The gymnasium was first built as an institution for military and athletic training of the young Greek citizens. A free-born citizen’s education also included intellectual and artistic subjects, all taught at the public gymnasia. The gymnasium developed into the center of Greek social activity, which included lectures on philosophy, medicine and poetry. Cults of the traditional gods of the gymnasia were worshipped at these facilities as well.

The Greek gymnasium had humble beginnings. The first were mostly found in open fields located on the outskirts of town, usually near a stream, river, or body of water to provide easy access for bathing after strenuous exercise and games. As these games became more popular they were developed into park-like facilities. Sporting activities were the first use of these open spaces. Ball games, wrestling, running and jumping were the most popular sporting activities, but it wasn't long before the peaceful atmosphere attracted orators, teachers and picnickers.

Small buildings were erected, large numbers of trees were planted, running tracks were built and the open spaces became smaller. As the cities increased in population and territory, many of them with high walls built around them, sometime around 400 BC, these open spaces were encroached upon even more. There was no longer room to hold running races, and so they were conducted on the streets of the city. These changes all led to the building of huge gymnasium buildings more toward the city center or near the seashore. And in turn, these buildings changed the character of the Greek gymnasium.

An interesting side note regarding the financing and administration of the Greek gymnasium is worth mentioning. The gymnasium was a public institution, open to all citizens 18 years of age or older. Administration of the many gymnasiums in a city was provided by distinguished citizens. Usually one person handled one facility. Their official title was gymnasiarch. They selected and scheduled the gymnasium's teachers, trainers and lecturers. Even the heating expenses and maintenance of the hot baths, found in some of the gymnasiums, was the duty of the gymnasiarch, as was the entire maintenance of the building. These citizens needed to be wealthy, because they were responsible for paying for all the operating expenses of the gymnasium - even the religious and sacrificial rites, sporting games and the prizes for athletic competitions. The city government did little to help, nor were there funds available from their citizens except when the administrator was able to solicit support from royal or private patrons of the facility. The gymnasiarch, as a result of this position, was also a person of considerable authority in the community. There are several stories in Greek history that tell about the ruin of the gymnasium administrators because expenses became too much for them to handle. One story relates that the most costly expense was providing free oil for the athletic patrons of the gymnasium.

The buildings were palatial, with a grand central courtyard for exercising, lecturing and holding gatherings. Usually situated within high walls accompanied by massive columns inside, the interior held classrooms, libraries, and when they had them, baths with changing rooms. There were cold-water washing rooms, sweating rooms and a room for oiling the body, which also stored the oils. It was here that athletes and citizens discussed the politics and games of the day, rested, and as one account claims, massaged each other.

Properly named the Esclapeion, Greek gymnasiums were everywhere, more than 300 in the country at one time. A comparison with today's hospitals dramatizes their place in the culture of the time. Ours are places of medical sterility, tile and stainless steel, and from which we want to leave as soon as possible. The Greek Esclapeion were built in an environment composed of a natural setting dedicated to healing, education and public discourse, a place where one would want to stay. Even though there was an elite social class, the gymnasium was a public place open to all free-born citizens, even those living outside the city’s boundaries. The common citizen practiced his exercises, bathed and competed alongside the sons of noblemen and political leaders. Each shared in the spiritual, mental and physical possibilities available at the Greek gymnasium.

The Greek gymnasiums at their height of success, though, were primarily devoted to exercises, frictions and baths. The exercises were wrestling, jumping, boxing, running and throwing, and games played with balls, to name a few. To prepare the young men for exercise, refresh them afterward and along with or after their bath, frictions were applied. In his 1866 book, The Anatriptic Art, Walter Johnson describes the use of frictions in detail, and perhaps the first-ever description of sports massage is provided by the ancient physician Galen (130-201 AD), as reported by Johnson.

Johnson writes, "The usual routine was this: The youth was first rubbed by the paidotribes with oil; this process was called the preparatory rubbing - tripsis paraskeuastike. He then proceeded to some of the lighter exercises, as playing at ball; after which he sprinkled himself with Egyptian dust, and sought a companion (sungumnaste) to wrestle with. When sufficiently exercised, he passed into the room of the anointer (aleiptes), who by aid of the stlengis, a curved instrument with a handle used to scrape the skin of oils and debris after exercise or competition, or strigil, as the Romans called it, helped him to scrape off his dust, oil and sweat, and then rubbed him again with oil, which process was called apotherapeia. This done, he entered the warm bath, and after a short stay proceeded to the cold bath, and from the cold bath he returned to the aleiptes, who anointed him a second time, and sent him about his business. It ought never to be forgotten that the aleiptes regulated the diet of every pupil, prescribing in the exact quantity and quality and time of every meal. It is not my intention to enter into details on the subject of the gymnasium; but I am compelled thus briefly to allude to it in order to render intelligible what remains to be said about gymnastic friction. Gymnastic or hygienic friction, then, consisted in the preparatory friction - tripsis paraskeuastike - and the friction which followed the exercises - apotherapeia.

"The former is thus described by Galen:
'Hence if anyone, immediately after undress, proceed to the more violent movements before he has softened the whole body, and thinned the excretions, and opened the pores, he incurs the danger of breaking or spraining some of the solid parts. [Galen refers here to pre-event massage meant to warm the muscles by activity and increased circulation, which in turn loosens them to help avoid injury from the muscles being cold.]

"'There is danger also of the excretions, in the rush of moving spirits, blocking up the pores. But if beforehand you gradually warm and soften the solids and thin the fluids, and expand the pores, the person exercising will run no danger of breaking any part, nor of blocking up the pores. [Again, increasing circulation, but here also opening the pores so elimination can occur without obstruction through the process of sweating.] Hence, in order to insure this result, it is proper, by moderate rubbing with a linen cloth, to warm the whole body beforehand, and then to rub with oil. For I do not counsel the immediate application of the grease before the skin is warmed and the pores expanded, and, generally speaking, before the body is prepared to receive the oil; and this will be accomplished by a very few turns of the hands, without pain and moderately quick, having in view to warm the body without compressing it; for you will perceive while this is being done a blooming redness running over the whole skin; and then is the time to apply the grease to it, and rub with bare hands, observing a medium hardness and softness, in order that the body may not be contracted and compressed, nor loosened and relaxed beyond the fitting extent, but be kept in its natural state. [The application of oil after warming the skin was to help absorb the healing qualities of the oil.]

"'And one should at first rub quietly, and afterwards gradually increasing it, push the strength of the friction so far as evidently to compress the flesh, but not to bruise it. But it is not proper to apply such strong friction for a long time, but once or twice to each part; for we do not rub so as to harden the body of the boy, whom we are now training for the exercises, but to excite it to activity and augment its tone, and contract its porousness; for it is proper to preserve his body in a medium state, and by no means to make it hard or dry, lest we should by chance check somewhat of the natural growth. [This is classic pre-event sports massage - not too much massage to soften or relax, just enough to heighten the body for activity, but not overexcite it so it loses energy.] But in the process of time, when the youth is entering upon manhood, then we shall use harder friction and cold baths, after the gymnastic exercises; but of this we will speak again. In using friction preparatory to the gymnastic exercises, the use of which is to soften the body, the middle quality between hard and soft should prevail, and all else should take its fashion accordingly. And in the imposition and circumflexion of the hands the rubbing should be very varied, and not merely directed from above to below, nor from below to above, but also slanting and oblique, transverse and sub-transverse ... and it will make no difference whether you use the expression, tripsis (rubbing), or anatripsis (rubbing up, or as we should say, rubbing down), seeing that the latter is more usual among the ancients and the former among the moderns ... ["ancients" refers to those who came before the Greek physicians, "moderns" to those since Hippocrates.] Rubbing which prepares for gymnastic exercises, and that which follows the same, is subservient to the exercises. The former heats and moderately opens the pores, and liquefies the excretions retained in the flesh, and softens the solid parts, and this is termed preparatory or paraskeuastic rubbing. But the other is termed after-ministering (apotherapeutic); and as it is applied with a larger amount of oil, it at the same time moistens by means of the grease, and softens the solid parts and carries off what is contained in the pores … " [The term flesh meant muscles.]

If you are familiar with the pre-event and post-event concepts of modern-day sports massage, Galen's descriptions are so close to our own one might think we've copied his techniques. For those not familiar with the theory of sports massage as practiced today, I’ll explain it briefly. Competitive athletes organize their training session according to a schedule of competitions throughout the year or season. They train to advance through a series of events most often leading to a championship of some kind. Bicycling is a good example, and since I’ve raced at the national and contended for the Olympic level in this sport, as well as trained others to do sports massage on these athletes, I have personal experience of the subject.

Cyclists race mostly on weekends, similar to runners, and so their training is oriented to a weekly schedule most of the time. They might eat protein-heavy diets on Wednesday and Thursday; with carbohydrate loading on Friday and Saturday during the race days; and then on Monday eat fresh fruits, vegetables and a more normal diet. The diet is coordinated with the workout regimen of light work on Monday, to recover from the weekend of racing; a bit heavier or maybe a longer ride on Tuesday; and then on Wednesday and Thursday the ride is very hard, probably with added wind sprints and hill-climbing to build tissue and increase endurance and reflexes. Weekend riding is, of course, very strenuous because it is competitive.

Massage is applied in ideal conditions in accordance with the diet and workout regimen. Ideally racers receive massage at the end of each race day; preferably just before bed time. If this is not possible, and for most athletes it is not, Monday is the next best time. The massage is not vigorous or deep but soothing, with long slow strokes used to milk the muscles of the excess waste products manufactured from burning up immense amounts of energy. If these wastes are left in the system they can cause stiffness, soreness and decreased efficiency for several days afterward.

Massage is usually given each day, or during the week every other day, to professional riders. The massage given the day before a race, the pre-event massage, or in the morning before a race in the afternoon, is somewhat vigorous, but not too deep. The legs must not be relaxed so much as to lose their tone, or peak condition, but just enough to stimulate them. Deep massage, or stripping, is usually done at midweek or, if there is a several-week period off from competition this is a much more ideal time to get the stripping massage done.

To summarize, pre-event massage stimulates but does not relax the muscle tissues; post-event massage soothes and moves toxins out of the muscles; and massage applied between competitions is often deeper to work on the problem areas of toxin build-up, connective-tissue adhesions, and aches and pains.