World First Body Builder

Eugene Sandow- Father Of the Body Builder

19th century weight training as a means of improving health and increasing strength was becoming increasingly popular. People began to be exposed, to what was to become known

as, the physical culture: through the travelling strongmen of the time. The strongmen would entertain crowds with feats of strength, such as lifting and pulling massive weights. However, it was purely the feats of strength that the audiences were interested in; the actual aesthetics of the strongmen was not important -- this would all change with the arrival of Eugene Sandow.

Born 1867 in Prussia by the name Friedrich Muller, Eugene Sandow later became referred to as "The Father of Modern Bodybuilding."

Not only was Sandow incredibly strong, he also had a muscle quality and an aesthetic comparable to that of a modern day bodybuilder. He first traveled Europe and later in the 1890's America -- where he was billed as the "world's strongest man".

It soon became apparent that as well as his feats of strength the audiences were just as interested in the physical appearance of Sandow. This led to the development of what is now referred to by modern day bodybuilders as a posing routine. Previously being called "muscle display performances."

Sandow was the muscle superstar of his age; he developed some of the first bodybuilding equipment as well as also being responsible for the first ever bodybuilding magazine. Originally called Physical Culture but later the name changed to Sandow's Magazine of Physical Culture.

Through Sandow's promotion of bodybuilding, weightlifting competitions began to officially take place for the first time. 1) the World Championships in 1891 in England and 2) two weightlifting events in the 1896 inaugural modern Olympic Games.

In 1901 the first major bodybuilding competition was held in the Royal Albert Hall, London. It was to be known as "The Great Competition". And Sandow was one of the judges alongside Sir Arthur Conan Doyle as well as athlete and Sculptor sir Charles Lawes.

In 1925 Eugene Sandow suffered a stroke and died at the age of fifty-eight. His legacy still lives on as a statuette known as a 'Sandow'. It's given to the winner of the most prestigious bodybuilding competition in the world: Mr Olympia.

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