So. Who is the Physical Culturist?

Who I am is not nearly as important as why I am. I'll have a go at explaining both!

WHO?
I am a 30 year old man who spent his teenage years chubby and his 20's plain fat. My body was as unattractive as it was unhealthy, and my energy levels were right down there with my mood. I hated my job and I hated the shape I was in.

I solved the job thing by leaving work and going back to university to study Physiotherapy - which has given me a much greater understanding of the effects of various exercises on health than my Sports Science degree did. The Sports Science degree did, however, provide me with knowledge on how various exercises affected fitness and performance. (Health and fitness are two very different things - more on that in a future post).

The 'terrible shape' thing was harder to fix. Of course, the motivation was there - I had all the motivation in the world - and thanks to my Sports Science studies, the theory was there. What wasn't there was direction.

You see, despite enjoying various sports as a teenager, I decided against using competitive sports to get me back into shape. The way I saw it was that until I was in my mid-30's, this would work fine - but when a family, work commitments or injury caught up with me, then I'd be back to square one: drifting.

So, then there's "training for trainings own sake". Naaaaa! I'm not one of those people who want to go to the gym just to tick a box and say "I tried." And I'm betting that you're not either - if you are someone who wants to make a change, make a real measurable and visible difference then ticking a box won't do it for you either.

So. What springs to mind when you think of an activity that can dramatically change you appearance and, in theory, get you fit and healthy? Bodybuilding, right! Well... sort of.

As I explained in the opening post of this blog, bodybuilding started off as something beautiful and pure: an effective means of developing your body, your health and your discipline - all things that offer benefits outside of the activity itself. That is to say, when you leave the gym, your efforts are rewarded outside of the gym.

However, over the years - more specifically, from the 60's onwards - things have changed, and not for the better. The aesthetic, ideal bodies that a man could aspire to back in the day were replaced on stage by bloated, unreal, and (for the man who values his masculinity and vitality) unattainable freaks that no normal man wants to look like. And, just as importantly, no normal woman wants to be seen with!







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WHY?

So here was the catch. I had found the activity that would give me physical and mental self-improvement - the holy grail of the man unsatisfied with himself - only to discover that it had been hijacked by drug-pushers and over-blown narcissists.

You could, of course, soldier on regardless, insulate yourself from the 'bodybuilders' and train quietly in the corner of the gym. You could follow a great routine and not bother yourself with the freaks at the elite end of the "sport". (you know, the guys who insist on calling themselves athletes when they struggle to make it up the stairs... at 5% bodyfat).

Except you can't. Not really. Because the great routine you got from Arnolds' book; or from the Muscle Magazines; or from almost any other resource you can find are NOT great routines.

They are designed by and for men on steroids. They are pushed by the publishers of the magazines, who also happen to be the ones trying to peddle excessive, overpriced protein shakes on you. It's true: you will need all that extra protein if you follow those routines, to stop you burning out after the first month. Buy the protein and pills, and it'll take two months to burn out!

I know this because I spent nearly 5 years doing this. Wasting money on excessive supplementation, magazines and books promising the earth. In physical terms, I lost and gained the same 10lbs of fat over and over again trying the various diets and routines they touted. Did I put on muscle and get stronger? Yep. Because at a low level, almost anything works better than nothing. But those dramatic changes I was promised never turned up.

So I looked back. At the true bodybuilders - the physical culturists - whose bodies I would want and could have.

That is why I am a Physical Culturist. Because the only men worth turning to were gone. But not forgotten. Their words and examples are now largely ignored and mostly misunderstood. And I thought that was shame.

Physical Culture - An Overview

Physical Culture generally refers to the exercise and health movements that originated in the late 19th Century in response to the "diseases of affluence" that the middle classes were succumbing to.
There were several systems of physical culture that used different means to reach the same end. The goal was a healthy body, but the tools used ranged from heavy gymnastics (parallel bars, pommel horses, etc), combat sports (such as fencing and wrestling) and - perhaps most famously - weight training - as advocated by the first bodybuilder: Eugen Sandow It is this aspect of Physical Culture that we will be most concerned with: the creation of a healthy, strong and aesthetic body.

Fast forward to the current day and athletic performance has surpassed the wildest dreams of the original physical culturists. The muscular development of Eugen Sandow, considered beyond exceptional in his time, are these days far-surpassed by many men in any gym you care to go into. So, if the physical development and performances of Sandow et al are more common-place now, surely this is a good thing and the gospel has been spread? Right?... Well, not really, no.

Something (everything) has been lost along the way. Previously unthinkable physical development has been achieved. The price? Health and aesthetics.

It's generally suggested that the Golden Era of Physical Culture was from around the late 1800's (Sandow) to about the early/mid 1960's (when anabolics started to permeate bodybuilding and strength competition) - and for the purposes of this blog, we'll go with that. Steroids, so legend has it, were created in the 30's under the direction of that scally-wag, Hitler. The truth is probably a lot more boring, but the fact remains it was around this time that the earliest steroids/synthetic testosterone were developed.

However, decades passed before the athletic benefits were really identified. BUT when the penny dropped, it dropped BIG!

Using the last commercial gym I attended as a case in point (although almost any gym would be the same) - there are 19 year old lads openly discussing anabolic cycles, pro-hormones, "roid-rage" and laughing about the "roid-raging-horn" they've been getting. These guys do achieve remarkable things in a short amount of time. Their physiques are cumbersome, unattractive and have a strange (lack-of) quality about them - but dammit they are benching over double-bodyweight, rocking 19" guns and abs - albeit bloaty abs. Unfortunately, they are also sporting pimply backs and shriveled genitalia.

They then face the choice: quit and salvage their health at the expense of the vast majority of their size or cycle on and off indefinitely and get bigger. And bigger. And bigger. Etc. Unsurprisingly, a lot go down the latter route and end up even more bloated, even more unattractive and worst of all, decidedly unhealthy.

All Is Not Lost!!

There are a few - a precious few - trainees who, knowingly or not, are true to the creed of the original Physical Culturists. They do not train purely for size. Weight training is not their only activity. They do not employ performance enhancing drugs or endlessly gorge themselves on 400g+ of protein per day and allow themselves to get fat while they 'bulk'. They train for health, vitality and aesthetics.

They may primarily lift weights, but they also play sports; run; walk and eat a diet that, while altered to suit their current goal, is fundamentally healthy. They are not immune to congenital defects or disease, but they will fight these things far more successfully and the quality of their lives will be far greater.

They will likely not suffer the effects of depression. The discipline they have developed along with their bodies will benefit them in their professional lives. They will not dread going to the beach or having their photos taken and will be the person you want around when the proverbial hits the fan.

And it is the ranks of these precious few that modern Physical Culturists should aspire to join. Soon, I shall share with you how.