Inactivity is non-existence. It means death. Our bodily powers and
organs were given to us for a definite purpose. Failure to use them
brings serious penalties. There can be no real health with physical
stagnation. To be sure, we may point to some men possessing
extraordinary vitality who, apparently, have lived without exercise.
But a study of their habits of life will usually bring to light some
form of muscular activity, even if it be nothing more than a moderate
amount of walking. In some cases, such extraordinary vitality may be
possessed that health laws can be broken with apparent impunity, but
it will usually be found that a vigorous constitution was developed
in early youth from plenty of exercise. However, the failure to
observe these important bodily requirements invariably means trouble
before reaching the period at which old age begins.
Though the average of human life has been greatly increased through the
decline in infant mortality, the death rate among men of middle age has
more than doubled in the past thirty years. And even if those of
exceptional vitality can neglect their physical requirements without
suffering, the man of limited energy, who is trying to build vitality,
certainly cannot afford to do so.
We ought to take a reasonable amount of exercise at intervals, regular
or otherwise, in order to keep fully alive. It is not a case of
exercise for the sake of muscular strength alone, but for the sake of
health and life. There are many people who labor under the delusion
that they are living without exercise, but existing does not mean
living. To live in the full sense of the word means that you are
thoroughly alive, and you positively cannot be thoroughly alive unless
all the physical processes involved in the various functions of the
body are active. Functional activity means pure blood, of superior
quality, and when one fails to give the muscular system its proper use,
the functions stagnate, the blood is filled with impurities of various
sorts, and under such circumstances the body is not really alive. When
the body is harboring an excessive number of dead cells and other
waste material one cannot say that he is entirely alive. Under such
conditions you are literally half dead and half alive. It is well
known that the body is dying at all times. Minute cells that constitute
the bodily tissues lose their vitality and life, and are taken up by
the venous blood and carried to the various organs which take part in
the work of elimination. Now these dead cells and minute corpuscles
linger in the tissues if one lives an inactive life. Therefore it is
literally true that you are half dead if you do not give the muscular
system its proper use.
Physically the muscular system is such an important part of the body
that failure to keep it in good condition by failure to keep it
active seriously affects all other parts. The greater part of the food
we eat is consumed by the muscles. Most of the heat produced by the
body is generated in the muscles. Therefore to neglect this part of our
organism means to disorganize, to a large extent, the workings of
all other parts. The appetite, under such conditions, fails and the
entire functional system loses tone. In fact, I may say that exercise is
the first and most important of all the methods of building functional
strength. When the muscles are exercised the vital, organs are
energized and the activity of the entire functional system greatly
increased-all clearly indicating that in taking physical exercise the
internal organs are aroused and stimulated.
Gigantic strength is not especially needed. It is not necessary for one
to strive to eclipse the feats of famous strong men. Unusual muscular
development is of no great value in this age, but a normal degree of
strength is absolutely necessary in the struggle for health and
vitality. No one should be satisfied with less than what might be
regarded as a normal degree of strength, and this, when once developed,
can usually be retained by a moderate amount of exercise each day.
Now it is not necessary to adopt some complicated system of exercise for
giving the muscles the required activity. Your exercise can take the
form of play. It may preferably be taken out-of-doors. But you must keep
definitely in mind that the body was given you for active use, and some
regular method must be adopted that will insure the activity required.
The exercises referred to in the chapter on Outdoor Life may first of
all be recommended. If you have no bodily defects any one of these
outdoor sports will probably give your muscles all the exercise needed,
but if you are suffering from defects of any kind and you are
desirous of remedying them some special exercises adapted to your
individual needs should be taken with religious regularity. If you have
a flat or sunken chest, if you are round-shouldered, if there is one
shoulder higher than the other, if there is a spinal curvature, or if
the muscles of the stomach or abdomen are weak, it will be necessary
to give special attention to such parts through systematic movements
intended to have a corrective influence. In another part of this
volume various exercises have been illustrated that are especially
recommended to those who are already in possession of ordinary
strength. In this chapter I am illustrating a series of movements that
have a similar object in view, but which will be found far easier
to perform. The exercises in this chapter are especially adapted to
those who are weak or ailing. They are designed, however, for the
purpose of stimulating and strengthening the spine, which, as I have
previously suggested, is the central source of vitality. The hot-
water-drinking regimen referred to in the chapter on Cleansing the
Alimentary Canal can also be used in connection with these exercises,
though naturally if one is weak but a small quantity of water can be
taken.