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10/20/19
I’ve seen it argued that the traditional martial arts traveled eastward, having originated in the grecian world.
We know of the gymnasium. We know of the olympics, halteres, but do we know of the exact exercises?
There’s a lot of commonalities when you look into the history of physical culture…across national boundaries and cultures.
(Both training and eating.)
Wrestling is the oldest of masculine sport.
It makes sense to me that ancient military PT would be alive and well in a sacred environ of wrestling and physicality.
The western style pushup and the hindu style squat, the “baithak” known in the more recent european/american physical culture context of the twentieth century as the deep knee bend, both click for me.
The two exercises stand alone, without mat time, as all the exercises you could ever need.
With mat time you have an old school manner of being built properly regardless of weight class.
High rep high volume squats and pushups alongside ample wrestling work, point blank, and with honest effort give you the robust body that God intended you have.
Exact details of your aesthetic do not really matter. Simple hard work builds a rugged man, while a pretty boy is just that, an effeminate step that is shy of rugged man. Weight class is a function of diet.
(I could be anywhere between 185, maybe even 165, and 300+, this all comes down to the amount of feasting and the amount of fasting.)
I’d bet ancient greek PT, the gymnasium, looked a hell of a lot like what goes on in a desi akhara.
Persistence & Tenacity