{"id":74796,"date":"2026-08-08T09:22:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T01:22:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=74796"},"modified":"2026-08-08T09:22:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T01:22:12","slug":"reflections-even-confucius-was-buff-how-ancient-china-prized-strength-and-fitness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=74796","title":{"rendered":"Reflections | Even Confucius was buff? How ancient China prized strength and fitness"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.i-scmp.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/1280x720\/public\/d8\/images\/canvas\/2026\/08\/06\/f4d42bae-0299-4161-9eab-4b271a579692_305ad348.jpg?itok=edwfzrgD&amp;v=1785986087\" \/><\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Against my better judgment, I took out a gym membership in Prague. It turns out that my usual exercise regime \u2013 brisk walking for up to an hour every day \u2013 is not as practical in the city as I had imagined, at least not in my part of Prague.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Cobblestone pavements are pretty to look at, but they are made for leisurely strolls, not aerobic walks, unless spraining an ankle or two is your intention. There are parks and green spaces near my flat, but they are either too small or they reek of marijuana, alcohol or urine, sometimes all three at once. The only smooth, level footpaths nearby run alongside busy roads, and car fumes do not make for healthy lungs.<\/p>\n<div datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1xdhyk6 ec74h0k0\">So I joined <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">a nearby gym<\/span>, where the treadmill has become a good friend. I also make use of the exercise machines and free weights, but only to maintain <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">muscle tone and strength<\/span>. At my age, I have no desire to resemble a cartoon superhero.<\/div>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Not so a few of the men at my gym. Their enormous muscles, together with the telltale signs of back acne and an oddly aggressive swagger, suggest chemical assistance. For them, exercising at the gym seems to be less about health and fitness than about achieving a particular physical aesthetic.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">To each his own, I say. But man, can they lift weights! At the machines, my modest stack of plates looks positively dainty beside the towering columns of iron they heave.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Displays of brute strength have fascinated people for millennia. China, in particular, has never lacked legendary figures whose physical prowess bordered on the mythical. Among them, however, one stands out for an unexpected reason: Kongzi, better known in the West as Confucius.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Few people today imagine the sage, who died in 479BC, as anything other than a gentle philosopher. Yet historical sources describe him as an exceptionally tall man \u2013 well over six feet (183cm) in modern measurements \u2013 who possessed such extraordinary strength that he could single-handedly lift the massive wooden locking bar from a city gate.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<center><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/lifestyle\/chinese-culture\/article\/3362793\/even-confucius-was-buff-how-ancient-china-prized-strength-and-fitness?utm_source=rss_feed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><br \/>\n<center\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Against my better judgment, I took out a gym membership in Prague. It turns out that my usual exercise regime \u2013 brisk walking for up&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":74797,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[5434,12462,832,12058,2319,10963,5433,5307],"class_list":["post-74796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bored-interesting","tag-ancient","tag-buff","tag-china","tag-confucius","tag-fitness","tag-prized","tag-reflections","tag-strength","wpcat-33-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=74796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74796\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/74797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=74796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=74796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=74796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}