It is no question that gladiators were professional athletes of their time, trained in the martial
art of gladiatorial combat, whose purpose was to entertain rather than to kill.
As for all athletes, they had their own unique system of recruitment, training and diet,
and theirs was so impressive, that it even rivaled the systems of the best militaries
of their day, earning them a respected place in our epic ancient training series…
So without further ado, let's jump right in!
Gladiators were recruited from several sources.
Slaves, convicted criminals and war captives were the most common, but even poor free citizens
would sometimes voluntarily sign up, thus agreeing to be degradated to slavery and hard
labour.
After all, the prospect of being fed three meals a day, having excellent medical care,
and the possibility of enrichment and fame far outweighed the risk of death or mutilation
in the arena for many.
But of course, not everyone was recruited or purchased for the role.
Gladiators were primarily a long term business asset, and a smart recruiter would only get
those with desirable traits to endure years of extreme training routine.
A decree from 177 AD estimated the insurance value of a top class gladiator at 3.000 denarii,
that’s around three or four years of a legionary’s salary…
The perfect candidate for a male gladiator would be a man in his 20s, in good physical
condition, and with a height of about 5.7 feet or taller, equivalent to 1.73 meters.
People who were too skinny, too fat or had physical impediments were left out most of
the time.
Upon recruitment, these rookie gladiators, known as tiro, would be trained extensively
before undergoing another final selection process, which would decide their permanent
gladiator class and place in the ludus, the gladiator school.
The first obvious step was to transform their bodies into impressive physiques.
Unlike the military training of legionaries and spartans, which we covered in previous
videos, gladiator training was perhaps that most similar to modern bodybuilding and training
routines, as it specifically aimed for impressive muscle growth.
For starters, the rookies were given a training schedule, known as the “tetrad”, which
would repeat in cycles of 4 days.
This was the most common gladiator schedule which was derived from ancient Greek Olympic
athletes.
The first day would involve preparatory exercises to prepare them for the next day, consisting
of short but high intensity workouts.
The next day was the hardest and most intense, consisting of long strenuous exercises to
push limits of the body.
The 3rd day was for rest, recovery, and relaxation, with Gladiators performing only some light
exercises.
The 4th and last day was treated as an “auxiliary day”, reserved for medium intensity exercises,
before the whole cycle was repeated all over again.
Essentially, it was a schedule aimed at alternating hard workouts with rest, which suggests that
they had an idea of the “supercompensation principle”, which is a modern term proving
that in order to achieve optimal performance and strength, one must pair the training load
with proper recovery time.
In terms of the actual exercises they did, they were fairly modern as well.
Gladiators had a wide range of dumbbells to work out with.
So they would perform curls, lateral raises, squats, and probably any other exercises you
could think of.
The lighter dumbbells ranged between 4 to 45 pounds (2 - 20kg), which would be used
for higher reps to improve muscular endurance and stamina.
The heavier ones went up to 220 pounds (100kg) and would be used for compound lifts of less
reps to build strength and promote hypertrophy.
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Now, back to our gladiators!
But of course they did not only perform weight training, as that was mostly to look better
in the area.
The best companion of the gladiator was known to be the palus, a wooden log, which the rookies
had to train on every day.
This allowed them to master attack and defense combinations.
Sparring matches with other rookies and most importantly, the doctore, or trainer, would
also better prepare them, not only to save their life, but also to look better in the
area.
The writer Quintilian compared the skillful orator to be similar to a gladiator “who
does not attack with simple and straight-forward thrusts but feints and varies his assault.”
We can imagine these being the most impressive gladiator fights to both watch and cheer for.
So gladiators were pressured to move more gracefully and be beautiful to watch.
Just like that of Roman legionaries, gladiator training swords were purposely crafted to
be double the weight of their real weapons, so as to further increase their muscle endurance
and strength.
Finally, jogging exercises also helped to improve their already impressive stamina.
This training schedule would be repeated until the rookies were deemed worthy to be welcomed
into the gladiatorial family, and took a final oath of their new profession.
Those that were not considered worthy would be enrolled in less prestigious roles and
used as “cannon fodder” in the arena..
But the Gladiators that did make it would be subjected to a new stage of training, and
could take great pride in belonging to a select group of athletes.
After all, their profession was considered a form of martial art.
It had its own rules, referees, and even displayed signs of sportsmanship, with many gladiator
grave inscriptions, very interestingly, bragging that they spared many opponents in the arena,
like this one here:
“Traveler, you look on me, bold Olympus, who often undertook combat in the stadia,
and saved many in the stadia.
When fate wished it, I, fighting in single combat for the ninth time, paid back what
was fated…”
This inscription and many others like it, go to show that gladiators had a strong guild
mentality and a sense of fellowship and respect to uphold, even towards their rivals.
Now, of course this was not always the case, but those who refused to show good sportsmanship
were never shown any in return.
This proves that gladiator death rates were not as common as you might assume.
And even bold Olympus here, fighting 9 times, would have been a gladiator for many years,
as arena fights were seasonal and happened only a few times per year, just like modern
boxing matches.
Thus, it would be clearly explained to the rookie gladiators that they now fought for
the honor of their family as much as their own.
And they were finally given a specific class to permanently train as.
The equipment of these classes was much like their team uniform, to make them easily recognisable
to the audience.
And every watcher would have their own favorite gladiator class that they thought was the
most well-rounded and superior.
This was of course very controversial, as each class purposely had a certain strength
and weakness against another class, much like a game of rock-paper-scissors.
For example, the larger and stronger recruits would be chosen to train as a Murmillo, a
strong, tanky class with a good advantage over a Thraex or Hoplomachus class, who have
inferior shields and less armor.
However, the limited vision and reach of the Murmillo would make him vulnerable to a quick
and nimble retiarius, who’s net could easily catch his bulky helmet and pull him to the
ground.
This trident-wielding class would be thus trained from the most agile and quick recruits,
both mentally and physically.
Likewise, the retiarius would not bode very well against a Traex or Hoplomachus, who could
both match his speed and reach, but also have a shield and helmet as a major advantage.
Another class designed specifically to counter the retiarius was the secutor, who had a smooth
helmet so that his opponent’s net would slide right off.
But despite these advantages in equipment, we can only imagine the roar and fascination
of the crowd whenever these matches turned out not as expected, with the underdog prevailing
despite all logic and expectations!
The writer Suetonius says that “once a band of five retiarii in tunics, matched against
the same number of secutores, yielded without a struggle; but when their death was ordered,
one of them caught up his trident and slew all the victors.
To make the spectacles in the arena even more interesting, gladiators would only train within
their respective classes, and never with others.
First of all, this reduced the amount of quarrels between different gladiator classes.
And secondly, this produced a more tense and diverse spectacle in the arena when they were
pitted against each other, as each class had to come up with unique strategies on the spot
to defeat their opponents.
In this phase of the training, gladiators would have continued using the 4-day tetrad
schedule, but their training would now also include class specific execrcies.
For example, A provocator’s training put great emphasis on getting used to the bulky
8 pound (3.6 kg) helmet they had to carry, as it made them sweat, lose breath, and have
extremely limited vision.
So provocatores were trained to always keep their opponent in sight, fight bare foot and
DRAG their feet instead of taking steps.
This way they could feel any possible obstacles and stop themselves from tripping over.
For defense, the provocator’s heavy and cumbersome shield would be physically exhausting
to carry for long periods of time, so they were taught to hold it close to their bodies
and use their left greave as a monopod to ease the weight.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, the training of the retiarius emphasized mobility
and cunning.
It was common for youths to be tasked with chasing and snatching feathers from retiarii,
as an exercise for agility and speed.
Gladiators would have no doubt been a spectacle to watch, but there was a dark side to their
intense training routine, mainly to do with their equipment.
The Roman physician, Galen, who treated gladiators said that their training turned one into “a
deformed creature with an exaggerated body size and overly grown muscles”.
Now, Galen was a Greek, so he probably preferred moderate proportions over an excessively muscled
physique, but he could also be referring to the visible asymmetry in their bodies, as
most gladiators would have one side of their body being vastly stronger than the other.
This was no doubt because of the uneven loading of one hand carrying a sword in one hand,
and a shield in another...
Another side effect of their equipment, in this case the heavy helmets, was an overly
muscular neck, with some skeletal remains showing they had up to 4 times the neck muscle
growth compared to a regular person.
Now I'm not sure if this is the epitome of a masculine neck or very odd proportions,
but I'll leave it for you to decide.
Gladiators were also not particularly lean, like spartans or legionaries.
In fact, most of them were known to carry a lot of fat, despite having such an active
lifestyle.
This was also done on purpose to give them an additional layer of armor that can absorb
many cuts and bruises without any of them being lethal.
Fatter bodies also carry more blood and so can bleed a lot more, which makes for a better
display in the Roman arena.
Now if you are like me and wondering how such active individuals can put on that much fat,
let's take a look at their diets to get the answer to that.
Fortunately for every gladiator, some of the best doctors and nutritionists of the empire
worked for them...
For a profession relying so much on muscle and fat growth, it might surprise you that
a gladiator’s diet was mostly vegetarian, consisting of fruits, vegetables, beans, wheat,
and most of all, barley, earning them the nickname of “barley men”.
All these ingredients would be cooked either into cereal, soup or bread.
Their diet was once again optimal to their purpose.
First of all, it was very cheap and financially efficient, and secondly, it provided a large
amount of calories and protein when consumed in large quantities, which they did.
Given that a gladiator trained from dawn until dusk, they could easily burn around 5 thousand
calories a day on average, if not more, just like a top athlete would today.
But UNLIKE a modern athlete, they would have to also remain in a caloric surplus to still
gain fat as well, so they would have to eat anywhere between 5 and a half to 6000 calories
a day.
With their limited amount of food choice, it would look something like this: 1 kg of
barley, 700 grams of broad beans, 400 grams of lettuce and/or cabbage, and 300 grams of
apples, or other fruits.
Not the most delicious meal, but nutritionally speaking, it was very good, providing each
gladiator with an impressive 1170 grams of carbohydrates, 315 grams of protein, 34 grams
of fat, and 0.6 grams of calcium.
There would also be a decent amount of vitamins from the fruits and vegetables.
And mind you, a 100 gram steak only has about 25 grams of protein, so this diet was more
than enough to build muscle and fat.
The Romans also figured out this diet was critically low in calcium, so they would add
to it a beverage consisting of powdered ash made from bones and charred vegetables.
Not the most delicious protein shake, or calcium shake, but it did greatly benefit their bodies,
as their bones were found to have double the strength and durability compared to an average
human.
The fact that they needed this drink means that they did not eat a lot of dairy either.
Now I'm not a dietician, so let us know in the comments if there were any major side
effects of eating this much calcium and barley.
On rare occasions though, gladiators did eat meat, though it was far more exotic that you
would expect.
The arena often saw the deaths of many animals, and in order to not let the carcasses go to
waste, and to save the Lanista a lot of money, they were often just fed to gladiators.
So ostrich wings, elephant ribs, and lion steaks could all be on the menu.
Let us know your opinion on the tough life of these ancient athletes down in the comments.
And let us know what other topics to cover next!
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