Page:How to Get Strong (1899).pdf/127

 each—indeed are so violent that no one could do many of them consecutively. While work of this sort makes the muscles which it uses large and strong; it does little or nothing for the unused muscles. Nor does it give the lungs nearly as much, or as protracted, though easier work, as many other gymnastic exercises; or as nearly all sorts of athletic exercises. The work of the runner; the oarsman; the boxer, fencer, wrestler, skater, bicyclist is made up of many vigorous but not violent efforts, lasting over many minutes, with a slight rest after each; while the gymnast and weight-lifter condenses all his strength into one supreme effort. The systems of Delsarte, Ling, and Jahn avoid the hard work of both the gymnast and athlete; going through instead, an extensive system, of many movements, some with, others without apparatus; admirable for the body and limbs; yet none of them violent or likely to be exhausting; indeed often not building up large muscles and limbs at all. Others like Dr. Charles Wesley Emerson; Checkley; and Miss Mabel Jenness, a pupil of Emerson's; instead of muscle-building and athletic performance; have aimed chiefly to enlarge the vital box—the house, where heart and lungs and stomach live—and to do this in good part by a variety of breathing and stretching exercises. Checkley, for instance says—

Page 2: That muscle-molding schemes make men die in middle life; that there is more straining than training in many popular systems; that dieting seldom works well in reducing flesh; that the student so trains at the gymnasium as to hurt his heart in after years; that the average man does not care to be an athlete; that his training will not stay put; that they train from the outside, and forget how to breathe; that it is very necessary to stand properly, so that it will be easy for the muscles; that we should get health and strength in ordinary activities in life if we obey right laws; that the lungs can be made large and strong only from the inside-that