Democratic Sentinel, Volume 14, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 October 1890 — FORTIFYING PHYSIQUE. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FORTIFYING PHYSIQUE.

PROF. EDWIN CHECKLEY’S NEW METHODS.

Xew Cour.es of Training Advanced by tbe Modern High Priest of Physicultore— He Opposes the Old System of Hard Labor. •

IIERE are people that would be disposed to apply the term “crank” to Edward Checkley, the young high priest of physiculture, who recently broke the record in bicycle riding between New York and Chicago. But if he be a crank, Mr. Checkley is certainly a very intelligent one, and his views on what he calls a natural method of physical training are well worth considering.

Athletic Mr. Checkley, whose superb physique is a striking proof of the correctness of his theory, so far as he is concerned, believes that in many of the popular system practices in and out of the college gymnasiums there is more •straining” than “training.” and the method he advocates is a radical departure from all these familiar paths. For health lifts, chest expanders, boxing machines, rowing appliances, and the hundred other inventions in use at a gymnasium, ho has a profound contempt. They Eiay give muscle to the performer while e is in constant practice, but let him cease overhauling the machinery of the (gymnasium and the biceps of the amateur Samson soon grow soft again as his Interest in the work flags. As*for the dietary discipline that generally accompanies this violent form of training, he

considers it a humbug and altogether unnecessary. Professor Checkley claims that the strength born of these harsh methods is superficial—only skin deep, as it were—and has no staying qualities, #says the Chicago Herald. He says the muscular system of man is not made up of chest and biceps, and that any principle of training which fails to educate the entire physical being is false, improper, and injurious. Punching a sandbag may be a good thing for the arms, but will scarcely increase one’s permanent strength or permanent health. A man may be able to do this to perfection, and still be ignorant of how to carry his own body. He characterizes this kind of exercise as “outside” training that is ■unprofitable, and which often proves more than a harmless mistake.

The foundation of Professor Checklcy's method is, first, how to breathe, and second, how to stand, “Do these correctly and you will have mastered the A B C of physical health,” says this athletic apostle. “The office of the lungs being of the very highest importance, it follows that to neglect them means danger to the entire body. One may think he is developing his lungs by a form of exercise that expands his chest,” said the Professor, “but after all this expansion is merely a matter of external muscular development, and the theory is on a par with the general superficiality of the average system of training. Hard layers of muscles on the chest do not improve the permanent strength of the lungs. The enlargement and strengthening of these organs can only be accomplished by the exercise and special training of these organs themselves. In other words, not outside, but inside exercise lies at tho very bottom of natural physical training, and I claim that the education of the lungs should preclude that of the outer muscular system, for the natural increase of lung strength and chest room Is retarded by methods that begin work on the outside.

“Lung diseases are less frequent among women than men, and yet the women breathe less air than men, but they do it In a better manner. This is partially attributable to the use of the corset, which, fortunately, has tended to produce a habit of breathing with the upper part of the lungs. Abdominal breathing Is particularly common with the male sex, and this habit of exercising the lower part of the lungs is the reason why the upper parts that first receive the air are left in a state of relative weakness and susceptibility. In my opinion, "remarked Mr. Checkley, “the diaphragm

has properly no greater necessary use in expanding and contracting the lungs than the ribs themselves. In other words, the action of the diaphragm should be sympathetic without being Initiatory. The lungs have their own muscular nowef, and this power should be fully exercised. “The simplest preparatory exercise is long breathing, While standing or sitting in any proper attitude, with tne Chest free, ia a Jcu|g krae*&

the lungs seem full, taking care at the same time not to harshly strain the lungs or muscles. Hold the breath for a few seconds, and th'in allow it to slowly leave the lungs. By consciously breathing in this manner the lungs will be enlarged and strengthened and the breathing will become slower. Normal breathing when the body is at rest should not include more than ten breaths in a minute. I get along very comfortably, sleeping or waking, with about six.

During exercise of an ordinary character the breathing will naturally increase to fourteen or fifteen breaths in a minute. “In all lung exercises these organs should be inflated upward and outward instead of downward. The chest and lungs should be carried as if the inflation were about to lift the body off the ground upward and forward. The feeling of buoyancy produced by this habit is not an illusion by any means, but a genuine reality. “But to breathe properly one must know how the body should be carried. First learn how to stand. If I were to choose twelve people at random, and, placing them in a row, were'to take a liberal drawing of their actual standing positions, they would present a curious spectacle. The distended abdomen and more or less flattened chest would prevail in a majority of the dozen subjects, while in eleven out of twelve the bone structure of the body and not the muscles would be fquul j>!rg most of the wojk of kcci i..g t* ../'lfprTght. The abdomen is pushed into disagreeable prominence by allowing the body to rest on the legs as best it may, which produces a rounding of the shoulders and a conspicuousness of the abdominal region. This attitude is lust as common among women as men, in fact even more so with the former, for corsets, while theoretically holding the body up, encourage lassitude of the waist region. Then, again, women like to affect a ‘willowy' stylo of standing and moving; many girls seem to think that there is a kind of feminine charm in a lackadaisical manner. It is the muscles that should hold the body in position and the bone structure of the body should not be forced to perform this work. The task of holding the trunk erect and of keeping the proper relation between the spine and the pelvis devolves upon the muscles, and it is worth remembering that the height of a man may be materially affected by the manner in which he carries himself. If he uses the muscles of the hip and abdominal region and of the back instead of allowing his trunk to settle down he

may be certain of establishing a better height than if he did otherwise, and this status will be permanent. Of course, the spine may be relied upon to give a certain support to the trunk, but the multitude of muscles associated with the spine are intended to perform the greater part of the work in keeping the body in position. The muscles should not only direct the posture of the body but largely support It, and this should be remembered in standing and in every other position and action. To do this does not imply greater la'oor, but less; and what begins by a conscious effort will soon end in a habit that will become an exhilaration. What often passes for fatigue of the muscles is simply irritation, arising from impeded circulation of the blood, brought about not by the use but by the cramping or non-use of the muscles. “This numbness or irritation from impeded circulation is particularly-likely to result from bad habits in sitting. In this position, as in standing, the muscles must be brought into play, and precisely In proportion to the extent to which they are used will be the absence of fatigue in sitting. Of course I do not maintain that one should continually sit bolt upright, for this would entail great fatigue to a person compelled to sit during a great many hours each day. Some of the muscles may be relaxed and the position modified for short periods, but they should never he so relaxed as to drop the trunk upon the spine, leaving its own bone structure to hold it in position. Those who have dropped into this roundbacked posture will testify to a peculiar weariness in the lumbar region of the spine or what is called the ‘small of the back.’ This is not because the muscles are tired, but because they have been benumbed by failure.in the circulation. A proper maintenance of muscular action will keep up the healthy circulation and make it easier to sit for a considerable time without fatigue. “The cultivation of the muscles in the region of the abdomen and the lower part of the back will naturally have the effect of making it easier to sit, as every gain in the strength and extent of a system of muscles builds up a power of involuntary action. In relaxing the trunk the well-drilled army of muscles Witt fe* fam n 4 to- >»«* sftfttefate4 *

to hold up with little perceptible effort. In walking the face and the chest should be kept well over the advanced foot, and the habit of lifting the body with the muscles and by the inflation of ths lungs should be preserved. A mincing step should bo avoided. Take a free, firm, and easy stride, avoiding any jarring motion, keeping in mind during every movement or exertion the function of the muscles to support and move the body.” After a disciple has learned how to walk, stand, and breathe correctly, he Is next taught a number of movements that combine the respiratory with muscular exercises, and which will be found easy, yet exhilarating. They are intended to fill the double office of strengthening the lungs and developing the shoulder and chest muscles. The beauty of this mode of training lies in the fact that one is not obliged to go to a gymnasium to take the exercise, but can indulge In it morning and evening in his own chamber, or at midday in the office. The exercises given by the Professor are simple, and yet he claims they will prove far more beneficial than those galleyslave labors, performed by the man in training under the old system.

BAD.

WORSE.

CORRECT.

INHALE WHILE EXTENDING ARMS AND EXHALE SLOWLY ON RETURN.

LOCK THE THUMBS; RAISE THE ARMS AND INHALE. THEN LOWER SLOWLY AND EXHALE.

INHALE WHILE RAISIKG HANDS; LOWER SLOWLY WHILE HOLDING BREATH AND THEN EXHALE SLOWLY.