This dissertation explores several issues surrounding a single subject: gymnastics. From a broad perspective, how gymnastics has evolved over the centuries and its impact on society. A focus on the objects that define it. Our relationship with the body, movement, objects, their impacts. From the tool to the machinations of the body. Does our use of the body at its pinnacle transform it and separate it from our consciousness, so that it is no longer a tool? Conversely, does this tool become an extension of the body?