Continuing my dive into the backcatalogue of Health and Strength magazine is today’s discussion of an important, at least in my eyes, cover from the early 1920s. The cover features T.W. Standwell from, Dublin, Ireland. Standwell was one of the first Irishmen to appear on the cover of Health and Strength despite the fact that Irishmen had long appeared in articles, contests and advertisements. Given that my own research is broadly interested in Irish physical culture perhaps biases me to this image but for those interested in physical culture, and weightlifting, the cover holds interest. At the time of publication,...

Health and Strength magazine began publishing in the late nineteenth century and, up until very recently, was still in circulation. Designed for a British audience, the magazine quickly became one of the most well read and well esteemed pieces of its time. In an age when information on weightlifting was hard to come by, Health and Strength’s biweekly or biannual issues proved to be a treasure trove of information. In time the magazine spread from Great Britain to the far outreaches of her Empire, from Australia to India and everywhere in between. As a historian of physical culture, it is...

Old physical culture dumbbells really are a strange phenomenon. From squeeze grip dumb-bells to old wooden objects, the devices people used to build their bodies in the early twentieth century sometimes defy belief. One of my favorite examples of this is undoubtedly the Sandow ‘ringing’ dumbbell. Eugen Sandow, who was recently covered in a Rogue documentary, was one of the leading physical culture celebrities of his age. Possessing a body that few rivalled but many envied, his creativity and entrepreneurship knew no bounds. From the early 1890s to his death in 1925, Sandow put his name to early health supplements...

Few scholars of physical culture and bodybuilding more generally will be unfamiliar with the name Eugen Sandow. Known by many as the father of modern bodybuilding, Sandow helped to popularize health, exercise and weight training to large swathes of individuals in Great Britain, the United States and further afield. He counted Kings and Queens as his admirers, opened his own line of gymnasiums, promoted health foods, workout devices and even his own magazine. For later scholars, Sandow’s legacy and importance was brought to the masses through David Chapman’s Sandow the Magnificent. While previous scholars discussed Sandow’s importance, including some wonderful work...