History of physical training and fitness

Physical training has been present in some human societies throughout history. Usually, people trained to prepare for physical competition or display, to improve physical, emotional and mental health, and to look attractive. The activity took a variety of different forms but quick dynamic exercises were favoured over slow or more static ones. For example, running, jumping, wrestling, gymnastics and throwing heavy stones are mentioned frequently in historical sources and emphasised as being highly effective training-methods. Notably, they are also forms of exercise which are readily achievable for most people to some extent or another.
Athletes of Ancient Greece widely practiced physical training. However, after the original Olympic Games were banned by the Romans in 394, such culturally significant athletic competitions were not held again until the 19th Century. In 1896 the Olympic Games revived after a gap of some 1,500 years. In the years in between, formalised systems of physical training had become more closely aligned with military training. Whilst there were differences in how the training manifested itself based upon its purpose, there were also obvious similarities, and some similar training methods and focuses recur through European history.
Ballistic training
Plyometrics
Calisthenics
Co-operative calisthenics
Strength and weight training
Games and sports played for fitness
Sky ball, a player throws a ball into the air, and he and other players try to catch it.
Epikoinos, a game involving two teams of equal numbers and a ball which was roughly the size of a large apple. The two teams line up in a staggered formation either side of a centre line i.e. player 1 is closest to the line, player 2 midway and player 3 furthest, and the same for the opposite team. The centre line was marked out of gypsum or stone, and called skyros or latype. There was a goal line some distance behind each team. At the set up of the game the ball is placed on the centre line. When the game begins, each team races to secure the ball. Whoever secures the ball then attempts to throw it over and beyond their opponents who attempt to catch it and return it in a similar manner. By following this process, the aim of the game is to force the opposing team back over their goal line.
Ballistic training
Plyometrics
Calisthenics
Strength and weight training
Games and sports played for fitness
Trigon (trans. Triangle), involved players being positioned at the three points of a triangle and throwing or hitting the ball to each other.
Harpastum, the gameplay is not fully clear but involves players passing to each other in a bid to avoid an opposing player who is attempting to intercept the ball. It also involves feinting to fool the opposition and dodging out of the way. Non-active players would wait to join in the game, perhaps standing around in a circle to demark the playing area. A waiting player could be allowed into the game by an active player.
Ballistic training
Plyometrics
Calisthenics
Strength and weight training
Games and sports played for fitness
Ballistic Training
Plyometrics
Calisthenics
Co-operative calisthenics
Strength and weight training
Games and sports played for fitness
Ballistic training
Plyometrics training
Calisthenics
Strength and weight training
Games and sports played for fitness
The main training focus shared across all historical periods is achieving good general health through physical fitness. The most obvious visual sign for a person achieving this was looking 'in shape'. In other words, the body's muscular proportions are in the correct ratio to each other, having good posture in general, and not carrying too much or too little fat.
When physical training was used to prepare for athletics or warfare, the focus was predominantly on agility, speed, explosive power, and endurance. There was little attempt to emulate the hardiness and physical strength of the peasant or manual labourer, because the kind of strength developed by those roles was considered too slow and unagile for competition, be it in athletics or war. For this reason, exercises that required powerful, dynamic movements were more frequently recommended than those that required slow-moving strength i.e. ballistic training and plyometrics more so than heavy weight lifting.
Representations of athletes and warriors typically have very similar body proportions: a large developed torso, large or very large gluteal muscles, and a build that overall looks muscular, athletic, and robust. The commonality of this body shape for people throughout history who have undergone physical training means it was a build that was the result of, and reciprocally supported the further achievement of, the training goals of agility, speed, explosive power, and endurance.
Athletes, especially in Greece and Rome, tended to be thicker set than warriors who were in general leaner. This was partly due to athletes being able to depend on regular meals and sleep patterns, and warriors having to be prepared to be deprived of these. Thus, it was easier for an athlete to maintain a more muscular frame, whereas it was an unnecessary and difficult task for a warrior involved in campaigning. The relative proportions of the build were however similar which shows there was a belief in optimum physical proportions that could place someone in the best situation to achieve a variety of tasks. On this subject, the historian E. Norman Gardinier notes that while in Ancient Greece there were variations in the builds of the athletes based upon the event they specialised in, these variations were slight and there was a universal standard of development which was the result of universal forms of athletic training. He goes on to argue that for this reason statues of athletes would be made with a sign of the event they specialized in, otherwise, it would be too difficult to tell them apart based on their physical development alone. For similar reasons of attempting to achieve the optimum body proportions for moving in a fast, agile, and powerful manner, people throughout history, who have undertaken physical training, tend to be of similar proportions.
British and French imperialism brought European sport practices and training routines to much of the world, including most of Asia and Africa. An important exception was China, which developed its own athletic traditions. However after 1920 the Nationalist and communist governments emphasized Western sports. In ancient India, physical fitness was given priority by the kings and the higher-class warriors. British brought European sports to India after 1800. Polo especially became popular among the elites. However, after India achieved independence in 1947, polo practically disappeared.
Women's physical training had many similarities to men's but was markedly tailored towards their physical requirements. This generally meant that it had an increased emphasis on agility, and a reduced emphasis on power and endurance. In general, the training was notably less intense than that undertaken by men. This was due to inter-related physiological and cultural reasons. The main physiological reasons women were not supposed to train like men were related to fertility. Whilst discussion on women's physical training is relatively scarce in historical sources, there are two reasons which predominate. Considered in the context of 19th-century France, the first is that intense physical training was not compatible with a woman's menstrual cycle. The two together could lead to exhaustion, especially during adolescence. For similar reasons it was considered to be incompatible with pregnancy and periods of breast feeding. The second reason is that intense physical training tended to involve, or be preparation for, direct physical competition which would involve taking various knocks and impacts. It was considered that if a woman was struck in the area of her uterus it could cause long term damage, and negatively affect fertility. Whilst it is unclear to what extent such positions applied to women's training throughout history, it is clear that intense and prolonged physical training, and full contact games have been avoided in general.
The more common exercises which were undertaken by women include running (including sprinting), jumping, light stone or shot put, light dumbbell exercises, archery, fencing, swinging Indian clubs, swimming, ball games, racket sports, and various forms of gymnastics. The Heraean Games were the women's equivalent of the Ancient Olympic Games and took place prior to the men's competitions. According to the historian E. Norman Gardinier:
It is notable that historical artwork which depicts women, on average, shows them with significantly smaller breasts than women in the modern day. Women athletes and warrioresses tend to be represented either not wearing any form of breast support or, more rarely, use a breast band, such as is demonstrated in the Roman 'bikini girls' mosaic.