Eugen Sandow Never Had This Problem

The late great Eugene Sandow wore his handlebar moustache when it was dashing.  He didn't suffer the peril that afflicted me this evening.

What peril is this?  Getting caught by one's bugger-grips by a bugger?  No!  Being confused with Wilf Lunn by people who grew up in the eighties?  Well, yes, but it's not strictly perilous. 

No, gentle reader, the real peril is catching sight of the absurd thing in mirrors and, thus, breaking into giggles.  Mirrors, y'see, are present in gymnasia -- Sandow's spiritual home -- and when one is performing some heavy overhead barbell work, old Eugen wouldn't have corpsed.  He wouldn't have dis-barred himself gracelessly with a squawk, and, one anticipates, the Father of Physical Conditioning wouldn't have had everyone in the gym wonder what the hell the daft sod was cackling about as he had to sit down and catch his breath, red-faced and smirking.

(Mind you, he probably wouldn't have dropped the bar even if you'd ridden a cavalry horse into him, look at those arms!)

Exercise history nerds - the Sandow System is part of W R Pope's Science and Art of Physical Development, which is hosted on the fine SandowPlus site. The old scanned programmes are fascinating as much for how little things have changed as their quirky retro-appeal full of Improving morals: "Hard work must be done, and a great deal of it." alongside photos of Treloar and Edna Tempest, she in modest Edwardian bathing suit!

Edit to add: Lordy, how little things have changed.  Treloar, p161, opens the Exercises for Women section with exactly the same message you'll see now over at Stumptious or Gubernatrix: "Nearly all the foregoing developing exercises, including the special bar, ladder and hammer exercises, can be done profitably by healthy women, grading the weight used or the number of counts done to suit the strength.  There is absolutely no danger of a woman becoming coarse or masculine in appearance as a result of proper exercise..."