Book review: Sweat is a playful and personal history of going for the burn
Bill Hayes has written an entertaining account of how physical exercise became a mass craze across society
In James Joyce’s Ulysses, Leopold Bloom tells himself that he must “take up Sandow's exercises again”. Bloom is referring to Eugen Sandow, a Prussian-born strongman who pioneered bodybuilding as a sport. He was also a savvy entrepreneur – during his international tours, punters could pay a fee to touch his huge biceps and rippling abs. Sandow is even credited with transforming the popularity of yoga: his sensational visit to India in 1905 prompted meditation masters ...
