At the Palestra, a physical education training center, the discipline of educating the body and educating the mind were combined allowing for a form of gymnastics that was more aesthetic and individual and which left behind the form that focused on strictness, discipline, the emphasis on defeating records, and focus on strength. Based on Philostratus' claim that gymnastics is a form of wisdom, comparable to philosophy, poetry, music, geometry, and astronomy, Athens combined this more physical training with the education of the mind. It wasn't until after the Romans conquered Greece in 146BC that gymnastics became more formalized and used to train men in warfare. In ancient Greece, physical fitness was a highly valued attribute in both men and women. The original term for the practice of gymnastics is from the related Greek verb γυμνάζω ( gumnázō), which translates as 'to train naked or nude' because young men exercising trained without clothing. Exercise in the gymnasium in later periods prepared men for war. That exercise for that time was documented by Philostratus' work Gymnastics. Gymnastics can be traced to exercise in ancient Greece – in Sparta and Athens. The verb had this meaning because athletes in ancient times exercised and competed without clothing.įriedrich Ludwig Jahn, the 'father of gymnastics' The word gymnastics derives from the common Greek adjective γυμνός ( gymnos), by way of the related verb γυμνάζω ( gymnazo), whose meaning is to 'train naked', 'train in gymnastic exercise', generally 'to train, to exercise'. Participants in gymnastics-related sports include young children, recreational-level athletes, and competitive athletes at all levels of skill.

Disciplines not currently recognized by FIG include wheel gymnastics, aesthetic group gymnastics, TeamGym, and Mallakhamba. Eight sports are governed by the FIG, including gymnastics for all, men's and women's artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, trampolining (including double mini-trampoline), tumbling, acrobatic, aerobic, and parkour. The governing body for competition in gymnastics throughout the world is the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG). The most common form of competitive gymnastics is artistic gymnastics (AG), which consists of, for women (WAG), the events floor, vault, uneven bars, and beam and for men (MAG), the events floor, vault, rings, pommel horse, parallel bars, and horizontal bar. Gymnastics evolved from exercises used by the ancient Greeks that included skills for mounting and dismounting a horse, and from circus performance skills. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, shoulders, back, chest, and abdominal muscle groups. Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and endurance. Floor, vault, uneven bars, and balance beamįloor, vault, still rings, pommel horse, parallel bars, and horizontal bar

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