58143 system 23

23

was chiefly my private borne gymnastics and rnnning in the open air that transformcd me from a debcate boy into a strong young man.

My first free and dumb-bell exercises were anything but systematic. Later on I tried various real systems reąuiring to be performed with weights hanging from a cord worked by a pulley. These apparatus were comparatively difficult to set up. noisy to use, and quickly got out of order. F.xcel!ent exercises for the development of thc muscles could be performed with their help, but no heed was paid to the well-being of the eąually important internal organs, apart from the fact that it gcneraUy took quite an hour to go through all thc cxercises. The same objcctions hołd against many English, American, and German sets of apparatus and thc Systems appertaining thereto, the principle of which is similar, though the resistance produced by stretching an elastic band is substituted for the weights. These bands, however, soon grow slack and arc easily broken, so that the necessary apparatus is dear in the long run. My later experience is that all such apparatus tend to stiffen thc chest by developing its corering muscles instead of those by which it is actually moved.

T lcnow not a few men who liave very strong arms, shoulders and pectorals. but unwholesome blood, and delicate lungs and stomachs. It is of morę importancc to have rigorous lungs and hcart, a healthy skin, powcrful digestion, and sound kidneys and hver—quite apart from the fact that it is unsightly for the arms to be proportionately morę dcveloped thau the rest of the body.

I am, on the wholc, opposed to the great mentol concentration upon special single muscles adrocated by so many psycho-physiological systems, as they are called in the adrertisements—a half-mystical and alluring name, with a scicntific sound. The 15 or 20 minutes a day of homo gymnastics ought to be a reereation for the brain, not a iresh addition to the headwork which is already, without it, too great a strain on the average man of to-day.

Some home-systems adrocate " statiouary running." As i was Danish champion over all middle and long distances, there is doubtless no one who will refuse to admit that I thoroughly understand and am fond of running (the primary exercisc of classic times), but as a part of indoor gymnastics, it skoulc! not be introduced in any fonn whatever. If the running bc gentle, it loses its chief valne as a gymnastic exercise ; if it be ciolent, the air of the room is set in motion, and the dust whirled up and absorbed during one’s forced respiration. Besides which, there is no sense in using up any of the short and precious minutes of our Home Gymnastics in performing badly an exercise which one has an opportunity -for instance, on returning from one’s daily work— of performing well in the open.

Before concluding this chapter, I must likcwise mention thc numer-ous " invcntors ” of ” sccret " home gymnastic systems who have sprung up of late years. These are not accessible to the public in cheap books, but, by the aid of puifing advertisements, people are induced to pay exorbitant prices for infonnation as to the exercises. As the latter are drawn up on old familiar principles, they are generally of some benefit, and of course there are always people who are attracted by the mysterious, and who imagine that so long as a thing is thoroughly expensive it must necessarily be excellent as well.