Aspects of this topic are discussed in the following places at Britannica.
Lifting various weighted objects had been growing in popularity since the late 19th century, mainly due to the efforts of Alan Calvert, a Philadelphia businessman who was inspired by Sandow’s performance at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. Calvert virtually started the “iron game” (as lifting weighted objects came to be called after the invention of iron weights)...
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