BODY BUILDING

also spelled Bodybuilding, a regimen of exercises designed to enhance the human body's muscular development. As a competitive activity, body building aims at displaying pronounced muscle tone and exaggerated muscle mass and definition for overall aesthetic effect. Barbells and dumbbells and other devices are used in the exercises. For the use of similar exercises for sports training and conditioning, general conditioning, and rehabilitation therapy, see weight training. Body building was practiced from the time of the ancient Babylonians, but the modern competitive form grew largely out of European strong-man theatrical and circus acts of the 19th century. The first American physique contest, staged by physical culturist Bernarr Macfadden (18681955), took place in 1903 in New York City, with the winner named the most perfectly developed man in America. Thereafter many promoters staged body-building competitions, the most important annual events becoming the International Federation of Body Builders' Mr. Universe contest (founded in 1947) and its later and more prestigious Mr. Olympia contest. From the 1920s through the '60s, Charles Atlas, the 1922 Macfadden title winner, vigorously promoted the activity through a program of mail-order lessons advertised around the world. The premier figure in the history of the sport, or art, was the Austrian-born American body builder Arnold Schwarzenegger, who won the Mr. Olympia title seven times (197075, 1980). Competition for women began in the 1970s.