Table of Contents
Bernarr Macfadden ( Mill Spring, Missouri 1868 - Jersey City, New Jersey 1955), American physical culturist, considered the “Father of Physical Culture”. He was nicknamed “Body Love”. He spread the “gospel of physical exercise” and created a popular magazine empire.
Macfadden advocated of physical fitness, natural food, outdoor exercise, and the natural treatment of disease. How to achieve radiant good health through exercise and natural means was Bernarr Macfadden's central message throughout his entire life. There was nothing phony or hypocritical about his position when it came to practicing exactly what he preached. <ref>The Health Crusader</ref>
:::Health that intoxicates with its power and intensity, is within the reach of all who are willing to reason for themselves, and begin that activity of muscle, mind and body without which there can be no health, for stagnation always means disease and death. “Fasting, Hydropathy and Exercise.”
With Macfadden's general criticism of modern health (that everybody eats too much and the wrong food, exercises too little) most laymen, most doctors, agree…
In 1912, on a visit to England, Macfadden organized a prize contest for the “most perfect specimen of English womanhood.” He married the winner, Yorkshirewoman Mary Williamson, champion swimmer and runner. <ref>Physcultopathist TIME.</ref>
Charles Atlas was a winner of Macfadden's “Most Perfectly Developed Man” contest.
Books
- Macfadden's Encyclopedia of Physical Culture.
- Fasting, Hydropathy and Exercise (1900). ://chestofbooks.com/health/natural-cure/Bernarr-MacFadden/Fasting-Hydropathy-and-Exercise/
See also
External links
- Bernarr Macfadden Encyclopædia Britannica.
- Snippet from Wikipedia: Bernarr Macfadden
Bernarr Macfadden (born Bernard Adolphus McFadden, August 16, 1868 – October 12, 1955) was an American proponent of physical culture, a combination of bodybuilding with nutritional and health theories. He founded the long-running magazine publishing company Macfadden Publications.