Fitness Wisdom from Ancient Rome: The Power of the Small Ball

Fitness advice from the 2nd century AD: 

'There is no better form of physical exercise than training with a small ball. It exercises the body while giving pleasure to the soul. It requires hardly any equipment or investment in time. Throwing and catching the ball greatly improves your hand-eye coordination. 
Other sports can encourage lethargy, like those Olympic strongmen who put on weight and develop breathing difficulties – what good are men like that in war? Likewise, running can cause excessive weight loss which is equally detrimental. Running exercises some parts of the body too much and other parts too little, nourishing the seeds of disease. Spartans did not gain supremacy in war by being good runners! Ball games, on the other hand, exercise all parts of the body equally, at an intensity of the participant's choosing. 
Not to mention, ball playing is all but risk-free. Sprinting has caused people to burst blood vessels. Horseback riding damages the kidneys and the testicles. And don't get me started on wrestlers: they all end up disabled in one way or another.

- Galen 'On Exercise with the Small Ball'