A fascinating look at the world of strength training, from its roots in ancient times, to the movers and shakers of the physical culture world up to the 1950s. Teeming with photographs and illustrations, it's all here: strongmen and women of vaudeville; Sandow, bodybuilding's first superstar; Charles Atlas who introduced more beginners to bodybuilding than anyone before him; 'Milo' Steinborn; the great John Grimek; Jack and Elaine LaLanne whose physical fitness television show was shown in all corners of the world; and dozens of others many of whom became household names. Some of their lives read like works of fiction and will hold the reader spellbound.

Table Of Contents for Volume One
FOREWORD	PROLOGUE	THOMAS TOPHAM
JOHANN GUTSMUTHS	FRIEDRICH LUDWIG JAHN	HIPPOLYTE ANTONIE TRIAT
ARCHIBALD MacLAREN	ANGUS MacASKILL	DONALD DINNIE
PROFESSOR LOUIS ATTILA	RICHARD KYLE FOX	MARTIN BURNS
APOLLON	LOUIS CYR	EUGEN SANDOW
EDMOND DESBONNET	BERNARR MACFADDEN	JOHN GRUNN MARX
MINERVA	APOLLO	AL TRELOAR
ALAN CALVERT	BOBBY PANDOUR	WARREN LINCOLN TRAVIS
THE 'SAXON TRIO'	GEORGE HACKENSCHMIDT	LIONEL STRONGFORT
MONTE SALDO	OTTO ARCO	THOMAS INCH
MAXICK	KARL SWOBODA	EDWARD ASTON
KATIE SANDWINA	EARLE LIEDERMAN	BILL PULLUM
OTTLEY RUSSELL COULTER	HERMANN GOERNER	GEORGE F. JOWETT
LILLIAN LEITZEL	CHARLES ATLAS	KARL NORBERG
THE 'MIGHTY ATOM'	HENRY 'MILO' STEINBORN	BOB HOFFMAN
DAVID P. WILLOUGHBY	JOE BONOMO	'SIG' KLEIN
CHARLES RIGOULOT	JOSEPH 'JOE' ROLLINO	TONY SANSONE
BERT GOODRICH	PEARY AND MABEL RADER	IAN 'MAC' BATCHELOR
JOHN GRIMEK	BOB PEOPLES	OSCAR HEIDENSTAM
VIC AND ARMAND TANNY	CHARLES A. SMITH	SAM AND JOE LOPRINZI
WALT MARCY	JACK LaLANNE	INDEX
PHOTOGRAPHERS INDEX	PHOTOGRAPHS FROM COLLECTIONS INDEX