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Shake It Up Baby: Protein Powder in America

Ronnie Coleman

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History of the industry

The reality is, it takes a huge amount of mental toughness to be in the gym day in and day out doing the same repetitive movements and working yourself into exhaustion, it takes its toll on the human body. A perfect example of how bodybuilding can have detrimental effects is the life of Ronnie Coleman today. Although he is still hugely successful with his own nutritional supplement line, he is even more successful as an 8 time Mr. Olympia. Today, he faces daily struggles with pain and joint deformation due to years of heavy lifting. The stigma surroundings bodybuilders have not really changed over time, for the most part, people have always seen these athletes as freaks of nature who consume huge quantities of food.
Most people don't see the daily struggle to this lifestyle or the potential dangers of this lifestyle. With the implementation of protein powder to the athlete's diet, a wide range of nutritional companies and supplements has been developed. Items like a Whey protein-based weight gainer, a powder product that provides the user with a caloric dense shake at an easy convenience. The way the fitness industry has changed over time, from feeding your babies to helping you lose a few pounds as a meal replacement, even as a tool to fuel muscles in order to build and sculpt your body.
The fitness industry has evolved from being just "something those boneheaded guys" do in the gym all day, to a multi million dollar industry. Back then when protein powder was first making headway into the fitness world, it was only a select few who chose to drink their supplements. However, protein powder has evolved into a viable food source, of which a variety of meals can be made and marketed to the everyday American citizen.
The idea of perfecting the Human body has been around for quite along time, and the quest to accomplish the perfect body will forever be in the works. This quest will be accomplished hand in hand with protein powder, and protein powder has proven to be a extremely effective tool for athletes to fuel their bodies with. While the Fitness industry is ever changing and evolving, so to will the supplements that are accompanied with it. Unfortunately there is a clear and present bias in the fitness industry, even though both genders will continue their quest to perfect their bodies. Athletes like Iris Kyle wont let gender biases in the fitness industry today to stop her. In the Female division the sport has dropped her weight class of "Bodybuilder" due it it being unattractive. There has been an outcry by the fans of the sport that don't want to see women get as big and muscular as she has. Although she is a ten time Ms. Olympia champion, she struggles to find competitions that will let her compete due to her weight. despite this controversy, she like many Americans have incorporated a protein based drink into their lives. The idea that a high calorie based substance with the necessary vitamins and minerals to sustain extreme performance should be in demand. As some modern brands of Whey Protein based powders offer things like, 1250 calories per serving. A serving size being two scoops of protein powder, mixed or cooked to you're preference. Protein powders have solidified their place in the fitness industry as a staple product that any athlete needs to have in their diet. The applications of a high protein diet mixed with the necessary carbohydrates, fruits, vegetables and nuts, with provide your body with the fuel necessary to keep it healthy in the long term. The Ms. Olympia competition has scratched the weight class of body builder, opting to keep the less muscular and "more attractive" weight classes, in a attempt to gain more popularity by exploiting the female body. This move might prove detrimental to the Olympia competition. As hindered as some athletes are due to politics, nutritionally speaking anyone is virtually unstoppable. The way we fuel our athletes and everyday Americans with protein has drastically changed throughout history, and in america the popularity, effectiveness, and taste of protein powder will only ever get better.

Do you think a gladiator slave would do anything he could to gain an advantage in his next event? Roman citizens were at their fittest during times of war. Citizens between the age of 17 and 60 were eligible for the military. The Roman Empire began declining after the citizens were exposed to the lavish lifestyles and spoils of war that conquest brought. Instead of training the citizens, they were more inclined to be entertained. The Northern barbarians were more fit at this time because they were living harder lives that required physical strength. The Romans got “fat and lazy” and this lead to their decline. The fitness of your country used to define the strength of your country, while America has proven to be one of the most fit countries in the world, we are however also one of the most gluttonous.
Homer, who is famous for writing the Iliad and other poems on ancient greek culture, wrote about his account of a footrace between Antilochus, Odysseus, Ajax at the Olympic games. As the race ensued, Odysseus would pray in his heart to the goddess Athena for help in this race, for not only was the victors prize the most splendid silver mixing bowl, the glory that came with victory was even more valuable. "Hear me, Goddess, help me- hurry, urge me on!" Odysseus prayed and Athena heard his prayer, put a spring in his limbs, his feet, his fighting hands and just as the whole field came lunging in for the trophy, Ajax slipped. Athena had tripped him. Odysseus would fly past Antilochus and hold the victors trophy. Games and sports have been around for as long as people have been coexisting. Praying to the gods for help, seeking out different types of advantages was all part of the process in preparing for games, conquest, or competition. Throughout history people have been competing against each other, and typically the more fit of the competitors is the victor. Technology coupled with knowledge of how to better advance the human body in order to gain an advantage over your opponent is and has been a key component of competition. Protein powder has been able to evolve and be incorporated into athletes lives in order to better their nutritional intake. Thus giving athletes a superior advantage in that the athlete with better nutrition would be in better shape compared to the average person.

The Fitness trend did not become mainstream in the USA until the early 19th century, even though people like Ben Franklin were promoting the benefits of fitness 100 years earlier in the beginning of the 18th century. Unlike Europe, America wasn't living under the constant threat of foreign invasion and didn't put an emphasis on fitness, or being as ready for war as possible. Europeans in the 18th century had the idea that a fit society would make for better optics globally, and a foreign invader would be less prone to invade or try to conquer you. The idea being that if we as a nation project strong muscular citizens, our military must be even stronger, and therefore other countries wont want to provoke us. Escaping war or other reasons, immigrants from Europe brought their cultural idea of fitness to America. Over time in the 18th and 19th century this ideology would produce Gymnasiums across the country where athletes and citizens alike could exercise and get into shape.
In 1824 Charles Beck opened the first gym in the America. Dudley Allen Sargent, is the man considered to be the founder of physical education in the USA. He became the director of the gymnasium at Harvard in 1879, invented gym equipment, encouraged women to exercise and created several tests for measuring speed, strength, and endurance. Catherine Beecher was the first to implement fitness in a women's educational institution, pushing boundaries for women's rights in America at the time. This idea of getting in shape through exercise and lifting weights created a culture amongst many Americans, one that would evolve into a multi billion dollar industry. Although a Protein Powder did not yet exist on the market in the late 19th century, people readily recognized the importance of diet and exercise.

The 20th century saw a new rise in the popularity of competitive sports in America, although Olympic games have existed for a long time, it wasn't until sports like Baseball that americans really started to pay attention to their athletes. It was players Lou Gehrig, and Babe Ruth that would inspire the everyday american want to compete and play sports. Fitness clubs started popping up and became popular among the American people. The fitness clubs or gyms that were being created were expensive and didn't become financially accessible for the average American until late in the 20th century. In the USA, Bernarr McFadden established himself as the face of American physical fitness culture. He founded the first muscle magazine in 1899 called Physical Culture. He also pioneered the concept of physique competitions. Seeing a niche, he opened up seemingly the first indoor gym in America. But it wasn't just your average adult going to the gym, 20th century America saw programs implemented by the federal government in a attempt to help children of America lose weight and be more physically active. Physical education programs have existed in America since after world war two, where the idea that a fit and active nation would not only deter military attacks, but also fascism. Although Protein powder did not make an appearance on the consumer market until the late 1950s, there was already a idea of fitness, and that getting active was being engrained in parts of American societies. While people still thought of Bodybuilders as massive freaks of nature who do nothing but lift heavy things and eat a ton of food, your average everyday Joe was being convinced his family, children and even himself needs to be in better physical condition. The general consensus was that a baseline exercise routine, coupled with a healthy diet was key in living a long and healthy life in the 20th century.

During the second half of the 20th century, fitness made its way to popular culture with the personalities of people like Jack Lalanne, Jane Fonda, and Richard Simmons. Fitness was finally making way into popular culture and gaining support thought many people in the fitness industry. People started to look for the fastest, easiest way to get in better shape, and people utilized exercise, protein shakes and protein powder was riding the coattails of the fitness industry. Countless numbers of workout methods, products, pills, supplements, fad diets, and steroids all promising the same thing have come and gone in the fitness industry. Several companies have traditions that date back over 40 years and have survived the rapidly changing and growing fitness industry. Companies like GNC, Slim Fast, and Arbonne, are all companies founded in the 1970s and ’80s who have survived a competitive fitness market and thrive today. What some of these companies have in common, not only do they offer nutritional coaching, but all of the diet programs implement a Protein powder based substance as a meal replacement. Protein was found to be essential to the human body for everyday function early on, but starting in the 1960s and 70s Protein powder solidified its position as a staple product being sold in the fitness market. Over the past 60 years, since protein powder hit the consumer markets in the 1950s, the fitness industry has grown tremendously from it's slow and small beginnings to a multi-billion dollar industry today.

The 20th century saw the birth of protein shakes as we know them today. In the 1950s, just before the boom of modern bodybuilding, protein shakes emerged as an easy way of gaining muscle mass. Among the first powder mixtures available was Bob Hoffman’s "Hi-Proteen." It mainly contained soy flour and a lot of sweeteners, and along with other similar products, protein shakes came to be a relatively cheap mass builder. Protein once introduced in shake form for the masses started to gain popularity with bodybuilders and strongmen alike. By June 1952 in an issue of Strength & Health, he was able to feature Hi-Proteen ads with pictures of John Grimek, Steve Stanko, Jules Bacon, and himself on the boxes. Although Hoffman might not have been the first one to create a protein shake, he should be credited with popularizing it. His ability to reach a vast number of people and his marketing of the product started ca chain reaction that would grow and flourish in the following decades. As popularity in Hoffman's drinks grew over time, so to did interest in the fitness industry. People were starting to see that you didn't have to be a muscle-headed freak to drink these protein shakes because there's another group of people that need to put on as much weight as they can, babies.

In the early 1960s, several liquid diet meal replacements appeared to help sip your way to slenderness. But the biggest of them all at the time was Metrecal, a product of pharmaceutical company Mead Johnson & Co. Metrecal launched their product in September 1959 with the help of Mead Johnson, who had for a long time been developing a baby formula. The idea of giving a baby a protein shake to a baby in order to plump it up a little bit was totally normal to people in the 1960s with many stay at home mom consuming these protein shakes and feeding their babies the shakes too. In today's society feeding an infant a protein shake almost seems a little taboo. However, I give my five-year-old son a Vegan plant based protein and along with a healthy nutritious diet, he's the biggest kid in his class. Meaning, how we fuel our bodies even from a young age makes a difference in our lives. You can't go wrong by incorporating a protein supplement into your life, whether you teach, work from home or an office, what you put into your body is essential. With the strides made in research and development, protein powder has inched its way into the diet of many Americans in the 20th and 21st century. In a typical protein shake, the powder is supposed to be shaken with water, leaving room for the consumer to decide how much to use and how to taste. Marketed towards women, some people say that women drank chalk in order to be the size of supermodels. Metrecal started a trend in the fitness industry, and that trend was weight loss. Stay at home moms were afraid of putting on weight and Metrecal created a business plan that marketed their shakes to the women that fit this criteria. Catering to the popular culture of the time, Metrecal succeeds in marketing a weight loss shake that captivated the minds of some Americans who drank these shakes on a daily basis. Typically throughout the history of protein powder in America, it has been marketed to either the professional athlete or the stay at home mom worried about gaining weight in the 1960s. This can be seen when we examine the exponential rise of gym's in the 1970s, with an epicenter at Venice Beach in California. Venice Beach not only gave the fitness industry notoriety, but it also sexualized the fitness culture of America and further enhanced the stereotype of the ideal physical figure. a sexualized physical figure was being blasted all throughout fitness magazines and ads in the 70s 80s and 90s. Because as the fitness industry learned very early on, sex sells and being able to encompass that and market it made for a boom in the market. Protein powder was the key ingredient to the fitness industry, because as the ads said you would need a protein shake as a meal replacement in your diet in order to het this nice slim or muscular figure that people would show off at Venice beach.
Ronnie Coleman Ronnie "The King" Coleman is a eight time Mr. Olympia, has a huge supplement nutrition line, and lives a quiet life now in Texas. in his glory days Ronnie was Squatting huge weight and bench pressing more than most of us could even imagine. through the year however this type of training regimen has put enormous strain on Coleman's body, and now his joints in his back have suffered greatly. in a documentary on Ronnie he says "I actually feel like I'm about to die" with how much pain he is in on a daily basis.