone. They would use them in order to get bigger and stronger. By the 16th century, weight lifting had become a national past time in India.

STRONGMEN

• By the 19th century there were travelling strongmen who trained with lifting heavy amounts of weight. They performed with circuses and entertained the crowds with feats of strength such as lifting and pulling massive weights. The only thing that really entertained the people in the crowds was the amount of weight being moved; not so much the physique of the man lifting it.

EUGENE SANDOW

• Eugene Sandow was one of the traveling strongmen. Not only was Eugene really strong, he also had muscle quality and an aesthetic comparable to one of our modern time bodybuilders. He traveled Europe before going to America in the 1890’s. They called him the worlds strongest man.

• The crowds were not only amazed by his feats of strength but also at his incredible physique . This led to the birth of bodybuilding or as it was called back then muscle display performance.

BODYBUILDING COMPETITIONS • Eugene Sandow was became very popular for his muscle. He developed

some of the first bodybuilding equipment and made the first ever bodybuilding magazine called “Physical Culture”, but later was changed to “Sandow’s Magazine of Physical Culture”.

• Through Sandow’s promotion of body building, weight lifting competitions were able to take place for the first time. In 1901 the first bodybuilding competition took place in the Royal Albert Hall in London. It was known as the great competition and Eugene was one of the judges along with sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and athlete and sculptor Sir Charles Lawes.

WORK CITED

• http://historyofbodybuilding.org/

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodybuilding

• http://www.iron-age-classic-bodybuilding.com/history_of_bodybuilding.html