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Strength Training Secrets From The Past: Fitness, Home Gyms, & Sandow | Gym Exercise, Equipment, & Showmanship | Weightlifting Equipment Optional: The Checkley System

Weightlifting Equipment Optional?

A Natural Method of Physical Training, by Edwin Checkley

Weightlifting equipment optional? According to the early 1900's strongman Edwin Checkley,  yes- not only was weight lifting equipment unnecessary for muscle growth, but  the use of any bodybuilding equipment could  be potentially harmful . In his book, "A Natural Method of Physical Training," Checkley outlined a weight loss and bodybuilding program  that included breathing exercises, posture development and natural movement exercises such as calisthenics, boxing and tumbling for gaining muscle.  The "Checkley System" advocated an approach that was quite unlike some of the other physical culture concepts books of the time, such as those of Sandow,who promoted strength training  and muscle growth through free weight training such as dumbbell exercise and a specialized food plan.

While Checkley's  arguments against women's corsets seem quaint today, and his arguments against weight lifting exercises are now obviously outdated, certain concepts in the book seem surprisingly modern - almost holistic.  

For example, in describing the goal of a strength trainer, Checkley doesn't see gaining muscle as a goal in itself (as in competition bodybuilding) ,  or as an approach to athletic training, so much as a path to a balanced life.  So while today we may be obsessed with commercial and home exercise equipment that  help us tighten our butts  or gym machines that finally trim our lower abs, Checkley's system is about physical development that gives you a better quality of life.

And fascinatingly, he offers fitness routines that build leg muscles through movements that seem a lot like dance, through abdominal exercises that build lower abs without crunches, and through the same breathing techniques, (known as costal breathing), that are used in Hatha Yoga.

So though Checkley's muscle growth book may be nearly a hundred years old, it's somehow surprisingly relevant, and for all we know, may hold long-forgotten fitness and weight loss secrets- minus the weightlifting equipment. 

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License. Scanning attribution thanks to Google.

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