Author Archives: slellison

Funny how words and meanings change overtime. For example, the term salon more commonly referred to a gathering of intellectuals to discuss issues of the day. Although the website, salon.com  alludes to this meaning, most of us can’t help but think of a salon as a place to go for haircuts.

A kind of similar fate befell gymnasiums. From ancient times up until even the past 50 years, gymnasiums were considered higher institutions of training the body, mind and spirit. Think of it as the Western equivalent of the Shaolin temple. Gymnasiums encompassed not only fitness but; philosophy, community, the arts, and social and political change – all things we don’t attribute to health clubs today.

The word, gymnasium, even once referred to public run high schools in Germany. But if you go back far enough, to ancient Greece, the meaning gets closer to the modern vernacular, where gymnasiums were the training grounds for athletes. The original Latin gymnos literally means “naked”…cause that’s how they would show off their athletic prowess in ancient Greece…in the buff. Of course we all know this, as they publicize it on all their vases in the museums.

Getting back to the Germans, gyms as we know them in the United States evolved from a political movement in Germany during the early 1800s.  These early German gym rats exercised not just to look fit for the next social, but to instill patriotism and belief in liberty. They were called Turners (meaning: one who does gymnastics). Turners believed a nation of healthy minds and bodies would help unify Germany into one country. it We can thank the Turners for the parallel bars, horizontal bar, the sidehorse, and most gymnastic events still popular in the olympics.

Large numbers of Germans emmigrated to the US in the mid 1800′s, The Turners included.  Once here, the Turners took up arms and chose to fight with the Union army against the Confederates. Bringing their philosophies to the United States, The Turners began establishing Turnvereins,  community centers that mixed social conciousness and fitness. In areas with historically large German immigrant populations, you can still find some Turnvereins existing today. Organizations such as the YMCA, inspired by the Turnvereins, are the closest remaining bastions.

The Turner’s political edge – their main driving force in Europe- soon faded in the United States. But with the Industrial revolution and a growing economy, Americans liked the idea of fitness, leisure exercise, and clubs with which to belong. Gyms and fitness clubs continued to evolve and grow and change, until we finally have Equinox…and places of very little social or political importance, but major on the fitness and fashion side.

In all the Turners brought to the states, most importantly, you have them to thank for all of those scarring PE class moments.  They staunchly advocated for physical education in schools, and much of what we remember  from our childhood PE classes, can be attributed to the Turners.

With the economy the way it is, gym memberships are often the first thing to go. And with education cuts going deep, physical fitness is all but out the door.  Perhaps it’s time for a new localized movement building community, creativity, knowledge, and physical health all in the name of a stronger America. Can just we pick a new name though?

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.