Bodybuilding in its modern form is a relatively young sport - compared to others like boxing - however its roots go at least as far back.
Ever since humans first walked the face of the earth, the need for human muscle - power was there, first to defend oneself against various adversities and complete different tasks related to everyday existence. Later people increasingly felt the need to use muscle - power in order to wow others, in a word to show off.
The ancient Greeks - as it’s obvious from the statues and paintings from that era - put great value on a symmetrical, harmonious, well developed physique, thus celebrating perfection in every detail. The Romans - as the famous proverb “mens sana in corpore sano” (“a healthy brain in a healthy body”) shows - also drew a direct parallel between physical and mental health and fitness.
In later ages however, this interest for the human physique seemed to have undergone a curious - if not downright weird - change. People, both men and women used to wear confining clothes during the Victorian age, and showing off bare human skin became somewhat of a sign of belonging to a lower social class. There are different speculations as to why this situation emerged. According to some opinions, aristocracy - the source of most of the information we have about that age today - was particularly perverted both sexually and morally. Since there was not much defense against diseases transmitted that way, they didn’t really have much else to do about it, but suffer in silence. The marks of such diseases were clearly visible on the skin, that was the reason why most of these people avoided showing any patch of bare skin as much as they could.
Whether this theory can really stand its ground or not is subject to debate, however one thing for sure, at the end of the 19th century a renewed interest for the human anatomy and muscle building arose.

First off, county-fair strongmen appeared, people who wowed audiences by “extraordinary” feats of strength, however they were little more than sideshow attractions together with the bearded lady and the 3 legged midget.
Since the object of these shows was to show off as much strength as possible, there was little to no accent on the physique of the performer. Thus, these “strongmen” didn’t focus on achieving a harmonious well developed body either. Most of them were bulky, pot bellied, beer drinking mountains of flesh.
Around this period however, in America living standards rose and this fact coupled with the advances in technology, allowed people to frolic around doing previously unheard - of things.
The number of city - dwellers skyrocketed and overeating started to take a foothold in people’s lives. The appearance of the automobile offered greater mobility but it also helped deprive the human organism of even more much needed exercise. As problems associated with this new consumer lifestyle began to emerge, so did the first counter movements of the physical culturists who promoted a healthy lifestyle.
The person to step forth in this new wave of return to the “Greek ideal”, was Eugen Sandow. He made a name for himself in Europe, however he really reached the peak of his career in the States where he achieved no less than superstardom. He was the first strongman to actually focus on how his body looked, (he used to pose in a glass case wearing only a fig leaf) and had enormous success among the ladies.
Men also became aware of the fact that such physiques were attainable and the sales of dumbbells and barbells, bearing Sandow’s name, became the first ever large scale commercial success of the sport of bodybuilding. Despite this, Sandow had been and remained a professional strongman, (not a bodybuilder) until the day he died trying to tow his car out of a ditch single handedly and suffering a brain hemorrhage in the process.

The first ever actual bodybuilding venture is tied to the name of businessman Bernarr Macfadden, the founder of Physical Culture magazine.
Having a deep contempt for the weak and unfit, he was the one who first held a bodybuilding contest in New York in 1903 called: ”Most Perfectly Developed man in the World”. The winner of one of these contests was Charles Atlas, who later produced a mail-order based fitness course which had enormous success.
Body building as we know it, though, only emerged in 1940, when the AAU held the Mr. America contest won by John Grimek.
Before that - during the 1920s and 1930s physical culture contests were mainly attended by weightlifters, gymnasts and other sportsmen. It was during that period that it became obvious that specialized weight training would offer far better results, as far as muscular development was concerned, than the practicing of different sports.
As stated before, all of that was to change though during the 40s. Clarence Ross, Steve Reeves and Reg Park all came to prove that Bodybuilding has found itself and it was indeed on a takeoff course.
The 60s (1966 to be exact) saw the emergence of probably the biggest name in bodybuilding ever. Arnold Schwarzenegger. His battles with names like Sergio Oliva, Dave Draper, Frank Zane during the Mr. universe and later Mr. Olympia contests were indeed something to behold.
The 1990’s marked the time bodybuilding finally came out of the shadow. Not only did the IFBB become the 4th largest sports federation in the world but through bodybuilders taking up movie roles, it got immensely popular with the masses.
Nowadays one can’t walk into a shopping mall or a community center without stumbling upon a fully equipped gym, fit to put all of bodybuilding’s discoveries made over time, to good use.