The academician Ivan Petrovich Pavlov paid considerable attention to physical exercise since he was a child. He was introduced to it by his godfather, who helped the eight-year-old Vanya Pavlov overcome a serious illness, the name of which remained a mystery forever. When he was little, Vanya was laying apples on the roof of the shed to dry and fell down the stairs, hitting the stone floor hard. The boy was gravely ill: he lost his appetite and weight and slept poorly. The boy was not treated by doctors, instead, he took home remedies. At one point, Ivan was so weak that the brothers began to call him “lutoshka” — a dry linden stick with peeled bark.

Seeing his godson in such a state, Father Athanasius, the abbot of the Trinity Monastery, took him in. He began to organize gymnastics sessions with the boy in the morning, made him swim in summer and shovel snow in winter. When Ivan recovered and returned home, he continued exercising. Father Pyotr installed sports equipment with a ladder, bars and rings for his sons in the garden. The children enjoyed doing gymnastics and grew up strong and active.

The scientist recalled that he always felt much better after exercise, did not miss training sessions, and strictly observed the discipline and class attendance of all society members. Depending on the achievements of his colleagues, he gave them playful nicknames like “pillar”, “support”, and “chip”.

If someone from the society could not perform one of the exercises, Ivan Pavlov roared with laughter, seeing in this an impaired coordination or a reflex disorder. For example, the object of Ivan Petrovich’s jokes was the anatomist of the Military Medical Academy Shavlovsky, who, when doing high jumps, often tore off the “hanging rope of height.” Ivan Petrovich jokingly explained this lack of aptitude as caused by “anatomically defective leg muscles.”