Not that health clubs are so common and we see people jogging and riding bikes everywhere, it is sometimes difficult to think that it was not always this way. Indeed, photographs of models of only a few decades ago show ideals that are not at all like our ideals of beauty today. It is interesting to examine how these changes came about.

It is widely believed that the first private gym in the U.S. was started by Louis Attila in 1894. Perhaps you've seen the images of men with one-piece outfits and big mustaches using barbells, dumbbells, and pulleys. This was called "physical culture" and was generally dismissed by the community at large. The medical field ignored it. It was considered a cult that was peculiar in some unspeakable way.

After World War II Joe Weider started publishing Strength & Health magazine. At the time, bodybuilding was associated with narcissism and was considered at least a little strange. As the magazine popularized the images of well-built men with beautiful women, its name was changed to Muscle & Fitness. Muscle & Fitness remains one of the best-selling magazines. Ads in the backs of all sorts of magazines taught us that the way to avoid the embarrassment of getting sand kicked in our faces in front of our girls was to become more of a MAN. Boys growing up in the 1950s and 1960s didn’t share their parents’ attitudes. They wanted to be Charles Atlas.

The modern era of bodybuilding can be traced to the early 1970s, when Joe Weider brought Arnold Schwarzenegger to America from his native Austria. Schwarzenegger was featured in Weider's magazine competed in physique contests. Over time, having big muscles, or at least a toned body, seemed much less strange. Nevertheless, lifting weights took place in dark, sweaty places that were frequented by dangerous-looking men.

Then Arthur Jones invented the Nautilus machine. In the late 1970s, he presented his machines as "the thinking man's barbell." This statement in itself was somewhat startling in that it introduced the idea that the same man could both lift weights and think simultaneously. The breakthrough was that a machine could spread resistance evenly over the full range of a muscle's movement. Because the timing was right, and perhaps because something more sophisticated than a chunk of metal was required to accomplish Jones' breakthrough, the world took notice. An industry was born. Since then, innovations in strength training equipment have come very rapidly.

During the 1980s, health clubs spread like sweat on a handlebar. In the 1990s, the technology and economics of manufacturing changed so much that many people were able to afford to buy sophisticated equipment for their home for the first time. Today many people prefer to work out at home with their own compact and sophisticated equipment. The privacy and time savings of home gyms make a great combination.