Personal Training Timeline

  • 4000 BCE

    (4,000 B.C.- 2nd Century)

    During this time period the first armies were recorded using systematic fitness training. Training in this time was in preparation to have stamina to fight and have strength to protect those around you.
  • 101

    (101 AD - 200 AD)

    The beginning of the 2nd century was when the first recorded workout routine was created. Galen, who was Greek, founded the first recorded workout routine. His principles spread to Rome and lasted for several centuries but by the fall of the Roman Empire they had died out.
  • 1420

    First "Fitness" School

    Vittorino da Feltre created the first school that focused on physical education.
  • First Commercial Gym

    Up until the 19th century the idea of a commercial gym was not used. Hippolyte Triat founded the first gym in Brussels.
  • First Body Builder

    Eugen Sandow had a differing view on physical fitness and started promoting the idea of increased body mass. Sandow also founded a fitness club that promoted free weights and used progressive overload as their chosen form of muscle growth.
  • Fitness in the United States

    Bernarr Macfadden authored one of the very first fitness magazines. He also helped to host several physical contests of strength in the early 1900s.
  • First Modern Physical Training

    Georges Hebert wrote a novel called, "The Natural Method." This book was a physical training program where he described how to do each exercise in the book.
  • "Father of Fitness"

    Jack LaLanne founded the first fitness club in the United States. LaLanne reached a broader audience of millions of people through TV shows and promoting women to enter into the fitness industry. Through him people started choosing physical training and fitness as a career option.
  • National Academy of Sports Medicine

    Founding of NASM, which is a sports organization that is still one of the leading organizations till this day.
  • American Applied Personal Training Education

    Founding of organization for people who wanted certifications in personal training.