Home Gym Equipment
Introduction
A gym is an establishment intended for the practice of gymnastics in general,[1] where exercise routines are performed with weights and specific machines to develop physical fitness.
The growing interest of the population in physical fitness has turned gyms into a highly demanded type of sports facility.[2][3][4]
In 2020, the number of gyms in the world was estimated at 205,176.[5].
Etymology
The word gymnasium derives from the Greek word gymnos, which means "nakedness." The Greek word gymnasium means "place to go naked", and was used in Ancient Greece to refer to the place where people were educated. In these centers, physical education was carried out, which was usually practiced without clothes, in the same way as baths and studies.
For the Greeks, physical education was as important as cognitive learning. Many of these Greek gyms had libraries that could be used after a relaxing bath.
History
Ancient Greece
In ancient Greece (around the century BC) physical education was very important,[6] it was more important than rhetoric and grammar. The young people had to exercise in the gym where they went naked. Gym means place to go naked. Young people who stood out received support to be able to participate in the sporting events of the time. The Greeks developed a cult of the body and its beauty that differed from others of their time.
The gymnasiums were a type of schools or academies in which young people were instructed in all the arts of peace and war to make them useful and perfect citizens.
Sometimes the name palestrae was given to the gymnasium. This name, which properly speaking indicates the part of the gymnasium in which the pentathlon was exercised, is sometimes used by authors, among others by Vitruvius, to indicate the entire gymnasium.
Gymnasiums are of Greek origin and it is believed that the Lacedaemonians were the first to have them, but later there was not a single city in Greece that did not have one. At first the gym was nothing more than a random square surrounded by a wall and subdivided into several parts in order to be able to exercise in the various games. Such, according to Pausanias "Pausanias (geographer)"), was the ancient gymnasium of Elis. In order to provide themselves with pleasant shade, they planted some rows of trees under which they trained in running and other exercises. Then, they began to decorate themselves with columns, galleries, bathrooms and, in a word, everything that could contribute to the comfort and beautification of these places. Philosophers began to occupy a place called "exedra" in them to quietly give philosophy lessons.