How much of modern strength training is genuinely new, and how much has been around for decades?

In this episode of Stronger With Time, I speak with Dr Conor Heffernan about where many of the ideas we now take for granted in the gym came from, how they changed over time, and what their history can teach us about training today.

Conor is a historian and sociologist of sport at Ulster University whose work focuses on the history of strength training and physical culture. He is the author of The History of Physical Culture and When Fitness Went Global, and writes at Physical Culture Study.

In this conversation:
How physical culture evolved into modern bodybuilding and gym culture
Eugen Sandow, the first modern physique star, and why he sold light dumbbells while training heavy himself
Where the squat, three sets of ten and body-part splits came from
What lifters already understood about progressive overload by the 1930s
What changed in training once anabolic steroids entered strength sports
Where single-set and high-intensity training came from
The history of women in strength, from calisthenics and “toning” to progressive strength training
What Conor takes from more than a century of strength-training history into how he thinks about training today

Timestamps
00:00 Introduction
00:57 Physical culture and the origins of modern gym culture
06:28 Where three sets of ten and body-part splits came from
13:08 What lifters already knew by the 1930s
16:50 Eugen Sandow and early fitness marketing
21:39 What a 1930s lifter would recognise today
31:33 Silver Era training and the pre-steroid physique
39:18 When anabolic steroids entered strength sports
43:01 How steroids changed training
49:18 Single-set and high-intensity training
52:49 The history of women in strength
59:53 Where “toning” and light weights for women came from
01:06:15 What Conor takes from strength-training history
01:11:23 Where to learn more

Dr Conor Heffernan
Ulster University:
https://www.ulster.ac.uk/staff/c-heff...
Physical Culture Study:
https://physicalculturestudy.com/
Physical Culture Study Substack:
https://physicalculture.substack.com/

Books
The History of Physical Culture:
https://cgscholar.com/publishers/book...
When Fitness Went Global:
https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/when-fi...

Dr Tony Boutagy / Stronger With Time
Website:
https://tonyboutagy.com/
Explore Tony’s courses:
https://tonyboutagy.com/explore-the-c...
Instagram:
Instagram: tonyboutagy
Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/5Yydg6y...

This episode is for general educational purposes only and is not intended as individualised exercise advice.