We are stronger, and better historians, together. Historical societies abound in the UK, and we've listed 150 with BlueSky accounts in this updated Starter Pack. go.bsky.app/AZaYQDd Other societies appear on a new listing of subject societies on the RHS website bit.ly/4ebwP9r #Skystorians

Book reviews are an anxious thing for me so I am so grateful to Joe Piggin for his kind review. My only hope when writing is for it to be useful & entertaining... glad I halfway achieved it! @ulsteruni.bsky.social @iaphistorians.bsky.social @bssh.bsky.social idrottsforum.org/pigjoe_heffe...

New piece on thick grip work, odd lifts, Apollon Wheels, the Inch Dumbbell, Katie Sandwina, challenge objects, and why old-time strongmen loved unfair implements. open.substack.com/pub/physical...

Why a 115kg stone from Waterford is finding a new home in Boston. New #RTEBrainstorm podcast based on a piece by @physcstudy.bsky.social @ulsteruni.bsky.social @researchireland.ie & voiced by Jan Ní Fhlanagáin - now available wherever you get your podcasts www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2...

Buzzing to be part of the new Iron Culture documentary. Stone lifting, Herc’s Gym, the Stark Center and a lot of conversations about what strength actually is Worth a watch if you care about lifting beyond just numbers. @ulsteruni.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlX8...

Bodybuilding has always rewarded what looks most extreme. What has changed is how widely and quickly those images now circulate. I wrote a piece trying to trace how that developed over time. open.substack.com/pub/physical...

Most people think they know what hard training feels like. They don’t. We’ve got better language now. Failure. RIR. Intensity. Still the same confusion. A century ago, strength trainers were already trying to teach people how to feel effort. New piece: physicalculture.substack.com/p/you-dont-k...

New Substack Post: open.substack.com/pub/physical...

New Substack Post physicalculture.substack.com/p/dressed-to...

New article out now 👇 ‘The History and Culture of Women’s Surfing in Ireland’ It was such fun writing with Clare Ablett and Rachael Telford. This all began, and sprang from, Clare's work and exhibition in this space! @ulsteruni.bsky.social @bssh.bsky.social 🔗 www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Pull-ups are one of the most policed movements in fitness — historically and culturally. Really enjoyed chatting to Men’s Health about that tension www.menshealth.com/uk/building-... @ulsteruni.bsky.social @bssh.bsky.social

New Substack Post: The Strongest Men in Britain Didn't Train the Same Way! open.substack.com/pub/physical...

New book review published advance access by @jich.bsky.social Andrew T. Jarboe reviews 'When Fitness Went Global: The Rise of Physical Culture in the Nineteenth Century' by @physcstudy.bsky.social @bloomsburybooksuk.bsky.social @bloomsburyacademic.bsky.social www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Awaiting book reviews is the part of publishing I dread. Many thanks to @jich.bsky.social and Andrew Jarboe for this positive review of my latest book When Fitness Went Global! If anyone would like a reviewer copy please do not hesitate to ask! @bloomsburyhist.bsky.social

New Substack Article. How the upright row became the most hated exercise in the gym! Link: physicalculture.substack.com/p/how-the-up...

‘A whole lost culture’: the Irishman reviving the forgotten sport of stone lifting www.theguardian.com/world/2026/f...

🌍🏋‍♀ From yoga and gymnastics to Jiujitsu, the 19th century turned many local exercise traditions into global trends. Discover how imperial networks, militaries, new print culture and trade routes spread them in When Fitness Went Global by @physcstudy.bsky.social. Learn more: https://bit.ly/4qExUKF

New piece in the Irish Times on how Ireland learned to treat obesity as a moral failure rather than a social outcome. The panic preceded the prevalence - anxiety about discipline and control dressed up as a health concern. Link here: www.irishtimes.com/life-style/p... @ulsteruni.bsky.social

How did fitness, exercise and physical culture become a key part of our modern lives? In When Fitness Went Global, @physcstudy.bsky.social explores how the 19th century was critical for the development of the modern fitness industry. ᯓ🏃🏻‍♀️‍➡️ Find out more: https://bit.ly/4rcoMNp

Had a really fun chat on The Gist with Mike Pesca about fitness culture. It’s always nice when a conversation about lifting heavy things turns into a broader chat about bodies, culture, and history. My book When Fitness Went Global pops up, if you’re curious. Link: open.spotify.com/episode/3aW4...

*me reading a book* “ok ok we get it, it’s complicated. NOW TELL ME YOUR CONCLUSIONS” *me writing a book* “tis beneath me to burden my reader with anything so crass as a ‘takeaway’ or ‘summary’, they shalt all read mine whole book and make theyn own conclusions”

I was on the Weirdly Helpful podcast recently, talking about historic stone lifting and why I drifted away from modern gym culture. No mirrors. No apps. No optimisation. Just effort, history, and people being supportive. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s...

Your fitness resolution isn’t new — it’s about 200 years old 💪 I joined On Point to talk about how modern fitness culture emerged, and why it still shapes how we think about movement, health, and ourselves today. A genuine to be on a show I’ve listened to for years. 🎧 www.wbur.org/onpoint/2026...

Really happy to see my new article published in the Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences. It looks at how early twentieth-century American physical culture defined success through measurement images and commercial claims to science. Free access: bit.ly/4qvlswy

Measurement, morality, and the display of bodily perfection: @physcstudy.bsky.social on the origins of the 'gym selfie' @rtebrainstorm.bsky.social www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2...

How the Victorians invented the gym selfie. British and Irish men in the 1890s mailed their portraits to fitness guru Eugen Sandow, who created a global business with gyms, books and training kits, writes @physcstudy.bsky.social @ulsteruni.bsky.social @researchireland.ie www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2...

How the Victorians invented the gym selfie. British and Irish men in the 1890s mailed their portraits to fitness guru Eugen Sandow, who created a global business with gyms, books and training kits, writes @physcstudy.bsky.social @ulsteruni.bsky.social @researchireland.ie www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2...

Today marks publication day for my book When Fitness Went Global! It explores how physical culture travelled the world, how ideas about health circulated across continents, and how we arrived at today’s global landscape. Bloomsbury have it at 10% off today: www.bloomsbury.com/uk/when-fitn...

Taking a break from The Devil's Dancefloor tonight to work on pinning down Miss Juno May for a forthcoming international essay collection on women's wrestling, past and present-ish. Out 2026 (I don't know how, when, where) edited by @physcstudy.bsky.social & US colleagues! AMAZONS OF THE ARENA! 🤼‍♀️

On Let's Talk with Giles Brown, from 10.00CET - @physcstudy.bsky.social with 'The Years of the Wizard: The Strange History and Home Life of Renaissance Magicians', and Conor Heffernan (@physcstudy.bsky.social) on 'When Fitness Went Global: The Rise of Physical Culture in the Nineteenth Century'

Just out now — I joined the History in Focus podcast from the AHR to talk about my article Mistakes I Carried: Building Strength in a Time of Crisis. Listen here: www.historians.org/podcast/mist...

For UK academic folk, in case you don’t know about this service, the AHRC does publish all panel outcomes, with figures for numbers of applicants, numbers of successful awards etc. There is a lag, though, so the most recent info is from January 2025.

Great news! JSTOR now have a free account with an Independent Researcher category. You can access 100 documents per month www.jstor.org/action/showL...

Was proud to be part of Made of Stone on RTÉ — a brilliant doc on David Keohan and the revival of Irish stone lifting. Huge credit to David, director Will Hutchby, and @ulsteruni.bsky.social for backing my madness. Still on RTÉ Player. www.rte.ie/player/movie...

Hooray! 😁 I'm far from an expert, but whenever I've read about early strongmen it's been a delight. I also have a persistent double take reaction when I see this picture of George Hackenschmidt: "Those are very modern-looking boots! No, wait..."

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review 😆🙏🏻 #AThousandBlows www.grapplingwithhistory.com

How Fitness Conquered the World (and What It Still Teaches Us) open.substack.com/pub/physical...

New article out today 🎉 Gymnastics and childhood in early-19th-century Dublin — how foreign instructors, Irish medics & schools shaped kids’ bodies, health, and national ideals. Open Access (CC BY) — free to read & share. bit.ly/4onFCYp #skyhistorians @iaphistorians.bsky.social

Brilliant stuff from Conor Heffernan @physcstudy.bsky.social on “expertise creep” and platform authority physicalculture.substack.com/p/when-fitne...

Does 1880s boxers whacking down a glass of sherry and an egg for breakfast count? 💪🏻🥚🥃

One for the physical culture historians and enthusiasts in my network! I’ve already got a copy and would highly recommend such an amazing book!!

gotta be the world’s traditions of lifting heavy rocks. specifically i love the dritvík stones in iceland, primarily because they are ones i’ve visited and lifted 3/4 classifying myself as “half a man” lol

Throwing this into the #skystorians feed - chance to win what is sure to be an excellent book.

Does bicycling count? Love to see big guys balancing on bikes.

I really hope this includes Muscular Christianity, which gave us a legacy of a lot of 19th century beefcake photographs. 😌

To mark the release of my new book, When Fitness Went Global: The Rise of Physical Culture in the Nineteenth Century (Bloomsbury, 2025), I’m giving away a copy. To enter: 💪 Repost 🌍 Comment with your favorite strength tradition I’ll pick a winner next week. #StrengthHeritage #SportHistory

Great read

🚨Published in the American Historical Review!🚨 My article argues that historians can treat the body as an archive. Using my own training alongside J.C. Hise’s 1930s squat experiments, I explore how fitness culture reshapes bodies, identities & anxieties. 👉 bit.ly/46xlcVw