How People Got Jacked From 1800 To Today

In this podcast episode, I talk with Dr. Conor Heffernan, a historian of sport, fitness, and physical culture, about how lifting and fitness have evolved over the past 140 years. We trace the history decade by decade, starting with Eugen Sandow in the 1890s and going all the way up to the modern social media era of bodybuilding. We discuss how physique standards, nutrition, and training itself have changed along the way.

Conor's Website: https://physicalculturestudy.com/

Conor's Substack: https://physicalculture.substack.com/

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction

4:35 - How do modern physiques compare to the early 1900s?

24:29 - Was Eugen Sandow the first fitness scammer?

28:20 - How has fitness knowledge evolved with science?

35:43 - What training looked like in the 1890s to 1920s

44:29 - What training looked like in the 1930s

54:45 - What training looked like in the 1940s

59:47 - Barriers women faced in early fitness culture

1:07:41 - What training looked like in the 1950s to 1980s

1:15:19 - What were the first training splits and diets like?

1:30:18 - What training looked like in the 1990s to 2000s

1:40:35 - How social media changed fitness

1:58:30 - Is fitness history repeating itself?

2:03:45 - What was the best physique era?

2:09:39 - Exploring historic fitness paraphernalia

Conor's Physical Culture Recommendations:

The Strongman Project: https://strongmanproject.com/

Strength Magazine: https://starkcenter.org/exhibits/type/journals/strength-magazine-1914-1930/

Barbell Films: https://www.barbellfilms.co.uk/

Golden Era Bookworm: https://www.goldenerabookworm.com/

Internet Archive: https://archive.org/

The Tight Tan Slacks of Dezso Ban: https://ditillo2.blogspot.com/

Recommended Physical Culture Authors:

David L. Chapman

John D. Fair

Jan Todd

Shannon L. Walsh

Jason P. Shurley