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advantageous for runners, quick walkcrs, and jumpers to haye strong muscles round the waist. By means of the " Gorset lixerciscs ” (the name under which I include all the excrcises which deeelop the above-mentioned muscles). a man can kecp liimself in training throughout the winter, cven if he has no opportunity of running in the open air. What generally makes a runner or other devotee of foot-sports, who is not in good training. givc up. is not so much want of breath, or ttred legs, as those wcll-known uncomfortable sensations in the abdomen, the dia-phragm and the sides and loins, which arc summed up in the word “ stitch."
In January, igo.|, in thiek winter clothes and hcary boots, I ran seven nnles one hundred and twenty yards over very hilly country through snów and slush, in one hour, and altliough T had not run for three months, dicl not fecl the least ” stitch," simply because 1 had donc mv " Gorset Exercises ” everv day. In my younger days, wheu I was much lighter, but did not do these exercises, T should have got the stitch, under similar circumstances, before I had donc a quarter of the distance. I am now (191O) lifty years of age, but still always fit for running or scnlling five miles at a fair speed, kecping myself in condition simply by doing " My System " cvery day.
In selecting the exercises. 1 have endcasotired to pick out those likely to constitute the best preparation for young people wishing to attain proficiency in the above-mentioned liealth-giring and recreatiee physical excrciscs. Etery athlete will find that following up “ My System " is the easiest way of keeping liimself in condition through the winter, and at the same time of devcloping the muscles he most stands in need of. In connection herewith, 1 can show, as curiosities, letters in my possession from many cldcrly gymnasts and athletes in whicli the writers inform mc that formerly, despite a zcalous pursuit of sport, they always had to complain of indigestion or constipation, and that their digestions only bccame regular after they had practised " My System for some time.
I must seriously wam athletes against taking too much exercise without sufficient rest, food, and sleep ; this is likely to produce a State of affairs (staleness) which makes one fali an easy prey to illncss, and is a poor advcrtisement for any kind of sport, cven if one has beaten the record. The question is not so much one of accomplishing. wliile training, a considerablc or protracted and dif&cult task etery day, as of getting the body into such a condition that lt is able, without ill cfiects, to perform the required work when the time comes (for instance, in a race or com-petition). These principlcs are often greatly sinned against, and there is much to be learut in tliis respect from the Americans, who are the finest athletic sportsmen in the world, and who lay most stress on bringing the entire body into a condition of the highest possible degree of health and vitality.
Many sportsmen, also, upset their hcarts because they take no care to breathe properly. At the Olympic Games of 1906 it appeared that nearly all the participants, exccpting the Americans, suffered from dis tension, or other defects, of the heart. Those who carry out " My System " according to dircctions will acąuire the good habit of iuhaling and exhaling deeply, both dtiring the exercises as well as immediately after them. The reason why I have been able to take part, for a whole generation, in many and various liard and often protracted contests
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