Physical Training The Old Way

Here is a collection of boys school PE classes, mostly from the fifties or earlier, showing how things used to be done. Boys classes were mostly shirtless, some barefoot, and there was an interesting reason for this: post-war, schools had a responsiblity for checking on their pupils hygeine, nutrition, evidence of diseases like rickets, and checking on general physical development. Official nurses or doctors occasionally attended the line up to push and prod and occasionally send pupils to clinics. This happened even with mixed classes, and in primary schools too. My father says that, at that time, a lot of houses in UK didn't have bathrooms and, in some families washing was infrequent: changing rooms always had a lingering odour of cheesy feet. Perhaps forcing everyone to strip was a subtle way of embarrassing them into better hygeine practice.

Most of the pics are from UK but you will see the famous LaSierra High School in the US, and some examples of other (army) mass training. I have also included a couple of vintage army PT sessions.

I hope that you enjoy this rather different post, and some feedback would be much appreciated either through comments or to gymacrobat@gmail.com - ESPECIALLY if you have pictures not featured here - I would love to add them to the collection.

Those aren't shorts! Maybe this was some sort of show rather than a PE class. Fun, ayway!

This final one is a repeat from the other day, but it has to be part of this collection. LaSierra again - the famous peg wall for developing the shoulders...

If you were around in those days, you either loved it or hated it. Some boys would do anything to get out of PE or at least to keep their shirts on, and if someone forgot their kit they were sometimes made to do PE naked infront of their friends. None of this namby-pamby luvvy nonsense that some school propagate today. Boys were meant to get tough, and most cheerfully trained to do just that. Vive le sport!