Category: Sports

History of gymnastics

In ancient times, in the motor activity of people, there are the origins of gymnastics as a means of physical education, not isolated separately from labor, hunting, and military activities. Children imitated their parents, adults performed applied exercises: running, jumping, climbing, throwing objects, etc.

 

According https://usghof.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://usghof.org/">https://usghof.org/ gymnastics as a means of physical development, health promotion, military-applied training and treatment has been known since ancient times. The term gymnastics appeared around the 5th century. BC e. in Ancient Greece and meant a set of physical exercises for educational, military and health purposes. The ancient Greeks believed that gymnastics gives the body flexibility, strength, agility, harmony, and develops a sense of beauty, courage, and nobility. Another meaning of the word “gymnastics” is associated with the Greek word “gymnazo” - I exercise, I train. The ancient Greeks used gymnastic exercises not only for physical development, but also in the military training of soldiers, as well as in the training system for Olympic athletes.

 

In the ancient Greek slave state of Laconia with the main city of Sparta (9th BC), free-born citizens lived off the labor of enslaved peoples. The main focus of the physical education of men and women is military training. In Athens, the center of ancient Greek culture of the same time, handicraft production, trade, navigation, science, art were well developed, and the idea of ​​educating a harmoniously developed personality arose and was practically embodied.

 

Until the age of 7, children were raised by their parents, then boys of rich parents attended paid music schools (from the word “muse” - the patroness of science and art), and from the age of 12-13 they studied at a public school - palaestra (“pales” - wrestling). Ball games, tug-of-war, climbing and balance exercises, games, and overcoming obstacles were widely used in gymnastics. Much attention was paid not only to the physical, but also to the spiritual education of children. With the help of gymnastic exercises, restraint, moderation, self-control, patience and sensitivity were cultivated. Musical accompaniment of classes made it possible to reduce their coarsening influence.

 

Ancient Rome waged wars of conquest and lived off the labor of enslaved peoples. For this, a strong, resilient army, ruthless towards other peoples, was needed. Boys aged 16-17 years old joined it. For a long time they underwent well-organized special physical and military training. The exercises used were running, long jumps, high jumps, pole jumps, climbing ropes, poles, rocks, exercises on a wooden horse, ladders and special logs to teach assault techniques. In gladiator schools, gymnastics was used to develop the agility, strength and endurance of gladiators.

 

In Ancient China, two forms of national gymnastics arose under the common name - Wushu. Each of them had its own name.

 

The first - solin, or “external”, had a pronounced military orientation. In Solin gymnastics, all movements were performed with maximum tension of the main muscle groups. Individual exercises were combined into complexes.

 

The second form, taiji, has survived to this day. It is clearly hygienic in nature. It has a well-developed dosage of exercises in terms of the number of repetitions and, even more so, in terms of the pace and time allotted for performing each exercise. It is recommended to perform the movements with some relaxation of the muscles, and the effect is carried out mainly on the internal organs. Classes are combined with hygiene procedures.

 

Taiji gymnastics is used as a religious and mystical practice to achieve immortality. This teaching is aimed at developing the body and spirit, preparing a person for active actions in stressful situations.

 

In ancient India, the basis of gymnastic exercises was the religious and philosophical teaching - yoga. According to this teaching, a person can understand the essence of things and himself if he goes a long way - with the help of special gymnastic exercises he forms a whole series of “virtues” and accordingly prepares his body for active motor activity.

 

Yoga – translated from Sanskrit (an ancient Indian language) means “unity, harmony.” This phenomenon of Indian culture is one of the oldest among the systems of versatile human formation. Philosophers understand yoga in different ways - from the mystical unity of individual consciousness with the cosmic mind to the closer to our understanding of the unity of man and the nature that created him.

 

In ancient Egypt, gymnastic exercises served mainly to educate the younger generation. Acrobatic exercises were especially popular. It is known about the existence of physical education schools in Persia. Gymnastic, acrobatic exercises, and tightrope walking were popular among the peoples of Transcaucasia.

 

Many achievements of gymnastics of those times are worthy of application in modern systems of physical education.

 

Gymnastics in the Middle Ages

In the early Middle Ages, the church considered any care for the human body to be sinful. A concession was made to the feudal lords. They engaged in physical exercises in order to train themselves as warriors. The basis of training was horse riding and vaulting. Fighting techniques were studied on a wooden horse. To develop strength, endurance and speed, gymnastic and acrobatic exercises, lifting and carrying weights, jumping, climbing, and crawling exercises were used. The preparedness of warriors was tested at knightly tournaments.

 

Gymnastics in the Renaissance.

The Renaissance (XI-XV centuries) is the period of formation of early bourgeois society. Representatives of its advanced part were humanists. They believed that gymnastics should influence the mental and moral development of students, serve as a break from mental activities and a means of recuperation. Luther Martin (1483-1546), Hieronymus Mercoulialis (1530-1606) created a classification of types of gymnastics. During this period, acrobatic exercises were very popular. Mercurialis' successor Arcangelo Tuccaro (1538-1616) wrote the first manual on acrobatics. For the development of the theory and methodology of gymnastics, the works of John Amos Comenius (1592-1670) were of great importance. He put forward the most important teaching principles for physical education: the educational nature of teaching, connection with life, consciousness, activity, clarity, systematicity, accessibility, principle of exercises (repeated execution of actions). John Locke (1632-1704) proposed a sports and game method for enriching knowledge, skills and abilities, taking into account the individual characteristics of students.

 

With approval at the turn of the XIV-XV centuries. humanism - a direction of social thought characterized by the protection of the dignity and freedom of the individual, its comprehensive, including physical, development by the struggle for the humanity of social relations - begins an appeal to the cultural heritage of antiquity. Physical education - gymnastics - is gradually being introduced into the education system. A significant role in its revival was played by the essay of the Italian physician Hieronymus Mercurialis (1530-1606) “On the Art of Gymnastics”, the views on the education of the French writer, author of the novel “Gargantua and Pantagruel” Francois Rabelais (1494-1553), and the Swiss teacher Pestalozzi (1746-1827). ), French philosopher-educator Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778), Czech teacher Jan Amos Kamensky (1592-1670).

 

The emergence of national gymnastics systems

The ideas of gymnasts developed. During this period, Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) and Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi (1746-1827) had the strongest influence on the development of gymnastics. According to Rousseau, physical education is the basis of mental, labor and moral education. Rousseau considered gymnastic exercises, running, throwing, jumping, games, walking, etc. to be a means of solving these problems. He recommended the competitive method. Pestalozzi proposed making children's education accessible and understandable. Exercises must be performed consciously. He proposed the idea of ​​applied action. Thus, gymnastics receives a further impetus for development under the influence of a more progressive mode of production.

 

At the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th centuries. In Germany, a movement of philanthropists developed in pedagogy under the influence of the ideas of humanists. In the philanthropic schools they created, an important place was occupied by the system of physical education - gymnastics, which was developed and taught by G. Fit (1763-1836), I. Guts-Muts (1759-1839). The creation of the system of German gymnastics was completed by F. L. Jahn (1778-1852), who developed a gymnastic system called “turnen”, which enriched German gymnastics with exercises on the crossbar (horizontal bar), rings, uneven bars and pommel horse.

 

Original gymnastics systems were created: in France by F. Amoros (1770-1847), in Sweden (Swedish) by P.-G. Ling (1776-1839), and in the Czech Republic (Sokol) - Miroslav Tyrsh (1832-1884).