Western Advancements in Sport Science
Jason Tremblay, PFT Certificate
The popularization of fitness in North America started with iconic figures such as Jack Lalanne, Joe and Ben Weider, Charles Atlas and Arnold Schwarzenegger. In the 1950s Jack Lalanne started his own fitness television show, promoting the benefits of living a healthy lifestyle. The Jack Lalanne Show would later become the longest running exercise television program. As Jack Lalanne began to promote physical culture in the United States the Weider brothers were doing the same. Joe and Ben Weider began publishing magazines promoting muscle-building culture. With the release of comic books featuring Charles Atlas and muscle building magazines, strength athletes gained popularity. Famous strength athletes Reg Park and John Grimek emerged as winners of the Mr. Universe and Mr. America competitions. Although muscle building culture had gained some popularity, fitness did not become mainstream in Western Culture until the arrival of a young 21 year old Austrian, Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The Schwarzenegger Effect
In 1968, a promising young Austrian Bodybuilder moved to America. Arnold trained under the tutelage of Joe Weider at Golds Gym in Venice, California. It did not take long for Schwarzenegger to become the king of the bodybuilding world. He won his first of seven Mr. Olympia titles in 1970 at the age of 23. In 1977 a docudrama titled “Pumping Iron” was released, Pumping Iron focused on bodybuilding culture and the rivalry between Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lou Ferrigno. The film was a success as people became more aware of the young charismatic Austrian Bodybuilder. Arnold officially retired from bodybuilding competition after the 1980 Mr. Olympia competition in which he won his seventh and final title. Afterwards Arnold turned his sights on Hollywood, starring in movies such as Conan the Barbarian, The Terminator, and Predator. Arnold became one of the most highly paid actors in Hollywood; in the process he popularized the muscular physique and displayed it to a mainstream audience. With fitness centers beginning to sprout up in major urban areas, the need for exercise science became increasingly more important.
Exercise Certifications
As fitness began to gain popularity in western culture, the need for quick and effective training methods became greater. Fitness certification programs such as the ACSM and the AAHPERD were created. The American Association of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance promoted a differentiation between youth performance testing and youth fitness testing. The latter of which promoted body composition, cardiorespiratory fitness and low back function. The birth of personal trainer certification programs provided jobs in the fitness industry and helped to accelerate the growth of physical culture.
The Birth of American Exercise Physiology
The Harvard Fatigue Laboratory is often considered the origin of exercise physiology in the United States. David Bruce Dill was the director of the Harvard Fatigue Laboratory, which operated from 1927 to 1947. Dill focused his initial research on how the body operates under different environmental conditions such as altitude, high humidity and low humidity. The Harvard Fatigue Laboratory also produced research on exercise metabolism, aging and metabolism, blood gas transport, acid-base balance and nutrition.
After the closing of the Harvard Fatigue Laboratory, a so-called “era of sport and athletics” emerged in the United States. From 1960 – 1980, research was conducted on many different topics, including:
- Diet, exercise and muscle glycogen
- Determinants of exercise performance
- Effects of training on function and performance
- Metabolic demands of differing exercise intensities
- Exercise in various environmental conditions
- Strategies that delay the onset of fatigue
A lot of western research on sport science centered around aerobic exercise and cardiorespiratory fitness. Dr. Kenneth Cooper is credited with popularizing “aerobics”, a training methodology that touted the benefits of steady state cardio and long slow distance cardiovascular exercise.
These types of endurance training modalities are now recognized as an important part to modern exercise programs. The benefits of steady state cardiovascular exercise are:
- Increased mitochondrial density
- Capillarization
- Increased red blood cell count
- Increased fatty acid oxidation
- O2 transport
After the Cold War, western sport science and eastern sport science advancements began to come together. Important figures such as Tudor Bompa and Dr. Mel Siff began to spread knowledge of the Soviet methods into western culture. Concepts such as plyometrics training, interval training and periodization were fused in with western ideas. Unlike during the era of sports, western training regimens now include foreign concepts. It is this exchange of ideas that has made up a base for program design and future sport science research.
This article has concluded our 3-day mini-series on eastern and western training methodologies. You can view the previous articles under the article section titled “Olympics Series” at www.KyleHuntFitness.com
To contact Jason: https://www.kylehuntfitness.com/articles/the-strength-guy/
References
(n.d) A Brief Overview of Exercise Physiology. Retrieved July 28th from: http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~pe/exs336web/336historyVA1.html
G. A. Dudley, W. M. Abraham, and R. L. Terjung. (1982). Influence of exercise intensity and duration on biochemical adaptations in skeletal muscle. Retrieved July 28th, 2012 from: http://jap.physiology.org/content/53/4/844.short
Robergs, Robert. (2010). What is Exercise Physiology? Retrieved July 28th, 2012 from: http://www.unm.edu/~rrobergs/426L1History.pdf
Cooper, Kenneth H. (January 1969) [1968]. Aerobics. 14490 (revised ed.). Bantam Books. ISBN 978-0-553-14490-1. Lay summary (2007-12-28).