The first records of strength training date back to 3600 BC. C., when Chinese emperors made their subjects exercise daily (Webster 1976). During the Chou dynasty, subjects were required to pass weightlifting tests before entering the army. There is a large body of evidence indicating that weight training was a part of life in ancient Greece and India. In fact, the Greeks built numerous sculptures of people lifting stone weights.
Over the years, numerous training systems have been proposed. The accumulation of experience and different philosophies has led us to the current training methods that are used today. Keep in mind; many authorities have varied greatly from the original purpose of strength and conditioning. Hard work and dedication formed the basis of earlier training methods. The opposite has been true in many settings today, as easy work and quick fixes form the basis of most people’s regimens.
During the 16th century, books on weight training began to appear in Europe. Sir Thomas Elyot’s book on the subject was published in England in 1531. Joachim Camerius, a professor at the University of Leipzig, wrote several books in 1544 recommending that weight training should be a key activity offered in the model school. John Paugh published a book in 1728 entitled A Physiological, Theoretical, and Practical Treatise on the Usefulness of Muscular Exercise in Restoring Power to the Limbs, which pointed out the benefits of weight training for rehabilitation purposes. In the 1860s, Archibald Maclaren devised the first formal system of dumbbell and barbell physical training for the British Army.
The entertainers and strongmen of the 19th century contributed greatly to the methods used in the sports and fitness industry today. From extensive research, iron game historian David Webster credits the Italian circus and sideshow performer, Felice Napoli, as the one who popularized strongman performances on an international scale. Napoli’s disciples include Professor Attila (Louis Durlacher) and Eugen Sandow (Frederick Muller). Attila became well known and attracted some of the best known bodybuilders in the world and many rulers of Europe. His list of students included King George of Greece, King Edward of England, Crown Prince Frederick who became King Haakon of Norway, the six children of King Christian of Denmark, Queen Mother Alexandra of England, Princess Dagmar (Empress of Russia and mother of Tsar Nicholas) and the Duchess of Cumberland.
At the time, training the rich was a highly respected occupation. We have what today we call personal trainers. The current protocols used by most trainers today are a far cry from the original teachings and benefits provided by the trainers. The fame and notoriety of the coaches of those days was the result of public displays of extraordinary physical prowess. These events were often attended by royalty and were highly acclaimed for their promotion of physical well-being.
Eugen Sandow, born in Koningsberg in eastern Russia in 1867, was recruited for his teachings by presidents and rulers around the world. Nine kings and queens and many princes of Europe, as well as the presidents of the United States, William Taft and Woodrow Wilson, endorsed Sandow’s book Life Is Motion. Sandow was a successful strongman as well as a promoter of formal health and fitness management. He stressed that physical education and sport must be an integral part of the school system. He also traveled the world reading and promoting physical culture as a means to improve the quality of life.
Sandow is recognized by most authorities as one of the most important figures in the history of fitness, and the history of his work reveals that the modern phenomenon of science-based physical training is not a novel invention. Sandow promoted the importance of strength and skill as the cornerstone of fitness. Half a century later, Dr. Kenneth Cooper proposed that fitness depends primarily on aerobic conditioning. Approximately 25 years later, the important role of strength training has once again been recognized by academia.
In Russia, during the same period, Vladislav Krayevsky founded the Saint Petersburg Amateur Weightlifting Society (1885). Many respected scientists, athletes; artists became his students, including the famous strongman George Hackenschmidt, who credited Krayevsky with teaching him everything he knew. Hackenschmidt mentioned in his book The Way To Live that some of the strongest men in the world at the time, including Sandow, were trained using Krayevsky’s system.
Krayevsky’s work and the popularity of his students had a major effect on weightlifting in Russia. He was not only a renowned teacher, but also put up significant numbers on the barbell lift. He was president of the jury at the first world championships in Vienna in 1898.
Krayevsky wrote two of his seminal works during the period 1896-1899. The writings were titled The Catechism of Health-Rules for Athletes and The Development of Physical Strength with Kettlebells and without Kettlebells. The Catechism of Health Rules for Athletes was sent to the printer on December 9, 1899, but was never published and is now preserved in manuscript form. His other book was published in 1900 and reprinted three times (1902, 1909, 1916) after his death (1901).
Krayevsky was well studied in the history of physical culture and all forms of gymnastics. He was well informed about Swedish gymnastics and noted the therapeutic benefits of it, but his concern about the lack of scientific data from the Swedish system led him to recruit experimenters to investigate it.
Many of Krayevsky’s recommendations are still used today. His recommendations include medical monitoring of an athlete’s health, consistent training and variable load patterns, full-spectrum physical development, psychological development, and avoiding smoking and alcohol.
Early strength pioneers developed numerous devices when it came to strength training, including cable machines, kettlebells, barbells, dumbbells, odd-shaped bars, thick grip bars, weighted boots, isolation machines, and various devices. release. However, 50 years later, there are numerous people who claim to have invented this machinery. In today’s industry there are many systems and people promoting their new systems, which are actually not new at all.
The development of different scientific and educational cultures divided the West and the East, as their promotion of physical activity was vaguely different. During the years after the World Wars, Russia and Europe continued to promote various elements of physical strength, power, and skill, while the West primarily promoted aerobic exercise. Kenneth Cooper’s book Aerobics was popular at the time, as was Swedish research on resistance exercise. According to Cooper and the Swedish researchers, heart and general health depended primarily on prolonged resistance work. Supporters of the resistance doctrine strongly protested strength training. Cooper told the world that strength training promoted a beautiful body but did nothing for health.
During the same period that the aerobics craze was spiraling out of control in western Russia and eastern Europeans amassed extensive international information on strength and sports training while developing comprehensive educational programs to further their findings. Most schools offered weightlifting and within a few decades there were approximately 1 million weightlifters in the USSR. Strength training became a key element in all sports training programs in the USSR, while the attitude in the West was that weight training would slow athletes down and limit their range of motion. Russia essentially dominated the Olympic Games, especially in Olympic Weightlifting, at the same time that aerobic doctrine became gospel in the West.
Russian dominance has often been attributed to the use of anabolic-androgenic drugs, but the sporting use of these drugs was first introduced by the West. It is probably more accurate to say that the Eastern nations dominated because of their special strength in science and their understanding of comprehensive sports conditioning. On the subject of drug use, no one uses more drugs than professional bodybuilders, who are predominantly American.
Today in the West, most of the gyms, trainers, academic institutions and trainers are still misinformed when it comes to fitness and sports conditioning. The craze for aerobic endurance still dominates in most cases, but this is a minor part of fitness. All one needs to do is study the science and the abundant evidence supporting the many health and fitness benefits of a proper strength training program to realize its importance.
References
Siff, MC (2000) Supertraining. Mel Siff.
Copyright 2005 Jamie Hale