Tag: Wooden Dumbbells

The Man in The Gymnasium

Posted on Thursday, December 13th, 2012 by John Wood

The Man in The Gymnasium

The Man in The Gymnasium… unfortunately his name is lost to the sands of time. We do know two things though: he had excellent taste in equipment AND was a snappy dresser. This picture was taken around 1900.
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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
Author: John Wood. 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 generally not available for sale unless specifically noted.

A Presidential Workout

Posted on Saturday, August 11th, 2012 by John Wood
Calvin Coolidge, Indian Club Workout
Running the country is hard work which is why a regular training schedule is a good idea. Here’s Calvin Coolidge getting in a quick Indian Clubs workout in the White House, circa 1923. House Speaker Frederick H. Gillett looks on while training with the wall pulley. It’s not hard to understand where Coolidge’s interest from physical training stemmed from, he attended Amherst College (class of 1895) which had an extensive school-wide physical education program led by the physical culture pioneer Edward “Old Doc” Hitchcock.

The 23rd Street Y.M.C.A.

Posted on Tuesday, May 29th, 2012 by John Wood
The 23rd Street Y.M.C.A.
A look at the interior of the famed 23rd street Y.M.C.A. in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, sometime around 1900. Though the available equipment was spartan by some standards, it was certainly all that was (and is) required to build a high level of strength and vitality.

This facility is actually famous for several other reasons: It was one of the first centers of widespread basketball interest and activity in the US… in fact, the team that practiced in this gym, headed by Alfred “The Kid” Abadie and his brother Bob, won the very first national AAU tournament championship in 1898. Charles Merrill and Edmund Lynch (of Merrill Lynch) are said to have met in the swimming pool sometime in 1913 and, as the story goes, many decades later, it was this location that inspired the Village People song “Y.M.C.A.”

Around a decade ago, the building was sold and this area was turned into luxury apartments.