Martial Arts Fitness



A triumphant gladiator (artist unknown)

If one were to take to training like a gladiator of Ancient Rome, wouldn't they be putting absolutely 100% dedication and effort into it, since their very lives would be at stake? My guess would be yes, because I don't think there are many things in life that would more motivate someone to achieve physical supremacy than a fight for survival.

What would an ancient gladiator's athletic program and training schedule look like? What was his diet, exercise regimen, and what did he learn at the gladiator school? There are a few tidbits and details that I have gleaned from reading some books and watching documentaries. One of the interesting things I noted was that gladiators did not consume much meat, if any at all. They ate a lot of beans, barley, fruit. Vegetarian/vegan type of stuff. Many of them were slaves, though some men signed up for the glory and the money. They practiced intensively. The gladiator profession is one of the most fascinating ways of life that guys could undertake in the olden days of Rome, and certainly would be so again today if it were allowed in modern times. One of the aspects that interest me (among many) is the training process these guys had to go through. How much more motivated could you be, when you were faced with the prospect of a fight to the death in your near future?  

As a gladiator headed out for the arena floor, he needed to be mentally sharp. In training, he would have to prepare a body that was physically fast, strong, and mobile, and be able to go full throttle for the duration of the fight. He certainly would need to be highly skilled in weapons combat, as well as be well-versed in unarmed techniques. The gladiator was perhaps the most physically fit of the ancient warriors. As an expert martial artist, he had to be lethally effective with his weapons, but also be fully capable in the realms of grappling, wrestling and striking. Top conditioning was the minimum standard that he had to maintain, and he had to master the complexities of weapons and armor fighting as well. Expert maneuvering, tactical understanding, superb execution of techniques, timing, all these factors and more were key to his success in the arena.  

I suppose we are fortunate that we do not have to worry about the consequences of not training to our absolute capacity in the athletic realm. But in a way, I think we lack a certain drive that a gladiator had to possess, an intense fire to be the best, to exercise to the limit that your body would allow, to learn, practice, and to get the most out of every training session so that you could perform at your absolute best when the scheduled day arrived. You would become a living weapon. Even if you were defeated, you would be proud to have proved your mettle on the coliseum sands.

We are lucky that we do not have to face the pressures and dire consequence of failure that the gladiators of old had to endure, but it is also the case that we are not as blessed in some ways as they were. We have to try to recognize the critical importance of training to the best of one's ability, and pushing ourselves harder whenever there is any question as to whether we are doing enough. If you have the wind to run another couple of laps, and your legs do not feel like spent, burning jelly after an exercise run/jog, then no, you probably are not pushing yourself to the limit. Now, you do not want to injure yourself unnecessarily, and must be aware of some limitations, but when in doubt, go harder. This principle does not only apply to athletic training, but in all arenas and testing grounds of life.