Arn The Knight Templar

[Andy62]

This movie was mentioned in an earlier thread on this forum which created my interest in it. Last night I watched the DVD and really enjoyed it. It is a very exciting adventure with some of the best battle scenes that I come across in the movies. It is apparently based on history. It also has a softer side and offers some hope for the current world situation.

[MikeNY]

Gordon that looks like a great movie! The previews looked wonderful, thank you for the recommendation.

[GKC]

I mentioned the movie in a post about push up pyramids(!) and it is quite an epic. The Knights Templar were a mysterious bunch and the movie does not embellish the facts. Where I live there is a site at the top of my road where a monastery and commadery was built for the Knights of St John Of Jerusalem. That has fired up my interest over the years. The movie is thought provoking as the best films should be.

[Andy62]

I found this on the internet:


"Static strength training, also known as isometric exercises, from time immemorial was the secret of the order physical training systems of many medieval orders of chivalry. The Knights Templars’ system was considered the most efficient of them. This system gave them great physical strength without exhausting exercises and workouts which became popular nowadays. The Knights Templars’ system has common background with Indian yogi’s exercises. It is assumed that this common background could be the geometric exercises."

[GKC]

That is interesting and also understandable.They could not have rest days or built in recovery! Also they must have been in good shape wearing the armour and wielding their swords in the heat of the desert.
The whole order of knights faced massive persecution later on and there is a good deal of myth and legend about them now.

[Andy62]

I am a fan of the History Channel: They have had a number of very interesting programs devoted to the Knights Templar. They are truly one of history's great mysteries. People are still looking for their treasure.

[MikeNY]

There was a TV Special on the Knights on the History or Discovery Channel, most just changed the name of the Order as in Portugal and became the Knights of Christ. King Philip IV and his Royal Advisors had roots connected with the Cathars and the King & Advisors might have been getting revenge for the Cathars in addition to wiping out all the debt that the King owed to the Order. My guess any treasure remained within the hands of the Knights, only a few were murdered in France and the majority stayed safe.

That they might have been doing Isometrics is no shock, the Sufi do many exercises very similar to Yoga and Sufi Warriors were renouned for strength. Some modern Sufi claim that Yoga came from Sufism. I suspect the ancient Peoples were more advanced in Isometrics and Exercise then we think.

[Andy62]

I can readily see why the Knights Templar used Isomertics as they build both internal and external power without depleting energy. Maybe most importantly they build instinctive and intuitive powers which are indispensable qualities to have in warfare.



I really believe that Isometrics are the most effective type of exercise because they build so many internal and external types of strength. Bob Hoffman, the legendary US Weightlifting Coach, said, "Isometrics build NERVE FORCE".

The most comprehensive endorsement of isometrics that I have found comes for Swami Rama, the primary participant in the studies of the powers of yogis at the Menninger clinic:

"The exercises in this book, however, are yoga practices with benefits far exceeding ordinary muscular movement. In these subtle exercises one vitalizes muscles, respiration, senses,nervous system, and mind...most importantly in these exercises one comes to experience the tremendous potential of the mind itself, and one makes a dramatic step inward through the layers of personality toward the center of the mind and consciousness."


Swami Rama
Describing isometric power flexing exercises in "Exercise Without Movement"