The bodybuilding and fitness industry has undergone revolutionary changes over the last century. It has become an organized force with several schools of thought, methods, and state-of-the-art technology. But that was the case a few decades ago. Several bodybuilders, entrepreneurs, researchers, and exercise scientists pioneered the bodybuilding industry with relentless efforts and made it more accessible for us to be able to train and lead healthy lives.
Vic Tanny was one such individual who made significant contributions and he is considered to be the pioneer of the modern-day idea of gyms and fitness clubs. This is his complete profile and biography.
Vic Tanny
Full Name – Victor A. Lannidinardo
Born – Feb. 18, 1912
Died – June 11, 1985 (aged 73)
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Occupation – Bodybuilder. Entrepreneur and Physical Culture Advocate
Nationality – American
Vic Tanny Biography
Early Life and Venturing Into Gym Business
Victor A. Lannidinardo was born in Rochester, New York on Feb. 18, 1912, in an Italian family. His father was a tailor by occupation. Due to the largely anti-Italian sentiment during World War 2, many Italian-Americans changed their surnames. As a result, Lanninardinos changed their surname to Lanny and Victor later changed it to Tanny and became Vic Tanny.
He was an athletic kid while growing up and had an immense passion for physical fitness. Tanny started his career as a full-time teacher after completing his education. This is when he opened his first fitness club in 1935 in his parents’ garage. However, the business did not do well and Tanny had to close it down four years later.
Struggle and resurgence
Vic Tanny then attended the University of Southern California to pursue a teaching degree. In 1939, Vic and his brother Armand Tanny pooled their resources to open their first gym named West Coast Tanny near Santa Monica Beach.
However, a lot of their members were involved in the war effort, and the gym struggled through the wartime. The Tanny brothers opened two more branches of the gym but both failed due to war and only the original branch remained.
In the post-war era, the gym went through a phase of resurgence and it soon shifted to a new 7000 sq. ft. facility. His gym was designed in such a way that members were no longer limited to professional athletes or bodybuilders. Instead, it attracted men and women of all ages, backgrounds, and professions.
Aggressive expansion
Vic Tanny worked extensively on giving added benefits in his gyms. Different locations offered additional benefits like skating rinks, Ballet classes, or movie screening facilities which worked as magnets to bring people to his gyms.
With chrome-plated weights, his brightly lit, colorfully painted establishments welcomed women and men to an almost country club atmosphere. Tanny’s gyms were clean and bright as opposed to the dimly lit, smoky, and dirty boxing gyms he had visited as a youth.
From the late 1940s to the early 1960s, Tanny’s Gym chain expanded like a wildfire into the United States. He went from one gym to over 60 nationwide with 650 employees and hundreds of thousands of members.
Vic Tanny’s gym motto was “Take it off, build it up, and make it firm”. This was accomplished by lifting weights but every member was cautioned against overstraining and grunting and groaning. Members were put on an initial 3-day-a-week program of 30 minutes duration which included 24 Tanny-approved exercises.
Vic Tanny was not the creator of the popularity of exercising at that time. There were over 750 “reducing” salons nationwide in 1958 with such names as “Silhouette” and “Slenderella”, but he was one of the leaders of the movement.
Vic accumulated quite a fortune from his gyms. In 1958 he and his family lived in a $220,000 mansion with 12 phones! Vic Tanny’s name became synonymous with gyms, muscle building, and fitness.
A parody of his gym is seen in the 1963 movie “The Nutty Professor” with Jerry Lewis. Don Rickles plays a trainer of bodybuilders, “Jack Fanny”, in the movie “Muscle Beach Party” and “Mad” magazine has even parodied Vic in their “Vic Tinny” issue.
Memberships were $60 per year on the West Coast and $125 per year in New York due to higher costs there. A lifetime membership could be purchased for $339.
Reducing Salon… Increasing Wealth!
Vic Tanny was not the creator of the popularity of exercising at that time. There were over 750 “reducing” salons nationwide in 1958 with such names as “Silhouette” and “Slenderella”, but he was one of the leaders of the movement.
Vic accumulated quite a fortune from his gyms. In 1958 he and his family lived in a $220,000 mansion with 12 phones! Vic Tanny’s name became synonymous with gyms, muscle building, and fitness.
A parody of his gym is seen in the 1963 movie “The Nutty Professor” with Jerry Lewis. Don Rickles plays a trainer of bodybuilders, “Jack Fanny”, in the movie “Muscle Beach Party” and “Mad” magazine has even parodied Vic in their “Vic Tinny” issue.
The Dream and The Fall…
Vic Tanny dreamed big and achieved even bigger! His dream was to spread his gyms all over the world. Tanny may have dreamed a bit too big. Eventually, Tanny’s business fell into bankruptcy due to “over-expansion, poor management, and lack of capital” according to those in the know.
Vic retired to Florida and many of his gyms became part of the Bally gym chain.
All In The Family…
Many of Vic’s family were also interested in the health and fitness industry.
Vic’s mother, Angela Tanny, was a lifelong health advocate. She followed her son to California and worked out regularly at his Santa Monica club. It worked well for her. She lived to be 94 years old, passing in January of 1986.
Armand Tanny was Vic’s younger brother. Armand competed in weightlifting early in his career but later turned to bodybuilding and wrestling. He had a career in writing for the Weider publications.
Armand appeared in 2 films in 1944, “Lady in the Dark” with Ginger Rogers and “Frenchman’s Creek” with Basil Rathbone. Armand died on April 4, 2009. He was 90 years of age.
Vic Tanny Jr. was a successful Iron Age bodybuilder in the seventies.
Mandy Tanny, Vic’s niece, wrote for Joe Weider’s “Muscle and Fitness” magazine for 10 years and penned 2 health food cookbooks. She and her husband developed a chain of gyms between 1990 and 2003. Sadly, Mandy passed away from breast cancer in April of 2010. She was 60 years old.
Vic Tanny, the young immigrant boy who grew a bodybuilding empire, died of heart failure on June 11, 1985. Despite how his empire may have ended, he will always be remembered for his contribution to the health and fitness industry and the Iron Age era of bodybuilding.
Rest in peace, Vic Tanny.
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