The art of body building has been been around since ancient times. Stone-lifting competitions were practiced in countries like Egypt, Greece, and Tamilakam. The desire to extend one’s physical look and prowess was desirable to many, and as time went on not restricted to just men but women as well. This is exampled by some of the photographs captured by award-winning photographer, John Ryan of J&J Studios Philadelphia in his Best Philadelphia Bodybuilding and Fitness Photograph shoot.

A simple definition of what bodybuilding is can be summed up in the following: Bodybuilding is the practice of progressive resistance exercise to build, control, and develop one’s muscles via hypertrophy.^[1] An individual who engages in this activity is referred to as a bodybuilder. It is primarily undertaken for aesthetic purposes over functional ones, distinguishing it from similar activities such as powerlifting and calisthenics. That said bodybuilding has move from the stone-lifting effort mentioned above to the development of Western weightlifting in Europe around 1880 all the way up to 1953. This included strongmen displaying feats of strength for the public and challenging each other. The focus was not on their physique, and they possessed relatively large bellies and fatty limbs compared to bodybuilders of today.^[8]  This eventually progressed to Eugen Sandow who organized the first bodybuilding contest on September 14, 1901, called the “Great Competition”. It was held at the Royal Albert Hall in London.^[10] Judged by Sandow, Sir Charles Lawes, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the contest was a great success and many bodybuilding enthusiasts were turned away due to the overwhelming number of audience members. The trophy presented to the winner was a gold statue of Sandow sculpted by Frederick Pomeroy. The winner was William L. Murray of Nottingham. The silver Sandow trophy was presented to second-place winner D. Cooper. The bronze Sandow trophy—now the most famous of all—was presented to third-place winner A.C. Smythe.^[11] In 1950, this same bronze trophy was presented to Steve Reeves for winning the inaugural NABBA Mr. Universe contest. It would not resurface again until 1977 when the winner of the IFBB Mr. Olympia contest, Frank Zane, was presented with a replica of the bronze trophy. Since then, Mr. Olympia winners have been consistently awarded a replica of the bronze Sandow.

From the history above you can see that bodybuilding has found its place in the world of physical growth and development. And, like any other activity, it has found a steady stream of participants, all vying for their own personal success and commitment. John Ryan worked with the two models that are captured here – Adam and Denise. Both are fine examples of what a consistent commitment and determination can produce. The Best Philadelphia Bodybuilding and Fitness Photograph shoot also shows the talent John Ryan was able to extend in order to capture the physicality of this specialized commitment through the lens of his camera. The below photographs shows this through select poses, backdrops, and clothing – or lack of – to showcase these two gifted individuals.