Weider History
The History of Home Gyms
Younger folks may find it difficult to imagine a time when people were not so fitness-conscious. However, the popularity of fitness, especially weight-training, is quite recent. It’s interesting to learn what led up to the current state of weight training equipment.
The first private health club in the U.S. was begun by Louis Attila in 1894. Our images of those scenes are of the dumbbells, pulleys, and men with big mustaches dressed in tights juggling things that look like bowling pins. This was called “physical culture” and was generally dismissed by the medical community. It was a peculiar cult that was far from the mainstream.
It wasn’t until after World War II that Joe Weider started a magazine called Strength & Health. Bodybuilding was still associated in the public consciousness with narcissism and was considered quite peculiar in some unspeakable way. As the magazine popularized the images of well-built men with beautiful women, its name was changed to Muscle & Fitness. Muscle & Fitness remains one of the best-selling magazines to this day. Ads in the backs of all sorts of magazines taught us that the way to avoid the embarrassment of getting sand kicked in our faces in front of our girls was to become more of a MAN. Kids growing up in the 1950s and 1960s wanted to be Charles Atlas.
In the early 1970s, Joe Weider brought Arnold Schwarzenegger from his native Austria to America to be featured in his magazine and to compete in physique contests. Gradually, having big muscles, or at least a toned body, no longer seemed as strange. Still, lifting weights was something that took place in dark, sweaty places frequented by dangerous-looking men.
In the late 1970s, Arthur Jones invented the Nautilus machine. He called this “the thinking man’s barbell.” This statement in itself was somewhat startling, introducing the idea that the same man could actually both lift weights and think. It was revolutionary that resistance could be spread out evenly along the range of the muscle movement. Because the timing was right, and perhaps because something more sophisticated than a chunk of metal was required to accomplish Jones’ breakthrough, the world took notice. An industry was born. Since then, innovations in strength training equipment have come very rapidly.
In the 1980s, health clubs spread like sweat on a handlebar. In the 1990s, the technology and economics of manufacturing changed so much that many people were able to afford to buy sophisticated equipment for their home for the first time. Nowadays many people would rather use a home gym for the privacy and time savingHe.
About the Author
Robert Braun is Vice President of Sales for Treadmill-World. For more information on home gyms, see Treadmill-World.com.
Once a Marine Book Trailer, by Nick Popaditch & Mike Steere
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Assassination at St. Helena Revisited, Ben Weider, Sten Forshufvud, Very Good $12.48 |
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Ben Weider, David Hapgood,Book,The Murder of Napoleon $2.99 |
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The Murder of Napoleon by Ben Weider, David Hapgood 0312925484 $4.97 |
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THE WARS AGAINST NAPOLEON – BEN WEIDER MICHEL FRANCESCHI (HARDCOVER) NEW $29.76 |
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Joe Weider Mr.Olympia Bodybuilding History Book $24.99 |
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The Murder of Napoleon by David Hapgood and Ben Weider HC/DJ (1982) $3.00 |
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Assassination at St. Helena Revisited, Ben Weider, New $13.89 |
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Assassination at St. Helena Revisited by Ben Weider, Sten Forshufvud $4.48 |
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NEW Around Randolph Township and Guys Mills – Weider… $14.18 |
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The Murder of Napoleon, 1982 1st, Weider & Hapgood $24.00 |
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Assassination at St. Helena Revisited by Ben Weider & Sten Forshufvud Napoleon $6.00 |
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The Popular Encyclopedia of Apologetics: Surveying the Evidence for the Truth of Christianity $9.97 The perfect combination of scholarship and accessible presentation for Christians who desire to know how to better understand and defend their faith. Bestselling authors Ed Hindson and Ergun Caner have brought together a whoâs who of apologetic expertsâincluding Lee Strobel, Norm Geisler, Josh McDowell, and John Ankerbergâto produce a resource thatâs both easy to understand and… |
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The Wars Against Napoleon: Debunking the Myth of the Napoleonic Wars $11.14 Popular and scholarly history presents a one-dimensional image of Napoleon as an inveterate instigator of war who repeatedly sought large-scale military conquests. General Franceschi and Ben Weider dismantle this false conclusion in The Wars Against Napoleon, a brilliantly written and researched study that turns our understanding of the French emperor on its head.Avoiding the simplistic cliche’s a… |
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The Murder of Napoleon $4.45 The history books say that Napoleon died of natural causes. Napoleon himself, expiring at 51 after a lifetime of robust health, suspected otherwise and ordered a thorough autopsy. His suspicions were well-founded. So clever was the crime, however, that until recent developments in forensic science, it was impossible to prove a case of murder, let alone name the killer. Now, the authors of this fas… |
