article_snippet: A new YouTube video showcases fitness fads and movements from the 1910s to the current day, starting with the gentle stretches of the 1910s which were used to improve the hips and even ease constipation .
article_snippet: Travelling through time, decade by decade, 100 Years of Fitness begins with a look at the gentle stretch exercises favoured in the 1910s and 1920s: a time when perspiration was seen as 'unfeminine.'
article_snippet: The 1940s saw an early form of sit-up as a 'sweat reducing' excercise .
article_snippet: : Women's main form of exercise was comprised of gentle stretches that were said to improve the hips and, believe the hips or not, ease constipation!
article_snippet: Sweat-reducing exercises were the order of the day, including an early form of sit-up.
highlights_snippet: Early forms of exercise were used for alternative health benefits as well as fitness, including squats to ease the symptoms of constipation .
  