Part 1 Building Muscles-History Highlights

This is a two part article. Part 1 provides historical information about body building. Part 2 will focus on building muscle naturally, not to be confused with competitive body building.

Ancient Greeks get the credit for the assertive pursuit of athletic endeavors. The Greeks did not start out solely focusing on body building as we know it. The focus was to improve and train for specific sports rather than focus on changing their physique. One historical figure is Milo the Croton, an Olympic Wrestler. He was reported to walk around with a calf on his back everyday until it became a bull. A great demonstration of strength training with progressive resistance. I wonder how that was for the bull:0
India is credited with the earliest form of body building with rocks being dumbbells. By the 16th century it was the national past time.

Mid 19th century, body building stepped out in the form of 'Strong Man' side shows where amazing acts of strength were performed. Next up, Eugene Sandow, a 'Strong Man'  credited with coining the term 'body building' for the first time. He started the first body building magazine and created and sold body building equipment...with great success. He is considered to be the pioneer of modern body building. He is reported to have died of a brain aneurism after trying to lift his car out of ditch. Hmmm...

 Early 1900's the first serious body building competitions make an appearance.

 Steve Reeves, actor and bodybuilder, pictured below as Hercules in 1958. His fame as an actor and his obvious body building physique inspired a new generation of body builders. Hence, for the first time body building takes off in an explosive way. Steve began his body building career while in high school. Winner of 1947 Mr. America, 1950 winner of Mr. Universe and a huge proponent in later life of drug free body building.

In 1977  Lou Ferrigno becomes synonymous with The Incredible Hulk. Lou began lifting weights at age 12 and never stopped. Lou was 6.' 5" tall and weighed in between 285 and 315lbs during competition years.  He earned major titles in Mr. America & Mr. Universe. He placed 2nd in Mr. Olympia in 1974. He also competed in the first ever 'Worlds Strongest Man' competition and placed in the top 4 competitors. Lou is very much alive at this time but less green.

Jack Lalanne is pictured here at the age of 71. He made a career out of fitness and health. In a competition against Schwarzenegger for pushups and chin-ups...Lalanne kicked butt, despite being 30+ years older! Lalanne worked out every day for two hours, even supposedly the day before he died.  At age 60 he swam from Alcatraz to the shore, dragging a 1000lb boat while handcuffed! How about all those photos of him doing a plank on his fingertips and toes! Lalane was not the biggest guy cited in this article. HE WAS THE FITTEST! 

Kudos to all of these physically fitness motivated individuals who were obviously notable in their field. It is interesting to note that HIIT (high intensity interval training) was promoted heavily first in body building, greatly reducing the amount of time a person had to workout to see amazing results. It is now a very mainstream way to train and if you are a Metabolic Warrior you are very familiar with this training. The person we want to zero in on for this article is Jack Lalanne. Functional fitness served this man very well. He advertised and lived a healthy life and lived to be 96...that is a poster child for all of us. Stayed tuned...next article we will take a closer look at how you can naturally build muscle for function.