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[4 pages] "...Careful Training is always necessary and the first consideration must be organic. The biggest mistake the youth makes is to dissipate his energies in an abandoned effort to build strength. True, youth bubbles with energy and enthusiasm, but what he overlooks is the important fact that neither his organs, nor his muscles are equal to his enthusiasm and in his too often unrestrained methods, he burns up what he has......keep reading

[2 pages] Colorado Experiment Workout #5, performed May 7th, 1973....keep reading

[68 pages] Fair Warning: This is easily the sleaziest publication to be featured so far, but the selection of mail order muscle courses advertised within is staggering. All your favorites from back in the day are in there: The Universal Body Building Course, The Bullworker, Joe Weider, Mike Marvel, Olympic Musclebuilders and, of course, Charles Atlas. It's not hard to guess that wrestling fans also had a healthy interest in adding some extra muscle....keep reading

[60 pages] Professor Attila, early strength pioneer, teacher of Sandow, and developer of an untold number of training techniques that are commonplace today only wrote one dedicated training course, and this is it.

Published by Richard K. Fox, this course on light dumbbell training is much more challenging than you might think....keep reading

[18 pages] When you go next to the Zoo or the circus, see whether you can find a lion or a tiger exercising with a dumbbell in each paw! Has your dog ever surprised you by taking a turn at the chest weights when you take him with you to the gymnasium where you take your weekly exercise? Of course he hasn't. Animals don't "exercise," even when they are caged and domesticated. Yet lion and tiger and dog' keep fitter than you do.

Lion and tiger and dog come a lot nearer to being as strong as their wild brothers than we do to matching the physique and the rude health of a savage or of our own primitive ancestors. And when you consider that fact, it's not very flatter-ing to man, is it? Man, the intellectual ruler of the world, who has made brute strength subordinate to the power of his mind? Because the best mind in the world won't function properly very long unless the body, that is the temple of the spirit, is in order....keep reading

This course, written in 1878, was one of the many titles put out under the Ed James "Sporting Series"--James was the sporting editor of The New York Clipper, an early newspaper. It was also written with the assistance of two other modern experts of the day: Helping out with the dumbbell training portion was Richard A. Pennel, gymnastic instructor at Penn University and who famously "put up" a 201 lb. 6 oz. dumbbell overhead with one hand in 1874. The Indian Club section was put together with the assistance of Henry Hill, who swung the clubs professionally on the vaudeville and variety show circuit....keep reading

"...In order to perform feats of strength, or even exercises requiring a certain degree of strength, it is necessary to concentrate the mind on what you are doing. In other words, the will-power is strengthened. After you have become thoroughly accustomed to the practice of our system, the use of a strong power of will is second nature with you.

Any situation that confronts you, no matter how difficult, is readily solved and masterfully handled when you have a dauntless will-power. The continued performing of exercise feats beyond the powers of average men, gives you an increased confidence that seeks for other worlds to conquer....keep reading

Here is a little-known but very well done treasure from the golden age of strength....keep reading

For more than 170 years the primary mission of the United States Military Academy has been to select, train, and educate the finest of American youth to be comate arms officers in the Regular Army of the Untied States. An integral factor in that mission is to insure that each graduate of the Academy possesses the physical attributes necessary for leadership. To accomplish this goal, every cadet is required to participate in a physical education program designed to provide him with a high level of personal fitness. To this end, one of the cornerstones of West Point's commitment to high physical standards in its graduates is a continuing, ongoing examination and evaluation of the methods used to attain such levels. Primarily because of this commitment, the Academy decided to undertake a comprehensive study of strength training and its consequences. This article provides and overview of the results of that undertaking....keep reading

[88 pages]"...It has before been stated, that as a means of physical culture, the Indian Club stands pre-eminent among the varied apparatus of gymnastics now in use. This fact is unquestionable, as those who know how to use them are ready to attest. For simplicity and convenience, they are unsurpassed by any other kind of apparatus, and half the fixtures of an ordinary Gymnasium will not produce such a general development of the muscles from the loins upwards, as a pair of Clubs. ...keep reading

[44 pages] "The origination of weight-lifting in America as a national organized sport, begins with the inception of the American Continental Weight Lifters Association (A.C.W.L.A.) Prior to that time, everything was disjointed and many athletes took advantage of the general disorder and forced false claims upon the public. this fact helped considerably to disgust many bar-bell users who had genuine ability and in several cases, caused them to quit the game simply because their feats looks insignificant in comparison with the feats that were claimed by others and preference seemed always to be given to the illusionists for feats that we knew were humanely impossible for these certain lifters to attempt, let alone accomplish. Consequently splended material was lost to the sport..."...keep reading

William G. Anderson, then-director of Physical Education at Long Island College and eventual director of the Yale gymnasium, published this course in 1898. It is one of the most complete Indian clubs courses ever written -- all major movements are covered and several specific step-by-step sequences for beginners are also included....keep reading

[31 minutes] The conclusion to the Dinosaur Core Training program....keep reading

The ideal in the mind of the beginner is to possess muscular arms, and it is only after he has added some inches to his arms and, incidentally, his chest, that he gives any thought at all to his legs. This may be a case of "out of sight, out of mind," for although the budding athlete will roll up his sleeves to display a bulging biceps on the slightest invitation, he will not be nearly so ready to turn his trouser leg and expose his calf....keep reading

[28 pages] The regular use of Sandow's Grip Dumb-Bells will supply every organ and muscle of the body with that gentle exercise which is so necessary to the human system. This exercise will, in a short time, give permanent relief to all those complaints which are caused by any failure of-or defect in-the muscular system, resulting from a sedentary life.

Whilst exercise is absolutely necessary to good health, every form of exercise is not suitable. It must not put any strain on the heart or produce abnormal development,if it does, more harm than good will result. We claim that you will obtain more benefit from exercise with Grip Dumb-Bells than from any other exercise, and without the slightest strain on the heart or producing abnormal development.

Exercise without will power also is useless. Grip Dumb-Bells compel the user to concentrate his (or her) mind on the work throughout the whole exercise, in order to keep the Dumb-Bells together. This natural...keep reading