During John Grimek's career as a weightlifter, bodybuilder, and magazine editor—which began in the late 1920s and ended in the mid-1980s—he saw weight training change from being an activity shunned by athletes and exercise scientists into an activity universally embraced by these groups. What's more, because of his remarkable combination of muscle mass, athleticism, and flexibility, he was one of the main instigators of the change in attitude. In the mid-1920s, when young John first began to lift, following the example of his older brother George in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, there were very few men and virtually no women in the United States who trained with heavy weights. It was not that heavy lifting was unknown; it was that lifting was anathema throughout the culture. How such nonsense came to be believed by so many people is important to...