Downloaded by [New York University] at 05:13 12 April 2017 A 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. Downloaded by [New York University] at 05:13 12 April 2017 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 Downloaded by [New York University] at 05:13 12 April 2017 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 Downloaded by [New York University] at 05:13 12 April 2017 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 Downloaded by [New York University] at 05:13 12 April 2017 To Val Downloaded by [New York University] at 05:13 12 April 2017 This page intentionally left blank Downloaded by [New York University] at 05:13 12 April 2017 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 Downloaded by [New York University] at 05:13 12 April 2017 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 Downloaded by [New York University] at 05:13 12 April 2017 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. Downloaded by [New York University] at 05:13 12 April 2017 This page intentionally left blank Downloaded by [New York University] at 05:13 12 April 2017 Introduction Researching Built Bodies Bodybuilding is a continuum, ranging from the mundane to the other- worldly. Training systems, diets, and vocabularies that previously circu- lated amongst bodybuilding insiders are now routinely taken up by ordinary gym- goers of different nationalities, ages, and genders. Commod- ities and services for transforming oneself towards the ‘hard body’ ideal form the backbone of a billion- dollar fitness industry expanding globally. Developing muscles through bodybuilding methods has come to be seen as essential for both general health and higher performance in sports as diverse as golf, martial arts, and rowing. At the more ‘extreme’ side of the continuum, the freaky or monstrous built body has become a pop icon that continues to provoke different types of fascination over the past 40 years. A vivid illustration of the drive to stretch the limits of human nature, it also serves as a visual curiosity that can be consumed as entertainment, in Hollywood blockbusters, the pages of the yellow press, or YouTube videos. In effect, the freaky built body has become a dominant representa- tion, what outsiders and insiders alike recognize, even if they appreciate it differently, as bodybuilding. The initial spark for the present work was an empirical observation: bodybuilding and bodybuilders of the ‘extreme’ type are talked about as ‘freaky’ or ‘monstrous’ by both insiders and outsiders to the bodybuilding culture. To many looking from the outside, the freaky built body appears disgusting, threatening, perverse and/or grotesque (Lindqvist 2003; Lingis Downloaded by [New York University] at 05:13 12 April 2017 1994). Common reactions of revulsion and derision are directed not only towards the specular built body but also what is perceived to be a whole subculture of pathology that gives birth to it (Monaghan 2001).1 From the same standpoint, bodybuilding as formal spectacle gets dismissively labeled as a ‘freak show.’ At the same time, bodybuilders themselves habitually use the term ‘freak’ or ‘monster’ to speak of each other.2 Here, though, the spirit is one of attribution of respect and admiration not only for what one looks like but also, and equally importantly, what they had to do to achieve it.