Observing Fifty Years of Gym Evolution (Part I)

[stef]

by Tommy Suggs

I was home for Christmas vacation from The University of Texas. It was 1956 and my weight training had moved from conditioning and body building to competitive Olympic lifting. My home was on the Texas Coast, Lake Jackson, and there was not an Olympic bar in the county. Houston, sixty miles away, offered my best hope for finding a place to train during my two weeks at home for the holidays. After examining the Houston yellow pages, I found one gym listed…

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[stef]

Suggs mentions lots of names in this article. Some you'll know, some that will sound vaguely familiar and others not at all.

There's lots of information Out There for you to follow up. Here's some to get you started:

Tommy Suggs

Texas Athletic Club

Dennis Tinerino

Dr John Gourgott

Bill Pearl

Jim Moser (below, click image to enlarge)

[jurassic]

It was a treat reading this.
Thank you very much mr Suggs for sharing some of your immense experience with us.

[Kate]

Fantastic. Thank you.

[GesD]

Great insight from Mr. Suggs. I really wish more gyms had that individualized approach instead of just selling as many memberships as possible.

[drewcarroll2]

These articles make me feel like a kid at christmas. So much valuable information. Thanks to everyone that contributes to this!

[homerj742]

This was such a great read. Thank you for all involved in getting it published to this site.

Stef, thanks for those links.

[Evan]

Thanks Mr. Suggs, and the SS crew for producing this interesting story and sharing it with us. Reading it made me thankful for the type of training facilities we have today compared to what you guys had to deal with back in the day. I like to complain about working out at big box gyms but damn, it is nothing compared to what it was like for you guys. I should be grateful for what we have now in comparison.

I hope you post some more stories in the future, I really enjoyed this one.
-Evan

[johnreynolds]

Nice historic look back at the old gyms Mr Suggs. The first gym I joined in 1972 was one of only 2 lifting
gym that I was aware of within a 10 mile radius of my home. The YMCA and CYO's in my area didn't
have that much lifting equipment. And I lived just outside of Phila PA.
Now there's gotta be at least 20 gyms, most of them chains like LA Fitness etc. I don't remember any woman training in the old gym, mostly high school and college football players, body builders, and some pro wrestlers that stopped in while in the area.
I currently belong to a commercial gym which is near my house. It's got a little of everything ,from cardio machines, a power rack, and some Oly bars. The thing I miss today is a lack of space. The new gym is so packed with equipment it don't leave much space to workout. If I ever drop something I'll wind up killing someone. But then dropping weights and cursing aren't allowed there !

[franklie]

Thanks for the article.

It brought back memories. Thirty years ago I was at the university. Before Christmas break I called my ma and asked her to get me a one-month membership at the local gym so that I could continue to train for crew while I was on vacation.

Every morn I got up at 4:30 and ran 5 miles to the gym to workout. It was chilly when I would start to run but I was warmed up by the time I got to the gym. 35 minutes to get to the gym, 40 minutes to return home. I took off Saturdays and Sundays. I don't remember any women in the gym either. I do remember getting back to the university much stronger than when I left it and my improved fitness made a definite impression on the coach.