History of Weight Training

Terminology

Strength training is a term that describes all exercises used to increase physical strength. Strength training that uses weights rather than elastic, eccentric­ (the lowering phase of an exercise), or muscular resistance is called weight training. Weight training is a type of strength training, which is just one type of exercise. Other types include:

-       Endurance training (associated with aerobic exercise)

-       Flexibility training (i.e. yoga or Pilates)

Genealogy

Weight training can be traced back to the beginning of written history where man’s fascination with physical abilities can be found in many ancient writings. Weight training used as progressive resistance training dates back at least to Ancient Greece, when legend has it that wrestler Milo of Croton trained by carrying a newborn calf on his back every day until it was fully grown (Dreschler 2011). Strength training exercises using halteres (an early form of Greek dumbbell) date back to the 2^nd century.

Ancient Greek sculptures also depict lifting feats (Todd 1995). The weights were generally stones, but later gave way to dumbbells. Dumbbells were later joined by the barbell in the later half of the 19^th century. Barbells originally had hollow globes that would be filled with sand or lead shot, but by the beginning of the 20^th century these were replaced by the plate-loading barbell commonly used today.

Modern evolution of weight training

Strength training gyms began to pop up in the 1950s, but they were scarce (MSNBC 2012). The still-rare strength training gyms saw the gradual introduction of exercise machines during the 1960s. Weight training became increasingly popular in the 1970s, following the release of the bodybuilding movie Pumping Iron, and the later popularity of Arnold Schwarzenegger (Schwarzenegger 1999). Gyms have greatly increased in number over the course of the last few decades, but weight training has not changed very much since then, besides the introduction of new kinds of exercise machines.

Sources:

Delavier, F. (2001). Strength training anatomy. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

Dreschler., A. (n.d.). The History of Weightlifting | USA Weightlifting. USA Weightlifting. Retrieved March 14, 2012, from http://weightlifting.teamusa.org/about-us/the-history-of-weightlifting

Gaines, J. (n.d.). Milo of Croton | | Black Box StrengthBlack Box Strength. Black Box Strength | Feel the Good. Retrieved March 15, 2012, from http://blackboxstrength.com/2012/02/29/milo-of-croton/

Schwarzenegger, A., & Dobbins, B. (1999). The new encyclopedia of modern bodybuilding. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Sculpted trend spurs women to pump iron - Health - Fitness - msnbc.com. (n.d.). msnbc.com - Breaking news, science and tech news, world news, US news, local news- msnbc.com. Retrieved March 25, 2012, from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13956966/#.T2-kR0qfCPk

Todd, J. (1995). From Milo to Milo: A History of Barbells, Dumbells, and Indian Clubs. Iron Game History, 3(6). Retrieved March 14, 2012, from www.aafla.org/SportsLibrary/IGH/IGH0306/IGH0306c.pdf