ABSTRACT
Throughout the nineteenth century and for nearly half of the twentieth Ling gymnastics, devised by Per Henrik Ling (1776–1839). It was the predominant form of physical education in the Swedish school system. This chapter argues that Ling gymnastics evolved as an attempt to resolve some of the masculine problems with modernity. This it did by presenting a kind of masculinity that was a synthesis of traditional and modern. Ling gymnastics was designed to resolve a complex of problems in the first half of the nineteenth century. At the end of the century Ling gymnastics became heavily criticised. This can be explained by the process of modernisation and changes in the gender order.
