INTRODUCTION

We are often told, tness is good for your health, or if you lose weight, you'll be healthier. Or even
in some cases, people have been instructed to use physical tness, or exercise, to help ght
depression. All of these statements are fair and true, although in some cases, we may not be
exactly sure how they work or why they are facts. In this course of other therapies, we've already
started to look at wellness as a lifestyle, meditation, and a few ways that alternate therapy
methods can be used. In today's lesson, we'll look at exactly where tness started, what tness
really is, and a brief overview of how tness can really be used for alternate therapy. There's so
much to discover about the fascinating world of tness, so let's start our beautiful journey.

Today's lesson, lesson number 8, we have four main objectives.

First, we'll be looking at the history of tness.
Then, onto the biological facts, as well as the mental e ects of tness.
And lastly, we'll be identifying and understanding exactly how we can use tness as medicine.

So let's dive straight into lesson number 8

When we think about the history of tness, our minds tend to go straight to the luminescent
coloured spandex, as well as jazzer slides. But I think we all know that that is not where it started.
Even though centuries and millennia ago, they did not have the extensive range of routines and
ways which we have. But somehow, the levels of obesity, heart disease, and mental illnesses were
a lot lower. So to understand exactly how this happened, we need to go back to the very
beginning of the history of tness and compare it to the modern culture of tness today.

Starting o with the primal time.

Everything started around 1,000 BC. Now you can imagine, everyone was running for their lives
and having this vital ight response. Therefore, we can see how physical development was a
natural part of life. And physical tness really depended on the practical demands of life, as well
as the physical activity. And it was vital to avoid any threats and seize opportunities in order to
gather or catch that next meal. During these times, man had to learn how to run, walk, jump,
crawl, lift, catch, and most certainly ght, as these were a few things which were essential in order
to survive in a harsh environment. Although it was not all about survival, man did also enjoy the
simple things, such as playing and creating di erent forms of dancing. When man was living in the
prehistoric times, the strength of ability did not come from planned programs or di erent training
methods. Or even their time of exercise was not even scheduled. Their ability to improve their
physical tness was rather forged daily by the practice of adapting di erent movement skills in
order to survive. In the world today, there are very few hunter-gatherer tribes which still exist. If
you had to go to some of them, you would have no idea what is primal tness, or what is a
caveman workout, or really what kind of exercise is good for them. In their reality, exercise
remains a daily ingrained activity in order for survival. From the primal times,
we'll move on to the Neolithic times.

This can also be known as crop culture. This time started between 10,000 BC and 8,000 BC.
Some people speci cally know this time as the agricultural revolution or the donor civilization. We
can only imagine that the transition between hunter-gatherer to farmer had drastic changes,
speci cally when it came to physical activity. There was a greater demand of growing food and
raising cattle, which means that there was a greater demand on tools which farmers had to
perform on a daily basis. But if we think about it, what a farmer typically does is complete the
same task over and over again. And these movements became repetitive and no longer a ght for
survival. Therefore, there were no longer jumping, crawling, lifting, and ghting, but the range of
movements completely changed. Even though they were physically moving their bodies, they
were only adapting in a certain way. One can even say that the movements performed on a daily
basis as a farmer were less complex than those of a hunter-gatherer. After the Olympic times,

they moved into the ancient times.

Fine, as between 4000 BC and the fall of the Roman Empire, which was in 476 AD, this time there
was to be known as a time of war where the civilization rose and fell due to war and conquest. We
can even say that the rst time physical activity or physical training actually became a part of
everyday life was due to the Egyptians and the Persians, and later on the Greeks and Romans all
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 imposed physical training on their boys and young men, and we know the purpose for this was to
get them ready for battle. This was the rst time that military training actually started. Military
training involved similar movements which were performed by the cavemen, but with a more solid
structure, and a completely di erent role. Young men and boys were taught the fundamental skills
of running and walking through uneven terrain, as well as jumping, crawling, and lifting heavy
things, all of this while they were still carrying the weapons which they needed, in case they may
come face to face with meeting the enemy. As the civilization further developed, the civilized
population also valued physical activity or physical culture as a sport. There are records of
competitions which happen in ancient Egypt, and there are courts. We all know the ancient
Greeks with the famously created Olympic Games. When we think back to sports which the
Greeks particularly participated in, we all require practical skills of natural movement, and once
again we're all fundamentally related to the physical skills which needed work. But if we take a
deeper look into the Olympic Games, we can see that the Greeks participated in activities such as
running against each other, or jumping, or in most cases, there was also an arm and a shield,
jumping or throwing the javelin, and ghting was also involved in striking and wrestling. Apart from
military training and sports, initially the Greeks, and then later on the Romans, started celebrating
the beauty of the body, and it became a philosophical idea and a part of education. They not only
celebrated having a physical t body, but they celebrated having a sound mind too. After the
ancient time,
they moved on to the dark ages.

This can also be known as the time when people stopped idealizing the body. And in some pages
we can even say that the humans started rejecting the body. The Dark Ages were from the 5th to
the 15th century. As we all know, the Middle Ages were very chaotic. There were barbarian
invasions, the cessation of kingdoms, and let's not forget all the devastating plagues. Due to the
teachings of Christianity, the belief was spread that the primary concern was preparing for the
afterlife, rather than focusing in this lifetime. The body was also seen as sinful and unimportant, as
it was just a carrier of man's soul. The focus then was rather on cultivating the mind than using
the body. Under the dominant social system in medieval Europe, only nobles and mercenaries
were able to perform physical training. And this was speci cally for military service. As we spoke
about before, the movements were focused on the survival movement and the skill of martial arts.
The rest of the population would not believe that exercise was important, as they already did hard
labor on a daily basis. After the Dark Ages ,

they moved on to the Renaissance period.

The Renaissance can also be known as a fresh start, and this era was between 14 to 16,000 AD.
During this time there was a greater interest in the body. They started studying things such as
anatomy, biology, health, and what is physical education. In the Renaissance period, it was the
rst time that people started publishing books about physical tness. In 1402, Italian humanist
was one of the rst educators to place special emphasis on physical education. In 1553, a
Spanish gentleman was the rst one to write a book exclusively on physical exercise, and the
bene ts of the physical exercise. This book was written from a medical standpoint, where there
was advice o ered on how exactly you can do physical tness, as well as how to prevent and
recover from injury. Sixteen years later, an Italian physician then published his studies of the
classical and medical literature, particularly focusing on the Greeks and the Romans, covering
their approach to hygiene, diet, exercise, as well as natural treatment of methods of di erent
diseases.
And this movement was given a big boost in the 19th century, where they said staying t and
healthy became a point of civic duty as well as pride. Physical education started becoming
important. Even at school, the uniforms were changed to allow the students to be able to move
more freely. Later on, a German teacher as well as educator wrote a book on artistic
gymnastics. This book was rst published in 1800, and then it became the standard reference to
physical education for the English-speaking country. During this time, gymnastics largely
developed all over Europe as well as USA. The most important part is they were tracing the
development of both physical culture. These systems were extremely similar and based on the
practical approach of calisthenics, as well as movement skills. They trained to become stronger,
and it was essential if you wanted to be prepared to go to the military or in real life situations. The
rst gym or tness machine was created in 1796. This can also be known as the forerunner for
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 the modern day space machine. But the use of this equipment only became popular in the 20th
century. At the same time, weight-based training and strength training also became a popular
approach to the physical culture which started developing.

Then we moved into The Modern Day World.

The 20th century is speci cally known for all the rise in specialized competitions and sports, as
one of the creations of the well-known tness market or tness industry. At the beginning of the
20th century, George Herbert developed and promoted physical tness journals. This was known
as the natural method. These journals managed to make physical exercise and strength training
fashionable. Through the publication of these journals, he was able to open a chain of exercise
clubs. One could only imagine that later on, this would be the foundation of the tness industry.
Even though it was a strong foundation for the tness industry, all the di erent research, as well
as di erent journals, is why we entered the age of confusion.
As we all know, the world of physical tness can be very confusing. There are so many
di erent fads out there, which are all aesthetically driven, as well as bodybuilding approaches,
even looking at all the more sophisticated machines, or even the home equipment. The huge
tness industry was su ering under the confusion of di erent magazines, books, as well as so
many training videos that were out there. And in this day and age, there are even applications too.
Over the course of centuries, thousands and thousands of di erent programs and methods have
all emerged, promising you the next best shape of your life, and all in the quickest way possible.
But as we all know, very seldom, these things tend to work.

This moved us into our current culture.

If we sit back and have a look at the past,

We have to ask ourselves, what have we gained and what have we lost? What are some of the
bene ts that you can think of from the previous tness industry and what we carry through today?
But if we think about it, one of the biggest bene ts is the widespread of awareness. We know how
important physical and regular exercise is. In nearly every community there is a gym. For people
who are not able to access the gym, they also have access to other information, which still allows
them to exercise. Even as out-going scientists, we know how the human body works, as well as
how it responds to physical exercise. Today is better than before. Although, one thing we do need
to admit to ourselves is that despite all the information, the general population has never been so
sanitary and out of shape. The general health of the population is declining despite all our medical
advances, as well as technology. But how can this be? In this day and age, unfortunately when
we think of tness, we no longer think of health and wellness. We think about the way that
somebody looks. Another misinterpretation of exercise is that we need to use machines in order
to improve our cardiovascular tness. Or we need to use other machines in order to build
strength. Once we have done di erent forms of exercise, we need to make sure that we are
stretching those muscles in order for them to recover appropriately. Unfortunately in this day and
age, exercise has no longer become pleasant. It's now a chore. The biggest problem which we
see in the tness industry today is that people have lost clarity and simplicity. We no longer know
what to do when we go to the gym, even though there is so much information out there. We are
completely bombarded by all the information that we no longer even know where to start. And
we've lost the naturalness of health and well-being.

David Richard Louve said,” The future will belong to a nature smart. The higher tech
becomes, the more nature we need”.

Fitness can be de ned as the ability to carry out tasks daily with vigour and alertness,
without fatigue, and with ample energy to enjoy that leisure time for suits and respond to
emergencies. So if we have a look at it, and we want to see, none of this involves big muscles or
a at stomach. Physical tness is purely to survive and possibly succeed every single day. But
now that we know what tness is, we can also see that tness is not only one thing. There are
many di erent components to tness too.
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 COMPONENTS
Are you respiratory endurant? And this is typically measured by the number of repetitions
which a person can perform during an activity. This will have an e ect on their heart rate as well
as their oxygen consumption. So the better they are able to control it, or the more cardiovascular
t they are, the better their endurance will be too. Secondly, muscular endurance. This is
typically measured by the number of repetitions which a person can perform for a speci c
exercise. We have spoken about moving naturally, but we know that exercise involves multiple
joints as well as multiple muscle groups. So the better they can move those joints, as well as their
muscle groups, the better endurance they will have. Thirdly, muscular strength. This can also be
described as the amount of weight in which it is used in relation to its repetition. If we think about
that man lifting heavy weights, muscular strength can be de ned as the maximum amount of
weight which you are able to lift. Fourthly, muscular power. This is measured by the force which
you can generate during any given activity. Flexibility. This is typically measured by how far a
muscle group can be stretched, or how much a certain joint can move through a range of motion.
Next is balance. This is typically measured by how long a person can hold a certain position.
Another component is speed, which is typically measured by how fast a person can move from
one point to another. And lastly, body composition. Body composition is the amount of fat on the
body versus other tissues. These tissues include muscles, bones, as well as skin. Coming up in
lesson number one.
Of Module 2, we'll be looking at those essential oils. And essential oils are so fascinating. The fact
that such a small plant can create such changes in the human body, as well as have such major
physical, as well as psychological e ects, and create changes in the body too. Not much is
known about the history or the origin of these essential oils, as well as those plant extracts. But
the use of a plant extract, an essential oil, has been shown to be used in ancient times. In Lesson
1 of Module 2, we're going to have a look at the history of those essential oils, how these
essential oils were converted from the plants which we see in our gardens, into bottles which we
buy on our shelves. So let's move on to see exactly

what the e ects of tness are on the human body.

We have looked at many components of tness. You may have noticed that it never really
involves in the way which a person looks, but it's all about health and tness. There are many
di erent reasons why people choose to exercise. These generally include weight loss, toning
and rming, or even a certain way which you'd like to look. But physical exercise is the capability
of the heart, blood, as well as the lungs, and the muscles to perform to their best ability. But
remember, tness also has a mental component too. This can be seen as mental wellness. When
a person is exercising, they're releasing certain hormones and endorphins, and these hormones
have proven to enhance a person's mood, or otherwise, in some cases, has even proven to
reduce some symptoms of depression.

But let's start o with looking at what exactly are those biological e ects.

The rst one is the heart. As you're exercising, there's an increase of oxygen supply and
e ciency of the oxygenated blood to the di erent muscles. This all helps in lowering the
cholesterol in the body. Exercise is also shown to enhance the body's natural otation system,
which helps reduce the overall particle size of the di erent waste products in the blood. This
simply means that you can expel them a lot easier. Secondly, muscles. As the muscles increase
in size, there's a higher blood ow going through the muscles. Once again, this is a bigger
movement of waste and toxins throughout the body. As our blood's owing faster, we're able to
bring it back to the lungs to release. This brings us to our lungs. As we exercise and the breath
rate increases too, this is speci cally as we said that the muscles demand more oxygen, thus
causing the lungs to become more e cient by removing the carbon dioxide and delivering oxygen
to the whole cell.
Next, we have the bones and the joints. As we are exercising, you create a healthy bone mass
which prevents osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is a condition where your bones become brittle due to
a loss of tissue. The more we exercise, the less likely we are to have osteoporosis.

Other biological e ects include the skin. As we exercise, there is an increase in circulation of the
blood, which brings all the nutrients to the skin. And remember, sweating allows the body to
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 excrete those wastes. We boost the immune system. As we've mentioned multiple times before,
the movement of toxins as well as waste products in the body increases as we are exercising. So
the more we exercise, the more we are able to deliver the nutrients and the oxygen to all cells of
the body and get rid of those things which might a ect our immune system. Blood pressure. By
exercising, we reduce the risk of having high blood pressure. As well as in some cases, some
studies have shown that it may even aid in low blood pressure. As we have mentioned the
cholesterol before, as we are exercising, there is an increased amount of HDL cholesterol, so
high-density lipid cholesterol. This is known as a good cholesterol and reduction in the low-
density lipid cholesterol, which means that the arteries take care of that fatty plaque, reducing the
risk of having any plaque and therefore the risk of heart attacks as well as strokes. And lastly, the
colon. As the muscles around the colon become stronger, we can only imagine those abdominal
muscles, the movement of food through the bowel also reduces the risk of having colon cancer.
These are only a few of the biological e ects. There are also other e ects on the brain where we
know that it can improve function and memory. And there too are other many di erent biological
e ects. But this is all we have time for today.

Let's have a look at those mental bene ts.

As people exercise, exercise tends to give them a sense of well-being. They also tend to feel more
energetic during the day and sleep better at night, having sharper memories. In most cases,
people have also said that they feel more relaxed and positive about themselves as they are
exercising. All of this results in the powerful medicine of exercise. If we have to look at it more
speci cally, exercise helps ght depression. Studies have shown that exercise is able to treat
mild depression to the same degree as some antidepressants. But without the single side e ect,
exercise is also shown to promote changes in the brain, such as neural growth, reduce
in ammation, and new activity patterns, which all create calmness. And remember, as we've
mentioned before, those happy hormones. So the endorphins which are released during exercise
are powerful chemicals to energize your spirits and give you that feel-good feeling. Exercise
releases attention and stress. This also boosts the physical as well as the mental energy and
enhances the well-being, as we've said, through those hormones. Exercising can also redirect
your focus. So, for example, if you're busy running, you can listen to the rhythm of your feet
hitting the ground, or even your breathing patterns. By adding this mindful element of what
exactly you are doing, your body may feel that constant ow of worries running through your
mind, completely interrupted. Exercise is proven to be good for strength. The happy hormones
are back, and they break that cycle of muscular tension in the face, neck, and the shoulders, or
even in the lower back, which leads to greater discomfort. When we are in comfort, we tend to
even stress even more. Since the body and mind are so closely linked, when the body feels better,
the mind feels better too.
Exercise is proven to increase concentration, motivation, memory, and mood. Physical exercise is
able to boost dopamine, serotonin, as well as norepinephrine. As this all a ects our attention and
focus, we can see how it will help with attention de cit hyperactivity. Some studies have shown
that exercise works the same way as ADHD medications do too. Other mental bene ts. PTSD
and trauma, or otherwise known as post-traumatic stress disorder. Evidence has shown that truly
focusing on the way that the body feels when you're exercising helps the nervous system return
and move out of an immobilization of the stress response. It has been proven that exercises which
involve cross-movement, engage both arms and legs, are some of the best choices. And naturally,
we can only imagine, engaging after activity has also shown to have an amazing e ect. If we think
about some general mental bene ts, we think about a sharpened memory and thinking. Apart
from all those endorphins which are released, exercise also stimulates the growth of new brain
cells, which prevents aging and the decline in memory. Exercise also gives us a higher self-
esteem. Regular activity is an investment into your mind, your body, as well as your soul. When
you make exercise a habit, you are increasing your sense of self-worth, and therefore, it makes
you strong and powerful, not only to your appearance, but also your sense of achievement. A
natural bene t is more energy. Increasing your heart rate a few times a week increases the
energy levels in the body too. And lastly, a higher or stronger resilience. Exercise may help you
cope with those emotional challenges in your life. It reduces the impact of stress, which only can
make you more resilient.
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 And lastly, we'll be looking at exercise and medicine.

As we said, physical activity is one of the best-kept secrets when it comes to medicine.
Cardiovascular, as well as strain training, has proven to treat almost every chronic disease.
We've also seen in the lesson today that moving can help us improve the function of our heart,
as well as our lungs, and our brains, too. This is all due to the stimulation of our red blood cells.
Therefore, they're able to carry all the oxygen and nutrients throughout the whole body to
promote the new growth of tissues, as well as stronger bones. And all these components together
result in enhancing your immune system. There are many studies which have shown that exercise
can prevent, or even lessen, certain cancers, as well as cardiovascular diseases. Diabetes type
2, and metabolic syndrome, and even Alzheimer's. But this is not where it all ends. There is a
host of other diseases and illnesses which exercise is also able to overcome. The body is able to
overcome these illnesses and diseases through physical exercise. This is all due to the
di erent chemical reactions which happen in the body as you are exercising. And the most
common, as we've discussed in this lesson today, is simply breathing. Where the body is able to
inhale oxygen, carry all the nutrients through the blood to every cell of the human body, and carry
all the waste products, as well as those toxins, back to the lungs, where they can be expelled out
of the body. But there are many, many more chemical reactions which also happen while we're
exercising.66
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