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JP
8/15/2009 11:24am,
I don't believe this has been posted yet.

I ran across it on my RSS feed via the rosstraining.com blog.

Here is an online museum dedicated to the original Iron Men.

Eugen Sandow & The Golden Age of the Iron Men.

Including entries for Charles Atlas and Farmer Brown. There are also PDF links to some of the books written about/by these men during their lives.

Some specific and very cool examples are:

Sanford Bennet:

"Bennett at the age of 50 had become an old man in poor health, suffering from a number of chronic complaints and many wrinkles.

Despairing of relief from doctors and drugs he finally devised a series of some 35 different exercises to be done in bed before arising in the morning.

After following them faithfully for years he had become, in all respects, a young man at 70. This was attested by medical examinations. His face had become smooth without a single wrinkle. His theory was that the body gets old through the accumulation of mineral deposits in the tissues, which finally become stiff and inelastic."

http://www.sandowplus.co.uk/Competition/Sanford_Bennett/sbennett-intro.htm

Louis Cyr:

"One of Cyr's most-talked about stunts occured on 10 December 1891 in Montreal. Four horses were tied to his arms (two on each side) and, while the grooms whipped and urged the horses to pull, Cyr managed to restrain all of them.

Louis Cyr died in 1912 and many say he ate himself to death. The official cause, however, was listed as chronic nephritis."

http://www.sandowplus.co.uk/Competition/Cyr/cyr.htm

DdlR
8/15/2009 1:19pm,
I recommend David Chapman's book "Sandow the Magnificent" as a really interesting biography of the guy who put bodybuilding on the map - Amazon.com: Sandow the Magnificent: Eugen Sandow and the Beginnings of Bodybuilding (Sport and Society) (9780252020339): David L. Chapman: Books (http://www.amazon.com/Sandow-Magnificent-Beginnings-Bodybuilding-Society/dp/0252020332)

FWIW I collect exercise equipment and memorabilia from the Golden Age of physical culture - antique posters, Indian clubs, weightlifting machines etc. Hand-crafted out of oak and cast-iron and it's all stood the test of time. You can keep your bow-flexes ...

A.M.
8/15/2009 8:25pm,
I recommend David Chapman's book "Sandow the Magnificent" as a really interesting biography of the guy who put bodybuilding on the map - Amazon.com: Sandow the Magnificent: Eugen Sandow and the Beginnings of Bodybuilding (Sport and Society) (9780252020339): David L. Chapman: Books (http://www.amazon.com/Sandow-Magnificent-Beginnings-Bodybuilding-Society/dp/0252020332)

FWIW I collect exercise equipment and memorabilia from the Golden Age of physical culture - antique posters, Indian clubs, weightlifting machines etc. Hand-crafted out of oak and cast-iron and it's all stood the test of time. You can keep your bow-flexes ...

This might be a stupid question but were Indian clubs ever used as weapons or were they just exercise equipment?

DdlR
8/15/2009 9:54pm,
This might be a stupid question but were Indian clubs ever used as weapons or were they just exercise equipment?

If you go back far enough into Indian history, they were weapons that then became used as exercise equipment.

The Bodyguard Society of the British suffragette movement (circa 1913) carried Indian clubs as concealed weapons and used them in their battles against the police.

http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/edith-garrud-the-suffragette-who-knew-jujutsu/7297087

Jim_Jude
8/16/2009 12:26am,
This might be a stupid question but were Indian clubs ever used as weapons or were they just exercise equipment?

The club was based on the big club used by Hanuman (from Ramayana) & also loosely based upon the mace used by Bhima (from Bhagavad Gita). If you can swing those big clubs, you're gonna be able to really move any bludgeoning weapon.

Edit: not to be a dick, but shouldn't this be in the "Physical Training, Diet, and Health Forum" (http://www.bullshido.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=23)?

JP
8/16/2009 3:37pm,
Edit: not to be a dick, but shouldn't this be in the "Physical Training, Diet, and Health Forum" (http://www.bullshido.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=23)?

It ties into some of the other historical western physical traditions that are already in this forum.

Think of it more as a history lesson than a real suggestion for training methods.

Also, Farmer Brown is a member of the above web museum. A western martial artist if ever there was one.

Domite
8/16/2009 4:31pm,
http://www.sandowplus.co.uk/India/Chandrashekhar/chan.htm

This is pretty cool.

Jim_Jude
8/16/2009 7:02pm,
It ties into some of the other historical western physical traditions that are already in this forum.

Think of it more as a history lesson than a real suggestion for training methods.

Also, Farmer Brown is a member of the above web museum. A western martial artist if ever there was one.

Do you mean Farmer Burns?

JP
8/16/2009 7:52pm,
Do you mean Farmer Burns?

****.

What do you think?

Jim_Jude
8/16/2009 8:48pm,
****.

What do you think?

**** if I know, man. It's your thread. Get your **** straight :biggrin:

JP
8/17/2009 10:05am,
**** if I know, man. It's your thread. Get your **** straight :biggrin:

Point.