Physical education and the enlightened workout routine
On the workout routine through the ages — Part 4 of 8
A completely different rationale (compared with earlier accounts which you can find here and here) for why we should care about regular physical activity emerged and gained massive traction during the period of the Enlightenment. Physical education entered schools to revive the Greek ideal beyond the elites. But it was the complex political context that made physical fitness play an indispensable role across nationalist movements in Europe — especially for patriotic reasons and ideological purposes. This was fertile soil for new concepts to emerge including the workout routine that grew from military drills.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, all of Europe underwent an intellectual and philosophical revolution which later has been termed the Age of Enlightenment. The pursuit of scientific knowledge was in full swing and it was reason and empirical evidence that dominated the academic and political debate.
At that time the avid solitary walker and philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778) advocated the view that reason can only be developed by humans through pure sensory experience. In 1762 in his treatise ‘Emile, or On Education’ he writes: “Do you, then, want to cultivate your pupil’s intelligence? Cultivate the strength it ought to govern. Exercise his body continually; make him robust and healthy to make him wise and reasonable. Let him work, be active, run, yell, and always be in motion. Let him be a man in his vigor, and soon he will be one in his reason.”
Rousseau’s ideas transpired not only into the German circles of educational reformers. But among other such places across Europe, it was without any doubt Dessau where these ideas turned into reality and where The Philanthropinum was established in 1774 — a high-profile school with distinguished recognition beyond Anhalt. The faculty followed a practical approach to early childhood education which was centered around rational thinking and empiricism. Moreover, all students were expected to take part in outdoor games and physical exercises to form character and intellect.
We can only speculate about whether or not he was well aware of the educational reform movement that materialized in Dessau. But we can tell for sure that the German pedagogist Johann Christoph Friedrich GutsMuths (1759–1839) is the person who is widely credited with conceiving the foundations of physical education. In late 1793 he published a compendium of systematic physical exercises to revive the Greek ideal among the young. He wanted physical exercises to move away from a purely medical concern — perhaps having Girolamo Mercuriale’s work in mind (see part 3 in this series). GutsMuths seminal work not only paved the way toward the introduction of modern gymnastics into the mainstream curriculum. It also inspired many followers who applied the utilitarian principles of physical exercises outside school settings.
GutsMuths compendium entitled ‘Gymnastics for Youth’ has been translated into several languages including Danish. And once the translation hit the shelves it was immediately picked up by Franz Nachtegall (1772–1847) who integrated GutsMuths’ ideas and exercises into his initiatives. In addition, he authored and published a set of officially endorsed guidelines for physical education in Denmark which became a landmark work to be taught in both the Danish army and navy until the end of the 19th century.
While in Copenhagen between 1799 and 1704 it was Pehr Henrik Ling (1776–1839) who made himself familiar with GutsMuths’ work at the gymnastics school founded by Nachtegall. Ling continued in Lund (Sweden) where he developed his gymnastics system during the following years until 1813. Roughly at the same time, Friedrich Ludwig Jahn (1778–1852) started to teach gymnastics at a school in Berlin. His educational initiative eventually developed into an ideological movement to be branded by Jahn as ‘Turnen’.
I think there is only little doubt (if any at all) that Ling and Jahn can be considered to have pushed modern gymnastics over the tipping point into the mainstream. These two gentlemen made it available to the masses starting with the young.
Jahn envisioned a new form of physical education, one that was embedded within German myths and traditions, national aspirations, and the romantic glorification of war. His emphasis was on the political and military benefits of gymnastics, much less on personal performance gains. Therefore, enthusiasm and discipline needed to be balanced — and patriotic speeches, folk songs, and commemoration events aligned the new physical culture with the zeitgeist. And all exercises (e.g. running, high jumping, weightlifting) and equipment (e.g. parallel and horizontal bars, ropes, wooden vaulting horse) were designed to foster body aesthetics and creativity. This had to change later. But in the beginning, it was the human body that was to demonstrate the national strength and ability to fight for liberation and the united German Empire. However, ‘Turnen’ was banned after Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo in 1815, but it was revoked in 1842 with the first ‘Turnverein’ to be established in 1848. Jahn’s gymnastics pivoted towards sports with a focus on performance, competition, standardization, and quantification. A routinized approach and military drill followed which was characteristic of the Swedish gymnastics system right from its start.
Ling had a different grounding of gymnastics in mind. His ambition was to develop a theoretical and (pseudo)scientific basis for his highly regulated but rather simple set of physical exercises for both individuals and groups. Anatomy and naturalism were the two major pillars of his speculative approach if we look at it by today’s standards. Although Ling differentiated between educational, aesthetic, medical, and military gymnastics (in line with the ancient classification) it was the latter category (in contrast to Girolamo Mercuriale’s work) that was subject to his systematic conceptualization. It was directed at functionality, performance, and skills as opposed to fun or anything else with a military drill (systematic training with multiple exercise repetitions) and a group exercise instructor at the heart of the whole system. Practice makes perfect, many say— this all was compliant with what Ling taught as a teacher at the Military Academy Karlberg and what he demanded as director at the Royal Central Gymnastics Institute in Stockholm (founded by him in 1813).
Finally, the workout routine became part of military education and training — not only in Sweden but elsewhere, too.
Main source: Gertrud Pfister (2003) Cultural confrontations: German Turnen, Swedish gymnastics and English sport — European diversity in physical activities from a historical perspective. Culture, Sport, Society 6(1), pp. 61–91.
