At the end of the 1800's and during the early years of the Twentieth Century, there was a worldwide craze for what was termed "Physical Culture". This new pursuit made international superstars of several men who sported physiques like Greek Gods and had strength to match. Audiences thrilled by the appearance of these athletes naturally wanted to emulate their heroes and develop mini versions of the muscular bodies they witnessed on stages around the world.
The men concerned answered the call of the public and began to teach and sell in print, and later by mail order, exactly what the public wanted - the secret to developing such a body for themselves.
What they revealed was a simple and reliable method of inducing significant growth and aesthetic improvement in all the body's muscles in a relatively short time using nothing but some very light dumbbells. The method developed a balanced physique with the classic proportions shown in ancient statuary, promoted full neurological control of the growing musculature - laying the ground for developing true strength - and promised to maintain this new and impressively developed body with only minimal daily exertion. This approach was, they said, the great secret of physical culture.
Men and women everywhere followed this advice and sculpted impressively developed bodies just as they had been told they would. Famous boxers and athletes used the exercises and notably improved their physiques and performance. This method of exercising was everywhere and it's usefulness was beyond question.
Now though we have "moved on" and what we currently believe about developing strength and fitness is incompatible with what these men taught. Because of this a phenomenally effective training method that delivers excellent results in a short period with far less hassle than our modern methods lies forgotten and abandoned.
The thing is...it still works!
This book teaches this forgotten system in detail, looks into it's fascinating history, seeks to explain how it gets results contrary to all currently accepted training advice and presents the exercises in an easy to follow format.
Liberally illustrated with period photographs and with the exercises and their undeniable results illustrated by the author, this book ultimately provides what one of the original nineteenth century purveyors of this method called:
" A pocket edition of exercises that can be easily remembered and quickly performed and which give only the very best results... this really is the great secret of muscular education".
