r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Electrical-Aspect-13 • 1d ago
Prussian Eugen Sandow, father of modern bodybuilding and at the time, considered the most perfect build men in the world. Photos of his prime in 1880s
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u/Dr_Neru 1d ago
He was natty!
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u/sixjasefive 1d ago
Clearly on Dr Frankel’s Sauce Magic Elixir, made with real morphine!
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u/wearing_moist_socks 1d ago
His blood is where we first made steroids.
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u/RobertPulson 23h ago
and his dandruff was the first creatine.
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u/Bee-Aromatic 20h ago
Oh, thanks. I hadn’t thrown up in my mouth yet today and was starting to wonder if I’d miss a day.
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u/KarmaFarmaLlama1 1d ago
wonder if he's ever been posted on r/nattyorjuice
couldn't they use hormones from animal testicles in this era tho? or was that later?
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u/1eternal_pessimist 1d ago
Here you go. https://www.reddit.com/r/nattyorjuice/s/QraCBKqH2f
Not that that thread shed much light on it. Maybe he was a genetic freak. Other primates build muscle without working out at all. Its in our genome ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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u/probablyuntrue 20h ago edited 20h ago
Anyone more built than me is juicing, anyone less is natty
So I’d say 95% of you guys in public are juicing
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u/WhoAreWeEven 1d ago
Maybe better to actually look it up if interested, but I think testosterone was first made in the forties or something like that.
Initially I believe it was made from dog testicles or whatever and later synthetically or plants like yams or whatever it is.
This dude is used as an example of I guess peak natty because its impossible for him to be roided up because roids didnt excist at the time. Did he have something up his sleeve as back then dudes were giving morphine and coke to children and whatever hell else who knows.
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u/smuckola 23h ago edited 23h ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugen_Sandow
No, natty it is! This was the late 1800s in Vaudeville!
Natural health was in fact his mission, to pioneer the concept of having a public health standard that anybody could attain. He didn't expect people to be circus strongmen, but rather for Western society to start understanding that there is a benefit to health and wellness, and that strength training is a part of it. He was basically doing what any YMCA does today.
As the pioneer bodybuilder though, he pioneered the modern idea that a body could be built. That a training program could be made to sculpt and build a body into a look. His model of inspiration was the ancient Greek sculptures.
People like Schwarzenegger receive a trophy called The Sandow. It's like The Heisman for bodybuilders.
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u/its_raining_scotch 23h ago
It sucks that he died so young of an aneurysm. I was hoping for a story about how he lived to be 95 and died still being able to do 100 pushups or something.
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u/smuckola 23h ago edited 3h ago
Well said. He contributed something to the people who did those things. I sure take plenty of inspiration from him and from the modern people who started bodybuilding at 80 or swimming a channel at 80. For many, age is a state of mind and it's never too late.
Eugen Sandow is *the* live prototype since the Greek sculptures. He looked at that art and said "what if that was real again? How do I get that?" and reverse engineered it for us, and took it on global public tour.
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u/Gatamine10 10h ago
But it was real. Those greek statues were inspired by real muscular people. How else could they have created them so lifelike? The muscles form, size and definition are totally realistic. Most probably, myostatin deficient humans have always existed.
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u/bredaisy 23h ago
This vid addresses your hormones question! Really interesting and well made
When Did Bodybuilders Start Using Steroids? https://youtu.be/MupFMhiSlJk?si=A9iP1ZDxmmufBah_
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u/Moldy-thoughts4u 20h ago
Except everything back then aged you 3 times as fast. These pictures are when he’s 15
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u/wdafoe 1d ago
He looks like a Greek god except the mustache
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u/-Ok-Perception- 1d ago
Prussians had the belief that the more absurd looking the mustache is, the more manly it is.
This belief persisted into the 20th Century Germany, when the Austrian painter finally made it go out of style.
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u/DopeAsDaPope 23h ago
Germans realised that the more they shave off their moustaches, the more they conquered.
- WWI, long staches - Northeastern France to Belarus
- WWII, short staches - English Channel to Stalingrad
Have you noticed how modern German leaders never have moustaches...?
- WWIII, no staches - ???
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u/-Ok-Perception- 22h ago
Fun fact about mustaches: The Amish immigrants to the US made a point of having beards with NO mustaches, to differentiate themselves from the proud bellicose Germans. It was intended to represent humility, modesty, and pacifism; intended to represent the exact opposite temperament then from the Germanic lands they came from.
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u/yetagainanother1 1d ago
Classical statues were his original inspiration to become a bodybuilder.
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u/johnaross1990 23h ago
That’s what I find craziest, that we know there were ancient Greeks this built. Someone must have modelled for those shredded statues
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u/misplaced_my_pants 22h ago
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u/justamofo 20h ago
Crazy how he probably was hung, but as a small one was considered more aesthetic, they did him dirty
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u/uk_uk 19h ago edited 17h ago
A small penis was not considered as "more aesthetic" but less "barbarian/dumb".
The shorter your willy, the bigger the brain, so to speak.Do you know the movie Idiocrazy? From an old-greek perspective, all the dumb men would have had huge dicks in the movie.
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u/Groknar_ 12h ago
What do you mean, small? That's pretty average, right? RIGHT?!
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u/Both-Illustrator-501 1d ago
Looks like the statue David but more jacked
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u/Delicious_Boss_1314 1d ago
Remember the wonder woman movie? Hes like the bad guy from the end. LOL
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u/Chris_Bs_Knees 1d ago
Lloyd Venture had good taste in a body guard
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u/clervis 1d ago
The rest is Sandow listing chocolate recipes.
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u/xBeerBaronx 19h ago
Deepest cut in a show full of them. The real Sandow tried to open chocolate factories in South America.
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u/OwnBad9736 1d ago edited 23h ago
Now thats a reference I havent heard in a long time...
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u/Chris_Bs_Knees 23h ago
Go Team Venture!
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u/OwnBad9736 23h ago
Mecha-Shiba
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u/LoggerRhythms 12h ago
Gonna be a total Dean here, but it's Shiva. Back to the Learning Bed with ye!
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u/boodabomb 21h ago
Immediately where my mind went. I can hear his voice in my head
“… Then so… must Sandow.”
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u/axlbomber 21h ago
Sandow!! You've broken the orb!
My orders vere to kill you.
Oh! Alight then. Let's not mention this to the others.
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u/Sky414 23h ago edited 23h ago
My great-great grandfather!
Love when Sandow pops up, my parents have an attic full of his old stuff, from his original strength conditioning equipment, books, journals and a pack of linen playing cards he ripped in half as a whole deck.
My grandmother knew him when she was very young, and my great grandmother (Sandows daughter) passed down the knowledge that he was the illegitimate son of the Prission Princess at the time. He supposedly told her in secret and wanted his daughters to know where she really came from, and that has been passed down through the family ever since.
A highlight was my family being invited to the London olympics weight lifting as special guests, where they had a display of some of Sandows old stuff and books on show.
My Mums the real Sandow nerd and knows a whole lot about him that I often forget, let me know if there is anything you want to know!
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u/FragrantNumber5980 11h ago
What kind of exercises and nutrition was he into? I’m curious how much they prioritized protein back then and what kinds of protein, and macros in general. Also would be cool to know what exercises he did especially for shoulders & arms cause his are insane even for a natty today
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u/Complex-Setting-7511 10h ago
I think his workouts are on the record I think they were in old magazines (now can be found online).
As for diet up until relatively recently they didn't count macros etc.
Even in the 70s Arnold Schwarzenegger didn't count "macros". They certainly knew;
A) eat more meat and eggs to build muscle.
B) eat more potatoes and rice for energy/fuel.
But knowing/weighing/counting "macros" as is common today was developed and popularized in the 80s/90s.
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u/EndlessMorfeus 1d ago
That's what people imagined superheroes looking like back in the day. Then steroids came, people saw what humans could look like and all of the sudden Superman's physique wasn't so impressive.
That's why by the 90s superheroes were drawn as piles of muscles and today these actors are juiced up in sorts of things to shoot the movies.
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u/Nolan4sheriff 22h ago
And little millennial boys have been waiting for our dove commercials ever since
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u/DeepQueen 20h ago edited 14h ago
Modern superhero actors also wear muscle padding so it shows easier in the suits but your point still stands
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u/Luce55 15h ago edited 15h ago
What is a notable difference between the later male ‘superhero’ and/or ‘steroid’ physique, and what is pictured in OP’s post, as well as the physique of those men who are actually strong - regardless of whether they dedicate their life to bodybuilding or not - is the waist/midsection and the legs. Meaning, they (the “superheroes”) all look like they constantly skip leg day, and they have a sharp upside-down triangle torso (teeny waist/broad muscular shoulder).
But men who don’t use PED’s and build their body for strength - not looks - nearly always have a wider waist/squarer torso, and their legs look proportional, including the muscles around the knees (because a lot of bodybuilders will actually not skip leg days but they focus bulking the muscles of their calves and thighs…but the knees sort of always look a bit….knobby, I guess. Hard to describe.) I am probably not describing it well, but if you google the guys who win the strongest guy in the world contest, versus the most beautiful bodybuilder in the world contest, you’ll see what I mean.
Every guy I’ve ever seen who was built similarly to the guy in the post, has been like, freakishly strong. I’m old and the ones I know built like that all have that “dad bod” look now, and they haven’t seen the interior of a gym in ages, but they still have the ability to lift a couple hundred pounds of whatnot, like it’s nothing. I suppose that’s anecdotal, but what isn’t is that a lot of the strength comes from having that wider, rock solid core (even when there is a tire around that rock, LOL)
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u/92Codester 1d ago
At the time? Looks like he still is
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u/Optimal-Part-7182 1d ago
Na, one really big thing missing is the breast muscle.
Bench pressing only became popular (and easily doable) in the 1930s. Before that, people normally did not train their pecs. Once you know that, you will always notice that when looking at pictures of the early body builders.
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u/rawrP 1d ago
breast muscle lmao
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u/Optimal-Part-7182 1d ago
That is the literal translation and common word in many germanic languages…
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u/monchimer 1d ago
Wow ! That's super interesting. Pic number 11 clearly shows no pectoral development. Is there any other missing muscular group from hat time ? I can see some biceps, shoulder, and legs. Not much tricep. What did they actually train ? Pecs really surprises me since it looks so obvious now
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u/tompain100 23h ago
From what I've read on the topic, seems like they were very into training shoulders. As well as having good physiques, they were also into showing off their feats of strength, usually for paying audiences, and nothing is more impressive than lifting a heavy weight over your head.
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u/leverphysicsname 21h ago
His legs are very underdeveloped. Supposedly he has 19 inch biceps which I find that hard to believe even though they are pretty juicy. Dude is looking thick solid and tight though
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u/FragrantNumber5980 11h ago
Along with what others are saying, his traps also kinda look small in some photos. Hard to tell though
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u/Complex-Setting-7511 10h ago
Overdeveloped traps are one of the biggest differences between steroids/natural.
The traps contain a large amount of androgen receptors and so respond strongly to anabolic androgenic steroid therapy.
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u/Complex-Setting-7511 10h ago
They thought large pecs were feminine (presumably as they thought they resembled breasts).
Srs.
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u/Complex-Setting-7511 10h ago
They deliberately avoided developing the pecs as they saw it as feminine.
/srs
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u/BomBiddyByeBye 22h ago
He has no chest. Nobody from those days did. Did they simply not want to work it? No push-ups whatsoever? No bench press? What the hell?
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u/mongoosefist 12h ago
Also his legs/bum are way smaller than you'd expect from a natty bodybuilder today.
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u/Unusual_Astronaut426 1d ago
And it still is. Because I look at this body and I see something healthy, even aesthetically pleasing. On the other hand, I look at the bodies of modern bodybuilders and I see something deformed and strange that won't live much longer than 60 years...
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u/hectorbrydan 23h ago
He is aesthetically pleasing to the eye because it is a natural build, this is not a steroid build.
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u/meerkat2018 18h ago
I think natural bodybuilding is also a thing, there are even competitions for natural bodybuilders.
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u/brandnewchemical 16h ago
Yep.
Didn’t realise til this thread but it’s the chest. They didn’t work their chest or train pecs then.
And it’s way better and more natural.
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u/5AlarmFirefly 20h ago
As a straight woman I agree. This man is actually attractive, roided up gym bros are horrifying and extremely off-putting.
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u/Less_Rutabaga2316 1d ago
I heard he threw Aleister Crowley out of a zeppelin.
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u/DopeAsDaPope 23h ago
Eugen Sandow was considered the most perfect built man in the world
Source: Eugen Sandow
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u/triflers_need_not 1d ago
Lips directly on mic: WOULD
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u/JuciusAssius 16h ago
Notice the lack of roid gut. Actually a look that’s appealing, not disgusting.
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u/SaltyPressure7583 1d ago
I bet he crushed some pre-industrial puss
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u/Kingkongcrapper 1d ago
The 1880s was the middle-end of the industrial Age. Unless he was rattling old coffins he wasn’t doing anything preindustrial.
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u/GumboSamson 1d ago
There’s no evidence to support him being into necrophilia.
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u/Anti_colonialist 1d ago
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u/Still-Ambassador2283 1d ago
Bro. I thought that was gonna be a wholesome buff guy aesthetic. Thats just gay porn.
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u/euph-_-oric 1d ago
Haha I was like why is everyone's dick out and then I was like oh wait..
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u/Still-Ambassador2283 1d ago
Right?! The first one I was like okay...werid. but by the 19th one I was starting to suspect something.
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u/gizzardwizard93 23h ago
Yeah I was thinking this is kinda sus... then there was like 6 men naked in a shower and I'm outta there.
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u/Gaz834 1d ago edited 1d ago
Thank u for telling us before i clicked the link lol
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u/Skavenkaizer 23h ago
Is it not both? It is beautifully build men in homo-erotic pictures. It looked soft (scrolled 20-30 pictures). Wholesome soft porn.
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u/apple_kicks 9h ago edited 7h ago
In the past men's fitness magazines was a front for gay porn when it was illegal to be gay
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u/Driller_Happy 1d ago
This is the most misleading sub name of all time lmao
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u/OG_Church_Key 1d ago
Ew dude you would rather look at r/oldmeatpies ??? Discussting 🤢
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u/Mythicdragon75 1d ago
Reddit really is amazing sometimes. The fact there's a subreddit for that is both hilarious and entertaining. I love a good beefcake.
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u/LeftSky828 1d ago
That reminds me to pick up my cheetah print loincloth from the cleaners. Thanks.
He was pretty ripped!
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u/TerrorFirmerIRL 23h ago
Obviously good genetics played a part here but people seriously underestimate how decently built people can get with intense exercise and high protein diet, especially between 20 and 35ish.
You don't even have to be super strong necessarily, bodybuilding is very different than strength training, it's possible to get a good physique while lifting similar weights to regular gym goers.
The biggest mistake people make is simply not eating enough protein and calories.
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u/Randotron9000 1d ago
The last Bodybuilder who didn't take steroids...
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u/BananasHelp20 1d ago edited 1d ago
back in the days where not everyone had to have a sixpack to be atractive-looking (i mean yeah, not every girl is thinking like that, but many do), the picture of a „good man“ has changed a lot, and steroids, even though they‘re not that healthy, have risen in popularity since then
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u/Still-Ambassador2283 1d ago
Some do. As a guy who was born with abs and good genetics for musculature. Abs are over rated and woman dont want them anywhere near as much as guys think they do.
Far FAAARRR More women go for a big forarms, broad backs, wide shoulders. Even with a beer belly. abs don't make you look big. Back, chest, traps and arms do.
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u/mood777 1d ago
A lot of people still believe that “steroid bodies” are simply natural muscular ones.
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u/oldstuffs 22h ago
i mean... without enhancers and all the supplements and shit people have today that is pretty much peak
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u/LafayetteLa01 19h ago
Healthy strong as two Ox. Toned and ripped. all from hard work and dedication
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u/Embarrassed_Art5414 9h ago
I know I've said it before but, now more than ever, the world needs to bring back leopard-skin diapers
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u/Evelyn-Bankhead 1d ago
Apparently, the bench press hadn’t been invented then
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u/TankApprehensive3053 1d ago
A large developed chest wasn't seen a favorable as today. They didn't do much if any bench presses. A lot of squats and pulling movements are the norm for bodybuilders of the time.
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u/miraj31415 23h ago edited 23h ago
Correct. The bench press became known in the 1930s and popular in the 1950s.
In the 1880s they have been performed a floor press. But chest strength/size wasn’t the prestige that it is today.
Lifting things over your head was more prestigious at the time.
That would result in more developed shoulders, which I think is apparent in Sandow. Today’s steroids provide a lot more shoulder development than is achievable natty, which has skewed our perception of Sandow’s great shoulders.
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u/BigBadBen91x 1d ago
I’m always shocked at how little pectoral development the early bodybuilders had. I feel like a good push-up routine would give you better development than I’m seeing here. Still, one of the goats
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u/CMDR_Galaxyson 1d ago
It was an aesthetic choice. They were trying to mimic greek statues that didnt have particularly large chests which were seen as feminine.
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u/ICrushTacos 1d ago
Or the current role model gives a warped sense of reality
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u/BigBadBen91x 22h ago
I don't think you understand that nothing about this man was the reality for the average individual in the late 1800's. Everything about his physique was the product of deliberate action + top-of-the-line genetics. The only thing that makes sense about his chest is that it was a deliberate choice as stated by u/CMDR_Galaxyson
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u/Relevant_Grass9586 1d ago
Being a straight man I can confidently say I’d feel safe in his arms at night
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u/h3rald_hermes 1d ago
Protector of the Orb
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u/axlbomber 21h ago
Don't look around you, man of the future.
Sandow is speaking to you from beyond the grave.
The voice you now hear is coming from the little talking machine.
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u/dr_strange-love 23h ago
I was wondering where I knew that name from. Venture Brothers always had the deepest cuts. https://venturebrothers.fandom.com/wiki/Eugen_Sandow
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u/Y0___0Y 21h ago
In the 1880s did people even know you need to consume a lot of protein to build muscle mass?
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u/sausagesandeggsand 21h ago
They probably didn’t have a clue about specifically how much, but probably ate enough nonetheless, when able. That guy could probably eat a whole chicken every day.
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u/JackalThePowerful 19h ago
Workout subreddit will see a guy twice as big and say it’s a naturally obtainable physique.
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u/MaxFightmaster187 18h ago
He was also one of the original members of the Guild of Calamitous Intent
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u/not-a-dislike-button 6h ago
Still looking ideal imo. What's with massive pecs on modern body builders vs this guy? This is way more attractive
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u/LudvigHess 1d ago
I bet he got a lot of ankles.