HISTORY OF THE GYM (PART 1) — THE BEGINNING
By Shane Robert
There have likely been people trying to lift heavy things for as long as there have been people. Similarly, there has likely been some kind of formalized training for warfare for as long as there have been large enough bands of people to engage in such an activity. That training, and any facility that enabled it, was reserved for soldiers and, very likely, mainly aristocratic soldiers. There is a long and storied history in places like India and Persia of formalized training for wrestling and war but these were not open to all. In order to find what we would recognize as the first “gyms”, those places open to the public (read: men) to improve their physical abilities, we need to turn to ancient Greece at around the 6th century BCE.
The word gymnasium comes from the Greek gymnós (meaning naked) and translates roughly to “naked workout place.” That’s precisely how the Greeks trained—fully naked. This naked workout place was not merely a facility for exercise; it was a complex cultural institution that combined athletic training with intellectual and civic education. These spaces included running tracks, wrestling pits, open-air courtyards, and adjacent buildings for lectures and philosophical discussions. It was a social space for adult male citizens to gather, debate politics, get jacked, and mentor youth (yes, while naked).
Greek boys as young as seven entered the paideia system, which combined physical training with lessons in music, poetry, philosophy, and mathematics. The goal was the cultivation of areté or excellence in mind and body. Some of these young men became athletes who trained for events in the Panhellenic Games, including the Olympics, which were held to honor Zeus and bring glory to the winning city. Events included foot races, discus, javelin, wrestling, and Pankration, a no-holds-barred combination of boxing and wrestling, somewhat akin to modern-day MMA.
The gymnasium was also a space philosophers like Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle engaged with young men in these environments. Plato, in fact, established his Academy adjacent to a gymnasium known as the Akademeia. Plato once wrote in The Republic, "No citizen should be allowed to be an amateur in the matter of physical training... what a disgrace it is for a man to grow old without ever seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable."
The legendary Milo of Croton, a 6th-century BCE Olympian wrestler, became a symbol of physical perfection and progressive overload. His mythic training method of lifting a calf daily until it grew into a bull illustrates the deep Greek respect for discipline, repetition, and strength. For the Greeks, the ideal citizen was fit, intellectually capable, and actively involved in civic life.
When the Romans adopted and adapted Greek customs, gymnasiums evolved. Roman palaestrae, or wrestling schools, were attached to public bathhouses, serving as both training grounds and social hubs. However, Roman attitudes toward physical culture leaned more toward utility than virtue. Training focused on preparing soldiers for combat and maintaining public order, harkening back to more traditional, pre-Grecian attitudes to physical training.
Yet the Romans also elevated spectacle. Gladiatorial games and chariot races were central to Roman identity. The physical prowess on display in the Colosseum was entertainment, not education. The distinction between athlete and warrior blurred. The training facilities for these competitors would rival a modern gym, with tools to increase strength, cardio, and help with recovery. Accessing these facilities was not available to the average Roman, however, and they would have had little experience with formal exercise, save for those citizens who served in the legion and received military-specific training. Seneca the Younger lamented this, writing, “What a contemptible thing is man when he does not aspire to something greater than man!”
In part 2, we will cover the history of the gym from the fall of the (Western) Roman Empire, right through to the start of the 20th century.
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1 Common soldierly training included intense marching, up to 24 miles in under 6 hours, as well as running, jumping, swimming, and carrying heavy equipment to build endurance. Recruits practiced with wooden swords (rudis) and shields that were double the weight of real ones.
2 [MAIN IMAGE] Marble reproduction of first century BCE Roman sculpture Lottatori (Wrestlers) in the Uffizi Gallery collection, Hawaii Theatre
