When Did Men Become Obsessed With Abs?

 Until the late 1980s and early 1990s, the term "six-pack" didn't just refer to beer, it also described visible abs.

The cultural obsession with six-packs, shows no signs of waning. Today; There is an industry focused on getting and maintaining great looking abs. Almost every movie star, every model seems to be sporting day and night. What's more, body ideals have changed over the last decade, even for women, and the pressure to have abs has increased.

So when did all this madness start?

This phenomenon may seem relatively new. While it appeared as a byproduct of the fitness culture boom of the 1970s and 1980s, when Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone ruled, history points back even further.

In fact, Western culture's fascination with perfect, striped bellies can be traced back to the late 18th and early 19th centuries, when the ideal male body image in the West began to change.

Jealous of the Greeks

Large or round male bodies were valued in British and American cultures in the 17th, 18th, and even up to a point in the 19th centuries. The reason for this was relatively clear: Overweight men looked wealthy because they could afford more food, and it was also a sign of success.

 

At the beginning of the 19th century, there was a great interest in lean and muscular bodies. Within a few decades, plump bodies began to be seen as miserable; lean, athletic or muscular body structures were associated with success, self-discipline, and even religiosity.

 

Part of this transformation was due to Europe's recent increased interest in Ancient Greece. Just as social media has changed body image in recent years, works such as the "Elgin Marbles", a group of statues brought to England in the early 1800s, with male figures of lean and muscular physiques, have helped increase interest in the muscular male body.

As the century progressed, this interest in muscles deepened. In 1851, London hosted a major commercial and cultural celebration known as the "Great Exhibition". Outside the exhibition halls were Greek sculptures. British physical educator George Forrest, who wrote an article on the effect of these sculptures in 1858, wrote; He complained that "the British lacked such beautiful strings of muscles at the waist of ancient statues."

The Impact of Military Power on Body Types Grows

In the early 1900s, military gymnastics changed drastically, just as ideal body types for men changed. As a result of the Napoleonic Wars of the early 19th century, various gymnastics programs were created to empower young men in Europe and support their body development. French soldiers were notorious for their physical prowess, both for their ability to walk for days and for their ability to move quickly. Many European states began to take the health of their troops much more seriously after the heavy defeats they suffered from the Napoleonic forces.

 

Gymnast Friedrich Ludwig Jahn was tasked with strengthening Prussia's military power through gymnastic exercises called Turner. These exercises are; It included large fixed apparatuses, jumping and walking exercises. In France, a Spanish gymnastics instructor named Don Francisco Amorós y Ondeano was held responsible for rebuilding the physique and stamina of the French troops; In England, P.H. A Swiss fitness trainer named Clias trained the army and navy in the 1830s. More and more large gyms are being built across the continent to meet Europe's growing interest in fitness.

 

Moreover, it was not only soldiers who participated in these programs. For example; Encouraging the use of parallel bars, hoops, and high bars, Friedrich Ludwig Jahn's Turner system became one of the most popular workouts of the century among Europeans and continued to gain followers even among Americans.

Result: Six Abs Wins

The six-pack obsession really took off in the early 1900s. By that time, bodybuilders like Eugen Sandow had been able to develop the existing interest in Greek imagery and gymnastics through photo shoots. Sandow then sold books, exercise equipment, nutritional supplements, children's toys, corsets, cigars, and cocoa. Sandow, once referred to as "the world's most perfectly advanced model", has inspired countless men to show off their bellies.

 

Until the late 1980s and early 1990s, the term "six-pack" didn't just refer to beer, it also described visible abs. The term "Six-pack abs" soon became a real word, thanks to a number of workouts like Abs of Steel and 6-Minute Abs.

The longing for the coveted abs still remains, as evidenced by the more than 12 million Instagram posts with the “sixpack” hashtag today.