Sandow Builds a Personal Brand<\/h2>\n\nDisplaying an entrepreneurial bent, Sandow monetized his fame as a \u201ccontent creator.\u201d His first book, Sandow on Physical Training<\/i><\/a>, was published in 1894, and the title of his 1904 book, Body-Building<\/i>, helped popularize the term.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nLaunched in 1898, what became known as Sandow\u2019s Magazine of Physical Culture<\/i><\/a> is considered by some to be bodybuilding\u2019s first periodical. Like those lining supermarket checkout aisles today, the illustrated magazine dispensed fitness and nutrition advice and depicted exercise routines and weightlifting techniques.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nThe publications touted Sandow\u2019s System of Physical Training, which promoted<\/a> isometric exercises and regular variations of weights and reps. Presaging the gym selfie by a century, Sandow encouraged exercise in front of a mirror<\/a> to watch muscles at work and mark their development.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nBoasting over 300,000 followers of his system, Sandow also launched a mail-order course that he marketed<\/a> with personal testimonials and now-familiar before-and-after photographs. He promised that anyone who sent in their occupation and measurements would be prescribed a specific home exercise regimen to \u201cprepare the business man or woman for their work.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nIn 1897, Sandow opened the first in a chain of \u201cinstitutes of physical culture\u201d across London in which he offered personal fitness coaching. Matching the opulence of the nearby royal palaces, the upper-crust health club on St. James\u2019s Street was decorated with a life-sized statue of Sandow and an oil painting of its founder posing as an ancient gladiator. Prototypes of modern health clubs, they featured fancy changing and bathing rooms and dedicated areas<\/a> for men and women. Wall charts allowed members to record their expanding chest, arm and leg measurements and slimming waistlines.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nWorld War I Hastens Sandow’s Demise<\/h2>\n\nSandow marketed his fitness system as a cure for ailments including constipation, gout and insomnia and even claimed his health clubs could eradicate serious diseases<\/a> through exercise and diet alone. One newspaper reported<\/a> that Sandow\u2019s \u201ctreatment had only failed entirely in less than 1 percent of these cases.\u201d His grandiose assertions ran afoul of the country\u2019s medical authorities, who disciplined<\/a> some of his physicians.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nWar with Germany further crippled Sandow\u2019s business ventures. Although a naturalized British citizen, his thick German accent\u2014and allegations that his cocoa was manufactured behind enemy lines\u2014aroused suspicions in London after the outbreak of World War I<\/a>. Newspapers even printed rumors<\/a> that he was shot in the Tower of London for being a German spy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nAs the war\u2019s horrific death toll decimated a generation of young Londoners who frequented his health clubs, Sandow faded from public view. In 1925, he died at age 58 of an aortic aneurysm, which, according to some accounts<\/a>, resulted from an injury after lifting his automobile out of a ditch following an accident.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nSandow remains a bodybuilding icon\u2014a gilded statuette of his likeness is given to the winner<\/a> of the annual Mr. Olympia contest\u2014and his legacy endures more subtly as well. \u201cSandow never had a real job,\u201d Todd says. \u201cWhat he had was his body and his ability to promote himself, and that\u2019s exactly what influencers are doing all across the world these days.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Displaying an entrepreneurial bent, Sandow monetized his fame as a \u201ccontent creator.\u201d His first book, Sandow on Physical Training<\/i><\/a>, was published in 1894, and the title of his 1904 book, Body-Building<\/i>, helped popularize the term.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Launched in 1898, what became known as Sandow\u2019s Magazine of Physical Culture<\/i><\/a> is considered by some to be bodybuilding\u2019s first periodical. Like those lining supermarket checkout aisles today, the illustrated magazine dispensed fitness and nutrition advice and depicted exercise routines and weightlifting techniques.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The publications touted Sandow\u2019s System of Physical Training, which promoted<\/a> isometric exercises and regular variations of weights and reps. Presaging the gym selfie by a century, Sandow encouraged exercise in front of a mirror<\/a> to watch muscles at work and mark their development.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Boasting over 300,000 followers of his system, Sandow also launched a mail-order course that he marketed<\/a> with personal testimonials and now-familiar before-and-after photographs. He promised that anyone who sent in their occupation and measurements would be prescribed a specific home exercise regimen to \u201cprepare the business man or woman for their work.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n In 1897, Sandow opened the first in a chain of \u201cinstitutes of physical culture\u201d across London in which he offered personal fitness coaching. Matching the opulence of the nearby royal palaces, the upper-crust health club on St. James\u2019s Street was decorated with a life-sized statue of Sandow and an oil painting of its founder posing as an ancient gladiator. Prototypes of modern health clubs, they featured fancy changing and bathing rooms and dedicated areas<\/a> for men and women. Wall charts allowed members to record their expanding chest, arm and leg measurements and slimming waistlines.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Sandow marketed his fitness system as a cure for ailments including constipation, gout and insomnia and even claimed his health clubs could eradicate serious diseases<\/a> through exercise and diet alone. One newspaper reported<\/a> that Sandow\u2019s \u201ctreatment had only failed entirely in less than 1 percent of these cases.\u201d His grandiose assertions ran afoul of the country\u2019s medical authorities, who disciplined<\/a> some of his physicians.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n War with Germany further crippled Sandow\u2019s business ventures. Although a naturalized British citizen, his thick German accent\u2014and allegations that his cocoa was manufactured behind enemy lines\u2014aroused suspicions in London after the outbreak of World War I<\/a>. Newspapers even printed rumors<\/a> that he was shot in the Tower of London for being a German spy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n As the war\u2019s horrific death toll decimated a generation of young Londoners who frequented his health clubs, Sandow faded from public view. In 1925, he died at age 58 of an aortic aneurysm, which, according to some accounts<\/a>, resulted from an injury after lifting his automobile out of a ditch following an accident.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Sandow remains a bodybuilding icon\u2014a gilded statuette of his likeness is given to the winner<\/a> of the annual Mr. Olympia contest\u2014and his legacy endures more subtly as well. \u201cSandow never had a real job,\u201d Todd says. \u201cWhat he had was his body and his ability to promote himself, and that\u2019s exactly what influencers are doing all across the world these days.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nWorld War I Hastens Sandow’s Demise<\/h2>\n