GYMNASTICS

athleticoxercisespracticed for improving the condition and development of the body, as opposed to athletic sports and games (e.g.), running, jumping, football, golf, into which the competitive element enters. G. were practiced by the Greeks as training for open-air sports and games, and recognized as of benefit to health, and a valuable adjunct to the moral and literary training carried on in the same buildings as the physical training.. In medieval times horsemanship, field sports, and exercises with arms took the place of the older and more systematic training of the body, and it was not until the second half of the XIX. cent. that the therapeutic value of g., as known to Hippo crates and Galen, was again recognized. Physical exercises are regularly taught in Britain in. the elementary schools, while the higher schools and univ’s have gymnasia fitted up with apparatus, which is le elaborate now than it was a few years ago. Clubs for gymnastic exercises are common everywhere, and g. play an important part in the training of the army. G. are practiced with benefit for such conditions as digestive derangements and (under medical supervision) diseases of the lungs and heart. The dumb-bell, which has been employed since Elizabeth an times, is the most generally popular gymnastic apparatus, its weight being easily proportioned to the person using it, and bar-bells, or two-handed dumb-bells, and Indian clubs are also much used. The vaulting-horse, parallel bars, trapeze, swinging rings, horizontal bar, and bridge ladder are more elaborate gymnastic apparatus on a larger scale, but, although these and similar apparatus have been very popular for many years, there is a tendency to-day to discard them in favor of free gymnastic exercises without any apparatus. In the United States, France, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Italy, among other countries, g. are much practiced and much esteemed for hygienic purposes, and many competitions of gymnastic teams are held, the Olympic Games even including such competitions among its events.