Illustration of a man wearing a crown from The New Gymnastics for Men, Women, and Children.
The New Gymnastics for Men, Women, and Children (1862)
In 1862, New York physician Diocletian (“Dio”) Lewis, a longtime advocate for the benefits of physical exercise, published The New Gymnastics for Men, Women, and Children, a copiously illustrated primer on calisthenics. While most of his proposed workout routines incorporated dumbbells, beanbags, and 6-inch wooden rings, one featured an invention of his own creation: a weighted “gymnastic crown” to help its wearers achieve “an erect spine and an elastic gait.”
Lewis recommended that the “beautifully painted, and otherwise ornamented” iron device (depicted here in an illustration from the book)—which came in weights from 3 to 100 pounds and was padded so that it rested “pleasantly on the entire top of the head”—be worn by users “five to fifteen minutes morning and evening” while engaged in “ten different modes of walking” (including on the tips of the toes and with bent knees). As a result, Lewis assured readers, “the various muscles of the back will receive the most invigorating exercise” and “persons of both sexes, and of every age, who have round shoulders or weak backs, are rapidly improved.” It’s unknown how many people outside of Lewis’ own devoted followers ever tested the apparatus.
