Source: TW
“Now cased in armour, he would practise leaping on to the back of a horse; anon, to accustom himself to become long-winded and enduring, he would walk and run long distances on foot, or he would practice striking numerous and forcible blows with a battle-axe or mallet. In order to accustom himself to the weight of his armour, he would turn somersaults whilst clad in a complete suit of mail, with the exception of his helmet, or would dance vigorously in a shirt of steel; he would place one hand on the saddle-bow of a tall charger, and the other on his neck, and vault over him…He would climb up between two perpendicular walls that stood four or five feet asunder by the mere pressure of his arms and legs, and would thus reach the top, even if it were as high as a tower, without resting either in the ascent or descent…When he was at home, he would practice with the other young esquires at lance-throwing and other warlike exercises, and this continually… fully armed in a coat of mail, he could climb right to the top of the underside of a scaling ladder leaning against a wall, simply swinging from rung to rung by his two hands – or without the coat of mail, by one hand only”
The previous quote is from the biography of the famous knight Boucicaut, the marshal of France.
Knights like all warriors had to train to withstand the rigors of combat. And a lot of their training involved being conditioned to fight while in armor. As we can see from the tweet above, this involved performing a variety of gymnastic maneuvers as well as going on long runs while clad in armor.
Another practice mentioned in many medieval manuscripts is the practice of using heavier weapons in training than the ones you would use in combat. This dates back to a Roman practice, and is mentioned in Vegetius’s book De re Militari.
The ability to do somersaults and to vault over a horse was also very interesting, and busts the myth that armor made a knight clumsy.
Additionally it seems that a variety of calisthenic exercises were performed. The description of Boucicaut being able to climb a scaling ladder only using his arms while clad in one armor, and his ability to climb the same ladder only using one arm while not in armor, would be a very impressive feat even today. The latter is similar to a one arm salmon ladder.
Then came the lifting, carrying and throwing of heavy stones. This was both a sport and an exercise, and was commonly practiced by both knights and commoners. Some stones had rings fitted into them and resembled a modern day kettlebell. Others were lifted and thrown in a manner similar to a shot put. This still lives on in a somewhat traditional way, as an event in the Scottish Highland Games and in the Swiss sport Steinstossen. Sometimes this was also done with a heavy bar made of wood or steel. https://youtu.be/VCrlsz4siwo?si=ZWgHH-WouVQnQoXH
It seems that throwing heavy objects was the preferred method of exercise for Medieval Europeans… since outside of the stone throws, manuscripts also describe throwing a weighted bar in the form shown in the video below. It is somewhat similar to the Caber Toss event in the Highland Games. https://youtu.be/WPwPMQh3SS8?si=24oQXGCpyCpVN_Rg
And then ofc there was the actual practice of martial arts. Knights would go on long rides, wrestle, practice jousting and fighting with practice weapons. The weapons would usually be heavier than what was used in combat, and knights were encouraged to practice everyday in armor.