It is difficult to say what heights Russian bodybuilders could reach today if at the dawn of this sport it had not been illegal in the USSR! On the territory of the countries of the Soviet Socialist Republics, this sport was considered a trend of the West, which meant that the road to the masses of Soviet society was closed to bodybuilding. Such “foreign” motives, according to the USSR authorities, contradicted the ideology of Soviet society. In fact, bodybuilding in Russia remained and developed thanks to several legendary personalities who, despite all attacks from the authorities and worldviews, remained in the sport, continued to develop themselves and bring their accumulated experience to the masses.
Soviet bodybuilding
There really is a difference between Soviet bodybuilding and world bodybuilding. If this sport was available in the USA or Europe, athletes had the opportunity to practice in modern and high-tech gyms using the most advanced equipment (naturally, for that time), then our “pioneers” were, almost, enemies of the people. Moreover, the lack of equipment and training space can be called a trifle compared to the possibility of ending up “behind bars”!
Domestic bodybuilders had to get information from articles in Polish magazines, train in underground gyms and hide from everyone their involvement in their hobby - “body building”. Subsequently, the athletes were like participants in some kind of secret society. They met each other on the street and easily recognized that they were like-minded people. Ordinary people, of course, had no idea about anything.
Why was there a ban on bodybuilding?
It all started in 1973, the year the sports direction was just beginning to become popular. Local authorities considered this sport to be very dangerous, since it deviates from the ideology of communism. People involved in bodybuilding were less manageable and had a tougher character. Therefore, it was much more difficult for the authorities to communicate and convince such people than the rest of the population. Therefore, they decided to simply get rid of them by introducing a ban on bodybuilding. But real sports fans have moved into garages and indoors. We started training in secret, and without prying eyes.
Picture 1 – Bodybuilding classes in an underground gym
The thorny path of bodybuilding in the USSR
The history of bodybuilding in the Soviet Union began with the same thing where world bodybuilding began, namely with circus performers - strongmen. Also, athletes of the new sport were inspired by weightlifters and wrestlers. The basis for physical exercises was the system of strength exercises of Friedrich Wilhelm Müller, who is better known under another name - Sandow. His technique was the basis for Soviet bodybuilders right up to the sixties of the 20th century.
Evgeniy Sandov.
The sport itself, as such, with an appreciation of beauty, aesthetics and proportions, appeared in 1948. The first competition was held in the Moscow Concert Hall. P.I. Tchaikovsky, where circus athletes took part.
This sport was always viewed with skepticism in the USSR, but in 1973 it was officially banned after the decree was issued banning bodybuilding in the USSR. Since then, the epic with basement rocking chairs began. And those athletes who performed physical exercises with weights were not engaged in bodybuilding, but performed an “athletic gymnastics” program.
The revival of bodybuilding began in 1986. It was then that the first legal tournament was held in Lyubertsy, and in 1987 the USSR Athletic Federation appeared.
"Grace"
Another sports simulator that was intended for figure correction is the health disc, also known as “Grace”. It consisted of two disks, which were fixed on the same axis and could rotate relative to each other.
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The women spun in half turns while standing on the disk. Children sat on the disk and spun each other until their heads began to spin. And the most original way to use it was found by men: they placed the TV on this disk and could easily turn its screen in any direction.
The founders of bodybuilding and the first domestic athletes
One of the most important personalities for bodybuilding in the USSR is Georgy Tenno. This man was a weightlifter. His life is full of interesting and sometimes scary events. George is truly a legendary person. He started the development of bodybuilding in the fifties, when he worked at the Central Research Institute of Physical Education, where he created a training system of strength exercises.
This man became the author of the book “Athleticism,” which later became a real storehouse of knowledge and the basis for every “jock” of that time. On the pages of the book, which was relevant until the mid-eighties, athletes of that time could gain information about the technique of performing exercises with free weights, rules and recommendations for nutrition, tips for recovery after the training process and information about cutting.
The very first bodybuilder of the USSR can be called Yuri Vlasov. He was a world-famous weightlifter, and in 1960 he won the Olympic Games. In 1961, while competing at the World Weightlifting Championships in Vienna, he made an indelible impression on the 14-year-old son of a policeman named Arnold. Yes Yes! At Arnold Schwarzenegger himself. It was Vlasov who pushed Arnie to build his body, but today everyone knows what came of it.
Yuri Vlasov and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Despite the fact that in the first, albeit unofficial, all-Union bodybuilding tournament, which was held in Severodvinsk, Alexander Lemekhov won. And the most famous bodybuilder and current president of the Russian Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation was Vladimir Dubinin.
From left to right are Alexander Lemekhov and Vladimir Dubinin.
It is also impossible not to mention another legendary person for bodybuilders of that time. He was Evgeniy Koltun. It was he who opened the first bodybuilding gym, which became the center of bodybuilding in the USSR. It was called "Antey". National competitions were held in this hall, and later they became international; athletes from different countries could be seen on stage. He also became the first domestic athlete to appear on the pages of Muscle & Fitness magazine.
Evgeny Koltun.
Underground rocking chairs
After the 1973 decree, the gyms moved to basements, because people who trained for the beauty of their bodies, and not for strength, were expelled from weightlifting halls in disgrace. The equipment for the basement rocking chairs was assembled bit by bit by the enthusiastic rockers themselves. Many exercise machines and weights were made from scrap materials - rails, pipes, car tires. At the same time, Soviet newspapers branded visitors to the rocking chairs, calling them bandits and prisoners. One of the victims of the regime was the winner of the first USSR bodybuilding championship Vladimir Khomulev - he was sent to prison precisely for promoting bodybuilding, but the sentence included the article “Rape”. Tyumen bodybuilder Evgeny Koltun, whose photographs appeared in the American magazine “Muscle & Fitness”, got off with a friendly trial.
Vladimir Khomulev
Evgeniy Koltun is the first athlete from the USSR to be featured in Muscle & Fitness magazine
Strength training complex
In order to reach the level of desired results, a special complex was compiled, consisting of 2 workouts. They alternate every other day, and rest between them is taken as necessary. That is, you can work out for 2 or more days in a row, then 1 day of rest. And again.
Workout A 1. Push-ups from a high bench with a medium grip. 2. Push-ups with a medium grip. 3. Push-ups from the floor with a medium grip, legs on a high support. 4. Push-ups from the floor with a wide grip, legs on a high support. 5. Dips. 6. Bringing straight legs to the horizontal bar.
Workout B 1. Pull-ups with a wide grip behind the head. 2. Pull-ups with a wide grip to the chest. 3. Pull-ups with a medium grip to the chest. 4. Pull-ups with a narrow reverse grip. 5. Pull-ups with a parallel grip until your chest touches the bar. 6. Bringing straight legs to the horizontal bar.
In each exercise you perform 2-3 approaches, in exercise 6 - 4-5. The number of repetitions is maximum . But we must strive to deliver at least one more repetition from workout to workout (in pull-ups, working “with help” is acceptable).
It should be noted here that in the USSR few people could never do push-ups or pull-ups. Only those who had an eternal exemption from physical education. But such people are unlikely to stick their noses into the rocking chairs. Now the situation has changed a little... However, not all is lost.
If you are doing very poorly with basic basic push-ups and pull-ups , then I suggest you take a look at the “About exercises” section. There, in articles about progressions, you will find versions of exercises available to you. Start with these until you can perform at least 5-7 times of each exercise from your current training program.
Position of power
In 1973, sports officials ruled that the spread of specific types of physical exercise and activities carried the risk of spreading the harmful ideas of narcissism, selfishness and the so-called body culture, which is based on “merely an immense increase in muscle mass.” All this goes against the system of physical culture and sports, which fosters collectivism, as well as labor and political activity. Bodybuilders were “driven” into basements for many years, because the state, first of all, needed athletes who could win prizes at international competitions, thereby raising the prestige of the country and demonstrating to the world the correctness of socialist and communist ideology. From the early forties until the collapse of the USSR, the GTO system operated, which was a set of standards: running, push-ups, jumping into water, throwing grenades, etc. Bodybuilding was seen by officials as a useless activity for society. And where there is no benefit, harm clearly lurks.
Recommendations for weight loss
If a beginner was overweight, then “preparing for weight” additionally included the following simple recommendations:
- Jogging 2-3 km in the morning on an empty stomach.
- Immediately after jogging, work on the abdominal muscles - 1000 repetitions.
- Elimination of flour, fatty and sweet foods.
- Bath once a week.
And nothing. They reset it. And in 1-3 months they got themselves into shape suitable for working out in the gym . This is not “higher mathematics”. And, in conclusion, a short story from Alexey Viktorovich Kireev (aka Doctor Luber, author of the book “Secrets of the Rocking Chair”), which clearly demonstrates the effectiveness of the Soviet methodology described here (and in his book):
From personal memories. When the author was still in school, but already had a couple of years of training with “iron” behind him, a bench press of 140 kg and a corresponding reputation, he was approached by a classmate nicknamed “fatrest” and weighing “over a hundred.” It should be said that in the early 80s, service in the ranks of the Soviet Army was a matter of course and the idea of “sloping down” was not as successful as it is now. So, knowing about the potential prospect of conscription and realizing that he would definitely have problems in the service, the mentioned classmate asked to set him on the right path and teach him how to do pull-ups and push-ups.
At that time, the author did not feel any urge to become a trainer, but nevertheless “prescribed” for the “student” daily jogging, a bath, dietary restrictions and, again, daily implementation of the mentioned complex (with the only significant caveat that since the “neophyte” was not able to not only pull himself up, but simply hang on the horizontal bar, then he began to perform all pull-up exercises on a low crossbar with his feet on the ground and, as his strength increased, pushing his legs forward, i.e., as if “reclining while hanging” .
To be honest, I assumed that everything would end in a week at most, but, as it turned out, I underestimated my classmate’s passion for shoulder straps... After 4 months, he weighed about 80 kg, easily did 12 pull-ups, looked very athletic and... entered a military school. Now he is already a colonel, but when we “crossed paths” at an alumni meeting at school, “as a dare” he performed the “coup lift” 35 times.
