Low Volume Training History: Part I – Gustav Zander
Most people credit Arthur Jones in the 1970s with creating the concept of low volume training, but its roots actually go back much further. The history starts in the 19th century with a Swedish physician named Gustav Zander, a true pioneer in physical rehabilitation and resistance training.
Zander introduced the concept of “mechanotherapy”, which involved the use of exercise machines to aid in recovery and strength development. His machines were revolutionary for the time. They were designed to:
Work the full body
Be used in a controlled manner
Apply progressive tension over time
These three principles became foundational to many modern low volume training systems, including those used today by bodybuilders, strength athletes, and rehab professionals.
Who Was Gustav Zander?
In a time when weightlifting was virtually unknown and workout machines didn’t exist, Zander was inventing and hand-building advanced exercise equipment. This was the late 1800s—long before automated fabrication or commercial gym equipment. Every part was made by hand. If a component broke, it couldn’t be easily replaced.
His commitment to creating functional, therapeutic machinery speaks volumes about his innovation and work ethic. Zander’s early machines helped patients recover faster, build strength, and improve physical function—concepts we now take for granted in modern training systems.
Why Zander Still Matters Today
Although his name is mostly forgotten, Gustav Zander laid the groundwork for many principles still seen in strength and rehab training today. The use of controlled, full-body resistance with progressive overload is not new. Zander identified and applied these ideas decades before Nautilus or HIT ever existed.
As we move forward in this series on the history of low volume training, you’ll see how these ideas were refined, reintroduced, and popularized over time. But it all started here—with Zander and his machines.
