Over the years, bodybuilding has literally grown.
Bodybuilders are getting bigger, bulkier and more orange as period advances, and while it's a part of our culture that many of us don't really understand, bodybuilding -- especially the Mr. America contests -- reflects "a desired image of modern manhood, " John D. Fair writes in the introduction to Mr. America: The Tragic History Of A Bodybuilding Icon.
If guys want to beef up to meet some modern standard of desirability, why do they look like a medical illustration of a person without scalp, or that they've somehow turned themselves inside-out?
"As societal opinions toward the male body and physical culture evolved, " Fair writes, "bodybuilders had to redefine themselves in light of the clash between adored traditions and concessions to current savours. The Mr. America Contest, which once represented the aspirations of tens of thousands of weight trainees, was premised on adherence to time-honored values of health, fitness, beauty, and athleticism, while Americans -- and especially bodybuilders -- became obsessed with appearances and engaged in training practices and lifestyles that are typically subverted those ideals. By the end of the century, physique challengers and promoters seemed puzzled about what constituted a perfect specimen of manhood. Reckoning with these culture questions became the foremost fear in modern bodybuilding not only in the United States but worldwide, since the Mr. America title, at the least from the 1940 s to the 1970 s, was, like other aspects of American culture, a global icon."
It's interesting to see just how much these perceptions of pure fitness have changed over the past 100 years, thanks to advances in supplements, workout equipment and our understanding of how the human body works.
It seems people push these limits harder and farther every year, and when you look at the following pictures of guys at peak physical fitness over history( from a guy who looks like Vladimir Putin sucking in his gut in 1900 to the sinewy muscles on show in 2015, you'll insure just how much things have changed.
Buyenlarge via Getty ImagesA Russianbodybuilder, photographed in a studio circa 1900.Reinhold Thiele via Getty ImagesA bodybuilder known asMr. Eggleton, the manager of Sandows physical school in 1905.Reinhold Thiele via Getty ImagesMr. Murray, winner of the Sandow bodybuilding competitor in 1905.New York Daily News Archive via Getty ImagesAngelo Siciliano, known more famouslyasCharles Atlas, lifts fourRockettes, each weighing about 110 pounds, on the roof of Radio City Music Hall.
In his bodybuilding career, Atlas pioneered an early kind of isometrics and became known as the "World's Most Perfectly Developed Man."General Photographic Agency via Getty ImagesA bodybuilder liftsweights in 1940.ASSOCIATED PRESSJohn Grimekwins the trophy at the Mr. America competition in 1940 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The magistrates said he was the"best developed and proportioned amateur athlete."Hulton Archive via Getty ImagesCharles Atlas flexeshis bicep while posing in a leopard print swimsuit on a rock by the water's edge.Keystone-France via Getty ImagesGrimek inspectscandidates vying for the title ofMr Muscle Great Britain in London.Alan Oxley via Getty ImagesBodybuilder Leo Robert, holder of the Mr. Universe title in 1955, checks out his reflection in a large gym mirror.BIPS via Getty ImagesEnglish bodybuilder Reg Parkflexes his muscles as his wife, South African ballet dancer Marion Park, exerts in the background. Park was the first Englishman to win the Mr. Universe title and later went on to act in five Italian Hercules sword-and-sandal movies in the early 1960 s. Park ranhis own industries, publishing a bodybuilding publication and supplying weight-training equipment.Keystone via Getty ImagesFormer Mr. America Jack Delinger flexedmuscles forMrs.Sheila Saunders, whose spouse vied in the "Mr. Universe" in London in 1956.Silver Screen Collection via Getty ImagesAmerican bodybuilder and actor Steve Reeves holds up the worldin 1960.Archive Photos via Getty ImagesPortrait of actor and body builder Lou Ferrigno, who would find notoriety as television's The Hulk, in his second appearance in MTI as "Boy Wonder, " circa 1965.Michael Ochs Archives via Getty ImagesArnold Schwarzenegger, here merely 18 years old, lifts a friend in Thal, Austria.Jack Mitchell via Getty ImagesModel and bodybuilder Tony Catanzaro photographed in April, 1965.Michael Ochs Archives via Getty ImagesA year later, Schwarzenegger poses his bigger muscles for a portrait circa 1966 in Austria.Jack Mitchell via Getty ImagesBodybuilder Paul Zuckerman in 1969.MARTY LEDERHANDLER/ APChris Dickerson, 30, flexes his biceps as he poses with his Mr. America 1970 trophy in his New York City apartment on July 10, 1970. He won the competition in Los Angeles, June 14, 1970.Keystone via Getty ImagesSerge Nubretflexes his muscles during the preliminary evaluate stage ofthe 1976 Mr.Universe contest.David Ashdown via Getty ImagesShigeru Sugita, a Japanese contestant Mr. World competition at London's New Victoria theatre.Jack Mitchell via Getty ImagesProfessional bodybuilder Frank Zane photographed in 1979.ASSOCIATED PRESSBodybuilding World Champion Sergio Oliva poses on the rostrum after he won the Bodybuilding Professional Championships, November8, 1980, in Paris, France.Jack Mitchell via Getty ImagesBodybuilder and model Von Hackendahl photographed in February, 1985.Tony Bock via Getty ImagesBodybuilder Tony Pearson demonstrates a dumbbell technique in 1985.Antonio RIBEIRO via Getty ImagesManfred Hoeberl lifts a block at the World's Strongest Man contest in Orange, France on August 30, 1993.ullstein bild via Getty ImagesGerman Bodybuilder Rolf Evers in1 995.Mel Melcon via Getty ImagesBodybuilders Tammi Singer, 29, of Oxnard, California, and John Bezerra, 28, of Ventura, strike a pose outside of Gold's Gym in Ventura. They won first place in the National Physique Committee's mixed pairs competitor in Dallas in 1996.NBC via Getty ImagesGeena Davis looks on as Bodybuilder Mr. Olympia Ronnie Coleman squeezes his muscles during an interview with host Jay Leno on November 27, 2001.Robert Cianflone via Getty ImagesDallas Scholes prepares himself for the Men's Masters division prior to the pre-judging segment of the NPC-IFBB 2001 Victorian Body Building Championships, held at the Darebin Arts Centre, in Melbourne, Australia.Robert Cianflone via Getty ImagesClaude Groulx, John Davie and Troy Alves in action during the finals of the Australian Pro Bodybuilding Grand Prix three at the John Batman Theatre in Melbourne, Australia.Ronnie Bianco/ ReutersJay Cutler of Las Vegasperforms his routine for the crowd and magistrates atthe finals of the 16 th Arnold Classic, duringthe Arnold Fitness Weekend held at Veterans Memorial Auditorium in Columbus Ohio, March 6, 2004. Hewent on to win the bodybuilding competitor.Robert Cianflone via Getty ImagesEdward Nunn, Tony Freeman and Dexter Jackson pose during the course of its IFBB Australia Pro Grand Prix XIII at The Plenary on March 9, 2013 in Melbourne, Australia.
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