What can we learn from a fitness magazine from March 1938? – Part 02
I’ve had a personal interest in fitness, and bodybuilding in particular, since I was a child. Besides the important parts related to practicing good nutrition and actually working out, I’ve also always been keen to read up on the subject. This reading not only involved learning about the science of working out and all that entails, but also its rich history. As part of that initiative, I’ve acquired a modest library of fitness magazines, books, and other literature over the years. Now, here on fullSTEAMahead365, I’d like to share the most interesting tidbits from some of these classic, historical works, starting with the March 1938 issue of Strength and Health from the legendary Bob Hoffman.
You can check out Part 01 here.
Even though in the last entry I just took a look at the exterior front and back covers and was hoping to get into something a bit more meaty in this entry, the first two interior ads, the one on the other side of the front cover and the one on the opposite page before the Contents and Shows and Events schedule page, were similarly interesting and worthy of its own entry.
That’s obviously a great shot of Bob Hoffman, most likely at or around his physical peak. I’ve only really seen photos of him when he was much older and didn’t look like he trained much, if at all. In any case, the testimonials are interesting to read. I also did a quick Google search for “The Road to Super Strength!” booklet, but it doesn’t appear to be online. This was being sold well into the 1940s, though, it seems, as a different ad appears in Popular Science from March, 1946. I wonder if it was updated much, if at all, 8 years later.
This is a strange one. I never really heard of the “Perfect Voice Institute,” but sure enough, some form of the company and information is still around, even though the original is from 80 years ago! Based on this Yahoo! Answers entry, the technique was implemented by Eugene Feuchtinger in 1932. You can actually see Feuchtinger’s booklet at that Perfect Voice link!
