Greece: Training, Diet, and Life of Athletes

Summary

Greek men had opportunities to practice sport throughout their lives from the first introduction at school to the years of competition during their youth and to their mature years when they practiced perhaps only recreational sport. Children probably started their athletic training at the same age as they started school. Their first coach, the paidotribes, was in charge of reshaping their untrained bodies into strong, disciplined, and harmonious ones. This he achieved at the palestra or wrestling grounds, which indicates that wrestling was the base of sport for Greek children. Participation in sport was mandatory for every boy for as long as he attended school.

Those children who showed more ability and interest, or had economic resources, could continue with their training at the gymnasium after the age of 14 and/or hire their own coaches. From then on, athletics became a path chosen by a few young men, who made it their way of life to the exclusion of other careers. Those who became full-time athletes were subject to strict rules of discipline, training, and diet. The athletic lifestyle was often portrayed as contrary to the lifestyle of the citizen because of the lack of involvement in other matters. Also, the fact that athletes needed to ingest more food than the average person set them apart and encountered the criticism of philosophers. The athletic diet was based on huge amounts of meat in order to create strong muscles. The Greek word to describe this type of diet implies an obligation. Overeating was considered a sign of immoderation and enslavement to the body.

As for training itself, ceramic vases portray in detail the type of exercises that athletes practiced. Also, in De Sanitate Tuenda, Galen gives a very good idea of exercises in preparation for competition. Galen describes exercises used to gain speed, strength, and power. In addition, he describes exercises to develop specific body parts. Furthermore, Philostratus in On Gymnastics mentions the tetrad—a system of four days that rotated intensity and quality of training.