ABSTRACT
Eighteenth-century industrialisation and urbanisation combined with substantial population growth to stimulate an entrepreneurial climate for leisure and sport within the rapidly expanding English cities. Significant influence on the creation of the trainer's role came from a reassessment of traditional ideas relating to the body during the Enlightenment leading to the belief that the application of science-based knowledge within systematic training programmes could enhance the performance of humans beyond their natural abilities. The constant search for improved performance by patrons and their hired trainers resulted in the development of training practices, a refinement of skill's instruction and the systematic selection of talent. Training to improve wind took athletes away from their usual routines and put them under the control of experts for periods of time that differed according to the authority consulted. Mechanisms explaining the complexity of animal and human motion had already generated interest among scientists and some of the earliest scientific experiments were concerned with muscle and its functions.
