Thread: belly blasts
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Old 03-17-2005, 10:02 AM   #6
Yann Golanski
 
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Location: York, United Kingdom.
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Re: belly blasts

Gladiators (aka "bean eaters") were known to eat a mix of barley and beans for up to a month before a fight. The result of the diet would be that they developed a thick layers of fat over their body between half and a full inch. This is why the images of gladiators are of huge men: they were! This was done to add a layer of armour to the body. A cut would have to be much deeper before it hit something vital -- muscles, nerves, vital organs -- and so the fighter would have a much better chance of surviving the fight.

Lots of smaller cuts (half an inch cut at its deepest can look really nasty) would look bad but would not really harm the gladiator. This would add to the image of the unkillable hard man. Deaths were not common place and a yield would look much better if the injuries looked bad.

In conclusion: fat was a bonus all around as long as it was covering muscles.

The people who understand, understand prefectly.
yann@york-aikido.org York Shodokan Aikido
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