Muscle Beach: the cradle of fitness

The famous Muscle Beach was originally located in the city of Santa Monica. However, it then moved to the Venice neighbourhood, in Los Angeles, where it remains today. Athletes like Jack LaLanne, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Franco Columbu used to go to the beach to train on traditional machines, under the sun, tanning their entire bodies and getting ready for the future, whether it was to be a Hollywood actor, an athlete or a businessman.

Rings and parallel bars were set up to the south of Santa Monica Pier as part President Roosevelt’s New Deal. In 1933 an earthquake rocked the neighbouring city of Long Beach, which meant many people were left without anywhere to train. As a result, they began to go to the area of Santa Monica Pier.

The facilities that would come to be known as Muscle Beach turned into a meeting point for local residents, gymnasts and bodybuilders.. However, with the onset of World War II, many of the original bodybuilding stars, such as Abbey ‘Pudgy’ Stockton, gave up their favourite hobby to work for the government.

During the 1950s, the place got a new lease of life. Jack LaLanne was the first person to promote fitness as a central part of Americans’ lives. He opened his first gym in Oakland in 1936 – facilities that even included a juice and salad bar. Years later, he started the ‘The Jack LaLanne Show’ on television, which got families moving. Vic Tanny, who would become the millionaire owner of the first network of gyms to dominate the United States and Canada, also trained there. He changed the reigning austerity for brightly coloured fitness complexes that had swimming pools and tennis courts.