Sun And Steroids? Trivia Quiz

Answer: Eugen Sandow

In the late 19th century Eugen Sandow, a professional strongman, began his career on the London stage. In 1893 he appeared at the Chicago World's Fair, adding "muscle display performances" to his traditional strongman act. Audiences found this fascinating, and Sandow went on to found a gym for bodybuilders and publish a monthly magazine called "Physical Culture".

The early bodybuilders used the classical Greek and Roman male sculptures as a model for the ideal physique; Sandow modelled his own body on this "Grecian Ideal", publishing instruction books on the methods of exercise and dietary regime necessary to achieve the "perfect physique". The first major bodybuilding contest was held in London in 1901; Sandow was one of the judges, as was, coincidentally, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Answer: Health check

Bodybuilding, like many sports, can push the human body to the limits of endurance. The goal of bodybuilding is to sculpt the body's shape by enhancing lean muscle mass - that is, developing muscle groups beyond their everyday size and shape. This requires an optimal nutrition and exercise regime that can put stress on the function of major organs such as the heart, liver and kidneys. Any pre-existing anomaly in the body's functions may impair the bodybuilder's ability to attain the required standard, and could also result in permanent health damage.

It is vital for anyone who embarks on bodybuilding (whether for personal reasons, or in an amateur or professional capacity) to have a thorough health check before commencing: this might include a panel of blood tests to assess liver, kidney, thyroid and heart function, and assessment of lung function and blood pressure. This is not an exhaustive list!

A fake tan may help to show developed muscles to best advantage, but is not necessary before beginning to reshape the body. Chocolate is on the list of things a bodybuilder should be eating very little of: it has a high fat content. Although one may hear the phrase "S/he should have a licence for that body!" uttered in awed tones by admirers of a sculpted physique, it is not a legal requirement.

Answer: Hair extensions

Leg extensions exercise the quadriceps - the muscles at the front of the thigh. Triceps extensions exercise the triceps - the large muscle at the back of the upper arm. Back extensions are designed to strengthen the lower back muscles.

The exercise programme for any bodybuilder should be carefully supervised and appropriate to the level of experience, aiming at a gradual and controlled increase in muscle mass. It is all too easy for the inexperienced to overdo things, resulting in damage to muscles, ligaments and tendons that can take many months to heal.

The weight training exercises used in bodybuilding are common to the sporting world in general, but their emphasis in bodybuilding is different: here, the weight training mainly concentrates on repetition of the exercise, which has the effect of increasing muscle size. In many other sports the emphasis is on increasing muscle strength by gradually increasing the weight used in exercises.

Hair extensions are artificial additions designed to increase the length or bulk of the hair. They may enhance the bodybuilder's appearance, but have nothing to do with muscle development.

Answer: Anabolic steroids

Good nutrition and a balanced training programme are essential for the development of the lean muscle mass that is the bodybuilder's goal. There are many supplements available in addition to those listed. Some bodybuilding supplements may help to maintain the greater demand for various nutrients placed on the body by the rigorous training regime: vitamin C can help to support a healthy immune system; shakes made from powdered protein from a variety of sources, mixed with water, milk or fruit juice, provide a readily-absorbed source of extra protein; multivitamin and mineral supplements can ensure that the body's need for micronutrients is optimised. Many other branches of sport use the same or similar dietary supplement regimes as bodybuilding.

The use of anabolic steroids is now banned in most sports, although their use was legal in bodybuilding until about 1990. These steroids act by mimicking the body's natural male hormones, one effect of which is to increase protein synthesis particularly within muscle cells - a desirable effect for bodybuilders, but considered as cheating. Undesirable side effects of steroid use include banning from competition, and serious health problems such as kidney failure, heart disease and liver damage.

The sensible participant in any sport, not just bodybuilding, will consult his or her physician before taking any medication or dietary supplements and will follow the manufacturer's instructions and recommended doses. Some supplements can cause harm if taken in excess or over an extended time period.

Answer: Charles Atlas

According to Charles Atlas himself, he was that 97-pound weakling whose humiliation at the hands of a bully on the beach caused him to develop and pursue an obsessive interest in fitness and strength. A visit to the zoo, where he saw the big cats doing little more than stretching, yet maintaining a well-muscled appearance, supposedly gave him the idea for the "Dynamic Tension" method of exercise. "Dynamic Tension" relies on movements that pit the force produced by one set of muscles against that produced by another. Practitioners maintain that the benefits are twofold: the likelihood of injury during exercise is reduced, since as the muscles grow tired they will produce less force; and the long term benefit is greater than traditional exercises, since as the muscles grow stronger they are able to produce more force.

In the 1920s, Atlas wrote the fitness course that became "Dynamic Tension", and went into business. By astute marketing and advertising of both himself and his course, they both became known worldwide and he became the icon to which many young men aspired.

Some of the well-known names in other sports started with a Charles Atlas course, among them Rocky Marciano, who was heavyweight boxing champion in the 1950s, and the legendary baseball player Joe DiMaggio; later bodybuilders such as Steve Reeves and Arnold Schwarzenegger were also inspired by Atlas.

Answer: False

Until the 1960s, women's contests focussing solely on physique were rare. In 1978, the first U.S. national contest was held where the emphasis was on muscle development, rather than how good contestants looked in a bikini and high heels. From that point, women's bodybuilding began to follow more closely the format of male competitions - including the inception of the Ms Olympia contest to parallel the men's Mr Olympia world championships.

The women attracted the same controversies and problems associated with steroids and other supplement abuse, and extremes of muscle development.

In an effort to increase the sport's acceptability, many women's bodybuilding events also include "Fitness and Figure" competitions where the emphasis is on physical prowess and muscle tone rather than on muscle size.

Answer: Abs

Every sport has its specialised jargon, but the use of muscle is such an integral part of sport that many non-bodybuilders will be familiar with these abbreviations for muscle groups. "Abs" refers to the rectus abdominis muscle: that's the one at the front of the body below chest level. There are fibrous bands running across this muscle and it is these that define the developed muscle's classic "six pack" shape, so-called because of the resemblance to a six-pack of beverage cans laid out flat. These fibrous bands are not always symmetrical, and some abs development can look more like an eight-pack or like offset cans of varying size.

"Pecs" are the pectoralis major muscles: the large ones that make up most of the chest area. Their main use is in various movements of the shoulder joint - and they stop your arms from falling off. Resistance exercises such as push ups and bench presses can be used to develop these muscles.

"Quads" are the group of four muscles at the front of the thigh - the quadriceps femoris. These muscles control the movement of the knee and hip joints and help keep your kneecaps in the right place.

"Lats" is short for latissimus dorsi: these are the pair of large muscles that run diagonally across the back from about armpit level towards the base of the spine. In bodybuilding, development of these muscles broadens the upper back.

Answer: No

The International Federation of BodyBuilding and Fitness (IFBB), one of the major bodybuilding regulatory organisations, has worked over a number of years to gain acceptance for the sport, refining and reinforcing rules.

Doping tests for banned substances such as anabolic steroids were introduced and, as a result, the IFBB gained International Olympic Committee (IOC) membership in 2000. Full IOC membership enables a sport to apply to be a demonstration event at the Olympic Games: this is the first step towards becoming a recognised Olympic event. Unfortunately, the controversial question of whether bodybuilding could actually be classified as a sport meant that the IOC declined to include it in the 2012 demonstration programme.

Answer: Posedown

In the minds of many people, the posedown is what epitomises the bodybuilding contest. As a child, I recall my eyes bulging nearly as much as the bodybuilders' muscles as I watched, fascinated, while large men contorted their bodies into seemingly impossible shapes.

Of course, the purpose is to show off the development and symmetry of different muscle groups. There are mandatory poses and optional poses and, as with any sport involving creative expression, the object is to perform a posing routine with a degree of originality and flair that will catch the eyes of the judges as well as meeting the mandatory requirements.

Answer: Natural bodybuilding

Natural bodybuilding rejects the use of many of the substances and supplements used in mainstream bodybuilding, such as steroids, hormones and diuretics. Competitive natural bodybuilders are tested frequently for a variety of banned substances, and violations can result in a total ban on entering future competitions. The substances tested for can vary between the different regulatory bodies and organisations, as there are many of these involved in the sport, even within a single country.

Bodybuilding will probably arouse strong opinions and controversy for many years, as it is not only a sport that can increase strength and fitness, but is also one that can easily be carried to extreme: whatever your opinion of the sport, the fact remains that body modification of any sort is, and probably always will be, a matter of personal choice.