The earliest fitness gymnastics in the world is the Guiding Diagram.
The Guiding Diagram unearthed from the Mawangdui No. 3 Han Tomb in Changsha, Hunan Province, in 1974 is the earliest surviving volume of colorful paintings of health care exercises, which is from the end of the 3rd century B.C.E. The diagram depicts more than 40 exercises for men and women of different ages. More than 40 gymnastic movements for men and women of different ages are depicted in color, accompanied by simple textual descriptions, with the number of men and women on the chart roughly halved.
The Guiding Diagram is not only early, but also very rich in content, which makes a variety of guiding and fitness exercises lost in the ancient literature has found the earliest graphic information, the development of guiding, changes in the study provides valuable clues. From this, we see several aspects of medical sports:
I. Breathing movement: The breathing movement depicted in Mawangdui's "Guiding Diagram" is not exactly the same as that of the ancient traditional practice of the 'placenta method' (dantian breathing method). There are two direct references to breathing in the textual description. For example, 'Yin (Yang) Hun (Exhale)' and 'Laughing (Ape) Predator'. In ancient times, 'yin hun' meant tilting up one's body to chirp, and 'cage hun' was the sound of apes and monkeys whistling. The form of the figure is chest expansion, hands raised backward, and its action is to strengthen the exercise of cardiorespiratory function.
Two, limb movement: "Guide Figure" in addition to very few squatting, kneeling (sitting) type of all the rest of the vertical movement. Now China's fifth set of radio exercises in the eight movements basically summarizes the essence of the "guide map" part. For example, the upper limb movement has 'Long Deng' punch movement has 'Ant (Zhan)', chest expansion movement has 'Yin Cui', body side movement has 'Mantis '; abdominal and dorsal movements have 'Manzheng', jumping movements have 'citing the neck' 'sitting and citing the eight dimensions', as well as kicking movements and body turning movements with pictures and lack of text.