The process of strength training has been around since the days of ancient Greece. It was employed mainly by bodybuilder types engaged in contests of strength.  What has changed over time is equipment and that more and more everyday folk have been educated in the benefits of strength training. 

In the 1930s Charles Atlas came out with his program directed men and boys.  The ads claimed that he could bring you from a skinny 97 pound weakling to a muscled strong man.  Since then, many articles and textbooks have been written on the subject, increasing the available knowledge for those who “just want to get fit.”  Strength training’s popularity increased after the movie Pumping Iron was released in the 1980s.  In the 1990s, women jumped on board with a push by a book called Body for Life.  This was a program book that listed steps and instruction to a healthier body in just 12 weeks.  This started the thought process in women that strength training wasn’t just for men and didn’t necessarily require a gym membership.

Suddenly the goal across the country was to be “buff” and look good.  The popularity of strength training brought about changes in the equipment available in gyms.  Gym equipment started out as barbells and dumbbells of varying weights.  Weight plates were then designed that made the equipment far less cumbersome and much easier to set to an appropriate weight.  Universal Gym Company came out with an exercise machine in the late 1950s.  This machine was a single unit with multiple stations.  Weight plates made it easy to change the weight used.  Then in the 1960s, Arthur Jones entered the scene with his Nautilus equipment.  These machines differed from the Universal in that they were separate stations not multiple stations on one machine.  They were the start of the high intensity training program.  These machines greatly increased the popularity of strength training to the masses.