How did Ancient Greeks train?
Ancient Greek training philosophy
Aristotle viewed athletic training as essential to developing a man’s overall disposition and that athletic training should precede intellectual study. Aristotle writes, “since it is plain that education by habit must come before education by reason, and training of the body before training of the mind”.
Aristotle was aware of the dangers of children engaging in too strenuous exercise and harsh dieting, correctly predicting that this would lead to a breakdown of the body, halting growth. “Now at the present time some of the states reputed to pay the greatest attention to children produce in them an athletic habit to the detriment of their bodily form and growth”. To produce the best athletes Aristotle recommends children do not follow strict diets and practice light rather than harsh exercises before puberty. “It is therefore agreed that we should employ gymnastic training, and how we should employ it. For until puberty we should apply lighter exercises, forbidding hard diet and severe exertions, in order that nothing may hinder the growth”.
Aristotle views a good athlete as being honourable and courageous. Aristotle criticises the Spartan athletic training methods which he feels are too harsh and focused on cultivating an animal ferocity which he does not believe is conducive to producing strong athletes. “Spartans make their boys animal in nature by their laborious exercises, in the belief that this is most contributory to manly courage. They do not even investigate the question whether this virtue is to be had in view at all. For neither in the lower animals nor in the case of foreign races do we see that courage goes with the wildest, but rather with the gentler temperaments”. Aristotle argues that Sparta’s former athletic superiority compared to other Greek states was due to their superior training volume rather than their superior training methodology. Aristotle uses the fact that other Greek states have begun to overtake Sparta in terms of athletic achievements as evidence that Sparta’s training style is outdated. “Spartans, although so long as they persisted by themselves in their laborious exercises they surpassed all other peoples, now fall behind others both in gymnastic and in military contests; for they used not to excel because they exercised their young men in this fashion but only because they trained and their adversaries did not”.
Isocrates explained that athletic trainers would train their athletes in movements which were highly specific to the sporting contest they were being prepared for. “For when they take their pupils in hand, the physical trainers instruct their followers in the postures which have been devised for bodily contests”. Isocrates notes that even though the training methods are effective it is not an exact science and the trainers are unable to turn all pupils into great athletes. Watching over them and training them the teachers of gymnastics are able to advance their pupils to a point where they are better men and where they are stronger in their use of their bodies. However, the teachers are not in possession of a science by which they can make capable athletes out of whomsoever they please”. Isocrates accurately identifies that a great athlete is the result of both great training and innate talent. “Teachers can contribute to some degree to these results, but these powers are never found in their perfection save in those who excel by virtue both of talent and of training”.
Epictetus highlighted that certain men based on their characters and physical build were more suited to certain sports. “My man, first of all consider what kind of thing it is: and then examine your own nature, if you are able to sustain the character. Do you wish to be a pentathlete or a wrestler? Look at your arms, your thighs, examine your loins. For different men are formed by nature for different things”. Epictetus explained that if an athlete wanted to succeed he must listen to his trainer. “You must deliver yourself up to the exercise master as you do to the physician, and then”. Epictetus notes the discipline and toughness required to succeed as an athlete. You must do everything according to rule, eat according to strict orders, abstain from delicacies, exercise yourself as you are bid at appointed times, in heat, in cold, you must not drink cold water. And sometimes you will strain the hand, put the ankle out of joint, swallow much dust, sometimes be flogged, and after all this be defeated”.
Xenophon reveals that effective athletic training should be hard and exhausting. “Men in training for gymnastic contests face troubles far more numerous and exacting than the most strenuous votaries of horsemanship. For most gymnastic exercises are carried out with sweat and drudgery”.
Plato identifies the need for an athlete to follow a training plan and be instructed by an expert. “We may safely entrust the duty of making specific rules to the intelligences which we train, and content ourselves with tracing outlines”. Plato stresses the need for an athlete to be disciplined both with his diet and lifestyle. “Every kind of excess or self-indulgence in eating, drinking, and the other appetites, must be forbidden”.
The Ancient Greeks had an impressively advanced view of athletic training, correctly identifying that the optimum way to produce an athlete was through frequent lighter training from a young age culminating in an increase in training intensity and specificity as the athlete matures. While also stressing the importance of diet.
