Fascinating photographs from the 1800s show men and women using weight-lifting machines at the world’s first gym… and the workout gear look VERY different
SOCIETY’S obsession with the gym appears to many to be a modern-day phenomenon.
But these fascinating black-and-white photographs show the desire to get fit started as early as the Victorian age.
Swedish physician Dr Gustav Zander is credited with inventing the exercise machine in its recognisable form – and his creations date back to 1892.
Dr Zander, a former medical student, was teaching sport in Stockholm in 1857 when he realised that he did not have enough time to take care of each of his students individually.
His solution was to create bizarre contraptions with wood, pulleys and weights that made the youngsters reproduce the right movements while offering resistance.
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While some look to resemble instruments of torture, each vintage shot shows the machines aiding workouts for different parts of the body - much like the mechanised trainers in a modern-day gym.
Dr Zander believed muscles needed to be built up gradually over time, so began working on trainers that would mimic systems and methods of movements that humans had been using for centuries.
Initially quite rudimentary, the devices gradually improved with the addition of steam pistons in 1868 and then with electric motors.
Dr Zander worked on a version of the famous 18th century workout machine, the Gymnasticon, simplifying the model and allowing the user to be as active or passive as they wanted.
This can be seen in some of the images: in one shot, the user can be seen sitting on a horse-like contraption, exerting energy in order to rock the machine.
And while modern gyms are often filled with Lycra-clad exercise lovers, the guinea pigs photographed in this series of images are wearing full period clothing.
Women are seen testing various contraptions in full skirts and corsets buttoned up to the neck, while men wear wool jackets, trousers and sturdy boots.
In 1865 Dr Zander opened the first sports hall in Stockholm, the Zander Institute, which offered both bodybuilding and rehabilitation services for men and women.
His mechanical horse was an early version of the Stairmaster, while a stomach-punching apparatus seems to be an early version of ab machines today.
The concept was met with great success and by 1911 there were more than 300 sports halls bearing his name throughout the world.
His workout instruments were even found on the Titanic.
Stockholm's National Museum of Science and Technology now keeps the photographs.
Last week, we revealed a fascinating set of 1950s photographs that show how British lives were transformed after the Second World War.
We have also reported on the horrific 1,000-year-old Chinese practice of foot binding that agonisingly mutilates the toes into a “lotus” shape.