York Barbell is an American-based international manufacturer of fitness products. Bob Hoffman, named "Father of World Weightlifting" by the

International Weightlifting Federation The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF), headquartered in Lausanne, is the international governing body for the sport of Olympic weightlifting. The IWF was founded in 1905, and has 192 Member Federations. The IWF President is Mohammed H ...

, bought the Milo Barbell Company and founded York Barbell in 1932. As a prolific writer of books and articles, Hoffman promoted the benefits of exercise and nutrition. Among the company's first employees were weightlifters Tony Terlazzo and

John Terpak John Basil Terpak (July 4, 1912 – June 1, 1993) was an American world champion Olympic weightlifting, weightlifter. Early life Terpak's father was Ukrainian-born and worked in Pennsylvania's coal mining, coal mines. Terpak pursued weightli ...

. Hoffman starting creating barbells in 1929, the same year he began to host meets in the oil burner factory. During the 1932, Los Angeles Olympics, Hoffman noticed how the teams from other countries looked down upon the America weightlifting team. The same year Hoffman opened the York Barbell Company and began promoting weightlifting. Hoffman reached out to ostracized minorities of the time to train and compete at York Barbell. During the Second World War, York Barbell supplied barbells to the United States military. When the war ended, the demand for barbells increased due to the military personnel returning home who had been exposed to weightlifting during the war. After the war, company machinist Frank Spellman won a gold medal at the 1948 Olympics in Men's 75 kg Weightlifting, setting Olympic middleweight (165 pound) records in the clean & jerk (336.25 pounds) and the total lift (859.5 pounds). From the decades of the 1930s through the 1970s, York Barbell sponsored over 40 national champions and numerous Olympic gold medalists, a few of whom are featured in one of the

murals of York, Pennsylvania The Murals of York, Pennsylvania are a series of murals painted on the sides of buildings in York, Pennsylvania between 1996 and 2002. Paid for with local donations, the murals provide the community with details about some lesser-known people, bus ...

. Today, the corporate office of York Barbell Company houses the official Weightlifting Hall of Fame and Museum and continues to host a variety of

powerlifting Powerlifting is a strength sport that consists of three attempts at maximal weight on three lifts: squat, bench press, and deadlift. As in the sport of Olympic weightlifting, it involves the athlete attempting a maximal weight single-lift effor ...

and

bodybuilding Bodybuilding is the use of progressive resistance exercise to control and develop one's muscles (muscle building) by muscle hypertrophy for aesthetic purposes. It is distinct from similar activities such as powerlifting because it focuses ...

competitions. For a time, the company had a

food supplement A dietary supplement is a manufactured product intended to supplement one's diet by taking a pill, capsule, tablet, powder, or liquid. A supplement can provide nutrients either extracted from food sources or that are synthetic in order ...

business, which was involved in several violations of the law. During several occasions (1960, 1961, 1968, 1972 and 1974), the company's products were seized by the

Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respon ...

, (section "NHF's Leaders", subsection "Bob Hoffman") and in a 1968 consent decree it agreed to stop a long list of questionable health claims for their products. The fact that Bob Hoffman owned this company, was a weightlifting coach and a founding member of the

President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports The President's Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition (PCSFN) is an American government organization that aims to "promote, encourage and motivate Americans of all ages to become physically active and participate in sports". It is part of the ...

, as well as Hoffman's athletic career, helped make him "a major factor in the growth of nutritional fads for athletes", according to

alternative medicine Alternative medicine is any practice that aims to achieve the healing effects of medicine despite lacking biological plausibility, testability, repeatability, or evidence from clinical trials. Complementary medicine (CM), complementary and alt ...

critic

Stephen Barrett Stephen Joel Barrett (; born 1933) is an American retired psychiatrist, author, co-founder of the National Council Against Health Fraud (NCAHF), and the webmaster of Quackwatch. He runs a number of websites dealing with quackery and health frau ...

References

{{reflist Weight training equipment Companies based in York County, Pennsylvania York, Pennsylvania American companies established in 1932 1932 establishments in Pennsylvania Manufacturing companies based in Pennsylvania Manufacturing companies established in 1932 Physical culture

See also

References