Introduction to Iron Sports

In our difficult times, associated with troubles of an environmental, social and economic nature, various types of physical activity - a powerful tool in the struggle of man as a biological species for survival. Priority remains with those types of sports activities that maximally compensate for the so-called "motor hunger", fight stress well, strengthen our cardiovascular system, and also increase immunity. Such a universal remedy as bodybuilding classes.

Legendary multiple Olympic champion, record holder Yuri Vlasov, the first person to lift 200 kilograms over his head, wrote about this, then still very young sport: “...an excellent health complex system, coupled with the correct regimen and thoughtful nutrition. The strength, grace, and health born of athleticism prove the greatness of the human spirit and confirm the beauty of overcoming.”

1. Stages of formation of Bodybuilding
2. Russian famous bodybuilders of past centuries
3. The benefits and harms of Bodybuilding

Stages of formation of Bodybuilding

A number of authors argue that bodybuilding as a sport appeared in America under the name "body-building", from the English “Body Building”–“building the body”, and after recognition in other countries the term took root "body-building". From the French - “Culturisme” - a set of physical exercises with a variety of weights, with the goal of comprehensive muscle development.

Man's eternal desire for physical perfection was reflected in different ways in different eras. Schemes of exercises with weights in various variations can be seen on the paintings of ancient Egyptian temples, on ancient Greek amphoras, as well as on Western European frescoes and engravings from thousands of years ago. In the systems of many ancient philosophers, physical culture occupied a significant place. In Ancient Greece, various physical exercises with weights served as a means of healing and developing a beautiful physique. Wrote about this Hippocrates. The peoples of India, China, Babylonia and other ancient civilizations have preserved examples of athletic training, consisting of exercises that help improve the body.

And in Rus' in the old days, strong, courageous and harmoniously developed people were valued. Heroes of fairy tales and epics became heroes endowed with kindness, loyalty, and generosity. Their qualities seem to connect physical and spiritual beauty.

Russian famous bodybuilders of past centuries

The first Russian bodybuilding circles appeared in the 70s and 80s of the 19th century. Their main task was to develop physical strength and improve the athletic beauty of the body. Among the large number of outstanding athletes of the past, one can single out a multiple world champion among professionals Georg Hackenschmidt (“Russian Lion”), and at the advanced age of 80, he aroused admiration for his incredible physical abilities and heroic, incredible strength. By the way, this man is the author of an entire system of physical development called: "The path to strength and health."

The names of the athlete are widely known A.K.Anokhina - professor, author of “Volitional Gymnastics”, and Alexandra Zassa, inventor of the hand dynamometer, author of several physical development systems. Came to A. Zass's performances in Britain Winston Churchill.

The athlete was considered a model of athletic excellence Evgeniy Sandov. In 1911, King George of England awarded him the title of Professor of Physical Development. Also, E. Sandov is the author of the most famous system of physical development in those years, called: “Strength and how to become strong.” It was he who first formulated the widely used principle of progressively increasing loads by periodically increasing the weight of the equipment or the number of repetitions, and also for the first time added spring dumbbells to the training.

The benefits and harms of Bodybuilding

But despite bodybuilding authority All over the world, there are still people who are skeptical about the methods of healing with its help. Among their arguments are the following: training with weights leads to enslavement of a person, and also makes him clumsy, slow, deprives women of attractiveness, negatively affects reproductive functions, and so on... However, it is worth noting that these “arguments” do not stand up even to the most minimal criticism and can be resolutely attributed to idle fiction. Let's try to clarify the situation and figure out what are the benefits and harms of bodybuilding...

Let's start with the fact that "Iron sport" with the help of exercises hardens and develops our muscular system, which affects the functioning of the cardiovascular, respiratory, immune and other irreplaceable, vital complexes and systems of the body, increases the strength of bones and ligaments.

In addition, bodybuilding is an essential medicine for confronting life’s troubles and adversities, relieving accumulated stress, instills discipline in athletes, imparts determination, helps strengthen positive self-esteem and an objective opinion about oneself. The process of developing strength and gaining muscle mass is closely interrelated. Bodybuilding makes the body powerful, large, proportional, harmonious, and beautiful, which, alas, is not always possible in other sports. And, as you know, external beauty is impossible without internal beauty.

As for harm, we can say the following: if you do everything Right, according to your mind, following the proper instructions, no trouble will touch you...

It’s another matter if you approach the issue of training thoughtlessly, rush and force events, loading your body with excessively large weights - such an approach, of course, can have a negative impact on your health. For this reason - "hurry slowly"as our ancestors said...

Bodybuilding can be compared to hard work sculptor. The athlete himself sculpts his body according to ideal world models, although there is still no single standard for defining beauty. For many centuries, humanity has admired the beautiful creations of sculptors from Hellas and Rome, who captured in marble the slender Apollo of the Belvedere, the powerful discus thrower Myron, the mighty Hercules, and cannot decide: which figure is more beautiful - with overly developed large muscles or slender, graceful, proportional?

Ancient Greek famous sage Plato said that “the first benefit for a person is his health, and the second is beauty.” Proportionality presupposes the proportionality of certain parts of the body. The concept of “athletic build” is also used. So, according to A.N. Vorobyov, the basis of all the canons of athletic development is the following position: the volume of muscles and individual parts of the body should be proportional to the values: length and thickness of bones.

Of course, there are also average proportions: so with a chest circumference of 100 cm, the girth of the pelvic area should be 88 cm, the neck should be 38 cm, your forearm should be 30 cm, the biceps should be 38 cm (with contraction, this value increases by as much as 20%), the waist – 75 cm, hips – 54 cm, shins – 36 cm.

According to the established situation, the girths of: a) neck, b) shin, c) biceps must be approximately equal.

With the body proportions provided above, the athlete’s weight can be calculated using the following formula: height in cm minus 90.

When increasing the girth dimensions of the muscles, it is also necessary to remember that relying on principles of harmonious development, at the same time it is necessary to increase strength. If we take the two-arm standing bench press from the chest as a constant - 100 kg, then the following should be present in certain exercises: indicators:

1. a) barbell press, from a lying position on a horizontal bench - 130 kg,
2. b) squats with a barbell on the back - 220 kg,
3. c) deadlift - 240 kg,
4. d) standing barbell curl - 67.5 kg.

As a rule, it is believed that the main role is played by the muscles of the trunk, although there is also the following opinion: athlete maturity characterized by well-developed muscles of the arms and legs.

The largest muscle groups trained by athletes in fitness and bodybuilding classes

Powerful torso The athlete, surrounded by prominent muscles, is attracted by the width of his shoulders and thin waist. The abdominal muscles give the greatest aesthetics to the figure. Rectus muscle - bends the torso, pulls the lower limbs to the chest, participating in fixing the correct position of our internal organs and at the same time the general tone of the body. Oblique muscles - tilt and rotate the body. It is necessary to develop the abdominal muscles together with other muscles surrounding the abdominal cavity, the internal muscles of the pelvis and the diaphragm.

Muscles require a lot of attention backs, which are also involved in creating a spectacular athletic figure. Trapezius muscle - lifts, rotates, brings the shoulder blades together, pulls the head back. But the latissimus muscle leads the arm to the torso, turns it inward, participates in bending the torso to the side, and takes part in the movement of the entire shoulder girdle.

Among the muscles of the upper shoulder girdle, the shoulder gives its complete shape deltoid a muscle group that consists of anterior, middle and posterior bundles. The front part of the deltoid lifts the arm forward and rotates it inward. In this case, the middle one is involved in abducting the arm to the side, as well as when abducting it forward and upward. Posterior - moves the arm up and back, rotates the arm outward.

Well developed arm muscles decorate the athlete. The most famous and known to everyone since childhood is the biceps brachii muscle, the biceps - it bends the limb at the elbow joint. Participates in abduction and adduction of the arm during supination (turning the hand palm up) of the forearm. The triceps brachii muscle, or triceps in other words, extends the limb at the elbow joint and moves it backward.

The muscles of the forearm - flexors and extensors of the fingers, perform basically all possible movements of the hand and fingers.

Of considerable importance for the full harmonious development of muscles are neck muscles. Unfortunately, they often disappear from athletes’ sight during training. The main muscle of the neck - the sternocleidomastoid - tilts, rotates the head, and helps in lifting the chest up.

Indestructible foundation The structure of the entire body of any bodybuilder is the large muscle groups of the lower extremities. On leg muscles accounts for about 50% of the total human muscle mass. The athletic beauty of an athlete largely depends on their development. The quadriceps femoris muscle, quadriceps, extends the lower limb at the knee joint, flexes the thigh, and rotates it outward and inward. The butt muscles - the gluteus maximus - are involved in extension and external rotation of the hip. But the biceps femoris muscle, the biceps of the leg, flexes it at the knee joint, rotates outward, and also extends the leg at the hip joint. The calf muscles - the gastrocnemius muscle - flexes the foot; participates in flexion of the lower limb at the knee joint.

Studying the functions and structure of muscles allows us to better understand technique performing exercises, understanding the content and meaning of various training systems. It is necessary to individually choose exercises to work out a particular muscle group, find your way physical improvement.

When starting classes, you need to know that achieving your goal will require a huge amount of time and patience. Remember: “bodybuilders are not born!” — they become bodybuilders!” Of course, some will achieve results with less expense, some are given more by nature initially, and some will have to put in more work, but the main result is victory over oneself and one’s own body - available to everyone!