GYMNASTICS. — Gymnastics (from the Greek γυμνός = naked) is the art of moving the human body; in certain cases, when it pursues particular aims, it is also a science (medical, orthopedic, educational gymnastics, etc.).
There are various forms of gymnastics, each with its own purposes; among the most important are educational, medical, differential, social, so-called room, rhythmic, apparatus, calisthenic, acrobatic, and military gymnastics, etc.
An indispensable condition for carrying out any type of gymnastics is a precise psychophysical assessment of the person who wishes or is required to exercise.
I. EDUCATIONAL GYMNASTICS
It is the foundation of physical education (v. fisica). It became part of school disciplines, as it is still, in part, practiced today in almost the entire world, through the work of Adolfo Spiess (1810–58), who around 1837 perceived and implemented the conditions of simultaneity and rhythm in exercises, establishing school gymnastics and initiating a genuine form of school gymnastics for girls.Spiess undoubtedly helped to spread gymnastics, but the abuse subsequently made of methodical gymnastics partly distorted its true objective, provoking a genuine reaction aimed at freeing physical exercise from those forms and replacing them with new ones.
Educational gymnastics comprises methodical exercises and gymnastic games.
The methodical exercises include: a) formal exercises, which have disciplinary and practical purposes, especially for gymnasium training; b) walking exercises, which, besides strengthening the lower limbs, impart grace and agility to the bearing; c) elementary exercises, which are the true analytical exercises for psychomotor education; d) exercises with small apparatus (rods, clubs, hoop, stick, reed, club, supports, blocks, etc.), which, besides having specific purposes, provide many of the benefits of elementary exercises, often improving their effectiveness; e) balance exercises (Baumann beams and blocks, beam, basket, globe, etc.), which have great psychomotor value insofar as, engaging the nervous system in a particular way, they foster calmness, stimulate attention, and inspire courage; f) jumping and vaulting exercises (vaulting apparatus, beam, buck, vaulting box, horse, etc.), which develop agility, dexterity, and courage; g) support and suspension exercises (climbing apparatus, wall bars, ladder, bar, bench, wall, gymnastic frame, horse, horizontal bar, parallel bars, rings, etc.), which are highly effective for muscular development, especially of the upper limbs and thorax. The practice of these latter exercises and the particular use of certain apparatus (horse, horizontal bar, parallel bars, rings, etc.) must be carefully graded and distributed according to age and physical development, avoiding any strain, given their intensity; h) classroom exercises (gymnastics between the desks) must be practiced by primary-school pupils for didactic and practical reasons. They accustom pupils to order and discipline and also have a beneficial physiological effect, particularly preventive and corrective, against the onset of the poor postures typical of primary-school pupils. Through classroom gymnastics, the desk, a genuine deforming instrument, becomes, by means of specific exercises, an apparatus for compensatory gymnastics.
Methodical exercises, whose distinctive characteristic is the precise specification of movements, must today be supplemented by gymnastic games, which, because of their spontaneity (imprecise movements), besides being “recreational,” possess immense pedagogical and psychomotor value.
II. MEDICAL GYMNASTICS
This is perhaps one of the oldest chapters of medicine; the Chinese practiced it several millennia before the Christian era. Medical gymnastics has a predominantly physiological purpose. Persons suffering from cardiac disorders, dyspepsia, obesity, visceral ptosis, etc., benefit from medical gymnastics.It is understood that what is meant here is rational gymnastics, dosed like a medication and monitored in its effects like any other medical therapy. A specialization of medical gymnastics is orthopedic gymnastics, a branch of orthopedics, which, for the physical rehabilitation of persons with impaired motor functions, makes use of gymnastics with and without apparatus, both active and passive. Civilian and war amputees fitted with prostheses, in particular, derive great benefit from such gymnastics.
III. DIFFERENTIAL GYMNASTICS
Its purpose is the genuine restoration of the individual’s physical personality. It comprises: corrective gymnastics for the mild paramorphisms so frequently found among primary-school pupils; compensatory gymnastics for imbalances caused by particular occupations (occupational diseases among shoemakers, blacksmiths, manual laborers, etc.) or by natural tendency (left-handed persons, adenoid sufferers, etc.); and gymnastics for the physically and mentally disabled (gymnastics for the blind, deaf-mutes, the mentally deficient, etc.).IV. SOCIAL GYMNASTICS
The Swedes call it voluntary gymnastics. Its goal is the improvement of public health; it is gymnastics that concerns everyone, from children to adults, from the well-to-do to manual and intellectual workers. This type of gymnastics varies from one age to another, both in substance and in purpose; while young people practise developmental gymnastics, adults adopt exercises to preserve and strengthen their health. Manual workers practise physical exercises suited to counteracting the negative effects of their daily work, whereas intellectual workers practise physical culture that varies according to the need for movement sacrificed by their occupation.In Sweden there are approximately 3,000 independent gymnastics associations with more than 300,000 members among a population of approximately 6,000,000. In Italy, something of the kind has been achieved through the after-work organizations.
V. LA G. DA CAMERA. — It has an essentially hygienic-aesthetic purpose. This type of gymnastics is widespread among all social classes; radio, through special broadcasts, has greatly contributed to its dissemination.
A characteristic of chamber gymnastics is that it consists of breathing exercises, analytical exercises without apparatus, and exercises with small apparatus that can be performed in a confined space. The benefit of these exercises is considerable when they are practised daily.
VI. RHYTHMIC GYMNASTICS
This is gymnastics par excellence for women; it aims at the education and harmony of the body through natural and free movements, with or without musical accompaniment. A very widespread system of rhythmic gymnastics is that of Emil Jacques-Dalcroze. Through this system, Jacques-Dalcroze pursues the threefold aim of developing the rhythmic and metrical musical instinct, the sense of plastic harmony, and the regularization of motor habits. Other systems followed the one mentioned above.VII. APPARATUS GYMNASTICS (artistic)
It is competitive and spectacular in character; it consists of strenuous exercises; the parallel bars, the horizontal bar, the rings, and the vaulting horse are the typical apparatus of this form of gymnastics. These exercises, which must be supplemented by intensive jumping and running exercises, are advisable only for individuals recognized as physically fit and endowed with particular aptitudes. Apparatus gymnastics, which also includes exercises in agility and dexterity on the ground, forms part of the Olympic events (v. SPORT); in Italy it is under the control of the Federazione ginnastica italiana, affiliated with the Comitato olimpico nazionale italiano.VIII. CALLISTHENIC G
This is a form of gymnastics reserved for women, with predominantly aesthetic aims.IX. ACROBATIC GYMNASTICS
It has a professional and spectacular purpose. An exceptional physique, contempt for danger, and great technical skill are the prerequisites for this type of gymnastics.X. MILITARY GYMNASTICS
Its immediate aims are the improvement of physical performance, habituation to discipline, and training in overcoming the foreseeable environmental and technical difficulties of the future combatant. Methodical gymnastics, pre-sport and sport games, certain track-and-field events, and applied gymnastics form the basis of military gymnastics.For athletic gymnastics V. SPORT.
Michele Di Donato
GYMNASTICS AND THE THOUGHT OF THE CHURCH. — The aim pursued by gymnastics, namely, to give the body “that most noble instrument of the soul, agility and solid grace, health and true and sound strength” (Pius XI, Letter, cited in the bibliography), is appreciated and approved by the Church, which cannot “restrict its competence and action to purely religious and exclusively spiritual matters, as though the body, a creature of God no less than the soul, to which it is united, ought not to have its share in the homage to be rendered to the Creator” (Pius XII, Address cited in the bibliography).
Gymnastics, in fact, contains within itself excellent positive pedagogical elements. Gymnastic movements, performed rhythmically and according to wisely defined methods (v. SORA), not only gather all the benefits of exercise, which the organism needs, correct faulty postures, relieve congestion of the brain, and offer the spirit relief and cheerfulness, but are transformed into a precious instrument of education. For in gymnastics certain laws must be observed: obedience to commands, regularity of movement, promptness of response, and endurance; this helps to instil a sense of discipline and to foster appreciation of it—elements decisive for the formation of a will strong and supple as steel. Gymnastics, moreover, especially at school and when practised in competitions, engages the spirit in emulation, success, and victory over one’s companions, and thus gradually engenders the feeling that, if one wishes, one can improve oneself not only physically but in every other respect as well.
For this reason gymnastics must not lose sight of a sense of proportion and of its original purpose. Therefore: 1) the education of the body must remain a means and must not degenerate into a cult; as a means it must be and remain ordered to the end, which consists in the complete and balanced formation and education of the whole human being, whom it assists in the prompt and joyful fulfilment of duty, whether in study or in one’s profession; 2) the exercises must be suited to the age, sex, state of health, and degree of development of the organism; otherwise, instead of assisting, they hinder the work of the spirit; 3) both on the part of those who watch and on the part of those who expose themselves to the gaze of others, there must be a sense of healthy modesty, decorum, dignified ease, and mutual respect. Therefore not only vulgarity, disorderliness, impropriety, and boldness must be avoided, but also clothing that is too scant or too tight-fitting, and exercises aimed rather at unhealthy or, worse, morbid exhibitionism than at genuine usefulness; 4) these observations and precautions must apply all the more when female gymnastics are involved, whether in ordinary gymnasiums or, above all, in the contests and so-called athletic competitions. Sensitivity and attention to the delicate considerations owed to the young woman and the girl are founded on physical and moral reasons of simple common sense, perceived and felt, as if by natural instinct, by parents and teachers who have not been prejudiced or led astray by exaggerated or false theories, or by motives wholly foreign to sound and wholesome pedagogy. Everything that is incompatible with the reserve and composure that are both an adornment and a safeguard of virtue must therefore be avoided, and every incentive to vanity and violence must be excluded.