1913 Milo Bar-Bell Ad

Posted on Sunday, November 13th, 2016 by John Wood
Check out this ad for the Milo Bar-Bell Company from the December, 1913 issue of Physical Culture Magazine. Back then, strength training was not as popular or understood as it is today, hence advertisements like this one had to be informative as well as compelling. By the way, the demonstrator in the ad is well-known strongman and strength author Ottley R. Coulter.

WHAT IS A BAR-BELL ?

A Bar-Bell is simply a long-handled dumbbell; it can be used for either lifting or developing exercises. In the above picture, the athlete is “up-ending” a Bar-Bell, while at his feet lie a Dumb-bell and Kettle-bells.

WHY IS IT that a man who has been trained with heavy bells can perform feats of strength beyond the combined power of two or three ordinary men? Not alone, because his arms are twice as strong–because his back, hips and legs are FOUR OR FIVE TIMES AS STRONG as the average athlete’s.

There is only one was to develop this phenomenal back and leg strength: and that is, by the use of a Bar-Bell. You cannot do it by practicing one-arm lifts with a short Dumbbell; you cannot do it by going through the old 5-lb. Dumbbell drill with a pair of 25 or 30-lb. Dumbbells: nor can you do it with a pair of Kettle-bells. Kettle-bells are primarily arm and deltoid developers.

In a combination outfit, the Dumbbell and the Kettle-Bell are subsidiary parts–the Bar-Bell is the great developing instrument. It is because they use Bar-Bells that OUR pupils can develop 45″ chests. 16″ biceps, 24″ thighs, etc.

The back and leg muscles are infinitely bigger, stronger and more important that the arm muscles. After training thousands of cases, it is our conviction that the average man needs a Bar-Bell which can be adjusted up to 100 lbs. if he wants proper ALL-ROUND development.

We will be glad to assist and advise anyone in the selection of a combination bell of proper weight.

IN REGARD TO TRAINING

We believe we have the greatest course of training in the world–the BEST system. We have described it in some of our recent advertisements; but we want to say here that no system–however perfect–will suit any and everyone. If YOU buy and outfit and enroll as a pupil with use, we have to adopt our system to your PARTICULAR INDIVIDUAL needs.

We can tell you a lot of interesting and instructive facts about body building and strength making; and we can also give you information about the finest line of adjustable combination bells in the world.

Write for our booklets.

THE MILO BAR-BELL CO.
1011 Chestnut Street
PHILADELPHIA, PA.
Subscribe to this blog:
Sign up here to receive an email notification whenever a new post is added:
view pixel
All Contents, Including Images and Text, Copyright © 2005-2024 by John Wood and Thunderdome Media Inc., Not to be reproduced without permission, All Rights Reserved
Author: John Wood

Here's the part no one pages attention to: All contents, including images and text, copyright © 2005-2021 by John Wood and Thunderdome Media Inc. Not to be reproduced without permission. All rights reserved. We will most likely grant permission but please contact us if you would like to repost.

IMPORTANT: Equipment and books, courses etc. pictured in blog posts are for display only and generally not available for sale unless specifically noted. If we have vintage equipment, courses, ephemera etc., for sale, it will be posted on our products page.