Posts Tagged ‘body builder’

The Evolution of Body Building Supplements

These days bodybuilding supplements are as common as bottled water. All our retail and grocery stores sell them, GNC is usually just down the road, but what about the history of bodybuilding supplements? From whey powder to creatine and everything in between, the bodybuilding supplements industry has steadily been growing both in popularity and in the sheer number of products available.  

But how did it ever get to be this way?  At what point in human history did we equate the intake of supplemental foods with the construction of the perfect physique?  Interestingly enough it started with a man named Eugen.

Nineteenth-Century Supplementation

Over a hundred years.  That’s how far back you would have to travel back in time to find the first traces of what is now known as bodybuilding supplements, consumable goods that were shown to have a direct impact on developing muscle and physique in the user.  

Regarded as the first modern bodybuilder, Eugen Sandow was a staunch advocate of the impacts that eating or drinking certain foods can have on muscle development.  Earle Liederman, a friend of Sandow’s, drank beef juice and extracts to help him his muscles and body heal faster after rigorous exercise, inadvertently developing what some argue to be the first post-workout supplement.