SPECIAL EXERCISE FOR ANY GIVEN MUSCLES.
While symmetrical and thorough physical development are not at all
common among Americans, and undeveloped, inerect, and weak bodies almost
outnumber any other kind, the general want of familiarity with what will
develop any given muscles, and bring them up to the fulness and strength
which ought to be theirs, is even more surprising. If proof is wanted of
this, let the reader ask himself what special work he would choose to
develop any given part; the muscles of the forearm, for instance, or
those of the front of the chest. If he has ever paid any attention to
his physical development--and thousands and tens of thousands have
not--he may know one or two things which will bring about the desired
result; but even if he has attended the gymnasium a good deal, he will
often be surprised to find that his time there was mainly spent in
accomplishing some particular feat or amount of work, rather than in
bringing about the special development of any given part, or general
development of the whole body.
Now, while the exercises which bring any given set of muscles into play
are very numerous, if a few can be grouped together which shall be at
once simple and plain, and shall call either for inexpensive apparatus
or none at all, which will also enable almost any one, by a little
energy and determination, to bring up any limb or muscles now weak, they
may prove of value.
_To develop the Leg below the Knee._
The main part of the leg below the knee, for instance, is composed of
muscles which raise the heel. Stand erect, with the head high, chest
out, and shoulders down, keeping the knees all the time well sprung
back, having the feet about three inches apart, with the toes turned
slightly outward. Now slowly raise the heels until they are high off the
floor, and the whole weight rests on the soles and toes. Now drop slowly
down. Then repeat. Next place the hand on the muscles of the calf, and
while at first not firm, feel them harden as you rise, and all doubt as
to whether the exercise in question uses these muscles will speedily
vanish. Continue this exercise at the same rate, keeping at it until you
have risen fifty times. Now, it will not be necessary, with most
persons, to have to place the hand on these muscles to learn if they are
brought into play, for already that is becoming very plain in another
way, one that is bringing most conclusive proof to the mind--internal
evidence it might well be called. Unless the calves are unusually
strong, long before the one hundredth effort there is an unmistakable
ache in them, which, in the majority of instances, will cause the person
to stop outright from sheer inability to proceed. It has not taken much
time to get a pretty thorough measure of about what power there is in
one set of muscles at least. All doubts are gone from his mind now as to
whether one exercise he knows will call into play the muscles of his leg
below the knee or not. It is equally plain that it is not his forearm,
or upper arm, or the back or front of his chest which has been in
action, for none of these have felt fatigue, the tire being all confined
to the muscles in question.
Again, had there been beside him two men of nearly the same weight, but
one of small and feeble calves, the other having them shapely and
well-developed, is there any doubt which of the two could have kept at
the exercise the longer, yet with the less fatigue? Few men need be told
that a muscle, unused to work at first, can gradually, by direct and
systematic exercise, be strengthened; but not a few there are who are
unaware that with the new strength comes increased size as well.
Yet, to those familiar with athletic work, it is as plain as that you
must have your eyes open if you want to see. A gentleman of our
acquaintance, of magnificent muscular and vital development, was not
satisfied with the girth of his calves, which was 14-1/4 inches. At our
suggestion he began practising this simple raising and lowering of the
heels. In less than four months he had increased the girth of each calf
one whole inch. When asked how many strokes a day he averaged, he said,
"From fifteen hundred to two thousand;" varied some days by his holding
in each hand during the process a twelve-pound dumb-bell, and then only
doing one thousand or thereabouts. The time he found most convenient
was in the morning on rising, and just before retiring at night.
Instead of the work taking much time, seventy a minute was found a
good ordinary rate, so that fifteen minutes at each end of the day
was all he needed. But this was a great and very rapid increase,
especially for a man of thirty-five; far more than most persons would
naturally be contented with, yet suggestive of the stuff and
perseverance of the man who accomplished it.
Here, then, one of the most effective exercises which could be desired
for the strengthening of these muscles is accomplished actually without
apparatus, without one cent of expense--one which can be practised
anywhere, in the largest or the smallest room, in-doors or out,
on land or while at sea.
But there are many other exercises which will bring this same
development. Now stand erect again, with head and chest high, shoulders
low, and knees sprung back. Start off at an ordinary pace, and walk.
But, instead of, as usual, putting the foot down and lifting it without
thinking about it, this time, just as it leaves the ground, press hard
with the soles and toes. Go on for a block or two, and you will suddenly
find that your calves are having new and unwonted duties--indeed,
a very generous share of work. Keep on for a mile--if you can. Good
a walker as you thought yourself before, a mile of this sort will be
a mile to be remembered--certainly for a few days, till the ache gets
out of your calves.
If walking with this new push is not hard enough on flat ground, try it
up-hill. It will not be long before these muscles will ache till it will
seem as if you must have a whole gymnasium concealed in them somewhere.
Another exercise for the same muscles, which can also be learned in a
moment, and a little of which will suffice at first, is running on the
toes, or, rather, on the soles and toes. Here the whole weight is held
by, and pushed from, first the muscles of one calf, then of the other.
One will not go far at this without convincing proof of the value of
this work to the parts in question.
Of two brothers of our acquaintance--one a boy of thirteen, the other a
little fellow of four--the former walks with no especial spring, and
performs his running flat-footed. But the little fellow, whether
walking, standing, or running, is forever on his toes, and with his
knees sprung well back. The former has rather slim legs and no great
calf; the latter beautifully developed calves, round, full, and
symmetrical, noticeably large for a boy of his size and age.
Again, work, harder, and telling more directly on the calves, and hence
calculated to increase their size and strength faster even than any of
these, is hopping on one foot--a really grand exercise, and one of the
speediest for bringing strong legs and a springy step. There is not the
relief in it that there is in walking or running. There the rest is
nearly twice as long as here. Here the work is almost continuous, and
soon tires the strongest muscles. Jumping also exercises these muscles
powerfully, and, practised steadily, soon brings them up. Well developed
and strong, these muscles are of great value in dancing, adding
astonishingly to the ease and grace so valued in this accomplishment,
and to endurance as well. Horseback-riding, where the foot is pushed but
a little way into the stirrup, and the whole weight thus thrown on the
toes; rowing, especially with the sliding seat, where the feet press
hard against the stretcher; leaping; ordinary walking uphill, and
walking on the toes alone--these all call these muscles into most
vigorous play, and, when practised steadily and with energy, are among
the most rapid means known for increasing, not the strength of the
calves alone, but their girth as well.
Try a summer of mountain climbing. Look at the men who spend their lives
at it. Notice the best stayers in the Alpine clubs, and almost
invariably they are found to have large and powerful calves, especially
where their knees are not bent much in stepping. In a personal sketch of
Bendigo, the once celebrated British prize-fighter (now a quiet
Christian man), much stress was laid on the fact that his calves
measured a clean sixteen inches about. Yet, to show that gentlemen are
sometimes quite as strong in given directions as prize-fighters, look at
Professor Maclaren's own memorandum of not only what a splendid pair of
legs he himself had at the start, but what a little mountain climbing
did for them; for he says that in four months of Alpine walking,
averaging nine hours a day, his calves went up from sixteen inches to
seventeen and a quarter! and his thighs from twenty-three and a half
inches to twenty-five. If instances nearer home are sought, and yet
where neither anything like the time Maclaren took was given to it, nor
any of the very severe work of the gentleman referred to a little
earlier, look at what Dr. Sargent accomplished, not with one solitary
man but with two hundred, at Bowdoin College; not giving nine hours a
day to it, but only "half an hour a day, four times a week, for a
period of six months." In this very brief time, and by moderate
exercises, he increased the average girth of the calf of these whole
two hundred men from twelve and a half inches to thirteen and a
quarter. There was one pupil, working four hours a week instead of
four half-hours, and for one year instead of six months, who increased
his calves from thirteen and a half inches to fifteen--an actual gain
of a quarter of an inch more in two hundred and eight hours of
exercise, much of which was given to other muscles, and did not tell
on the calves, than Maclaren made in nine hundred hours of work, most
of which kept these muscles in very active play.
In all exercises for these muscles, indeed in all foot-work, shoes
should be worn with soles broad enough to prevent the slightest cramping
of the foot, and so giving every part of it its natural play.
There remains one other prominent muscle below the knee, that in front,
running down along the outer side of the shin-bone. Develop the calf
fully, as is often done, and omit this little muscle and the work which
calls it into play, and there is something wanting, something the lack
of which causes a lack of symmetry. Fast walking, when one is unused to
it, especially when the knees are held pretty straight, will work this
muscle so vigorously as to make it sore. But a plain, safe, and simple
exercise for it, yet one which, if protracted, will soon swell it into
notice, and give it unwonted strength and beauty, is effected by
stooping down as low as possible, the feet being but a few inches apart,
and the heels never being allowed to rise even a quarter of an inch off
the floor. Lift the heels, and this muscle is at once relieved.
Laying any weight on the foot, and lifting it clear from the ground,
will also call on this muscle. So will fastening the feet into straps,
like those on a boat-stretcher or rowing-weight, and swaying the body of
the sitter back and forth; for these muscles have heavy work to do to
aid in pulling the body forward, so that the rower may reach his hands
out over his toes for a new stroke. Simply standing on one foot, first
holding the other clear of the floor, and then drawing it up as near as
possible to the front of its own ankle, and then opening it as wide as
you can, will be found a safe and reasonably effective way of bringing
forward this small but useful muscle; while walking on the heels, with
the toes drawn up high, is simpler yet. For those who want to run heavy
risks, and are not contented with any exercise which does not threaten
their necks, hanging by the toes from a horizontal or trapeze bar will
be found to just fill the bill.
_Work for the Front of the Thigh._
The muscles of the front thigh have a most intimate connection with
those already mentioned, and, for ordinary purposes, a fair development
of them is more necessary than of those below the knee. In common
walking, for instance, while the calf gets something to do, the thigh
gets far more, especially when the step is low and flat, and the heel
never raised far from the ground. A man will often have large and strong
thighs, and yet but indifferent calves. A prominent Harvard oarsman, a
strong and fast walker, and a man of magnificent development in most
points, was once examined carefully by Greenough, the sculptor. "I
should know you were an American," said he, "because you have no
calves;" and, indeed, his mistake in developing splendid arms, and
trunk, and thighs, and forgetting all about the calves, is far too
common a one among our athletes to-day; though the prominence they are
beginning to give to running helps mend matters in this respect.
Scarcely any muscles are easier brought into action than these of the
upper or front thigh. Stand erect, with head and chest high, and the
feet about six inches apart. Now, bend the knees a little, say until the
head has dropped vertically six inches. Then rise to the perpendicular
again. Repeat a few times, and it will not be long till these muscles
will be felt to be in lively action, and this exercise prolonged will
make them ache. But this movement is very much akin to that in dancing,
the latter being the harder of the two, because the weight is first on
one foot, then on the other, while in the former it is always on both.
Again, instead of stooping for a few inches only, start as before, with
head and neck rigidly erect, and now stoop all the way down; then rise
again. Continue this movement several times, and generally at first a
few repetitions will be found to be quite enough. By-and-by, as the
strength increases, so should the number; and, if time is to be saved
and the work condensed, keep dumb-bells, say of a tenth of your own
weight, in the hands during the operation.
A more severe tax yet is had by holding one foot far out, either in
front or back, and then stooping down wholly on the other foot. Few
can do this many times, and most persons cannot do it at all. For
swiftly bringing up a thigh at present weaker than its mate, and
so restoring the symmetry which should always have been there, this
work is almost unparalleled.
Jumping itself, either high or flat, is admirable for the thighs.
Charles Astor Bristed, in his "Five Years in an English University,"
says that he at one time took to jumping, and was astounded at the
rapid progress he made in a branch of athletics at which before he
had been no good. Maclaren says that hardly any work will quicker
bring up the whole legs; but this will probably prove truer where a
large number of moderate jumps are taken daily, than where a few
extreme efforts are made.
Both fast walking and running bring vigorous action to these muscles;
slow walking does little for them, hence the number of weak, undeveloped
thighs among men who do little or no quick foot-work. A man, too, whose
body is light and thin, may do a deal of fast walking without greatly
enlarging his thighs, because they have comparatively little to carry.
But let him, after first getting thoroughly used to fast and continued
walking, carry weight awhile, say a twenty-five-pound bag of shot or
sand, or a small boy, on his back, or dumb-bells in his hands--of
course, on a gymnasium track, or some other course where his action will
be understood--and he will find that the new work will soon tell, as
would, also, long-distance running, even though not weighted, as
Rowell so eminently shows.
Good, stiff long-distance walking is excellent for the front thigh; but
running is better, especially when done as it ought to be, namely, not
flat-footed, but with the heel never touching the ground. Any sort of
running or walking, at any pace protracted enough to bring moderately
tired muscles, will tell, especially on these in question; while severe
work over a long distance will give them a great task, and the
consequent ability and size. Many a man may do a little desultory
running daily, perhaps for a week or two together once a year, and not
find his thighs enlarge or toughen materially. But let him put in a few
minutes each day, for several months together, at steady smart running,
as far as he can, and go comfortably, and now, besides the work becoming
easy, comes the desired size and strength as well. The hopping, which
was so good for the calves, is hardly less so for these muscles, and is
one of the best possible movements to develop them in the shortest time.
Dancing, long continued, also tells here, as an acquaintance of ours
found, who used to lead the German frequently at Newport; for, though
far from being an athlete, he said that he daily ran a mile during
the season, just to keep his legs in good order for the duties
his position demanded.
A more moderate exercise than the running, though not always so
available, is walking uphill. This, besides, as already mentioned, doing
so much for the calves, tells directly and markedly on the thighs as
well. Skating makes a pleasant substitute for walking during a part of
the colder months, and, when much distance is covered daily, brings
strong and shapely thighs.
The farmer and the laboring man, in all their heavier work done stooping
over their tasks--such as lifting, shovelling, picking, and mowing--use
the thighs much, but keep them so long fixed in one position, with
little or no varying exercise to supple and limber them and the joints,
that both gradually stiffen, and their instep soon begins to lack
elasticity, which tendency is too often increased by heavy, stiff,
and unwieldy boots.
Swinging forward when rowing, either in a boat or at the toe-straps,
after first swinging far back, takes these upper muscles in a way quite
the reverse of their ordinary use, they now aiding to pull the whole
trunk forward, and so acting like two long hooks.
All lifting of heavy objects from the ground, standing in almost any
position, tells heavily on these muscles, being about the severest
momentary test they can have, greater even than in jumping. But
occasional heavy lifting tends rather to harden the muscle than to
rapidly increase its size, protracted effort at lighter but good-sized
weights doing the latter to better advantage.
Brisk horseback-riding keeps these muscles very actively employed.
Every sort of work which calls for frequent stooping down does the
same. Persons who take short steps, and many of them, if they walk
with vigor, are likely to have legs thicker and stouter everywhere
than they who stride out far, but make the whole step as easy for
themselves as possible.
Hardly any of the muscles are so useful and valuable as these. One may
have weak arms and trunk, yet with strong thighs he can walk a long
distance daily, and not be nearly so fatigued as those much stronger
elsewhere and weaker here, and, as many men have little or no other
exercise than walking, they are often contented with fair development
here, and practically none of any account elsewhere. It is astonishing,
too, to notice how a man accustomed for years to a poor shambling sort
of a gait will, with strict attention to taking a clean and strong step
over a certain distance daily, with a determination to take no other
sort of gait, soon improve the strength and shape of his thighs.
As hopping on one foot is a swift way to develop the calf, so frequent
stooping down as low as possible and rising again, daily, at first
without weights, but eventually with them, is the sure way to speedily
enlarge and strengthen the thighs.
_To Enlarge the Under Thigh._
The muscles of the under thigh do not get nearly so much to do as those
in front, in many persons seeming almost not to exist. A bad walk, with
the knees always slightly bent, is partly accountable for this; and a
man accustomed to such a walk, and trying suddenly to walk erect, with
his knees firmly knit, and bowed slightly back, soon tires and aches
at the operation, which, to one in the habit of walking erect, long
ago became natural.
The exercise already recommended, of pressing the sole of the foot hard
on the ground just as it leaves it, is scarcely more beneficial to the
muscles of the calf than to these; likewise walking uphill, that telling
finely on them. Standing, as does the West Pointer in his setting-up
drill, and, with knees unbent, trying to touch the floor with the hands,
tells in this region. Fastening a weight of any sort, a dumb-bell or
flat-iron, to the ankle, say with strap or towel, and raising the foot
as high up backward and outward as possible, and repeating till tired;
putting the foot in the handle of the pulling-weight, and frequently
drawing it far down; or, standing with back to the wall, and placing
the heel against the base-board of the room, or any solid vertical
surface, and pressing hard many times--these all tell on this hidden
under muscle, which, small as it is, is a most essential one, and
especially in looks, while running with the foot thrown high behind,
excels them all.
_To Strengthen the Sides of the Waist._
But while the legs have been so actively engaged, there are other parts
which have not been idle, so that the same work brings other strength as
well. In every step taken, and especially every vigorous one, as in fast
walking or in running, the muscles at the sides of the waist have been
all the time at work, a prominent duty of theirs being to aid in holding
the body erect.
Notice a man weak just here, and see his body sway a little from side to
side as he walks, seeming to give at the waist. Were such a one to
practise daily hopping straight ahead, on one foot, and then on the
other, until he could by-and-by so cover half a mile without fatigue, he
would find his swaying propensity fast disappearing; and if he has been
troubled with a feeble or unshapely waist, that also will have gradually
changed, until at the end it has become firm and well-set.
Take the long balancing-pole of the tight-rope walker, and try to walk a
rope awhile, or try the more simple expedient of walking on the railroad
rail, and these muscles are at once uncommonly busy. Notice the
professional tight-rope man, and see how strong he is here, especially
when to the weight of his own body he adds another, as did Farini when
he carried a man on his shoulders across the Niagara River; or as the
Eastern porter, with his huge weight of luggage; or the carrier at the
meat-market, who shoulders a whole side or more of beef and marches off
with it. These men soon get great and unusual power in these side
muscles. Wrestling also, whether Cornish or Graeco-Roman, or indeed
almost any sort, tells directly and severely here. If one prefers
to use apparatus made specially, the opposite cut shows a simple
device of Dr. Sargent's, which he made purposely to bring up and
strengthen these muscles.
Standing in front of it, with head and neck erect and chest out, and
grasping the ends of the bar A A', the operator simply turns it, first
well up to the right, then to the left, and then repeats the movements
until he has enough. As he turns, the rubber straps B B stretch more and
more, of course getting stiffer the farther the bar is turned. It would
scarcely be possible to hit upon a better appliance for improving
these valuable side muscles, and yet without fear of overdoing them.
[Illustration: Fig. 5. Appliance for developing the Sides of the Waist.]
_The Abdominal Muscles._
Nor do these include all the muscles which the foot-work arouses to
action. Take the horizontal bands or layers of muscle across the
abdomen. Every step forward moves them, and the higher and more
energetic the step, the more they have to do. A man who is not strong in
these muscles will usually have a feeble walk, and very often will
double forward a little, until he is in about the position of the two
hands of a clock at two minutes past six, giving him the appearance of
being weak here. But the strong, high step tilts the body slightly back,
and gives these muscles so much to do that they soon grow good at it,
and shapely and powerful accordingly.
Another advantage comes from having these muscles strong, and from
forming the habit of stepping as he does who has them so. By walking
thus erect, the shoulders, instead of pressing over on the chest as the
man tires, and so cramping his breathing, are so habitually held back
that it is easier to keep them there, and the consequent fuller
respiration keeps him longer fresh. This is very conspicuous in the case
of one of the most famous pedestrians in the world to-day, its
ex-champion long-distance walker, Daniel O'Leary. Take him when in good
condition, and in one of his long tramps; on the first mile or the four
hundredth, it is always the same: there he is, with head up, shoulders
well back, and working busily, and--the most noticeable thing--the whole
centre of the body, from the waist to the knees, thrown, if anything,
actually forward of a vertical line, instead of as far, or often much
farther, back of it; indeed, the point farthest forward is about two
inches below his belt. A fair though not clear idea of what is meant can
be had from the following sketch of him, taken at the time, on the
latter part of his five-hundred-mile walk with Hughes, "the Lepper," on
the track in the Hippodrome, in New York city, during the first week of
October, 1878. Hughes, while proving himself a very tough and determined
man, showed, as is too often the case with professional athletes,
great ignorance of many things which would have helped him much had
he known and followed them, and none more, perhaps, than this very
matter of correct position.
O'Leary's freshness, no matter how many hundred miles he has just
walked, is remarkable. This rational way of carrying the body during a
difficult feat, besides giving the heart and lungs full room for
vigorous action, also gives the stomach and other vital organs ample
play; for a glance at the sketch shows none of the thinness of flank
and general sunken-in look at the waist in O'Leary so plain in Hughes,
and so common among walkers in the later miles of the race.
[Illustration: Fig. 6. A Correct Position for Fast Walking.]
Singularly enough, a little boy, only eleven years old, and but three
feet nine inches high, has copied, or rather acquired--for it seems he
had never seen this sensible step and carriage of O'Leary--with
astonishing success, as witness the following sketch of his performance
from the _New York Herald_ of October 11th, 1878. Foolish in the extreme
as it is to allow such half-grown youngsters to attempt such feats, it
is doubtful if the annals of the cinder-path can match such prodigious
stay and skill in one so young:
"AN EMBRYO O'LEARY
"Between the Grand Central Depot and Madison Avenue and
Forty-second and Forty-fourth streets is a vacant square, which the
boys of the neighborhood have been utilizing as a race-track. Every
day dozens of them may be seen scurrying round the track, intent on
making the best time ever known. Yesterday afternoon a five-mile
walk was in progress, which was headed by a very small boy, who at
once attracted the attention of the by-standers by his peculiarly
rapid and easy gait. He kept ahead of the other contestants, and
finally distanced them by two laps, and won in the time of 48m. 2s.
"After this race, at the request of the lookers-on, he travelled
around the track once (which is one-seventh of a mile) in 1m. and
15s. _He walks very erect, steps like O'Leary, and does not seem to
be easily fatigued._ This time is still more surprising,
considering that he is only eleven years old and but three feet
nine inches high, so that he cannot take a very long step.
"In a conversation with him it was learned that his name was Joe
Havey, residing at No. 144 East Forty-third Street. He has never
seen a professional walk, so that his walking ideas are his own.
With a little practice he bids fair to become a No. 1 pedestrian."
But there are other ways of bringing up these useful abdominal muscles,
equally easy to learn.
Sit down at the rowing-weights, placing the feet in the toe-straps. Now
sway the body back and forth, and, placing the hand on the muscles in
question, feel how they harden. An ordinary bit of strap screwed to the
base-board of one's room, so that each foot shall have a loop of it to
go into, and then a stool or cassock some eight inches high to sit on,
save the expense of the rowing-weights, yet produce the desired result
with these muscles.
Lie flat on the back, as, for instance, just on awaking. Taking first a
deep, full breath, draw the feet upward, keeping the knees unbent, until
the legs are vertical. Lower them slowly till horizontal, then raise
again and continue. It will not take many minutes--or seconds--to bring
these muscles enough work for one morning.
Or this time keep the legs down, and, first filling the chest, now draw
the body up until you are sitting erect. Then drop slowly back, and
repeat. This will be likely to take even less time than did the other,
but it will tell tremendously on these muscles. Indeed, most people are
so weak in them, that they can hardly do this once. Yet men who have
them strong and well-trained will lie flat on their backs on the floor
or gymnasium mat, and while some one holds their ankles, taking a
two-hundred-pound man, lying across their chest at right angles with it,
will raise him several times till they are in erect sitting posture.
Sitting on one of the parallel bars in the gymnasium, and placing both
feet under the other, and now dropping the body back until it is
horizontal, then rising to vertical and repeating, is very hard work
for these abdominal muscles, and should only be practised by those
already strong here.
These muscles are brought into direct and vigorous play in rowing,
to such an extent that no man who has them weak can be a fast oarsman
over any ordinary racing distance. Indeed, this is the very region
where young rowers, otherwise strong, and seemingly fit for hard,
fast work, give out first.
Every time the foot is raised in running, these muscles are called to
active duty far more than in walking, and the high, strong, sharp step
works them severely, so that no man weak here could be a fast runner
with good action. Jumping, vaulting, leaping, all bring them into
sudden, spasmodic, almost violent action. Let a man mow awhile, when
unused to it, and see how soon it tells across this region, the muscles
aching next day from the twisting motion.
The latest invention purposely for these muscles is also one of
Sargent's, on the following plan: The pupil lies on the plank A A', or,
rather, sits on it, when A' is a little back of vertical, so as, for
instance, to form with A the angle A B A'. With feet in the toe-straps
C C', he sways gently forward and back as long as he can without
fatigue. From day to day, as these muscles gain strength, A' is dropped
lower and lower, until finally it is on a level with A. Or a strap may
be placed over the forehead and fastened to A', and, with the feet in
the toe-straps, the person may lift his body up till vertical, drawing
the weight E with him as he rises.
_Counterwork for the Abdominal Muscles._
But nearly all the exercises just named for the abdominal muscles, while
they make them strong and handsome, tend to contract rather than
lengthen them; and for men of sedentary life inclined to stoop a little
forward while sitting, some work is needed which shall stretch these
muscles, and aid in restoring them to their natural length.
Stand erect. Now gradually draw the head and shoulders backward until as
far past the vertical as possible. Return slowly to erect position. In
the drawing back, these muscles were stretched to a greater length than
usual, and in those who accustom themselves to drawing far back in
this way, like the contortionists of the circus, these muscles grow
wonderfully elastic, such men being able not only to touch their heads
to their heels, but now and then to go farther yet, and drink water from
a tumbler set between their feet.
[Illustration: Fig. 7. Device for developing the Abdominal Muscles.]
But while there is no need of such extreme work, moderate performance in
this way directly tends to stretch and lengthen muscles which, in the
great majority of people, are somewhat cramped and shortened by habitual
standing, sitting, or lying, with the back either flat or almost curved
outward, instead of slightly hollowed in, and with the consequent
sinking of the chest. All work above the head, such as swinging clubs,
or an axe or sledge; putting up dumb-bells, especially when both hands
go up together; swinging by the hands from rope or bar, or pulling the
body up till the chin touches the hands; standing with back to the
pulley-weights, and taking the handles in the hands, and, starting with
them high over the head, then pushing the hands far out forward;
standing two or more feet from the wall, and, placing the hands side by
side against it about as high up as your shoulders, then throwing the
chest as far forward as possible; the hauling down ropes by the sailor;
the ceiling-work of the plasterer and the painter, and the like--these
all do excellent service in bringing to these important muscles the
length and elasticity they ought to have, and so contributing materially
to the erect carriage of the body. All kinds of pushing with the hands,
such as one does in putting them against any heavy substance and trying
to push it before him, striking out in boxing, in fencing, or
single-stick, with dumb-bells, or in swimming, are capital; while the
drawing of the head and shoulders back swiftly, as in boxing to avoid a
blow, can hardly be surpassed as an aid in this direction.
_To enlarge and give Power to the Loins._
Before leaving the waist, there is one more set of muscles which demand
attention; and if one has them weak, no matter how strong he may be
elsewhere, he is weak in a place where he can ill afford to be, and that
is in the loins, or the main muscles in the small of the back, running
up and down at each side of the spine. In many of the heavier grades of
manual labor these muscles have a large share of work to do. All
stooping over, when lifting is done with a spade, or fork, or bar,
whether the knees are held straight or bent, or lifting any weight
directly in the hands, horizontal pulling on a pulley-weight, rope, or
oar--in short, nearly every sort of work where the back is actively
employed, keeps these muscles thoroughly active. You cannot bend over
without using them. Weed awhile, and, unless already strong in the
loins, they will ache.
A laboring man weak here would hardly be worth hiring. A rowing-man
weak here could never be a first-rate oar till he had trained away
the weakness. Heenan, with all his grand physique, his tremendous
striking-power, his massive development above the waist, would not
have made nearly as enduring an oar as the sturdier, barrel-chested
Morrissey, or as the broad-loined Renforth did make. Strong loins
are always desirable. He who has them, and is called on in any sudden
emergency to lift any heavy weight, as the prostrate form of one
who has fallen in a swoon, for instance, is far less likely to work
himself serious, if not permanent, injury here than he who has them
untrained and undeveloped.
_Development above the Waist._
Little or no work has been suggested, so far, aimed purposely to develop
any muscles above the waist. Indeed, it is no uncommon thing, especially
among Englishmen, to find a man of very strong legs and waist, yet with
but an indifferent chest and shoulders, and positively poor arms. Canon
Kingsley had discovered this when he said to the British clergy, "I
should be ashamed of being weak. I could not do half the little good
I do here if it were not for that strength and activity which some
consider coarse and degrading. Many clergymen would half kill
themselves if they did what I do. And though they might walk about
as much, they would neglect exercise of the arms and chest, and
become dyspeptic or consumptive."
Let us look at a few things which would have proved useful to the brave
canon's pupils. The connection between the arms and the muscles, both on
the front and back of the chest, is so close that it is practically
impossible to have arms thoroughly developed, and not have all the trunk
muscles above the waist equally so. Fortunately, as in foot-work, the
exercises to develop these muscles, without having to resort to
expensive apparatus, or often to any at all, are very numerous.
With a pair of dumb-bells, at first weighing not over one-twenty-fifth
of what he or she does who uses them, and gradually, as the strength
increases, substituting larger ones, until they weigh, say, one-tenth
of his or her weight, there is scarcely a muscle above the belt
which cannot, by steady and systematic work of never over half an
hour daily, be rounded and strengthened up to what it ought to be
in a thoroughly developed, strong, and efficient person of its
owner's sex, size, and age.
_Filling out the Shoulders and Upper Back._
Notice now what these dumb-bells can do for the shoulders and
upper back.
Stand erect again, with the chin up and chest high (in all these
exercises stand erect where it is possible), and have the dumb-bells in
the hands hanging easily at the sides. Now carry them slowly backward
and upward, keeping the arms straight at the elbows, and parallel, until
the hands are about as high as they can well go. Hold them there a
moment, then drop them slowly to the sides. Do it again, and keep on
until you begin to feel like stopping. Note the spot where you feel it,
and you will find that the under or inner muscles of the part of the
back-arm which is above the elbow, also those on the shoulder-blade, and
the large muscles of the back directly under the arms, have been the
ones in action. Laying one dumb-bell down, now repeat the above exercise
with the remaining one, say in the right hand, this time placing the
left hand on the back just under the right arm, or on the inner portion
of the triceps or upper muscle of that right arm. These muscles will be
found vigorously at work, and hardening more and more the higher the
bell is carried or the longer it is held up.
A little of this work daily, begun with the lighter dumb-bells, and
increased gradually by adding to the number of strokes, or taking larger
bells, or both, and long before the year is out, if the person is steady
and persevering at it, decided increase in the strength, size, and
shapeliness of the upper back will follow.
What has been thus done with the dumb-bells could have been done nearly
or quite as well with any other small, compact body of the same weight
which could be easily grasped by the hands, such as a pair of
window-weights, flat-irons, cobble-stones, or even chairs, whichever
were convenient. Where there's a will there's a way; and if one really
means to get these or any other muscles strong and handsome, the way is
really surprisingly simple and easy.
Now, instead of using the dumb-bells, stand erect, facing the
pulley-weights at the gymnasium, or at home if you have them, taking
care only that they weigh at least what the dumb-bells would.
Grasping the handles, draw them far back and up, the hands, in
other words, doing precisely what they did with the bells, and
the same results will follow.
Rowing, either at the oar or the rowing-weights, would have told equally
hard on these muscles, and, as already pointed out, on many others
besides, the weight of the body itself aiding the development as it
would not with the bells or weights. It would also broaden the shoulders
and spread them apart, more, perhaps, than almost any other known
exercise. But, like any other single exercise calling certain muscles
into play and leaving others idle, taken as substantially one's only
exercise, as is too often the case with rowing-men, it brings a partial
and one-sided development, making the parts used look too large for the
rest, the fact being that the rest have not been brought up as fast as
the former. Unless one's chest is unusually broad and strong, and often,
even if it is, constant rowing warps his shoulders forward, and tends
directly to make him a round-shouldered man,[M] while the upper arm, or
that part above the elbow, has had practically no development, the inner
part of the triceps or back-arm alone being called to severe duty, but
the bulk being almost idle. Courtney, the greatest sculler the United
States has yet produced--a large man, standing six feet and half an inch
in height, strongly made in most parts, and weighing ordinarily nearly a
hundred and ninety--is a good instance of how rowing does little for the
upper arm; for while his forearm is almost massive, measuring exactly
thirteen inches in girth, the upper arm, doubled up, barely reaches
fourteen. A well-proportioned arm, of which the forearm girths thirteen,
should measure above all fifteen and a quarter. Again, while Courtney's
forearm feels sinewy and hard, the upper is not nearly so hard, and
does not give the impression of having seen very stiff service.
His chest, too, is not so large by over two inches as ought to go
with a thirteen-inch forearm.
Beside these exercises with the dumb-bells, the weights, and the oar,
all the vocations which cause one to stoop over much and lift--such as
most of those of the farmer, the laborer, and of the artisan in the
heavier kinds of work--tell on these same muscles of the upper back and
the inner side of the triceps, too often bringing, as already pointed
out, a far better back than front, and so injuring the form and
carriage. Lifting heavy weights where one stands nearly erect, as when
practising on the lifting-machine, pulls very heavily on the extreme
upper muscles of the back, those sloping off downward from the back of
the neck to the shoulders.
_To obtain a good Biceps._
Starting with the dumb-bells down at the sides, as before, raise them
slowly and steadily in front until they nearly touch the
shoulder--technically, "curl" them--holding the head up, the neck
rigidly erect, and the chest expanded to its very utmost. Now lower the
bells slowly to the sides again, and repeat, and so continue. In a very
few minutes, often less than three, you will want to stop. The biceps
muscles, or those forming the front of the upper arms, are getting the
work this time, and by applying to that of one arm in action the hand of
the other, it is at once found that this muscle is growing quite hard.
If no dumb-bell or other convenient weight is at hand, place one hand in
the other, and bear down hard with the upper hand, holding the chest
stubbornly out. Lift away with the lower hand, and, when it reaches the
shoulder, lower it slowly to the side, and then raise again, and so
continue. This will be found a good thing to know when a person is
travelling, or away from home, and cannot readily get at such apparatus
as he has in his own room.
Now stand erect in front of and facing the pulley-weights, and at about
arm's-length from them; draw the hand horizontally in until it is close
to the shoulder; let the weight drop slowly back, and then draw it to
you again, and so go on. This is splendid work for the biceps, and will
soon begin to swell and strengthen it; and then either increased weight,
or more strokes daily, is all that will be needed.
Fasten a stout hook in a beam overhead, and hang a pulley to it. Run a
rope through this, at one end of which you can attach weights, and tie
the other to the middle of a thick cane or other stick, taking care to
have the rope of such a length in all, that when the weight is on the
floor the stick is about a foot above your head.
Begin with, say, one of your dumb-bells of not over one-tenth of your
own weight. Grasping the stick with both hands, with their palms toward
you, draw it downward until level with your chin; then let it go back;
repeat, and continue till you begin to tire. If the single bell seems
too light, attach both bells. After a few days with these, fasten on a
basket or coal-hod, and increase the load until, say at the month's end,
it weighs over half of what you do. If you can take this up a number of
times without ache or ill-feeling, you are strong enough to take hold of
a fixed bar and attempt to haul yourself up, as Mr. Bryant did,[N] until
your chin touches your hand. But without this preliminary work, such
pulling up, frequently as it is attempted, is a foolish and hazardous
experiment, throwing a great strain on muscles quite unused to such a
task, namely, on these very biceps muscles.
If, on the other hand, one has these muscles already strong, and can
with ease pull himself up six or eight times, he will find this stick
and weight an excellent affair for training the biceps of one arm,
until it gets strong enough to pull him up without the other arm at
all. For this simple and valuable contrivance the public is also
indebted to Dr. Sargent, who is a regular Edison in devising simple
and sensible gymnastic appliances, which he freely gives to all
without patenting them.
Mounting a ladder or a rope hand-over-hand; lifting any weight in
front of you, whether a feather or a barrel of sugar; picking up
anything from the floor; holding weights out in front, or at your
side, at arm's-length; pulling downward on a rope, as in hauling
up a sail; hammering--in short, anything which bends the elbow and
draws the hand in toward the shoulder, takes the biceps muscle;
and, if the work is vigorous and persisted in, this muscle will
ere long become strong and well-shaped.
_To bring up the Muscles on the Front and Side of the Shoulder._
For the muscles on the front and side of the shoulder, holding out
weights at arm's-length, either at the side or in front, will be found
just what is wanted, the arms being horizontal, or the hands being held
rather higher than that, the elbows remaining unbent. Holding the mere
weight of the hands, as in boxing, but keeping at it awhile, keeps these
parts well occupied; while the sword, or foil, or single-stick, freely
plied, or the axe or bat, tell directly here.
_Forearm Work._
Very many of these exercises for the biceps and shoulder have also
called on the forearm, while those mentioned for the inner triceps have
done the same. Very prominent among the latter is rowing, much of it
soon bringing a strong forearm, especially on the inner and under side.
Anything which necessitates shutting the hand, or keeping it partly or
wholly shut; such as holding anything heavy in it, driving, chopping,
fencing, single-stick, pulling one's self up with one hand or both,
batting, lacrosse, polo, twisting the dumb-bells around when at
arm's-length, or a chair, or cane, or foil, or sword, or broom-handle,
if the dumb-bells are not convenient, carrying a weight in the hand,
using any of the heavier mechanical hand-tools--all these, and more of
their sort, will enlarge and strengthen the forearm, and will do much
also for the hand. Probably the hardest work for the forearm, and that
calling for the greatest strength here, is lifting very heavy weights
suspended from a stick, bar, or handles which the hands grasp.
_Exercises for the Triceps Muscles._
One prominent part of the arm remains, or, rather, one which ought to be
prominent, though in most persons, both men and women, it is not. In
boys and girls it is even less so. We refer to the rest of the triceps,
or the bulk of what remains of the upper arm after leaving out the
biceps and the inner side of the triceps. When well developed, this is
one of the handsomest parts of the arm. No arm will look slim which has
this muscle fully developed.
To bring that development, push with the hands against almost any heavy
or solid thing you want to. If these muscles are small and weak, push
the dumb-bells up over your head as much as you can daily, till a
month's work has given them a start. For two or three minutes each day
during that month, stand facing the wall, and about two feet from it.
Now fall against it, or, rather, put your hands on it, about three feet
apart and as high as your ears, and let your body drop in toward the
wall till your chest nearly touches it, your face being held up and
back. Then push sharply back till your body is again erect, and continue
the movement. This exercise is as admirable as it is cheap.
If the triceps muscles are tolerably strong in the start, or in any case
at the end of the month in which the last two exercises have been
practised, try now a harder thing. Place the hands on the floor, hold
the body out at full length and rigid, or as nearly so as you can, and
push, raising the body till the elbows are straight. Now bend the elbows
and lower again, till the face nearly touches the floor, keeping the
body all the time as stiff and straight as possible, and then rise on
stiff elbows again, and so on. If this is not hard enough work for the
ambitious aspirant for stout triceps, he can vary it by clapping his
hands between the dips, just as his face is farthest from the floor,
though in such case it is sometimes well to have a nose accustomed
to facing difficulty.
So far, in this work for the back-arm the hands at first held merely the
weight of the dumb-bells; then, as they pressed against the wall, they
had to bear part of the weight of the body, but not a large part, as
that rested mainly on the feet. In the pushing from the floor the hands
bore still more of it, but yet the feet had quite a share. Now try
something where the hands and arms carry the entire weight of the body.
Get up on the parallel bars, or on the bars in your door-jambs,[O] or,
if no bars are convenient, place two stout chairs back to back, and
then draw them about eighteen or twenty inches apart, and, placing one
hand on each, holding the arms straight, lift the feet off the floor.
Now lower till the chin is level with the hands, or nearly so, and then
rise till the arms are straight, and then dip again, and so on, the
knees and feet of course never resting on anything. Now you have one of
the best known exercises for bringing quick development and good
strength to the triceps or back-arm. When by steady daily trial you have
gradually increased the number until you can do twenty-five fair dips
without great effort, you have strong triceps muscles, and, if you have
two legs and a reasonably heavy body to lift, good-sized ones at that.
Most of your friends cannot manage five dips respectably, many scarcely
one. But, lest you should feel too elated over your twenty-five, bear in
mind that one gentleman in New York has accomplished over eighty without
stopping, and this though he weighs upward of one hundred and eighty
pounds; and if a reasonably accurate idea of what sort of back-arms were
necessary for this marvellous feat, it may be had by observing the cut
on the cover of this book. With a forty-four inch chest, his upper arm
measures thirteen and a half inches down (half an inch more than
Heenan's), and sixteen up, though he is but five feet ten inches in
height, while Heenan stood four inches taller. He says that as surely as
the ability exists to make many dips, so surely will there be a large
back-arm, and it was hard work that brought him his. Slim arms may push
up heavy dumb-bells once or twice, but it takes thick ones for sustained
effort at smaller, though good-sized ones.
_To Strengthen and Develop the Hand._
Very many of the exercises so useful in strengthening the forearm were
at the same time improving the grip of the hand. But an evil of so much
gripping or drawing the hand together is that, unless there is an equal
amount of work to open and flatten it, it tends to become hooked. Notice
the rowing-man's hand, and the fingers nearly always, when at rest, are
inclined to be doubled in, as if half clutching something; and very
often, where they have seen years of rowing, their joints get so set
that the fingers cannot be bent back nearly as far as other people's.
Some of the pushing exercises mentioned above for the triceps tend to
counteract this, notably that where the fingers or the flat of the hands
are pressed against the wall. An admirable exercise in this direction
is, when you practice the pushing up from the floor for the triceps, to
only touch the floor with the ends of the fingers and thumbs, never
letting the palm of the hand touch it at all. This will soon help to
rectify many a hand now rather cramped and contracted, besides bringing
new strength and shape to the fingers.
To make any particular finger strong, attach a strap to the bar referred
to on page 235, and placing that finger in the strap begin with raising
a small weight from the floor until you have drawn your hand down to
your chin; then from day to day gradually increase both the weight and
the number, until, before a great while, you may find that you can raise
an equivalent of your own weight. Now attach the strap to any stationary
object as high above your head as you can comfortably reach, say a
horizontal bar, and pull yourself up till your chin touches your hand.
Some gymnasts can do this several times with the little finger.
Just where the thumb joins the palm, and between it and the forefinger
on the back of the hand, is a muscle which, while at first usually
small, can be developed and enlarged by any exercise which necessitates
pinching the ends of the thumb and forefinger together, such as carrying
a plate of metal or other thin but heavy substance between the finger
and thumb. Harder work yet, calling on both this muscle and a number of
others of the hand, consists in catching two two-inch beams running
overhead, as in the ceiling of a cellar, and about a foot and a half or
two feet apart, and walking along, sustaining the whole weight by the
grip, first of one hand, then of the other. He who can do this has very
unusual strength of fingers.
For improving the ordinary grip of the hand, simply taking a rubber ball
in it, or a wad of any elastic material, and even of paper, and
repeatedly squeezing it, will soon tell. Simpler yet is it to just
practice opening and shutting the hand firmly many times. An athletic
friend of ours says that the man of his whole acquaintance who has the
strongest grip got it just by practising this exercise.
_To Enlarge and Strengthen the Front of the Chest._
Every one of the exercises for the biceps tells also on the pectoral
muscles, or those on the front of the upper part of the chest, for the
two work so intimately together that he who has a large biceps is
practically sure to have the adjoining pectoral correspondingly large.
But there is other work which tells on them besides biceps work.
Whenever the hands push hard against anything, and so call the triceps
muscles into action, these muscles at once combine with them. In the
more severe triceps work, such as the dips, the strain across these
chest-muscles is very great, for they are then a very important factor
in helping to hold up the weight of the whole body. This fact suggests
the folly of letting any one try so severe a thing as a dip, when his
triceps and pectoral muscles have not been used to any such heavy work.
Many a person who has rashly attempted this has had to pay for it with a
pain for several days at the edge of the pectoral, where it meets the
breastbone, until he concluded he must have broken something.
Working with the dumb-bells when the arms are extended at right angles
with the body, like a cross, and raising them up and down for a foot or
so, is one of the best things for the upper edge of the pectorals, or
that part next to the collar-bone.
This brings us to a matter of great importance, and one often
overlooked. Whoever knows many gymnasts, and has seen them, stripped or
in exercising costume, must occasionally have observed that, while they
had worked at exercises which brought up these pectoral muscles until
they were almost huge, their chests under their muscles had somehow not
advanced accordingly. Indeed, in more than one instance which has come
under our observation, the man looked as though, should you scrape all
these great muscles completely off, leaving the bare framework, he would
have actually a small chest, much smaller than many a fellow who had not
much muscle. There hangs to-day--or did some time since--on the wall of
a well-known New York gymnasium, a portrait of a gymnast stripped above
the waist, which shows an exact case in point. The face of such a man is
often a weak one, lacking the strength of cheek-bone and jaw so usual in
men of great vitality and sturdiness--like Morrissey, for instance--and
there is a general look about it as if the man lacked vitality. Many a
gymnast has this appearance, for he takes so much severe muscular work
that it draws from his vitality, and gives him a stale and exhausted
look, a very common one, for example, among men who remain too long in
training for contest after contest of an athletic sort.
The getting up, then, of a large chest, and of large muscles on the
chest, while often contemporary, and each aiding the other, are too
frequently wholly different matters.
And how is the large chest to be had?
_To Broaden and Deepen the Chest itself._
Anything which causes one to frequently fill his lungs to their utmost
capacity, and then hold them full as long as he can, tends directly to
open his ribs, stretch the intercostal muscles, and so expand the
chest. Many kinds of vigorous muscular exercise do this when done
correctly, for they cause the full breathing, and at the same time
directly aid in opening the ribs. It will be observed that frequently
throughout these hints about exercising, endeavor has been made to
impress on the reader that, when exercising, he should hold the head and
neck rigidly erect, and the chest as high as he can. A moment's thought
will show why. He, for instance, who "curls" a heavy dumb-bell, but does
it with his head and shoulders bent over--as many do--while giving his
pectorals active work, is actually tending to cramp his chest instead of
expanding it, the very weight of the dumb-bell all pulling in the wrong
direction. Now, had he held himself rigidly erect, and, first expanding
his chest to its utmost by inhaling all the air he possibly could, and
holding it in during the effort--a most valuable practice, by-the-way,
in all feats calling for a great effort--he would not only have
helped to expand his chest, but would find, to his gratification,
that he had hit upon a wrinkle which somehow made the task easier
than it ever was before.
Holding the head and neck back of the vertical, say six inches, with
the face pointing to the ceiling, and then working with the dumb-bells
at arm's-length, as above referred to, is grand for the upper chest,
tending to raise the depressed collar-bones and the whole upper
ribs, and to make a person hitherto flat-chested now shapely and
full; while the benefit to lungs perhaps formerly weak would be
hard to over-estimate.
Steady and protracted running is a great auxiliary in enlarging the
lung-room. So is plenty of sparring. So is the practice of drawing air
slowly in at the nostrils until every air-cell of the lungs is
absolutely full, then holding it long, and then expelling it slowly.
Most public singers and speakers know the value of this and kindred
practices in bringing, with increased diaphragmatic action, improved
power and endurance of voice.
Spreading the parallel bars until they are nearly three feet apart, and
doing such arm-work on them as you can, but with your body below and
face downward, helps greatly in expanding the chest. So does swinging
from the rings or bar overhead, or high parallels, and remaining on them
as long as you can.
Dr. Sargent's ingenuity has provided a simple and excellent chest
expander. He rigs two ordinary pulleys over blocks some feet above the
head, and from five to six feet apart, as in Fig. 8, and attaching
weights at the floor ends of the ropes, puts ordinary handles on the
other ends, and has the ropes just long enough so that when the
weights are on the floor the handles are about a foot above the head.
Now stand between and directly under them, erect, with the chest as full
as you can make it, and keeping the elbows straight, and grasping the
handles draw your hands slowly downward out at arm's-length, say about
two feet. Next, let the weights drop gradually back, repeat, and so go
on. This is excellent for enlarging the whole chest, but especially for
widening it. A better present to a consumptive person than one of these
appliances could hardly be devised.
[Illustration: Fig. 8. A Chest-widener.]
Again, to deepen the chest from front to back, he hangs two bars, B and
C, as in Fig. 9, and attaches the weight at the other end, A, of the
rope, the bar B, when at rest, being about a foot above the height of
the head. Standing, not under B, but about a foot to one side of it, and
facing it, grasp its ends with both hands, and keeping the arms and legs
straight and stiff, and breathing the chest brimful, draw downward until
the bar is about level with the waist. Let the weight run slowly back,
repeat, and go on.
A great advantage of both these contrivances, besides their small cost
and simplicity, is that, as in nearly everything Dr. Sargent has
invented, you can graduate the weight to suit the present requirements
of the person, however weak or strong he or she may be, and so avoid
much risk of overdoing.
[Illustration: Fig. 9. A Chest-deepener.]
In the exercises above named it will be noticed that there has been a
sufficient variety for any given muscles to bring them within the reach
of all. After this, how far any one will go in any desired line of
development is a matter he can best settle for himself. What allowance
of work to take daily will be treated of in the next chapter.
FOOTNOTES:
[M] See Fig. 1, on page 36.
[N] See page 170.
[O] See page 92.