6 athletes of pre-steroid era who brought bodybuilding to mass culture

Bodybuilding has always been very competitive. A lot of people do it as either a hobby or professionally which means there are lots of products and resources out there that can help them. Blogs like bonymuscle.com/ and other resources are very extremely useful for people who are new to bodybuilding and want to learn the best exercises, supplements and gear they can use to get started. On top of this, the fitness product industry is very diluted with thousands of options for fitness lovers. For example, you can use SARMs to get hench much quicker (look at this, one of the best SARMs stack guide if you’re interested) and there is countless other equipment and diets to boost your physique, such as if you found some awesome hgh which will help to increase muscle mass. But today, I want to look at the best pre-steroid bodybuilders that helped bring bodybuilding to the mainstream.

#1 Eugen Sandow

One of the famous 19th-century bodybuilders is Eugene Sandow (born Friedrich Muller) from Prussia. Sandow is considered to be a father of modern bodybuilding and even more. He was a trainer for the king of England. In 1891 Sandow arranged the first contest for bodybuilders and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was among the judges.

Image by ADiamondFellFromTheSky/ Flickr commons

#2 Charles Atlas

Another famous now 20th-century bodybuilder is Charles Atlas (born Angelo Siciliano). He managed to capitalize a lot on the image of bodybuilder created by his predecessor Sandow. Atlas invented Dynamic Tension system to build his muscles and became popular by 1922. One well-known story tells that Atlas was motivated for bodybuilding after once he got punched in the face.

Image by Jes�s Anto�anzas/flickr commons

#3 John Grimek

In 1930s Grimek was heavyweight weightlifting champion, but in 1936 Olympics he came only ninth. He was not keen on training but very much into becoming a champion. Instead of getting strength from regular workouts, he decided to lose weight and go down in the category but that cost him too much strength, which he lost after a diet.

Image by BJ Alias/ Flickr commons

#4 Steve Reeves

Reeves was contemporary to Grimek and came after him in 1941 Mr. America and the 1949 Mr. Universe. Reeves was one of the greatest and most successful bodybuilders of the pre-steroid times. According to some sources, he was able to deadlift 400 pounds holding the bar with only his fingertips. Reeves won the 1950 Mr. Universe with only seven weeks of training according to Grimek.

Image by Carlos Newsome/ Flickr commons

#5 Larry Scott

Larry Scott won the first two Mr. Olympia titles. Scott had a relatively narrow frame, he was 200 pounds with 20-inch arms. He was nearly the first one who started using steroids to increase muscle growth. Even though he probably had some physical and genetic limitations, steroids helped him develop his upper torso and changed our perception of the body of a bodybuilder.

Photograph courtesy of Mr. Olympia facebook page

#6 Arnold Schwarzenegger

And, finally, the guy who made a breakthrough in bodybuilding and brought it from the sidewalks of popularity to mass culture. He had a special physique which made many to start visiting the gym, he has changed the view on masculinity. Despite that, some thought that he looks good just when he did flex and, in the meantime, his muscles sag. I wonder if he ever followed a fantastic six pack guide to get his brilliant body? I hear that askmuscle.com have some great content to help any budding bodybuilder.