Beat the Spanish in physical training (4)
I believe the answer is:
pelt
'beat' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'the spanish in physical training' is the wordplay.
'the spanish' becomes 'el' ('the' in Spanish).
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'physical training' becomes 'PT' (Physical Training).
'el' inserted inside 'pt' is 'PELT'.
(Other definitions for pelt that I've seen before include "Skin of a fur-bearing mammal" , "Throw - animal skin" , "Shower with missiles - hide" , "Animal hide" , "Animal skin with hair still on it" .)