From Milo to Milo: A History of Barbells, Dumbells, and Indian Clubs – Iron Game History – April, 1995

Although the ancient Egyptians, the ancient Chinese, the ancient Indians, and many other early peoples practiced resistance exercise, credit has traditionally been given to the ancient Greeks for producing the forerunners of our modern weight training equipment.1 According to Norman E. Gardiner’s Athletics of the Ancient World, the land that produced calf-carrying Milo of Cro-tona—the so-called father of progressive resistance exercise—had three weighted implements by the fifth century B.C.