The history of the bodybuilding industry goes back to 11th century India where they used stone weights called Nals to build up their health and increase their stamina.
However, weight training was not used as a means to gain strength and measure power until the ancient Egyptians and Greeks practiced it In the late 19th century.
Over the years bodybuilding has developed into a massive multi million pound industry and in this article I am going to give you a breakdown of how it developed.
‘The Greatest Competition’ 1890s-1930s
Toward the end of the 19th century, the ancient tradition of stone-lifting developed into new system of training, with a new end-goal. Strongmen showed their feats of strength to the public, by challenging each other. Their focus was lifting stones of various sizes and weights to display strength.
Other practices included pulling carts and lifting animals, in an effort to entertain and amuse the crowd. The focus was not on their physique, as they were muscular, but with large bellies and fatty limbs compared to bodybuilders of the modern era.
In the 1890’s, interests began changing with some choosing to use exercise to beautify the body beyond the scope of competing for strength and health.
The first ever bodybuilding contest, called ‘The Great Competition’ was held in 1901, and was staged and judged by Eugen Sandow. The man with the most balanced and symmetrically developed body won the competition and was presented with a statue of Eugen Sandow.
The first large-scale bodybuilding competition in America took place in 1903 at Madison Square Garden in New York City and was promoted by Bernarr Macfadden. Al Treloar won the competition and was declared “The Most Perfectly Developed Man in the World”.
Bodybuilding in the 1930s-1970s
As the bodybuilding movement progressed into the 1930s, bodybuilding fans were becoming more interested in developing balanced physiques and losing body fat as training techniques.
The ’30s is known as the beginning of ‘the golden age’ of bodybuilding, where training in groups and posing in front of mirrors in gyms become common among fans.
Weightlifting on the California Coast gained massive popularity among professional bodybuilders with the main hang out spot being Santa Monica which was known as ‘muscle beach’.
In the 1940’s the quality of physiques started improving with the increasing popularity of bodybuilding. This is when the Mr. America event started, where John Grimek became the ultimate champion.
In 1950 the National Amateur Bodybuilders Association started a Mr. Universe competition in the UK.
‘The Golden Age of Bodybuilding’ 1970s-1990s
As muscles became more desirable and the gym industry became more lucrative in the 1970s, bodybuilding became more popular. Arnold Schwarzenegger, three time Mr. Olympia winner Frank Zane, Dave Draper, and Mike Mentzer became well-known in the sport and gave it a lot of publicity.
Arnold Schwarzenegger more or less single handily took bodybuilding to the next level with regard to popularity and exposure, the film ‘Pumping Iron’ was a major influence to people and many took up bodybuilding after watching this.
In the 1970s, the IFBB became the dominant bodybuilding organization and towards the end of this period consisted of more than 100 member countries. It had become the sixth-largest sporting federation in the world, and was now regarded as a legitimate sport, and had followers in all major countries.
By the 1980s, bodybuilding had become a popular sport, stars and athletes from many sports were using bodybuilding to better their image and performance. Competitive bodybuilders were also becoming more muscular as the focus turned towards a more extreme approach to physical development.
The use of steroids increased a great deal in the 1980s, which directed into a negative sense because people started using insulin and harmful growth hormones. The use of these medications and steroids was common amongst professionals as well as amateurs.
Bodybuilding in the 1990s-Current Day
The 90’s was a time when technology was evolving, the internet was growing and mobile phones were increasing in popularity. This is also when bodybuilding was taken to a new level, which has set a precedent for what we see today.
Many bodybuilders contributed to this, but one individual more than anybody else, that individual being Dorian Yates.
Dorian Yates won five Mr. Olympias between 1992 and 1997, and set a new benchmark in mass at 265 pounds ripped. Not only Dorian but all professional bodybuilders of the 90s had a more muscular and defined physique to that of the ’80s as extreme practices took over.
Arnold Schwarzenegger continued to play an active role in bodybuilding’s development throughout the ’90s and beyond.
He started promoting the Arnold Schwarzenegger Classic bodybuilding championships in 1989, a contest that gradually incorporated other fitness-related events to become one of the most popular athletic events in the world.
In 2004, Arnold became the executive editor of both Muscle and Fitness and Flex Magazine, in which he appeared on the cover of 30 and 20 times respectively.
The mass game continued well into the 2000’s with Ronnie Coleman and Jay Cutler. Ronnie Coleman routinely competed at around 290 pounds, and took the competition physique beyond what was, up until 10 years ago. Jay Cutler and Dexter Jackson also competed far above anything seen throughout the ’80s and 90s’.
Bodybuilding Development Over the Years
There is one key difference between old school and new school bodybuilding. This comes down to how many times a week a body part is trained, volume of training, and how many reps.
Old school bodybuilders settled on the standard of training a muscle group twice per week with heavy volume workouts and lower reps.
Modern bodybuilders train each muscle group once per week, and a workout session now consists of enough exercises for what was once two days of work.
Modern bodybuilding has moved towards lower volume, higher rep workouts and often train to failure. However, there are some bodybuilders who still do more old school training to this day.
I hope you have enjoyed this article and have increased you knowledge on the history of bodybuilding. If you have any questions regarding the article or about bodybuilding in general comment below and I will answer them as soon as I can.