SUCCESS STUDIO: 3,000 YEARS IN THE MAKING!
These days there seems to be a gym on every corner. But when did the gym become so mainstream?
Ancient Greece is the root of what we now know as the modern health club or gym. Designed to train men for such games as the Olympics, the gyms focused on fitness and care of the body.
After the collapse of the Greco-Roman civilization, many centuries passed before the gym re-emerged as a cultural institution. Inspired by a desire to restore national pride after the crushing defeat of the Prussian army by Napoleon at the battle of Jena-Auerstedt, a Prussian schoolmaster named Friedrich Jahn established a state-run gym called,Turnplatz, or exercise field, in an effort to improve the physical fitness of the Prussian people, to make them better soldiers who would avenge Prussia's humiliating defeat.
By the middle of the 19th century, Vaudeville-strongman-turned-fitness-entrepreneur, Hippolyte Triat, was the first person to open gyms commercially, first in Brussels, then in Paris.
But what accounts for the shift from state-run gymnasia in Europe at the beginning of the 19th century to commercial gyms in the middle of the 1800s? Eric Chaline, author of The Temple of Perfection: A History of the Gym, says, “‘The Turnplatz became the model for school and military gyms, where standards of physical fitness were imposed by the state to create fitter workers for the factories and fitter conscripts to fight the state's wars…I see the commercial gym as an unintended consequence of the fight for greater individual rights. As the citizen became more autonomous as a political entity, every aspect of the individual became more important, including his body.”
By 1939, fitness legend Jack LaLanne opened what is believed to be the first U.S. health club in Oakland, California. LaLanne designed and introduced many of the machines that are still mainstays on traditional gym floors during a time when medical professionals were touting the dangers of rigorous exercise and lifting heavy weights.
In 1965, Gold’s Gym opened, and the rise of a new big-box concept for health and fitness began for men and women, alike. By the 1980s there were a myriad number of gym chains. Additionally, the success of Jane Fonda’s exercise video drove many legwarmer-clad women through the doors of these clubs to lift light weights and do aerobic dance classes.
Today, consumers are looking for a more personal and intimate experience. In the last 20 years, smaller mom-and-pop health clubs, personal training studios, plus a host of other specialty fitness gyms, have popped up on almost every corner. Success Studio is proud to be a personal part of the transformation to better health and fitness, and to touch the life of each individual that walks through our doors. And it only took 3,000 years!
To thank each and everyone of our members for making Bill’s Success Studio dream a reality, we are hosting our 16th annual OPEN HOUSE. Members AND non-members are welcome (and encouraged) to join us Saturday, September 25, at the Ivy location (2125 Ivy Road Suite G1) from 10 am to 2 pm for a pot-luck style BBQ from Mission BBQ, live music, vendors, and games!
If you can’t make that, we got you covered at our second location with the Inaugural OPEN HOUSE at Success Studio North (994 Research Park Blvd.) Saturday, September 18, from 10 am to 2 pm for games, membership deals, food, and more!
It's evident that public awareness of fitness and wellness has risen because of the shift of focus to a healthier lifestyle and the promotion of the new offerings. Holding a gym membership and spending money on fitness used to be seen as a luxury, but today it has become a part of people's lifestyle. There is little denying the importance of a dedicated space to train in today’s world.