PHOTOS: Vintage gym bros in their natural habitats
Suddenly we're bodybuilding enthusiasts!
Mark
Bodybuilding culture in any era is fascinating, but there’s something about those old images of muscle men that give us a window into a very different moment in masculinity. They’re also, you know, pretty darn gay, and it’s absolutely not accidental.
Back in the Victorian era, the YMCA—immortalized by the Village People song much later—was a Christian association focused on helping men get more muscular. You know, for the glory of God! YMCA founder George Williams was a proponent of something called “Muscular Christianity,” and by the late 1880s, the Y’s first-ever physical education director, Robert J. Roberts, coined the term “bodybuilding” as part of his (very sexy) efforts to get more men to join up.
How about we take this to the next level?
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But the Y wasn’t the only gym focusing on building out the male body. Consider these French Navy members doing some… interesting body work, shall we say, with military physical educator George Hébert.
The history of men pumping iron is fascinating, and thankfully at least one account—Barbell Films on Instagram—is committed to exploring this pictorial history in all its ripped glory. Perhaps unsurprisingly, these shots of Victorian, Edwardian, and mid-20th century men flexing get pretty darn homoerotic more often than not. For instance…what are these guys doing? Why is that guy’s foot so close to that other guy’s crotch? We don’t know, and we’ll never know. But really, do we need to know?
Another question for the ages: why is this guy lifting up the other using just one arm? The things people got up to before Grindr, I tell ya!
Barbell Films isn’t just a primo IG account: the UK-based account also, as the name would suggest, make films about bodybuilding history and culture. If you ever wanted to learn about the drama behind OG bodybuilder Eugen Sandow’s 1900s fitness chain, for instance, they have a whole short film about it, and it’s pretty eye-opening.
If Sandow looks familiar, that’s because you may have seen him in some of Thomas Edison’s earliest short films, where he flexes his back and teases the camera with his brutal muscularity.
Basically, before there was Arnold, there was Sandow, a German-born bodybuilder who spent time in the circus as a strongman before getting snatched up by Broadway impresario Florenz Ziegfeld, who had the idea of having Sandow break a chain by flexing his massive chest in his act.
Sandow was one of the first bodybuilders to achieve international fame, but he was far from the last. Barbell Films uses their account to share the photos and stories of some lesser-known figures whose legacies have been forgotten to time, such as two-time Amateur Athletic Union Mr. America runner-up Melvin Wells.
There’s also this intriguing video footage of that same contest in 1950, showing women swooning over the flexing, muscular men.
Basically, if you’re looking for historical hunks (and who isn’t?) this is the account to watch.
These images are definitely, um, powerful enough to stand on their own. But if you’re interested in learning the history behind the men in the teeny-tiny leopard print leotards and bulging pecks, this video is a great place to start.
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