Table Of ContentA Genealogy of Male
Bodybuilding
Bodybuilding has become an increasingly dominant part of popular gym
culture within the last century. Developing muscles is now seen as essential
for both general health and high performance sport. At the more extreme
end, the monstrous built body has become a pop icon that continues to
provoke fascination. This original and engaging study explores the devel-
opment of male bodybuilding culture from the nineteenth century to the
present day, tracing its transformations and offering a new perspective on
its current extreme direction.
Drawing on archival research, interviews, participant observation, and
discourse analysis, this book presents a critical mapping of bodybuilding’s
trajectory. Following this trajectory through the wider sociocultural
changes it has been a part of, a unique combination of historical and
empirical data is used to investigate the aesthetics of bodybuilding and the
shifting notions of the good body and human nature they reflect.
This book will be fascinating reading for all those interested in the
history and culture of bodybuilding, as well as for students and researchers
of the sociology of sport, gender, and the body.
Dimitris Liokaftos is a Marie Curie Research Fellow at the Sport Science
Section, Department of Public Health at Aarhus University, Denmark.
Routledge Research in Sport, Culture and Society
62 Families, Young People, 68 Embodying Brazil
Physical Activity and An ethnography of diasporic
Health capoeira
Critical Perspectives Sara Delamont, Neil Stephens and
Edited by Symeon Dagkas and Claudio Campos
Lisette Burrows
69 Sport, Medicine and Health
63 Women and Sport in Latin The medicalization of sport?
America Dominic Malcolm
Edited by Rosa López de D’Amico,
Tansin Benn and Gertrud Pfister 70 The International Olympic
Committee, Law, and
64 Success and Failure of Accountability
Countries at the Olympic Ryan Gauthier
Games
Danyel Reiche 71 A Genealogy of Male
Bodybuilding
65 Sexual Abuse in Youth From Classical to Freaky
Sport Dimitris Liokaftos
A sociocultural analysis
Michael J. Hartill 72 Sport and Discrimination
Edited by Daniel Kilvington and
66 Football, Culture and John Price
Power
Edited by David J. Leonard, 73 Seeking the Senses in
Kimberly B. George and Physical Culture
Wade Davis Sensual scholarship in action
Edited by Andrew C. Sparkes
67 Human-Animal
Relationships in Equestrian 74 The Role of the Professional
Sport and Leisure Football Manager
Katherine Dashper Seamus Kelly
A Genealogy of Male
Bodybuilding
From Classical to Freaky
Dimitris Liokaftos
First published 2017
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2017 Dimitris Liokaftos
The right of Dimitris Liokaftos to be identified as author of this
work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77
and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Names: Liokaftos, Dimitris, author.
Title: A genealogy of male body building : from classical to freaky
/ Dimitris Liokaftos.
Description: Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY :
Routledge, 2017. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016032193| ISBN 9781138187115 (hardback) |
ISBN 9781315643380 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Bodybuilding–Social aspects. | Masculinity. |
Human body–Social aspects.
Classification: LCC GV546.5.L48 2017 | DDC 796.41–dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016032193
ISBN: 978-1-138-18711-5 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-64338-0 (ebk)
Typeset in Sabon
by Wearset Ltd, Boldon, Tyne and Wear
To Val
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Contents
List of Figures viii
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: Researching Built Bodies 1
1 Historical and Theoretical Coordinates of
Bodybuilding’s Trajectory 15
2 Building ‘Perfect’ Bodies: The Restorative Model of
the Early Period (1880s–1930s) 39
3 From ‘Ideal Manhood’ to ‘Muscle for Muscle’s Sake’:
Shift of Paradigm in the Middle Period (1940s–1970s) 68
4 Breaking Boundaries: Freaky Bodies and the Paradigm
of Elite Sport Performance 93
5 Machine, Animal, Hardcore: Freak as Dominant
Approach to the Embodied Practice, Aesthetic of
Representation, and Group Identity 111
6 A Monstrous Practice for Producing the Monstrous
Body: Drug Use for Bodybuilding Purposes 132
7 Extreme Sport and Corporate Entertainment: The
Freaky Body as Commodified Spectacle 156
Conclusion 179
Index 188
Figures
2.1 Photo Illustration from the Book Life is Movement, Or
the Physical Reconstruction and Regeneration of the
People 41
2.2 Photo Illustration from the Book How to Pose 44
2.3 Publicity Material for Eugene Sandow’s American
Vaudeville Shows 50
2.4 Publicity Card of Melvin Burkhart 55
2.5 Photo Illustration from the Book Muscle Control or Body
Development by Will- Power 55
3.1 Strength & Health Magazine Cover 71
3.2 The Young Physique Magazine Cover 75
3.3 Muscle Builder/Power Magazine Cover 83
4.1 Publicity Poster for the 45th Anniversary of the
Mr. Olympia Contest 106
4.2 Arnold Schwarzenegger and Ronnie Coleman on the 2004
Mr. Olympia Stage 107
5.1 Training Photo of Dorian Yates at the ‘Mecca of
Bodybuilding’ 122
5.2 Promotional Material for the Animal Line of ‘Hardcore’
Bodybuilding Technologies 127
6.1 Muscle Builder/Power Magazine Cover 143
6.2 Dorian Yates Months Before His 1993 Mr. Olympia
Victory 145
7.1 Digital Billboard of Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino
Hosting the 2004 Mr. Olympia 165
7.2 Pictorial from All Natural Muscular Development 168
7.3 Muscular Development Magazine Cover 170
Acknowledgments
The present work comes out of a doctoral research project conducted at
the Department of Sociology, Goldsmiths, University of London, and sub-
sequent research enabled by a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellow-
ship. I am thankful to my thesis supervisor Victor J. Seidler for his
guidance as well as to staff members and PhD researchers at Goldsmiths
Sociology for support and inspiration. My new colleagues at the Sport
Science Section, Department of Public Health at Aarhus University and the
Centre for Public Health at Liverpool John Moores University made me
feel welcome and allowed me the necessary space to complete this book.
Sincere thanks for their generosity go to all who participated in this
research, especially to David Chapman and the directors of the H. J.
Lutcher Stark Center for Physical Culture and Sports (University of Texas
at Austin) for granting me access to a wealth of archival material. Last,
but not least, thank you to my extended family and friends for their
encouragement.
