The First Jock in History, Or How Bodybuilding Came into Fashion

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Muscular handsome men today can be seen on the covers of magazines and on TV screens, thousands of men stubbornly go to the gym to keep fit, and at the same time look no worse than recognized sex symbols. However, today very few people remember that the first owner perfect body was Evgeny Sandov. This outstanding athlete was not devoid of narcissism and dreamed of being like an ancient Greek god!

Friedrich Müller (this is the real name of Eugene Sandov) is German by birth, and Russian blood flowed in him through the maternal line. He became the first man who not only became interested in sports, but also truly fell in love with his body. Eugene began his career as a circus artist, in the distant 1894, without a shadow of embarrassment, appeared before the public in some wrestling shorts, and achieved his goal. The most vulnerable young ladies immediately fainted, but those who were bolder looked with delight at the muscular body. Later, Sandow often liked to pose, and his images resembled antique statues. He loved to shock the audience, his name was constantly shrouded in secrets and conjectures, he deliberately emphasized his sexuality, on this the great bodybuilder made a name for himself and gained popularity.

Evgeny Sandov trained with the famous strongman Luis Durlacher, or, as he was also called, Professor Attila. Eugene mastered the performance of various power tricks, he had no equal in wrestling, but soon he decided to turn his activity into a successful commercial project. And we have to admit that he succeeded. The audience was eagerly awaiting more and more postcards with a naked bodybuilder, he organized a tour of Europe and America in order to popularize a healthy lifestyle and sports, thousands of his followers signed up to gyms to build muscles according to the Sandow method. Sandow became the first bodybuilder who worked not only for record achievements, but also for the formation of a body perfect in all respects.

In the mass consciousness, the cult of a beautiful body received not only an aesthetic dominant, many perceived physical strength as a guarantee of self-confidence, the ability to control others, even men who took care of their bodies began to come to politics.

During his life, Evgeny Sandov made a real revolution in the minds of people: he published several books about the methods of his training and talked about how you can get rid of diseases by training hard. He became a many times recognized record holder: only Sandov managed to hold a platform with three horses or with a grand piano and an orchestra of 8 people on his chest! Only this outstanding athlete could defeat the lion, easily discarding the enraged beast. The only test that his body could not withstand was a trick with pulling a car out of a ditch with one hand. Having got into an accident, the bodybuilder pulled the car out, but died of a cerebral hemorrhage.

Evgeny Sandova passed away in 1925, but his work lives on. About how modern bodybuilding competition, read our impressive photo review!