Gymnastic Classes

Short for gymnasium , the word is a derivative of gymnos , which in Greek means naked . In ancient Greece, it was a place assigned for the male youth of the country, for activities like physical education, studies or bathing. All these were traditionally performed naked. In Germany, gyms were a product of Turnplatz, an area for gymnasts that was backed by the educator Friedrich Jahn and the Turners, a gymnastic-cum-political movement of the nineteenth century. In the United States, the Turners flourished in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. However, it was in 1848, in Cincinnati, that the first such group was formed. The Turners constructed gymnasiums in many cities, especially those that had German-American populations. There is a thought to suggest that gymnasiums were present in the United States a long time before the Turner movement. Public gymnasiums cropped up in the 1820s and the 1830s before they were surpassed by the YMCA and college gymnasiums, the first …

Gymnastics as we know it dates back to ancient Greece. The early Greeks practiced gymnastics to prepare for war. Activities like jumping, running, discus throwing, wrestling, and boxing helped develop the muscles needed for hand-to-hand combat. Additional fitness practices used by the ancient Greeks included methods for mounting and dismounting a horses and a variety of circus performance skills. Gymnastics became a central component of ancient Greek education and was mandatory for all students. Gymnasia, buildings with open-air courts where the training took place, evolved into schools where gymnastics, rhetoric, music, and mathematics were taught. The ancinet Olympic Games were born near this time. As the Roman Empire ascended, Greek gymnastics for was more or less turned into military training. In 393 AD the Emperor Theodosius abolished the Olympic Games completely. The games had become corrupt, and gymnastics, along with other sports declined. For centuries, gymnastics was all but …

It is also a very natural sport involving activities that people would normally do outside gym class or gymnastic competitions such as jumping, running, climbing, swinging and tumbling. Modern gymnastics as a sport involves the performance of a series of movements. These activities and movements require flexibility, physical strength and kinesthetic awareness. Most of the movements involved developed from the many fitness exercises that soldiers in Ancient Greece used. Gymnastics is also considered a somewhat difficult and dangerous sport because gymnasts are constantly exposed to injury. Gymnastics today is a sport that has six different disciplines: artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, sports aerobics, sports acrobatics, trampoline work, and general gymnastics. Among these disciplines, artistic and rhythmic gymnastics are the two most popular and is part of the Summer Olympic Games held every four years. Rhythmic gymnastics on the other hand is performed mostly by women athlete …

Originating back to ancient Greece, the sport of gymnastics has evolved from the exercise routines of soldiers to become what it is today, a world sport that encompasses six various disciplines: artistic gymnastics, sports aerobics, rhythmic gymnastics, sports acrobatics, trampoline work and general gymnastics. Rhythmic gymnastics is very similar to dance. This discipline involves either a single competitor or a five person team and uses five different types of apparatus ribbon, ball, clubs, hoop, and rope. Rhythmic gymnastics evolved from aesthetic gymnastics which was introduced in 19th century Sweden. In this discipline, students are encouraged to express their emotions through motion. It was then called grace without dancing . True enough; the rhythmic gymnast is an epitome of grace, with bodily movements ranging from calisthenics to more challenging activities choreographed to music. Another form of training called eurhythmics was developed that emphasized graceful movements …