did people exercise in the middle ages? 5th-15th centuries?

Egyptian Pharoahs in some era would do physical training because periodically throughout their reign they would do a sort of running circuit as an exhibition of vitality

Kicks Like A Mule wrote:

Some nice tongue-in-cheek in this thread. Thomas Jefferson did run 2-3 miles daily while in college and recommend it for health. Ben Franklin, before he got really fat, swam laps around the ship while crossing the Atlantic.

Not even Michael Phelps could swim laps around a ship under full sail.

No wrote:

Kicks Like A Mule wrote:

Some nice tongue-in-cheek in this thread. Thomas Jefferson did run 2-3 miles daily while in college and recommend it for health. Ben Franklin, before he got really fat, swam laps around the ship while crossing the Atlantic.

Not even Michael Phelps could swim laps around a ship under full sail.

Shows the complete lack of depth in swimming talent if Ben Franklin was a better swimmer than Michael Phelps

We are living in the "dark ages" of exercise in terms of what most people, including the so-called "experts" believe about the subject.

Liblibliblib wrote:

We are living in the "dark ages" of exercise in terms of what most people, including the so-called "experts" believe about the subject.

The "dark ages" is a racial slur, Mr. Liblib.

I think Andy Capp still plays a passable soccer game at least until opening time. I have read a bit on this topic a while ago. The concept of exercise, if you define it as deliberately undertaking an activity to make yourself healthier, is pretty recent. It probably didn't exist in the Middle Ages.

But people did active things for reasons other than fitness, especially wealthier people with free time, but they considered it recreation or sometimes training. I doubt that many of the runners you and I have listed really thought of their running as exercise. It was training for their sport. I always thought it was funny when one of my mum's sisters would talk about all the exercise I got when I was running 100-150 mile weeks. I never thought I exercised much at all. I was too tired from all my training to exercise.

kvothe wrote:

There was no concept of "exercise". Fit rich people recreated by riding horses, hunting, playing games, jousting, practicing with the sword, etc. Peasants kept fit through the harshness of working for a living.

That's a rather Anglo-centric view of "people" in the Middle Ages. Actually, there is considerable documentation about Norse athletic festivals that included all sorts of competitions (swimming, wrestling, running, even ball games), and various Asian martial arts also developed at this time, which obviously required a lot of physical fitness training. Few people probably went out for regular runs, but at least the Norsemen had their games which somewhat emulated the ancient Olympics, and people surely trained for those competitions. I remember going to a Scandinavian festival as a kid where they had different events from the Viking era.

That Greek dude Sisyphus got a daily workout pushing a boulder up a hill, unless that's a myth.

I'm Prussian, My ancestors were mercenaries. I think they did plenty of training, and it certainly was exercise, but it wasn't exactly what you'd call recreation.

What do you think all those Teutonic Knights and such did when they weren't fighting for the holy lands (or fighting the King of Poland) or basically fighting somebody?

The best exercise in middle age is kegels.

All the food was organic back then. I'm surprised everyone wasn't super healthy. Maybe that's why so many of them starved to death, they couldn't afford the organic food.

Yes people did exercise every day a long time ago. It was called "WORK". You see a long time ago if a person did not work then they did not eat. Every day up until they died was work. Hunting,Fishing,building shelter.

Screech wrote:

Blah Blah. wrote:

I have worked at a working class factory job and we would consider doing "exercise" while off work as being laughable.

"Exercise" was an invention of the leisure class. People in the middle ages worked for a living.

You are correct, Sir. I had a factory job one summer in college and the thought of a six miler after work was, indeed laughable after being on my feet on con rete for nine hours.

Also people died by age 35 or so so no need to plan for retirement.

Henry the 8 the also did burpees after dinner.

I worked as a fibreglass laminator for 2 years the last 6 month doing 6am to 5 pm & still trained every day. Was aged 20-22 though.

In stately homes they have long corridors which were used to exercise by walking up & down.

&^TRTF%xaci87y wrote:

The distinction between warriors and serfs wasn't always as clear cut as you might think.

There were several centuries where the British "serfs" trained with the bow every day from the time they were about 6 years old. A Lord who had a bunch of good archers as opposed to just knights and cannon fodder serfs, had a much more powerful army. Most any serf could pull a bow for hunting but in order to pull the huge war bows that could send metal tipped arrows far enough to get off a dozen shots while horses rode at them at full speed took strength that had to be built over years. Not sure that is exactly exercise though.

This is a myth. Serfs never trained for combat. Medieval British archers came from essentially the same class as most mounted "knights" (who were generally just mounted cavalry rather than anointed knights). They were property-owning commoners, one step below knights, and they were afforded special rights under Magna Carta. They had to be prosperous to afford weapons, equipment, a horse (archers did not ride in battle, but they rode to battle), and LOTS of spare time to train.

There were the usual training camps, Oregon, New Mexico, Mammoth Lake, even in Kenya. However without GPS or cars it was sort of hard waiting for the water buffalo to take you there so most people gave up.

Milkn wrote:

If so what type of exercise? Would the upper class do it but not the peasants? Or was it the other way around. Wasn't obesity a sign of wealth?

My great great great great great great great Grandpa walked to work everyday. He worked in the rail yard in 12 century A.D. Back then the trains weren't even run by steam. They had about 50 men harnessed to the front end of the trains and they would pull the cargo trains down the railroad to their destination.

Their diet was made up of dandylions and sunflower seeds and spring water. It was a tough life for people back then except fo the ladies. All they would have to do all day was clean.

dojo21 wrote:

All the food was organic back then. I'm surprised everyone wasn't super healthy. Maybe that's why so many of them starved to death, they couldn't afford the organic food.

Organic food has been proven to be no better nutritionally than regular food. So quit shopping at Whole Foods and save a fortune!

When I was in India I visited a small village where there were guys working out with weights in a shack. So yes. A lot of people in India are really skinny so its considered really cool to be buff.

Tennis and golf originated in the middle ages.