Legends are made of this. Body building was none existent before the late 19th Century. It took one man persistent passion and boldness to brake free from a dormant tradition, to pioneer what has today become a billion dollar industry. When bodily displays were considered immoral and not in good faith, a bold man in Prussia, Germany, decided to develop his muscles and display them with pride.
Eugene Sandow is today proudly referred to as Father of Modern Day Body Building. History credits him as a single handed pioneer of body building. Not only did he pioneer a-soon-to be -favorite sport, but he also made a killing while doing it. Critics even accuse Eugene as the one who commercialized body building from the very start.
Eugene had developed well defined and power-packed muscles and he begun to allow an audience into his workout sessions for free. But he was soon to see an entrepreneurship opportunity in those who enjoyed viewing his rare physique. Thus was born muscle display performances for a marginal fee. With time, it became a means of earning a living not only for Eugene, but also for other trainee body builders in under his tutoring.
It was a far cry beginning, especially if their displays were compared to the modern day body building contest. In those days, audiences were basically thrilled to watch a rare well-developed and muscle packed physique. The body builders were simply displaying their bodies not in a contest for the muscles themselves, but as sideshow of strength demonstrations and wrestling matches.
Soon, Eugene Sandow invested in building a stage show purely pegged around the body and strength displays.
He went as far as hiring an event manager, at a time when such job descriptions were folktales. His manager was Ziegfeld Flerenz, who eventually became a renowned figure himself after a successful association with the father of modern day body building. In fact, the 1936 film called The Great Ziegfeld which even won an Oscar, depicted this humble beginning of body building. The film traced the genesis of modern day body building to the modest shows of Eugene Sandow as he began displaying his muscle packed body for carnivals. The honorary role of Eugene Sandow was creatively played by a leading actor at the time, Nat Pendelton.
Sandow became extremely successful not only at flexing and posing his rare physique but he also established a diverse business line solely built around his publicity and fame. According to historians, Eugene was among the first entrepreneurs to market various products branded with his popular name alone. Besides pioneering, body building contests, he is also credited with both the inventing and the selling of pioneer exercise equipment such as tension bands, mechanized dumb bells and spring pulleys, to the masses.
Sandow strongly advocated for the Grecian Ideal which was basically a standard claim that a mathematical ideal only resulted from perfect physique as close as possible to the geometrical proportions of classical ancient Greek or Roman statues. Indeed, Eugene built his physique and was judged based on how closely he matched the ideal geometrical proportions.
Dane Fletcher is the world-wide authority on bodybuilding and steroids. He has coached countless athletes all over the world. To read more of his work, please visit either http://www.BodybuildingToday.com or http://www.SteroidsToday.com
