History of physical fitness - How did exercise look many years ago compared to today?

24 Jan 2021

History of physical fitness - How did exercise look many years ago compared to today?

24 Jan 2021

By Patrick de Kretser There is no shortage of articles and videos out there which explain to you the best way that you can get in shape and keep your body healthy. The internet contains a seemingly unlimited supply of resources which you can use and cater towards your interests in whichever way you see fit. Do you want to look up a simple diet plan that does not have you cutting down too much and exercising too hard? You got it. Do you want a rigorous weekly workout plan that will have you grinding out your muscles like never before? You got it. Do you want to shop online for resistance bands, weights, and any other tools that you can find useful during your workouts? Boom, your items are already at your doorstep. But the luxuries afforded for us today were quite alien to athletes and fitness enthusiasts years ago. Think back to Ancient Greece for example. You had a society that was centred on the magnificence and strength of the Greek gods which got channelled into sports and other recreational activities. After all, we are talking about the civilisation that was famous for starting the Ancient Olympics. Athletes back then were apparently a spectacle to behold, as representatives were expected to be the very symbol of human strength and potential. There was no YouTube or recreational gym that could help them out with their training, as everything was more in line with military-style training. Training was much more practical rather than based upon skill and technique, because athletes were expected to prepare in a similar fashion to the way they prepared for war. It was of course a mostly mandatory requirement for adult males to undergo intense training regimes at some point in order to keep them ready for war, so we can certainly count ourselves lucky that we are not forced into exercising against our will these days. The “ancient method” of exercise was a style that was continued for much of early history until the Renaissance period, because the idea of training in the same manner as the Spartans was at long last becoming an outdated philosophy. Besides, many of us can tell from the Tudor period and colonial times, that the art of warfare was changing anyway. The practical exercise routines that were used for sword training and spear throwing were no longer required, because everyone loved to use guns now and muscle was hardly a necessary tool for pulling triggers. So what was the solution to this? Well, there came a man named Friedrich Jahn, more commonly known as the “Father of Gymnastics”. Jahn promoted the philosophy of training both the body and mind, as he believed that strength was as much about mental perseverance as it was about physical aptitude. Jumping, climbing, and balancing became popular routines at that point. But much unlike the way things are run today, training back then in those fields was still strict and highly demanding for athletes. Even in recent times, the training methods employed in the 19th and 20th Centuries were still in another league. Charles Darwin came out with the concept of “survival of the fittest”, which revolutionised the approach that nations took with their fitness programmes from the ground up. Imagine going to school in the early 20th Century for example – you would have been subject to incredibly challenging gym exercises which were often mandatory and were necessary trials if you intended to do sports of any kind. Physical culture was extremely important in Western society in the 20th Century, as two world wars kept many nations on guard and led to massive propaganda campaigns which promoted the idea of an “ideal” human being, based on strength and leadership. But these days, exercise has become a far more casual activity which rests on the willingness of the individual to commit themselves to the task. If anything should be taken from this article about the way human history has been until this point, it is that we have a great deal more autonomy over whether we want to keep ourselves up to speed on the physical side of things. So with that being said, we should cherish the fact that we do not have to go for sword practice and mountain climbing every afternoon. So if you ever need motivation trying to do those extra 10 push-ups during your next workout, just tell yourself that at least you do not have to throw tree trunks around which weigh two tonnes. PHOTOS Greece Is, Britannica, Wikipedia, Gymnastics NSW, The Atlantic

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History of physical fitness - How did exercise look many years ago compared to today?

History of physical fitness - How did exercise look many years ago compared to today?

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