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Introduction: A brief history of athletic and sports training.
The first weightlifter was some caveman who was practicing throwing rocks for an upcoming skirmish with a rival cave band. He kept trying bigger and bigger rocks. The next time he tried throwing he found that he could pick up even bigger rocks. He kept at this until one day he was able to pick up boulders. His primitive mind had figured out that increased resistance training would build strength.
Next came the ancient warriors who now had spears and swords to play with.
They would practice throwing spears every day. They found that the more they trained, the further they could throw the spear, and the more accurate were their casts. As they practiced with their swords in one hand their heavy shields on the other arm, their endurance and strength increased in direct proportion to the amount of training they did.
Along came the Greeks who brought training to a new level. The Greek warriors developed a whole range of athletic activities that were designed to increase their martial prowess; throwing the javelin, archery, hurling a discus, running sprints and distances, hurdling barriers, weight-lifting, wrestling, boxing and swimming.
This led to contests to display these skills and reward those who excelled in the individual sports.
Modern athletics rose from the attempts by warriors to get bigger, stronger and faster and to have more endurance. Each ethnic group developed their own particular athletic events, but the final goals for each were the same. The Celts threw the caber, a long heavy pole, and they heaved heavy stones for distance and accuracy. The Greeks and later the Romans refined weight lifting and wrestling into sports. The Scandinavians developed snow sports; skiing, sledding and ice skating. The Irish developed the still (oh, wait, that’s another whole topic).
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The original Olympic Games arose in Greece as a testing ground for warrior skills in direct competition with other warriors. The early American Indians devised lacrosse as mock battles between large groups of men, sometimes one tribe against another. The Incas, Mayans and Aztecs had ball games played with rubber balls and rackets on a huge three-sided court. In their early games, the penalty for losing was often death.
Early martial arts in the Orient were developed in India by monks as a form of self discipline. Picked up by Chinese Buddhist monks, this training evolved into a form of weaponless combat, the basis for kung-fu and other Chinese martial arts.
Weaponless combat traveled to Korea and Okinawa, then ultimately to Japan.
Early forms of weaponless combat were the tool of the peasant class, who had no weapons with which to defend themselves against marauding armies.
The Okinawans called this art “te” or hand. They practiced breaking boards with their clenched fists and fingertips as their oppressors’ armor was made of interlocking wood strips. In Japan they added the word “kara” or empty, to the name of the styles now known as karate (empty hand). Today, most of the Oriental martial arts are practiced as sports; karate, taekwondo, kung-fu, judo, aikaido, kempo, tang-soo-do and the like.
The need for individual warrior skills had nearly vanished by the modern era but the athletic events with which they practiced had evolved into competitive sports.
In the modern world, our increased leisure lifestyle has renewed interest in physical training for the health benefits instead of doing battle.
The modern Olympic Games, also boxing and wrestling matches and lacrosse and jai alai games no longer leave the bodies of the vanquished on the fields.
Modern weight lifting is split into two fields of endeavor: Olympic lifting and power-lifting, each with the same goal of pitting matched-size competitors to see who can lift the heaviest weights.
Weight lifting became a ready means of achieving fitness, and the sport of bodybuilding (yes, it is a sport and it requires tremendous dedication) arose. In To download my second ebook “The Real Truth About Abs” for free, please visit http://howmusclebuildingworks.com/go/truth-about-abs-bonus/
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bodybuilding the fitness and appearance are the goals, instead of the amount of weight lifted.
During the first third of the Twentieth Century, bodybuilding competitions began to be held. By the late 1930s sanctioning bodies arose to establish rules, judging and awards for the competitors. In the USA the Mr. America contest was first held in 1939; the precursor was held the year before. These contests proliferated and today there are a myriad of bodybuilding competitions for both men and women all over the world, all governed by a number of sanctioning bodies.
Early bodybuilders who achieved national and worldwide acclaim and name recognition were: John Grimek, Mr. America 1940 and 1941; Steve Reeves, Mr.
America and Mr. Universe 1947, Reg Park, Mr. Universe 1951 and multiple other world titles, Bill Pearl, Mr. America 1953 and multiple Mr. Universe titles, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mr. Europe, multiple Mr. Universe and Mr. Olympia titles.
Arnold is probably the epitome of bodybuilding success. He leveraged his fame into a movie career as an action star and ultimately became the Governor of California for two terms. He married a daughter of the politically famous Kennedy clan and has become wealthy from investments and products related to bodybuilding.