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How to train like an Ancient Greek Olympian (bbc.com)
49 points by community on Aug 8, 2021 | hide | past | favorite | 11 comments



Fun article, but did they forget to proofread it?


Beautiful. I had a special chuckle over their diet fads. It all really stays the same.


Serious question were neanderthal genes less diluted in those times ?


In general the admixture from that source has been more widely mixed into the human population in the subsequent centuries. But it should be emphasized that the Ancient Greeks themselves are much, much closer to us in time than they were to the era of human-Neanderthal hybridization. It's not unlike asking whether our grandparents' generation had less dilution of their Neanderthal heritage compared to ours Kinda? Maybe? In a sense that doesn't really matter, since it was already well-mixed into the human population by their time. As it was in the time of the Ancient Greeks, tens of thousands years after the last first-generation hybrids were probably born. Even "ancient" history is contemporary from the paleontologist's point of view.


Unlikely. But many centuries of war may have affected the gene pool negatively, selecting for males unfit for combat.


> The Ancient Greeks knew what it took to grow stronger, but their ideas about the body's physiology were a little mystical. They believed in harnessing an ethereal substance called pneuma, a bit like the Chinese chi. This involved suspending and holding the breath, tensing all the muscles of the breast and relaxing the stomach and diaphragm, therefore "pushing the excrements" down, according to Christopoulous.

This techinique along with muscular programming is really powerful. It makes possible running up a slope at full speed while making footsteps completely silent, for a long time, without feeling tired or sweating, and then recover your normal breath instantly.


That’s nothing, my version lets me levitate


Sounds pretty woo-woo, so… source to convince me?


Do you have any literature on muscular programming? I'm fascinated and would like to read more.


The post is being downvoted, but I'm really glad someone is actually as interested in the topic as I am. I don't think there is enough research on this, at least I haven't found it. But you should look into Bruce Lee books for ideas.


Rickson Gracie also says interesting things about this, search "gracie breathing".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmwuraDlE4E




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