The Original Body Builders: How Greek Halteres and Celtic Gabal Stone Lifts Built the World's First Strongmen

The Original Body Builders: How Greek Halteres and Celtic Gabal Stone Lifts Built the World's First Strongmen

Fad workouts have been with us for decades, but they go back much further than we realize. Long before CrossFit, Zumba, P90X, Tae Box, Jazzercise or Jack LaLanne, we had 19th century strongmen. These mustachioed showmen were the first global fitness influencers. They hauled trunks of weights onto steamships, toured the world, then sold exercise equipment through the mail. The most famous was Eugene Sandow, who broke chains, and created with his own body a "manned cavalry bridge" where he would lie down while men, horses, and a carriage were driven over his body. He even fought a lion in front of an auditorium and won, although the lion was almost definitely sedated.

Today’s guest is Connor Heffernan, author of “When Fitness Went Global: The Rise of Physical Culture in the Nineteenth Century.” In this episode, we discuss:

  • Ancient Egyptians were basically doing CrossFit thousands of years ago. They trained with swinging sandbags that look exactly like modern kettlebell flows.
  • One of the first exercise practices to experience globalization was Indian club-swinging. Indian club-swinging, originating from the heavy training clubs used by Indian wrestlers and soldiers for centuries, was observed and adopted by British military officers stationed in India during the early 1800s.
  • Early diet culture was a carnival of quack science. Victorian fitness magazines were filled with miracle tonics, starvation cures and pseudoscientific meal plans. Many of our “new” diet trends are rebranded versions of schemes first marketed with sepia portraits and dubious testimonials.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jaksot(1075)

The Yanks Are Coming -- America Enters World War One

The Yanks Are Coming -- America Enters World War One

Most Americans are indifferent about the nation's involvement in World War One (under half say the U.S. had a responsibility to fight in the war; one-in-five say it didn't). Many figure it entered the...

12 Marras 202052min

The Slog of War -- the Passchendaele Campaign of 1917

The Slog of War -- the Passchendaele Campaign of 1917

The best way to describe the Third Ypres (Passchendaele) Campaign of 1917. It’s ‘slog.’ When you think about a drudging act that seems to accomplish nothing, this battle is it. Mud. Mud to your waist....

10 Marras 202039min

Teaser: Forging a President, Part 6: The Newly-Minted Cowboy

Teaser: Forging a President, Part 6: The Newly-Minted Cowboy

This is a preview of an episode in a members-only series on Teddy Roosevelt's years in the Dakota Badlands called Forging a President. Subscribe today for access to all premium episodes! https://patre...

6 Marras 202012min

The Russian Revolutions of 1917-1923--A Bigger Threat Than the Kaiser?

The Russian Revolutions of 1917-1923--A Bigger Threat Than the Kaiser?

We’ve looked at many battles in this series, but we’ve only tangentially touched on how this war fundamentally altered European society. The Great War is the watershed between the pre-modern and early...

5 Marras 202045min

The Election of 1800 Was Worse Than 2020 in Every Way Imaginable

The Election of 1800 Was Worse Than 2020 in Every Way Imaginable

The election was perhaps the nastiest election the country has seen. It had horrible partisan rancor, personal insults, and a politicized media. But we aren't talking about the 2020 election between D...

3 Marras 202035min

Why WW1 Was the Graveyard of Empires (Russian, Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian)

Why WW1 Was the Graveyard of Empires (Russian, Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian)

World War One shattered the empires of Russia, the Ottomans, and the Austro-Hungarians, which had all existed in one form or another for centuries. That's because it broke the fragile alliances that k...

29 Loka 202047min

The Battle of the Somme Caused 1 Million Casualties But Was a Turning Point for WW1

The Battle of the Somme Caused 1 Million Casualties But Was a Turning Point for WW1

The 1916 Battle of the Somme caused a total of 1 million casualties on all sides. the total is over a million casualties. The Allies had gained very little ground. At the end of the battle, they had g...

27 Loka 202048min

The Flying Aces of World War One

The Flying Aces of World War One

Since the first successful flight of an airplane, people had imagined and dreamed of airplanes being used for combat. H. G. Wells's 1908 book (The War in the Air was an example. When World War One bro...

22 Loka 202043min

Suosittua kategoriassa Yhteiskunta

olipa-kerran-otsikko
sita
siita-on-vaikea-puhua
kaksi-aitia
i-dont-like-mondays
gogin-ja-janin-maailmanhistoria
uutiscast
poks
antin-palautepalvelu
rss-nikotellen
kolme-kaannekohtaa
mamma-mia
rss-murhan-anatomia
yopuolen-tarinoita-2
aikalisa
meidan-pitais-puhua
rss-haudattu
loukussa
rss-palmujen-varjoissa
mystista