How did the Spartans train to become tough and excel in all sports?

It was not by chance that the ancient Greeks became the founders of the Olympic Games. Their system of education was inextricably linked to the development of the physical capabilities of the body. The inhabitants of the sunny peninsula were able to find balance in all spheres of life and learn to create ideal warriors and athletes.

Not without reason Homer praised them in his poems. And even in our time the enduring Greeks were played by cult bodybuilders in movies. More than ten movies have been made about Hercules alone!

And this is not an exaggeration. The Greeks really were athletes and fearless warriors. Especially the inhabitants of Sparta. Daily training, strict discipline and unconditional obedience to mentors helped them to succeed in physical perfection. Already from the age of seven Spartans left their mother’s care and grew up exclusively in the male environment.

candidate of sociological sciences

The training of ancient Greeks was based on a rather serious philosophical and methodological basis. According to their ideas, a person had to strive for the all-round, harmonious development of his personality, including physical form. And sports competitions themselves were a kind of religious ritual.

From athletics to baths

The Spartans widely developed various sports, which are similar to modern ones:

• track and field – running various distances, long and high jumping (including weight lifting), discus and javelin throwing;

• weightlifting – lifting stone blocks and dumbbells;
• equestrian sports – chariot races and horse races;
• wrestling, fist fighting (similar to modern boxing), pankration;
• pentathlon, which included running, jumping, javelin and discus throwing, and wrestling.

Archery and fencing were also quite widespread as military-applied sports. Another such sport was “hoplitodrome” – running in armor and with a shield.

Training of adults, as a rule, took place in special sports halls – “gymnasiums”. Children began to actively engage in sports from 12-16 years old in “palestrae” – schools, where, in addition to training, there was training in general education subjects.

Sports activities were closely connected with a well-thought-out system of recovery and nutrition. The diet was balanced: animal proteins and vegetable food were the mainstay of the daily menu. Athletes after training visited baths, where they performed ablutions and went through a course of massage.

Trials from early childhood

A peculiarity of Spartan training was that children practically from infancy went through a rather severe system of hardening, including restrictions in eating, drinking, and comfort.

There is a legend that the harsh Spartans treated sick and infirm infants cruelly and inhumanely. Every newborn they checked for defects. Those children who did not meet the requirements were killed. Recently, however, scientists are inclined to believe that such methods are nothing but myth and fantasy of ancient philosophers. There is no direct evidence that this was the case.

Nevertheless, the requirements for children were high. As early as seven years old, boys were taken away from their families. The Spartans believed that excessive maternal tutelage had a bad effect on the character of the future warrior. Children lived in barracks and strictly observed daily routines and training.

Leadership, endurance, and cunning were encouraged. The volume of training was greater than that of the inhabitants of other ancient Greek polis. The point is that in Sparta any knowledge, except counting and writing, was considered superfluous. But we know that they also had their own poets and philosophers. True, they also had good physical training!