From the Archives of TheMindBodyModerate, August 9, 2011, Edited
Funny how the meaning of words changes over time. For example, the term salon commonly referred to a gathering of intellectuals to discuss issues of the day, and yet most of us now can’t help but think of the place we go for haircuts.
Another word that’s evolved in meaning is gym. From ancient times up until even the past 50 years, gymnasiums were considered higher institutions of training the body, mind, and spirit. Like a Western equivalent of the Shaolin temple, gymnasiums encompassed not only fitness but; philosophy, community, the arts, and social and political change – a bit different than the current health club down the street.
The original Latin gymnos literally means “naked” because what better way to show off athletic prowess in ancient Greece than in the buff? More likely, however, it refers to laying bare the individual spirit in pursuit of excellence in both body and mind. It then stands to reason the word gymnasium would later refer to public run high schools in Germany.
Gyms, as we know them in the United States, evolved from Turnvereins. The Turners were a political movement in Germany during the early 1800s. It was their view that a healthy mind and body would instill patriotism, a belief in liberty, and unify Germany into one country. Thanks to the Turners (meaning: one who does gymnastics), we have parallel bars, horizontal bar, the side-horse, and most gymnastic events still popular in the Olympics.
Large numbers of Germans emigrated to the US in the mid-1800s, the Turners included. They fought with the Union army in the Civil War. But with the end of the war, the Turner’s political edge – their main driving force in Europe- faded in the United States. Their focus shifted to creating and establishing Turnverein, community centers that mixed social consciousness and fitness. In areas of the country with historically sizeable German immigrant populations, you can still find Turnverein in existence today. The Turnverein inspired the creation of organizations such as the YMCA.
World War I and II took a toll on the image of German culture in the US, and most Turnvereins disappeared. Yet, since the Industrial Revolution, Americans have embraced the idea of fitness clubs to occupy expanding free time. Gyms have continued to thrive and evolve through the 20th and 21st century until we have the spots of today – places lighter on social or political importance, but major on the fitness and fashion spectrum.
We have much to thank the Turners’ for, not only for Olympic sports, but for inspiring the popular fitness regime of Pilates, bringing aspects of yoga to the Western World, and yes, to those scarring junior high physical education classes. They were big advocates for physical education in schools.
Maybe it’s time for an evolution in fitness centers, bringing back a holistic humanistic approach of creativity, education, and physical health, helping foster a stronger sense of immediate community. Gym? Turnverein?…maybe it’s also time for a new name.
Sidenote: If you happen to be in St. Louis, MO, there’s a memorial to Frederic Jahn, The Father of the Turner movement, within Forest Park. It features a large bust of Jahn in the center of an arc of stone, with statues of a male and female gymnast, one on each end of the arc. The monument is on the edge of Art Hill next to the path running north and south along the western edge of Post-Dispatch lake. It is directly north of the St. Louis Zoo.
Milwaukee Turner Hall in the 1900s (source:Wikipedia)