ABSTRACT
The first chapter to consider eighteenth-century dietetic thinking on exercise considers the impact of new thinking on the role of the “fibres” in Enlightenment physiology on medical views of what constituted healthy activity. Previous early modern regimens had tended to focus on maintaining a balance in the body’s humours through moderate exercise, but over the eighteenth century one sees a shift towards the idea that vigorous activity would be the best way to restore the fibres. This change was also affected by a broader cultural context in which a social critique of the idle rich and their diseases meant that “passive” exercise such as travelling by coach or sedan chair came to be seen in a less positive light by physicians. However, light exercise continued to be praised in the context of valetudinarians, those too weak for serious exertion. For them, even things such as being rubbed by a “flesh brush” were prescribed as a suitable form of exercise.
