Bodybuilding Muscle Mania

This website is an exploration.  We will explore the fascinating history of body building, which can be traced as far back as the 11th Century, up to the 19th Century when it arrived on the North American scene.
We will explore how to build your body and muscles, body building and weight lifting equipment, the “right” and the “dark” side of dietary supplements as well as the importance of proper nutrition for the serious body builder.

No discussion of body and muscle building would be complete without covering consumer health fraud.  Bogus claims and promises of unrealistic results have been around for decades.  The explosion of marketing on the internet has, unfortunately, created an exponential increase in unsavory providers ready and willing to bilk unsuspecting consumers.

Muscle Mania will explore package labeling and what you should know about before you buy.  The content we cover presents a broad outline rather than substantive personal recommendations.   Nothing within should be construed as  anything more than educational and should never replace medical advice from a professional physician.

We will take a look at the different types of exercise equipment that is available to bodybuilders and what considerations you need to keep in mind when shopping for your own equipment or using the services of a gym.

What could be more important than your diet and nutrition?  It’s critical to your success when bodybuilding.  We’ll give you several recipes that are not only prepared specifically for bodybuilders, but that provide you with a breakdown of calories, grams of protein, grams of carbohydrates, grams of fat and the carb-protein-fat percentage ratio.  You will be amazed at just how tasty and nutritious a bodybuilding diet can be.

THE HISTORY OF BODY BUILDING

Athletes in 11th Century India used to lift carved stone dumbbell weights.  These were called “Nals.”  Oddly enough, they were very much like modern day fitness equipment.  It is purported that gymnasiums were existent in the same time period and by the 16th Century it is said that body building was one of Indias’ favorite pastimes. 

 Body building was a mainstay of the athletic subculture of the ancient Greek and later Roman empires.
 North Americans were first introduced to body building through the “strongman” at traveling circus sideshows and carnivals in the middle of the 19th Century.  The first modern Olympics was held in 1896 where there were two weightlifting events.

 A German named Eugene Sandow is credited with inventing many of the contemporary body building techniques used even today.  He began his performance with feats of strength even adapting various “poses” that demonstrated his musculature much as modern day body builders do.

 Sandow traveled to London in 1899 and opened his first  “Physical Culture Studio.”   A good businessman, he sold products by mail and published his own magazine.  He ultimately created a “chain” of 20 studios throughout England.

 Sandow is also credited with the first body building competition.  Called the “Great Competition,” it was held on September 14, 1901.  Held at the Royal Albert Hall, it was a complete sellout attracting hundreds of spectators and causing an immense traffic jam. 

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was one of the 3 judges. While Sandow was busily creating his studios in England, another legend was gestating in North America. Born in the Ozarks in 1868, Bernarr Macfadden was frail and sickly as a child.  He learned as a teenager, that he could build health and strength by working outdoors.  By age 25 he was selling exercise equipment and went on to become an icon in the publishing industry building an empire based on health, fitness, nutrition and exercise publications.

Branded as eccentric, flamboyant and a “kook,” he remained fit and active up until his death in 1955.   Unfortunately, his own belief in “self treatment” served to be his undoing waiting too long for treatment of a bladder problem.   Many of his principles are still practiced today and his works appear to be making a “comeback.”