The History of Physical Culture

<p><span style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Physical culture can be crudely defined as those exercise practices designed to physically change the body. In modern parlance we may associate physical culture with weightlifting physical education and/or calisthenics of various kinds. While the modern age has experienced an explosion of interest in gym-based activities the practice of training one's body has a much longer and fascinating history. This book provides an engaged and accessible historical overview from the Ancient World to the Modern Day. In it readers are introduced to the training practices of Ancient Greece India and China among other areas. From there the book explores the evolution of exercise systems and messages in the Western World with reference to three distinct epochs: the Middles Ages and Renaissance the Enlightenment and its aftermath and the nineteenth to the present day. Throughout the book attention is drawn not only to how societies exercised but why they did so. The purpose of this book is to provide those new to the field of physical culture an historical overview of some of the major trends and developments in exercise practices. More than that the book challenges readers to reflect on the numerous meanings attached to the body and its training. As is discussed physical culture was linked to military religious educational aesthetic and gendered messages. The training of the body across millennia was always about much more than muscularity or strength. Here both the exercise systems and their meanings are studied.</span></p>