George Hébert
Encyclopedia
Georges Hébert was a pioneering French
physical educator
, theorist and instructor.
An officer in the French Navy prior to the First World War, Hébert was stationed in the town of St. Pierre
in Martinique
. In 1902 the town fell victim to a catastrophic volcanic eruption and Hebert heroically co-ordinated the escape and rescue of some seven hundred people from this disaster. This experience had a profound effect on him, and reinforced his belief that athletic skill must be combined with courage
and altruism
. He eventually developed this ethos into his personal motto, "Être fort pour être utile"--"Being strong to be useful."
Hébert had travelled extensively throughout the world and was impressed by the physical development and movement skills of indigenous peoples in Africa
and elsewhere:
Upon his return to France
, Hébert became a physical instructor for the French marines in Lorient, where he began to define the principles of his own system of physical education and to create apparatus and exercises to teach his "Natural Method".
Contrary to the widespread belief that his approach was exclusively based on his observations of the natural movements of indigenous people, his method is a synthesis of various influences, including but not limited to:
Hebert's system rejected the sclerosis
of remedial gymnastics and of the popular Swedish Method of physical culture
, which seemed to him unable to develop the human body harmoniously and especially unable to prepare his students with the practical and moral demands of life.
In the same way, Hébert believed, by concentrating on competition and performance, competitive sport diverted physical education both from its physiological ends and its ability to foster sound moral values.
, only the observation of nature could lead people to the true methods of physical development. He wrote:
Hébert defined the guiding principles and fundamental rules of the Natural Method as:
He was also an early advocate of the benefits of exercise for women. In his work "Muscle and Plastic Beauty", which appeared in 1921, Hébert criticized not only the fashion of corsetry
but also the physical inactivity imposed upon women by contemporary European society. By following the natural method of synthesized physical, energetic and moral development, he wrote, women could develop self-confidence, will-power and athletic ability just as well as their male counterparts.
Hébert wrote:
Thus, Hébert was among the earliest proponents of the "parcours" or obstacle course
form of physical training, which is now standard in the military and has led to the development of civilian fitness trail
s and confidence courses. In fact, woodland challenge courses comprising balance beams, ladders, rope swings and so-on are often still described as "Hebertism" or "Hebertisme" courses both in Europe and in North America. It may even be possible to trace modern adventure playground equipment back to Hébert's original designs in the early 1900s.
As a former sailor
, Hébert may have patterned some of his "stations" on the obstacles that are found on the deck of a ship; he was also a strong proponent of "natural" or spontaneous training in non-designed environments.
The year 1955 marked the fiftieth birthday of the Natural Method and Hébert was named Commander of the Legion of Honor
by the French Government, in recognition of his many services to his country.
In 1957, George Hébert, by then the victim of a general paralysis
, cultivated the admiration of his entourage by relearning how to walk, speak and write. He died on August 2 of that year, but his legacy remains.
There are still schools and gymnasia throughout Europe that are promoting the Natural Method of physical training, some maintaining their own elaborate "parcours" in natural surroundings.
Most recently, Hebert's teachings has influenced the emergence of Parkour
as an "art of movement" in its own right.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
physical educator
Physical education
Physical education or gymnastics is a course taken during primary and secondary education that encourages psychomotor learning in a play or movement exploration setting....
, theorist and instructor.
An officer in the French Navy prior to the First World War, Hébert was stationed in the town of St. Pierre
Saint-Pierre, Martinique
Saint-Pierre is a town and commune of France's Caribbean overseas department of Martinique, founded in 1635 by Pierre Belain d'Esnambuc. Before the total destruction of Saint-Pierre in 1902 by a volcanic eruption, it was the most important city of Martinique culturally and economically, being known...
in Martinique
Martinique
Martinique is an island in the eastern Caribbean Sea, with a land area of . Like Guadeloupe, it is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. To the northwest lies Dominica, to the south St Lucia, and to the southeast Barbados...
. In 1902 the town fell victim to a catastrophic volcanic eruption and Hebert heroically co-ordinated the escape and rescue of some seven hundred people from this disaster. This experience had a profound effect on him, and reinforced his belief that athletic skill must be combined with courage
Courage
Courage is the ability to confront fear, pain, danger, uncertainty, or intimidation...
and altruism
Altruism
Altruism is a concern for the welfare of others. It is a traditional virtue in many cultures, and a core aspect of various religious traditions, though the concept of 'others' toward whom concern should be directed can vary among cultures and religions. Altruism is the opposite of...
. He eventually developed this ethos into his personal motto, "Être fort pour être utile"--"Being strong to be useful."
Hébert had travelled extensively throughout the world and was impressed by the physical development and movement skills of indigenous peoples in Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
and elsewhere:
Their bodies were splendid, flexible, nimble, skillful, enduring, resistant and yet they had no other tutor in gymnastics but their lives in nature.
Upon his return to France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Hébert became a physical instructor for the French marines in Lorient, where he began to define the principles of his own system of physical education and to create apparatus and exercises to teach his "Natural Method".
Contrary to the widespread belief that his approach was exclusively based on his observations of the natural movements of indigenous people, his method is a synthesis of various influences, including but not limited to:
- The work of his predecessor Francisco Amorós, who published in 1847 (before he was born) a book titled "Nouveau Manuel Complet d'Education Physique, Gymnastique et Morale" and which encompasses already the full range of practical movement aptitudes.
- The work of German Prussian gymnastics educator Friedrich Ludwig JahnFriedrich Ludwig JahnFriedrich Ludwig Jahn was a German gymnastics educator and nationalist. He is commonly known as Turnvater Jahn, roughly meaning "father of gymnastics" Jahn.- Life :...
(August 11, 1778 – October 15, 1852), which has also probably influenced the early physical training of the United States Marine Corps (USMC). - The classical representations of the human body in Graeco-Roman statuary and by the ideals of the ancient Greek gymnasia.
- The naturist (although strictly rejecting complete nudism) lifestyle principles of his great friend Dr. Paul Carton (1875–1947).
- The influence of Georges Demenÿ (1850–1917), a French inventor, chronophotographer, filmmaker, and gymnast, who emphasized the progressiveness and the scalability of the training.
Hebert's system rejected the sclerosis
Sclerosis
Sclerosis or sclerotization is a hardening of tissue and other anatomical features; it may refer to:* in medicine, Sclerosis...
of remedial gymnastics and of the popular Swedish Method of physical culture
Physical culture
Physical culture is a term applied to health and strength training regimens, particularly those that originated during the 19th century. During the mid-late 20th century, the term "physical culture" became largely outmoded in most English-speaking countries, being replaced by terms such as...
, which seemed to him unable to develop the human body harmoniously and especially unable to prepare his students with the practical and moral demands of life.
In the same way, Hébert believed, by concentrating on competition and performance, competitive sport diverted physical education both from its physiological ends and its ability to foster sound moral values.
Body, Mind and Spirit
For Georges Hébert, influenced by the teachings of philosopher and educationalist Jean-Jacques RousseauJean-Jacques Rousseau
Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer of 18th-century Romanticism. His political philosophy influenced the French Revolution as well as the overall development of modern political, sociological and educational thought.His novel Émile: or, On Education is a treatise...
, only the observation of nature could lead people to the true methods of physical development. He wrote:
The final goal of physical education is to make strong beings. In the purely physical sense, the Natural Method promotes the qualities of organic resistance, muscularity and speed, towards being able to walk, run, jump, move on all fours, to climb, to keep balance, to throw, lift, defend yourself and to swim.
In the "virile" or energetic sense, the system consists in having sufficient energy, willpower, courage, coolness, and firmness.
In the moral sense, education, by elevating the emotions, directs or maintains the moral drive in a useful and beneficial way.
The true Natural Method, in its broadest sense, must be considered as the result of these three particular forces; it is a physical, virile and moral synthesis. It resides not only in the muscles and the breath, but above all in the "energy" which is used, the will which directs it and the feeling which guides it.
Hébert defined the guiding principles and fundamental rules of the Natural Method as:
With regard to the development of virile qualities, this is obtained by the execution of certain difficult or dangerous exercises requiring the development of these various qualities, for example while seeking to control the fear of falling, of jumping, of rising, of plunging, of walking on an unstable surface, etc.
Hébert's Legacy
Georges Hébert's teaching continued to expand between and during the two wars, becoming the standard system of French military physical education.He was also an early advocate of the benefits of exercise for women. In his work "Muscle and Plastic Beauty", which appeared in 1921, Hébert criticized not only the fashion of corsetry
Corsetry
Corsetry is the craft of making corsets and corset-like garments and accessories most of which incorporate stays. It is also a subfield of fashion that deals with those garments and accessories and it is common term used for those garments and accessories...
but also the physical inactivity imposed upon women by contemporary European society. By following the natural method of synthesized physical, energetic and moral development, he wrote, women could develop self-confidence, will-power and athletic ability just as well as their male counterparts.
Hébert wrote:
A (Natural Method) session is composed of exercises belonging to the ten fundamental groups: walking, running, jumping, quadrupedal movement, climbing, equilibrium (balancing), throwing, lifting, defending and swimming.
A training session consists, then, of exercises in an outdoor environment - a course of greater or lesser distance (a few hundred meters to several kilometers), during which, one walks, one runs, one jumps, one progresses quadrupedally, one climbs, one walks in unstable balance, one raises and one carries, one throws, one fights and one swims.
This course can be carried out in 2 ways:
1 - the natural or spontaneous way; i.e., on an unspecified route through the countryside.
2 - within an especially designed environment.
All of the exercises can be carried out while progressing through this environment.
Finally, the session can last from 20 to 60 minutes.
Thus, Hébert was among the earliest proponents of the "parcours" or obstacle course
Obstacle course
An obstacle course is a series of challenging physical obstacles an individual or team must navigate usually while being timed. Obstacle courses can include running, climbing, jumping, crawling, swimming, and balancing elements with the aim of testing speed and endurance. Sometimes a course...
form of physical training, which is now standard in the military and has led to the development of civilian fitness trail
Fitness trail
A fitness trail consists of a path or course equipped with obstacles or stations distributed along its length for exercising the human body to promote good health. The course is designed to promote physical fitness training in the style attributed to Georges Hébert...
s and confidence courses. In fact, woodland challenge courses comprising balance beams, ladders, rope swings and so-on are often still described as "Hebertism" or "Hebertisme" courses both in Europe and in North America. It may even be possible to trace modern adventure playground equipment back to Hébert's original designs in the early 1900s.
As a former sailor
Sailor
A sailor, mariner, or seaman is a person who navigates water-borne vessels or assists in their operation, maintenance, or service. The term can apply to professional mariners, military personnel, and recreational sailors as well as a plethora of other uses...
, Hébert may have patterned some of his "stations" on the obstacles that are found on the deck of a ship; he was also a strong proponent of "natural" or spontaneous training in non-designed environments.
The year 1955 marked the fiftieth birthday of the Natural Method and Hébert was named Commander of the Legion of Honor
Légion d'honneur
The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
by the French Government, in recognition of his many services to his country.
In 1957, George Hébert, by then the victim of a general paralysis
Paralysis
Paralysis is loss of muscle function for one or more muscles. Paralysis can be accompanied by a loss of feeling in the affected area if there is sensory damage as well as motor. A study conducted by the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, suggests that about 1 in 50 people have been diagnosed...
, cultivated the admiration of his entourage by relearning how to walk, speak and write. He died on August 2 of that year, but his legacy remains.
There are still schools and gymnasia throughout Europe that are promoting the Natural Method of physical training, some maintaining their own elaborate "parcours" in natural surroundings.
Most recently, Hebert's teachings has influenced the emergence of Parkour
Parkour
Parkour is a method of movement focused on moving around obstacles with speed and efficiency. Originally developed in France, the main purpose of the discipline is to teach participants how to move through their environment by vaulting, rolling, running, climbing and jumping...
as an "art of movement" in its own right.
See also
- Fitness trailFitness trailA fitness trail consists of a path or course equipped with obstacles or stations distributed along its length for exercising the human body to promote good health. The course is designed to promote physical fitness training in the style attributed to Georges Hébert...
- Free runningFree runningFreerunning is a form of urban acrobatics in which participants, known as freerunners , use the city and rural landscape to perform movements through its structures...
- Obstacle courseObstacle courseAn obstacle course is a series of challenging physical obstacles an individual or team must navigate usually while being timed. Obstacle courses can include running, climbing, jumping, crawling, swimming, and balancing elements with the aim of testing speed and endurance. Sometimes a course...
- ParkourParkourParkour is a method of movement focused on moving around obstacles with speed and efficiency. Originally developed in France, the main purpose of the discipline is to teach participants how to move through their environment by vaulting, rolling, running, climbing and jumping...
- Ropes courseRopes courseA ropes course is a challenging outdoor personal development and team building activity which usually consists of high and/or low elements. Low elements take place on the ground or only a few feet above the ground...