PHYSICAL TRAINING, a term used to indicate the systematic development and main tenance of bodily power and health. In the broad sense it includes gymnastic and athletic exercise, active sports, personal, public and school hygiene. While the term is often used in its broad sense as health training, this article has special reference to physical exercise as related to this.
Systematic training of the body has been fol lowed in some form by probably every nation and race, savage and civilized. In the past it has taken the varied forms of training for war fare through exercise for developing endurance, strength and skill; recreative and competitive sports; gymnastic dances for religious, martial or recreative purposes, and remedial exercises for the cure of disease, often associated with religion and administered by the priesthood. The highest development in many ways that the subject has ever known was in ancient Greece, where athletic games held a place in the politi cal, religious, intellectual and artistic life of the country that made them one of the greatest human institutions in history. (See ATHLETICS; GAMES). The physical training of women in ancient Greece consisted mostly of dancing and ball-playing, though the women of Sparta were not allowed to marry until they had given a public exhibition of proficiency in gymnastics. After its decline in Greece physical training next arose to the dignity of an institution in the age of chivalry when physical strength and prowess were again apotheosized for noble uses. (See GAMES). Following this, development of the body fell under the ban of an ascetic -age, where it remained until early in the 19th cen tury despite the protests of such philosophers and reformers as Rabelais, Montaigne, Rods seau, Pestalozzi, Luther, Milton and Locke. At the time mentioned began a renaissance of physical training out of which has grown, side by side with the continuance of athletic sports, the modern gymnasium, a wholly unique insti tution in its construction, equipment, and the kinds of exercise adapted to it. This exercise includes gymnastics proper, with and without apparatus, nastic and folk dancing and athletics. growth of cities, mass ing large numbers of people in limited space and curtailing facilities for outdodr exercise, the gynasium has come to mean, not only a prep aration for competitive sports, but for thou sands of people the only opportunity for vigor ous, all-over bodily exercise. At the same time there has developed a scientific and educational understanding and application of the subject in marked contrast to earlier methods. Exer cise in its early forms, as inspired by considera tions of religion, warfare or competitive sport, was used with a purely empirical knowledge of its effects. With the development of physiology, psychology and related sciences, has come a closer analysis and classification of exercises for their effects upon the physiological func tions, a clearer knowledge of the relation of exercise to psychological and moral develop ment, its adaptation to individual needs, and its use as an instrument of education. Germany and Sweden were pioneers in this modern ad vance of the subject, and the principles and methods there developed have had a profound influence upon the physical training of other European countries and America.
German gymnastics have been developed in societies organized into the Turnerbund, which is the largest organization for gymnastic pur poses that the world has ever known. It was founded about 1810 by Friedrich Ludwig Jahn (1778-1852), who invented the mode of exer cise known as turning, and who is called the Father of German Gymnastics. The inspiring expressed motive for Jahn's work was patriot ism— the development of strong men for the °protection of the fatherland.° No institution of physical training since the days of ancient Greece has had such a popular following as the German Turnerbund. Indeed, it bears strong
analogies to the Greek institution. Among these is the combination of intellectual, artistic and social interests with physical training. For children there are, in many Turnvereine, classes in drawing, modeling, needlework and litera ture. The adults have debating societies and choral and dramatic clubs. The social element is very strong. In both Germany and the United States the German turners have a meet or festival every four years, when thousands of participants from all -parts of the country contest for honors in gymnastics, athletics, de bating, singing, etc. Prizes of laurel or oak leaves, or diplomas, are awarded for these con tests. Jahn and his pupils, building upon a col lection of exercises made by Gutsmuths (1759 1839) invented a number of pieces of apparatus and exercises to be performed upon them. Much of this German work calls for the sus taining of the weight of the body upon the arms, as in using the horizontal and parallel bars, traveling and flying rings. The vaulting horse and buck, balance boards, ladders and climbing poles are also prominent in German gymnastics. Freehand gymnastics (namely, without apparatus) and work with light, mov able apparatus, such as wands, dumb-bells and Indian clubs, were developed and adapted to schools by Adolph Spiess (1810-58). The es tablishment of gymnasiums for secondary schools was decreed by the Prussian govern ment in 1844, and for elementary schools for the people in 1860. The Royal Central Gym nastic Institute for training teachers of gym nastics for the army and the schools, was es tablished by the government in 1877. Techni cally, as introduced in the United States, Ger man gymnastics partake of the empirical char acter of earlier forms of exercise. The work is classified as tactics, calisthenics, fancy steps, apparatus work, popular gymnastics, games and plays. Within these divisions further classification is according to external features, as, exercise on the upper side of the ladder, on the lower side, outer side, etc. The progressive arrangement of exercises is accord ing to neuromuscular skill, advancing from simple to complex movements. The capacity of pupils is also determined on the general lines indicated by their separation into classes of children, men, women and old men. Almost all possible movements are permissible, and the ingenuity of teachers has resulted in a large variety of exercises. Indeed, interest and en joyment — work under the guise of youthful happiness and sport—mark the general spirit of the turner gymnastics. Games for both adults and children are a prominent feature, and for women and children, figure marching with dance steps and singing, called roundels or reigen. The method of teaching and con ducting work is almost invariably imitative, the pupils' movements being largely reflex and auto matic. This, with the use of apparatus, gives an objective trend to the mental attitude of pupils which reduces mental tension to a mini mum. The musical genius of the German peo ple is manifest in its gymnastics, not only in the frequent use of musical accompaniment, or, in the absence of music, of inspiring rhythms beaten out by the instructor, but, in a larger sense, in the artistic arrangement of drills or series of exercises. These are often con structed around a given exercise which serves as a theme on which variations are arranged, working up, as it were, to a climax, and return ing at the close of the series to the initial movements. This artistic bent shows in en semble effects used for their appeal to the eye, as when alternate lines work in opposite direc tions, or a program is closed with a tableau or pyramid of performers.