Hello to my English 442 class and anyone else viewing this blog. For this project, I am going to be delving into the bodybuilding world in order to figure out how the fitness literacy has evolved over the past 60 years. Why does this matter? It matters because from the '50s-'80s a persons ability to gain muscle has increased slowly and methodically, producing bigger and more muscular bodies each decade. During this period there were fitness books and magazines owned by a very select few, teaching people the proper way to build muscle. Once the '90s hit, a persons ability to build muscle skyrocketed and we starting seeing people growing at an unprecedented rate. This also happens to be the same time the internet started.
Take a look at Steve Reeves:
This was considered the best body in the world (in regards to bodybuilding) during the 1950s. He stood at 6'1" and weighed a lean 215lbs with 18" arms and a 29" waist. Not bad measurements by any means, but this body would have a hard time winning an amateur state competition nowadays.
Now, here's the current best bodybuilder in the world, Phil Heath:
Phil stands at 5'9"and weighs 250lbs on stage. He sports 23" arms with the same waist size as Steve. As you can see the difference is staggering. Phil isn't even the biggest competitor on the professional bodybuilding stage currently.
The main difference between bodybuilding now and bodybuilding before the internet is the amount of theories and approaches there are to building muscle. Before the rise of the internet, the bodybuilding world was ran almost entirely by a man named Joe Weider and everybody came to him for knowledge on building muscle. Some of what he preached was and is (still prevalent in the bodybuilding world currently) useful, but much of it was a heedless attempt to promote his products that had no proof whatsoever.
