These Elaborate Exercise Machines were like the Victorian Bowflex

(via Retronaut) Swedish physician Dr. Gustav Zander, after studying the physics of body motion and muscle building, developed a range of therapeutic machines that could correct physical deficiencies, impairments and ailments.  His machines made a sensation at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition, where they were touted not only for their therapeutic benefits, but their general utility for everyday health.  These images, from his 1892 book Dr. G. Zander’s medico-mechanische Gymnastik, feature a wide variety of exercise apparatus, as demonstrated by impeccably dressed Victorian models.