Page:The Road to Wellville (1926).djvu/107



our circumstances or duties, nothing stands between us and fifteen minutes a day of “setting up” exercises, except lack of determination! One of our leading directors of athletics in schools and organizations, Dr. C. Ward Crampton, of New York City, points out that a man who feels “down and out” is generally just that: “Head and chest down and abdomen out!” In his book on Physical Exercise for Daily Use, he shows that exercises need be neither violent nor uninteresting if they are intelligently and faithfully carried out.

Just to stir your curiosity concerning the possibilities of interesting, enlivening exercises from which one may reap a big harvest of power and well-being, ability to drive instead of being driven, and a longer life and more in it, glance at these seven exercises suggested by Dr. Crampton (Courtesy of G. P. Putnam’s Sons): 1. The natural stretch, copied from our cave men ancestors. Watch the dog and cat wake up.

2. Pumping, done by lying flat on the back (not raising it or breathing), and expanding the chest to the count of six, then the abdomen to the count of two, alternating the expansion and contraction three to five times. This sends the blood about its business in a hurry, and will get you up in the morning better than a bugler. Repeat fifteen times with deep breathing between each three contractions and expansions.

3. The Kick-up, to exercise the abdominal muscles and get you out of bed with a flourish. Right knee to chest—kick. Left