History Essay: From Sandow to Schwarzenegger

[mjh]

The Bent Press to the Bench Press: Assertions of Male Strength and Beauty from Sandow to Schwarzenegger

Here it is guys and gals, thanks for all of your encouragement and input.

I was inspired to write this essay after reading, here and on other forums, posts that described Eugen Sandow's physique as 'undeveloped', or stating that his knowledge of training was primitive. Both ideas, I believe, are ahistorical. That is, they are judging the past by present standards. I instinctively felt that the idea that Sandow's pectoral muscles are not as developed as those of more modern bodybuilders because he didn't know how to build big pectoral muscles is flawed. Rather, I would assert that his pectoral muscles are not as developed because he did not want or need them to be so, due to very different ideals of strength and aesthetics that existed in the Victorian era. This essay is me exploring and expanding on that idea.

Bear in mind that this is for a history graduate paper in which we were exploring a specific kind of theory and methodology. That's why there is a lot of 'socio-cultural' this and 'aesthetic ideal' that in my prose. This is also because I'm largely a social constructivist in my historical thinking, but I do try to ground my arguments in solid historical source material.

I'm very much open to discussion and criticism, so have at it.

[holvoetn]

OK, at the risk of being stupid ... one comment:

Page 8

Sandow had no living aesthetic competition to compare the development of his physique with, but by the mid-nineteenth century bodybuilders were surrounded by bodies to compare and compete against.

Shouldn't that be twentieth century ?
Sandow lived in the 19th century (towards the end), Arnie in the 20th.

[mjh]

dang.

You are correct H. Luckily, that wasn't in the essay I submitted to my professor, as I caught it before I printed and submitted it at uni. I somehow missed fixing it in the version I posted. Fixed now, thanks mate.

[rere]

I'm going to read it over a glass of rum.

Thank MJH for sharing your knowlegde.

[atypical1]

I really enjoyed the article. It was an interesting perspective and makes you wonder if Sandow would have trained the way the guys do now had he lived amongst them. I would like to think that he would have gone the powerlifting route...

james

[mjh]

Thanks James.

The main book I used for Sandow's bio, Sandow the Magnificent by David Chapman, is a very good read.

A funny anecdote I remember is Sandow getting evicted from his apartment after smashing the place up during a particularly intense training session.

Another is that in his early days he built some excitement about his show by going around in the dead of night and breaking a bunch of 'test your strength' machines. The next day he turned himself into police, but no one believed he could have done it. So, he says 'come to my show tonight and see for yourself'. The house was packed that night, of course. Shrewd guy.

[NotNowChief]

Well I read it for enjoyment rather than critically and it delivered in that regard so thanks MJH for a really interesting read.

Yes do you think he would have abandoned his "healthy" ideals and 'roided up for Mr O competitions? I'd see him more striving to become the greatest "natural" bodybuilder and re-popularise that pursuit, or even just pursuing the goal of being an olympic lifting champion and basing a post- competitive career off that fame but I suppose we will never know how much being raised in different times and influences might have changed his career goals and ideals.

[jpez]

Thanks mjh it was an interesting read. It was good to compare what was popular than and what is today and the way things have evolved and where they evolved from.

[rere]

Enjoyed the read. Thanks for sharing once again.

[kidsoftheblackhole]

yeah, nice read. i would also like to see some personal opinions on sandow's/schwarz's approach and how peoples' in here approaches reflect (or not) either of theirs.

[mjh]

Yes do you think he would have abandoned his "healthy" ideals and 'roided up for Mr O competitions? I'd see him more striving to become the greatest "natural" bodybuilder and re-popularise that pursuit, or even just pursuing the goal of being an olympic lifting champion and basing a post- competitive career off that fame but I suppose we will never know how much being raised in different times and influences might have changed his career goals and ideals.

Interesting question. Counter-factual history is always a fun exercise, playing with answering those "what if..." questions.

Sandow was pretty ruthless. He was always in court suing someone over who had the right to use the title of "world's strongest man", and was pretty single-minded in his pursuit of fame and fortune. So, maybe PEDs would have been simply another tool for him to use. It is interesting though that as extreme bodybuilding became entrenched in it's own kind of culture, 'natural' bodybuilding emerged as a kind of rejection of those ideals.

yeah, nice read. i would also like to see some personal opinions on sandow's/schwarz's approach and how peoples' in here approaches reflect (or not) either of theirs.

Well, as a total noob, I have to say I enjoy the Sandow approach of letting your body develop as a whole, at least as a base for further training. It takes away some of the pressure to conform to muscle media standards of muscular manliness.

Another anecdote: because he was not enormous, when Sandow was dressed he didn't make half as much of an impression. He used this to good effect by crashing other strongmen's shows, coming up on the stage in a suit. Inevitably they'd mock this ordinary looking guy. Then, in a flourish he'd rip off his suit to reveal his muscular physique. And when he disembarked the ship that brought him to New Zealand, a woman in the crowd that came to greet him exclaimed "why, but he's just a man!".

[jfh26]

Very nice read mjh - well done. I could see Sandow up on the Olympic stage if he were training in this era. I'd like to think he was more about functional strength than beach muscles.

[NotNowChief]

Yes he was about functional strength but the strength in the comparison with Arnie/bodybuilders comes precisely because he incorporated the posing and body show aspect which evolved much further on its own later.

The only reason I speculate what lengths and avenues he might have pursued in other times is just because he was so nakedly ambitious, even conniving with his stunts, show crashing and thunder stealing. That's the trait I find makes him most interesting to me, whether he longed to just be the strongest because he loved being strong or did he just want to be rich and famous, or both? I'm glad I found out about him.

[jpez]

Are there any sources on what the old strongmen use to eat/what there diet was like?

[kidsoftheblackhole]

Well, as a total noob, I have to say I enjoy the Sandow approach of letting your body develop as a whole, at least as a base for further training. It takes away some of the pressure to conform to muscle media standards of muscular manliness.

I like that kind of approach too. For some reason it also seems to me less vanity - biased (if that makes sense), though taking into account sandow's persuit of fame I could be very wrong.

What do you mean by 'at least as a base for further training'?