Strength training

Strength becomes a spectacle

The modern history of bodybuilding involves strong men, their demonstrations and their training methods. Lifting a load impressed the public, but the body that produced this force also became an object of attention. The archives of Professor Attila, who trained Eugen Sandow, show the links between training, shows and the transmission of physical culture methods.

Bungee cord and body to build

Eugen Sandow helped popularize an ideal where muscular appearance mattered as much as prowess. The physique could be presented, compared and worked on for its proportions. He also distributed courses, publications and materials bearing his name: developing one's body became a method that the public could learn and reproduce at home.

This physical culture combined promises of strength, health and beauty. Methods circulated through books, magazines and accessories long before training videos. It already announced a lasting characteristic of bodybuilding: around real body work, a market for advice, programs and products was also developing.

Bodybuilding affirms an aesthetic objective

Bodybuilding explicitly places muscular development and proportions at the center of the practice. The Stark Center's collections document its athletes, promoters and publications, as well as connections to other strength sports. However, training to improve your figure does not require pursuing a competitive physique: the same family of movements can serve very different ambitions.

From printed program to telephone program

Tutorials and digital programs now make exercises and their monitoring accessible at home and in the gym. They extend the diffusion of methods begun with physical culture. The ease of comparison can also encourage constantly changing routines; Current research points out, on the contrary, that several programs work when they provide regular and progressive work.