Bodybuilding: A Brief History of the Muscle Display Performance
Some call it a sport. Others call it an art. Wikipedia calls it a “use of progressive resistance exercise to control and develop one’s musculature (muscle building) by muscle hypertrophy for aesthetic purposes.”
Of course, we call it Bodybuilding.
Over the years (and even centuries), modern bodybuilding — much like the name of its founder, Eugen Sandow — has become largely different from what it once was (Sandow was born Friedrich Wilhelm Muller).
While ancient art has always fawned over the ideal masculine physique (as indicated by countless sculptures of men with eight-pack abs and midsections you could bounce a quarter off of), the earliest inspirations of bodybuilding focused less on physique and more on one’s ability to perform feats of strength. These included various civilizations such as ancient Tamilakam (in present-day India) where young men would prove themselves stronger than their opponents by lifting heavy stones. Even in the west during the 19th century, young men would challenge each other in the presence of the public, regardless of whether the reward was a tangible prize or sheer bragging rights.
While this was arguably the precursor to what we know today as modern bodybuilding, the spectacle wasn’t the physique; it was the sheer strength. In fact, one could make the case that the sport of bodybuilding branched off from the sport of strongman.
This is especially true when you examine the story of the Father of Modern Bodybuilding himself, Eugen Sandow.
Born in the long-gone Kingdom of Prussia in 1867, Sandow began touring Europe to perform in circuses in 1885. But it wasn’t until 1889 when he met famed German strongman Ludwig “Louis Attila” Durlacher, who would become his mentor. After winning a strongman title himself in London later that year, Sandow spent four years making a living showcasing his feats of strength.
It all changed at the 1893 World’s Colombian Exposition, when promoter Florenz Ziegfeld noticed that it wasn’t the size of the weights Sandow was lifting that attracted audience members;
Rather, it was the size of Sandow’s muscles.
And so Ziegfeld began instructing Sandow to entreat the crowds to what he described as a “muscle display performance.”
And so, the Sandow name became synonymous with modern bodybuilding. In fact, it became the title of an 1894 short film series from Edison Studios as well as the renamed Magazine of Physical Culture. As a result, not only was Sandow arguably the first professional bodybuilder, but he judged the first bodybuilding competition. Dubbed the “Great Competition”, it was held on September 14, 1901 in England’s Royal Albert Hall. Not only did Sandow serve as a judge alongside Sir Arthur Conan Doyle himself, but was the inspiration behind the prize received by the contest’s winner, William L. Murray: A gold statue of Sandow himself.
In fact, to this day, the annual winner of Mr. Olympia receives a statue of Sandow.
That’s right. Without getting ahead of ourselves, it’s without a doubt that Sandow — who died young in 1925 — left a legacy. One that would continuously change and evolve.
In 1950, the National Amateur Body-Builders’ Association (NABBA) was founded. That year, they hosted a contest to crown a “Mr. Universe”, ultimately selecting American Steve Reeves — who went on to have a short-lived acting career.
But Reeves wasn’t the first “Mr. Universe”, as in 1948, the contest had been held for the first time. The staff of Strength and Health magazine organized the event in London, and Reeves ultimately finished second behind his fellow American John Grimek. Despite the loss and the fact that Grimek would become the face of the contest, Reeves had no hard feelings, even shouting after losing to Grimek, “I think that John Grimek is the greatest bodybuilder who ever lived!”
Additionally, there were luckily no copyright issues over Mr. Universe between NABBA and Strength and Health, as the board of Strength and Health themselves were among the co-founders of NABBA.
Today, NABBA is considered to be the big league for amateur bodybuilders, and the Mr. Universe contest has branched out into a whole brand of Universe Championships for men and women alike. The said Championships are, namely:
Men
Amateur Mr. Universe
Junior
Novice
Masters Over 45 Professional
Masters Over 55
Sports Shorts
Classic Bodybuilding
Professional Mr. Universe
Women
Ms. Universe (Toned Figure)
Ms. Universe (Athletic Figure)
Ms. Universe (Trained Figure)
Professional Ms. Universe (Trained)
Ms. Bikini
But perhaps the biggest impact of NABBA’s Mr. Universe title is that it — to this day — helps amateur bodybuilders launch professional careers in the industry.
Enter the International Federation of BodyBuilding and Fitness (IFBB). Although it was founded in Canada in 1946 (even before NABBA or the Mr. Universe title), it wasn’t until 1965 when they held their first-ever Mr. Olympia contest and crowned Larry Scott.
But as we usually see in any sport, the one competitor or athlete recognized as the greatest of all-time…usually isn’t the first one to ever win a championship. Case in point, the IFBB was founded exactly one year before a young man from Austria was even born.
You probably know who he is. Here’s a hint, his name rhymes with…well, almost nothing, to be honest.
Michael Jordan is often recognized as the greatest basketball player ever, as he not only dominated during his career and had the accolades to prove it, but is known beyond the sport for his successful career in business (as well as slightly less-successful careers in baseball and acting). Similarly, Arnold Schwarzenegger is often seen as the poster child for modern bodybuilding.
After winning four consecutive NABBA Mr. Universe titles between 1967–70, Schwarzenegger went on to win Mr. Olympia seven times (including a six-peat — if that’s even a word — between 1970 and 1975 before a 1980 comeback). He went on to expand his status as a household name by starring in an onslaught of Hollywood movies in the 1980s and 1990s and getting elected Governor of California in 2003.
His dominance in the sport inspired the dozens who followed him, including American bodybuilder Phil Heath (who himself won seven Mr. Olympia titles) as well as Lee Haney and Ronnie Coleman (who broke Schwarzenegger’s record and won it eight times a piece).
Today, bodybuilders compete by presenting various flexes and poses on stage to show off the size and symmetry of their muscles. To further their chances, they reduce their body fat and try to show off as much visible vascularity as possible.
But recently, modern bodybuilding has come under criticism and mockery. In his 2012 one-man show Mr. Universe (and its accompanying album of the same name), stand-up comedian Jim Gaffigan commented on bodybuilding with, “When I say bodybuilder, I’m not talking about somebody who looks muscular; I’m talking about the guys that have gotten so big, people are afraid to tell them it looks weird.”
In 2015, Schwarzenegger himself mirrored this analysis, commenting at the 25th annual synonymously titled Arnold Classic professional bodybuilding event, “When you have guys come out, one after the next, who just…can barely get their breath together. And then…their stomach hangs out.” In addition to commenting how bodybuilders look differently (and arguably worse) than they did during his time, Schwarzenegger added regarding the limited talent of modern bodybuilders besides posing ability, “In the olden days, you always had to bring something else to the table in order to become a champion.”
Schwarzenegger’s analysis rang true among many who knew the sport of bodybuilding. When he commented on how a bodybuilder’s “stomach hangs out”, many assumed he referred to palumboism. Named after retired bodybuilder Dave Palumbo, palumboism refers to how an abdomen begins to unnaturally push outward and appear larger and seemingly more inflated. This condition has grown to become common among competitive bodybuilders.
And is a well-known side effect of one of the most controversial topics in bodybuilding today: The scale of the use of performance-enhancing drugs, such as anabolic steroids and human growth hormones.
Steroid use has resulted in bodybuilders often suffering from a plethora of health issues beyond palumboism. Usual issues faced by competitors include gynecomastia (a condition that causes pectoral tissue to increase in size), acne, impotence, and increased episodes of rage (synonymously and informally known nowadays as “roid rage”). But that’s just the tip of the iceberg, as some bodybuilders today face potentially life-threatening health complications such as severe infections, nerve damage, blood clots, stroke, and even heart disease.
These health issues — combined with the allegations of setting unrealistic and potentially dangerous appearances standards from young men — have many voices calling upon bodybuilding authorities to prohibit steroid use and increase anti-doping regulations in bodybuilding. But while various competitions include drug testing requirements for bodybuilders, high-ranking federations such as the National Physique Committee still allow steroid use.
Beyond steroid use, modern-day bodybuilders deal with the ups and downs in the lifestyle of bulking, cutting, protein consumption and supplementing, getting sufficient sleep, and potential overtraining.
But at the end of the day, it’s certainly not a situation where bodybuilding was once perfect and now no longer is. This piece certainly isn’t meant to call for bodybuilding to go back to the days of Eugen Sandow.
As any good historian knows, you know things are going right when they change with time. And bodybuilding does just that; Just like the physiques of those who compete in it, it’s all about change over time.
Bodybuilders may be larger (and arguably less talented and more weirder, as indicated by the aforementioned quotes) than they were decades ago. But just like how it’s easy for us to be nostalgic over the days when physiques like those of Arnold Schwarzenegger dominated on stage, it may have been just as easier for a casual audience member to bask in the glory of Schwarzenegger’s prime…to wonder, “Why don’t any of these guys look like Eugen Sandow?”
Throughout the past, present, and future, history has shown there’s never going to be a single answer — in any event — as to “which is the best?” But there’s always gonna be positives from a recurring event, regardless of what decade it took place.
Today, bodybuilders have set standards for young men and women. Not only for how a healthy body might look like, but what it means to have a work ethic. As you may now be able to tell, bodybuilding is a risky business to say the least. It goes without saying that those who compete in it are symbols of what it means to be willing to take risks and do whatever it takes to go after a dream.
And today, the rise of natural bodybuilding contests proves that it is totally possible to obtain one’s dream physique without the use of performance-enhancement.
As history has shown us bodybuilders who have come up when no one expects them to. For example, Aditya “Romeo” Dev — who was born in India with a rare case of primordial dwarfism that resulted in his 2 ft 9 in (84 cm) — was nonetheless recognized by Guinness in 2006 as the “world’s smallest bodybuilder”. Additionally, his fellow countryman Manohar “Pocket Hercules” Aich won the NABBA Mr. Universe in 1952 at age 40 despite standing only 4 ft 11 in (1.50 m) and growing up in abject poverty.
In conclusion, while Arnold Schwarzenegger famously said “I’ll be back”, the past never does. All we know about the future of bodybuilding is that it’ll maintain its untouched spirit of competitors — men and women of all ages — wanting to put on a muscle-display performance. We also know that the appearance of bodybuilders will never be going back…
That is, unless you’re watching a “Classic Physique” contest.
