Culture Insider: How ancient people exercised their bodies

Modern people are paying more attention to exercise and many celebrities are leading the trend, while in ancient China there were also many fitness lovers. Let's take a look at some noted figures' fitness stories of the Song Dynasty (960-1279).

A statue of ancient poet Lu You [Photo/IC]

Ancient poet Lu You: chosho

As a noted productive poet, Lu You from the Song Dynasty wrote more than 20,000 poems in his lifetime. The reason why Lu You could write so much poetry was because he was talented, but more importantly, he also lived a long life. According to historical records, he lived to be 85 years old, the longest living poet in the Song Dynasty.

However, Lu You was weak and susceptible to diseases when he was a child. When he took part in the keju imperial examinations as a teenager, he was so sick that he had to stop and hand in the paper in advance. Then how could Lu You live such a long life with such a poor constitution?

Lu joined the military as an adviser in his middle ages and started to exercise his body and learn martial arts. After training for two years, Lu could shoot down a flying eagle using a bow and arrow, and he even killed a tiger.

During his later years, Lu You started the body building called chosho, or shouts, a long and loud cry. Chosho was quite popular in ancient times, which was not roaring or whistling, but an elegant, serious and skillful health method. When ancient people did chosho, they opened their body, breathed in deep and then breathed out in rhyme.

Chosho can help increase vital capacity, relax your body and put you in a good mood. For Lu You, chosho helped him get rid of diseases and medicine. When asked about the secret of his longevity, he said, "After reading so many medical books and eating so many medicines, I find chosho is the most effective way for me."