Part 2

As sudden transitions are always bad, exercise should begin gently, and should terminate in the same manner. The left hand and arm being commonly weaker than the right, they should be exercised till they become as strong. This custom is advantageous, not only for all military and mechanical gymnastic exercises, but also for all their operations. The being cooled too quickly is injurious. Therefore, drinking when very hot, or lying down on the cold ground, should be carefully avoided. No exertion should be carried to excess, as that only exhausts and enfeebles the body. Therefore, whenever the gymnast feels tired, or falls behind his usual mark, he should resume his clothes, and walk home. The moment exercise is finished, the clothes should always be put on, and the usual precautions adopted to prevent taking cold.

The necessary fittings-up of an exercising ground are a leaping stand, a vaulting horse, a balancing bar, a climbing stand, with ladders, poles, and ropes, which may be seen united as simply and economically as possible, in a subsequent sketch--(Plate XVIII. CLIMBING.)

In most exercises, a belt or cincture is of utility; and it seems, in all ages, to have been naturally employed. The weakest savage, who could not follow others in the course without panting, would find, by placing his hand over his abdomen, and supporting the liver and other organs which descend into that cavity, that he was aided in running, and breathed more easily; and thence he would make for himself a belt. United in societies, men would still preserve their belt, though it might not seem particularly advantageous, except to those whose active mode of life approached a primitive state, such as travellers, couriers, and porters.

The Greeks put on their belts before they commenced wrestling; and many physicians, both ancient and modern, recommend the use of belts, as being to the whole of the body, and to the parts over which they are placed, what the exterior sheaths or aponeuroses are to the muscles--bands which embrace and keep firm the parts over which they are placed. The common belt has leathern straps, and buckles to fasten it, an iron ring and a pocket. A double cincture for wrestling forms a very strong girth, which is put on by pupils who are very strong, when they wrestle. These belts may be made of different sizes, for youths of different ages: of five or six inches for tall youths and men, and of eight or ten inches for wrestlers. Their length is in proportion to the size of the person who uses them. These belts are very useful in strengthening the abdominal region in running and leaping. Riders, also, should furnish themselves with belts before getting on horseback, to prevent too violent motion of the viscera of the abdomen, and the disorders which may result from it. The use, indeed, of belts will by degrees prove their utility, and they will probably be worn even externally, without reference to physical exercises. They deserve this the more, because they give an air of lightness and elegance to the shape, and develope the chest.

The most useful thing in existence is dangerous, if improperly applied. In very young persons, the chest and abdomen have been compressed by fastening the belt too tight, or making it too wide; and disorders of digestion and respiration have consequently been caused by pushing in the false ribs. This is an imprudence that should be avoided. If the belt be too low, it may press too much on the lower part of the belly; if too high, it may disorder the chest. It must therefore be placed on the loins, so as to pass over the navel; and, as said before, it must not be too tight. Having given these ideas of the utility of belts, and the manner of using them, it remains only to explain the triple use of those adopted for exercises: 1st, they fulfil, by their size and other circumstances, all the conditions which render them useful; 2nd, a pocket serves to inclose the articles that may be wanted, according to the class of exercises performing; 3rd, an iron ring is intended to suspend, by means of hooks, any thing we wish to carry, so as to leave the hands at liberty.

TRAINING.

This is important in relation to various exercises to be described. The art of training for athletic exercises, or laborious exertions, consists in purifying the body and strengthening its powers, by certain processes, which are now to be described. The advantages of it, however, are not confined to pedestrians, wrestlers, or pugilists; they extend to every one: for, were training generally introduced, instead of medicine, for the prevention and cure of diseases, its beneficial consequences would assuredly prolong life, and promote its happiness. Every physiologist knows that all the parts which compose the human body--solids as well as liquids--are successively absorbed and deposited. Hence ensues a perpetual renovation of them, regulated by the nature of our food and general habits. The health of all the parts, and the soundness of their structure, depend on this perpetual absorption and renovation. Now, nothing so effectually as exercise excites at once absorption and secretion. It accordingly promotes all the vital functions without hurrying them, renovates all the parts, and preserves them apt and fit for their offices.

It follows, then, that health, vigour, and activity, chiefly depend upon exercise and regimen; or, in other words, upon the observance of those rules which constitute the theory of training. The effect has accordingly corresponded with the cause assigned in this view of the subject, in every instance where it has been adopted; and, although not commonly resorted to as the means of restoring invalids to health, there is every reason to believe that it would prove effectual in curing many obstinate diseases, such as bilious complaints, obesity, gout, and rheumatism.

The Ancients entertained this opinion. They were, says a popular writer on medicine, by no means unacquainted with or inattentive to these instruments of medicine, although modern practitioners appear to have no idea of removing disease, or restoring health, but by pouring drugs into the stomach. Heroditus is said to have been the first who applied the exercises and regimen of the Gymnasium to the removal of disease, or the maintenance of health. Among the Romans, Asclepiades carried this so far, that he is said, by Celsus, almost to have banished the use of internal remedies from his practice. He was the inventor of various modes of exercise and gestation, in Rome. In his own person, he afforded an excellent example of the wisdom of his rules, and the propriety of his regimen. Pliny tells us that, in early life, he made a public profession, that he would agree to forfeit all pretensions to the name of a physician, should he ever suffer from sickness, or die but of old age; and, what is extraordinary, he fulfilled his promise, for he lived upwards of a century, and at last was killed by a fall down stairs.

As to the locomotive system, modern experience sufficiently proves that exercise is the most powerful strengthener of the muscles, and of every part on which activity depends. In its operation on the vital system, training always appears to benefit the state of the lungs. Indeed, one of its most striking effects is to improve the wind: that is, to enable a man to draw a larger inspiration, and to hold his breath longer. As to the intellectual system, Sir J. Sinclair observes, that, by training, the mental faculties are also improved; the attention being more ready, and the perception more acute, owing probably to the clearness of the stomach, and better digestion.

It must, therefore, be admitted, that the most beneficial consequences to general health arise from training. The simplicity of the rules for it is assuredly a great recommendation to a trial of the experiment. The whole process may be resolved into the following principles:--1st, the evacuating, which cleanses the stomach and intestines; 2nd, the sweating, which takes off the superfluities of fat and humours; 3rd, the daily course of exercise, which improves the wind and strengthens the muscles; and, lastly, the regimen, which nourishes and invigorates the body. To those who are to engage in corporeal exercises beyond their ordinary powers, it is indispensably necessary. Pedestrians, therefore, who are matched either against others or against time, and pugilists who engage to fight, must undergo the training process before they contend. The issue of the contest, if their powers be nearly equal, will, in a great measure, depend upon their relative condition, as effected by training, at the hour of trial.

Training was known to the ancients, who paid much attention to the means of augmenting corporeal vigour and activity. Accordingly, among the Greeks and Romans, certain rules of exercise and regimen were prescribed to the candidates for gymnastic celebrity. We are assured, that, among the Greeks, previously to the solemn contests at the public games, the strictest temperance, sobriety, and regularity in living, were indispensably requisite. The candidates were, at the same time, subjected to daily exercise in the Gymnasium, which continued during ten months, and which, with the prescribed regimen, constituted the preparatory training adopted by the athletæ of Greece. Among the Romans, the exercises of the palæstra degenerated from the rank of a liberal art, and became a profession, which was embraced only by the lowest of mankind; the exhibitions of the gladiators being bloody and ferocious spectacles, which evinced the barbarous taste of the people. The combatants, however, were regularly trained by proper exercise, and a strict observance of regimen. Pure and salubrious air was deemed a chief requisite. Accordingly, the principal schools of their athletæ were established at Capua and Ravenna, the most healthy places in Italy; and previous to entering on this regimen, the men were subjected to the evacuating process, by means of emetics, which they preferred to purgatives.

In the more early stages of training, their diet consisted of dried figs, new cheese, and boiled grain. Afterwards animal food was introduced as a part of the athletic regimen, and pork was preferred to any other. Galen, indeed, asserts, that pork contains more real nutriment than flesh of any other kind, which is used as food by man. This fact, he adds, is decidedly proved by the example of the athletæ, who, if they live but for one day on any other kind of food, find their vigour manifestly impaired the next. The preference given to pork by the ancients, however, does not correspond with the practice of modern trainers, who entirely reject it; but in the manner of preparing the food, they exactly agree--roasting or broiling being by both preferred to boiling, and bread unfermented to that prepared by leaven. A very small quantity of liquid was allowed to the athletæ, and this was principally water. They exercised in the open air, and became familiarized by habit to every change of the weather, the vicissitudes of which soon ceased to affect them.

To exercise their patience, and accustom them to bear pain without flinching, they were occasionally flogged on the back with the branches of a kind of rhododendron, till the blood flowed. By diminishing the quantity of the circulating liquid, this rough kind of cupping was also considered salutary! as obviating the tendency to plethora or redundancy of blood, to which they were peculiarly liable--a proof, if true, of the nourishing qualities of their food.

When the daily exercises of the athletæ were finished, they were refreshed by immersion in a tepid bath, where the perspiration and sordes--scurf, pustules, or filthy adhesions--were carefully removed from the surface of the body by the use of the strygil.[1] The skin was then diligently rubbed dry, and again anointed with oil. If thirsty, they were permitted to drink a small quantity of warm water. They then took their principal repast, after which they used no more exercise that day. They occasionally also went into the cold bath in the morning. They were permitted to sleep as many hours as they chose; and great increase of vigour, as well as of bulk, was supposed to be derived from long-continued and sound repose.[2] The sexual intercourse was strictly prohibited.

[1] For this instrument, rough coarse cloths are adopted, but not with advantage.

[2] Little sleep is now prescribed; but its quantity should depend upon circumstances of fatigue, &c.

The manner of training among the ancients bears some resemblance to that practised by the moderns. Perhaps it is because their mode of living and general habits were somewhat different from those of the present age, that a difference of treatment is now required to produce the same effects. The great object of training for running or boxing matches, is to increase the muscular strength, and to improve the free action of the lungs, or wind, of the person subjected to the process. Seeing that the human body is so capable of being altered and renovated, it is not surprising that the art of training should be carried to a degree of perfection almost incredible; and that, by certain processes, the muscular power, the breath (or wind), and the courage of man, should be so greatly improved as to enable him to perform the most severe or laborious undertakings.

That such effects have been produced is unquestionable: they are fully exemplified in the astonishing exploits of our most celebrated pedestrians and pugilists, which are the infallible results of such preparatory discipline. The skilful trainer attends to the state of the bowels, the lungs, and the skin; and he uses such means as will reduce the fat, and at the same time invigorate the muscular fibre. The patient is purged by drastic medicines; he is sweated by walking under a load of clothes, and by lying between feather beds; and his limbs are roughly rubbed. His diet is beef or mutton: his drink strong ale. He is gradually inured to exercise, by repeated trials in walking and running. By extenuating the fat, emptying the cellular substance, hardening the muscular fibre, and improving the breath, a man of the ordinary frame may be made to fight for one hour, with the utmost exertion of strength and courage, or to go over one hundred miles in twenty-four hours.

The most effectual process for training appears to be that practised by Captain Barclay, which has not only been sanctioned by professional men, but has met with the unqualified approbation of amateurs. We are here, therefore, almost entirely indebted to it for details. According to this method, the pedestrian, who may be supposed in tolerable condition, enters upon his training with a regular course of physic, which consists of three doses. Glauber’s salts are generally preferred; and from one ounce and a half to two ounces are taken each time, with an interval of four days between each dose. After having gone through the course of physic, he commences his regular exercise, which is gradually increased as he proceeds in the training.

When the object in view is the accomplishment of a pedestrian match, his regular exercise may be from twenty to twenty-four miles a day. He must rise at five in the morning, run half a mile at the top of his speed up-hill, and then walk six miles at a moderate pace, coming in about seven to breakfast, which should consist of beef-steaks or mutton-chops under-done, with stale bread and old beer. After breakfast, he must again walk six miles at a moderate pace, and at twelve lie down in bed, without his clothes, for half an hour. On getting up, he must walk four miles, and return by four to dinner, which should also be beef-steaks or mutton-chops, with bread and beer, as at breakfast. Immediately after dinner, he must resume his exercise, by running half a mile at the top of his speed, and walking six miles at a moderate pace. He takes no more exercise for that day, but retires to bed about eight; and next morning he proceeds in the same manner.

Animal diet, it will be observed, is, according to this system, alone prescribed, and beef and mutton are preferred. All fat and greasy substances are prohibited, as they induce bile, and consequently injure the stomach. The lean of meat contains more nourishment than the fat; and, in every case, the most substantial food is preferable to any other kind. Fresh meat is the most wholesome and nourishing. Salt, spiceries, and all kinds of seasonings, with the exception of vinegar, are prohibited. The lean, then, of fat beef cooked in steaks, with very little salt, is the best; and it should be rather under-done than otherwise. Mutton, being reckoned easy of digestion, may be occasionally given, to vary the diet and gratify the taste. The legs of fowls are also esteemed.

It is preferable to have the meat broiled, as much of its nutritive quality is lost by roasting or boiling. It ought to be dressed so as to remain tender and juicy; for it is by these means that it will be easily digested, and afford most nourishment. Biscuit and stale bread are the only preparations of vegetable matter which are permitted to be given; and every thing inducing flatulency must be carefully avoided. In general, the quantity of aliment is not limited by the trainer, but left entirely to the discretion of the pedestrian, whose appetite should regulate him in this respect.

With respect to liquors, they must be always taken cold; and home-brewed beer, old, but not bottled, is the best. A little red wine, however, may be given to those who are not fond of malt liquor; but never more than half a pint after dinner. It is an established rule to avoid liquids as much as possible; and no more liquor of any kind is allowed to be taken than is requisite to quench the thirst.

After having gone on in this regular course for three or four weeks, the pedestrian must take a four-mile sweat, which is produced by running four miles in flannel, at the top of his speed. Immediately on returning, a hot liquor is prescribed, in order to promote the perspiration; and of this he must drink one English pint. It is termed the sweating liquor, and is composed of one ounce of carraway seed, half an ounce of coriander seed, one ounce of root-liquorice, and half an ounce of sugar-candy, mixed with two bottles of cyder, and boiled down to one-half. He is then put to bed in his flannels, and, being covered with six or eight pair of blankets, and a feather bed, must remain in this state from twenty-five to thirty minutes, when he is taken out, and rubbed perfectly dry. Being then well wrapt in his great coat, he walks out gently for two miles, and returns to breakfast, which, on such occasions, should consist of a roasted fowl. He afterwards proceeds with his usual exercise.

These sweats are continued weekly, till within a few days of the performance of the match; or, in other words, he must undergo three or four of these operations. If the stomach of the pedestrian be foul, an emetic or two must be given about a week before the conclusion of the training. He is now supposed to be in the highest condition.

Besides his usual or regular exercise, a person under training ought to employ himself, in the intervals, in every kind of exertion which tends to activity, such as golf, cricket, bowls, throwing quoits, &c., so that, during the whole day, both body and mind may be constantly occupied. Although the chief parts of the system depend upon sweating, exercise, and feeding, yet the object to be obtained by the pedestrian would be defeated, if these were not adjusted each to the other, and to his constitution. The trainer, before he proceeds to apply his theory, should make himself acquainted with the constitution and habits of his patient, that he maybe able to judge how far he can, with safety, carry on the different parts of the process. The nature of the patient’s disposition should also be known, that every cause of irritation may be avoided; for, as it requires great patience and perseverance to undergo training, every expedient to sooth and encourage the mind should be adopted.

The skilful trainer will, moreover, constantly study the progress of his art, by observing the effect of its processes, separately and in combination. If a man retain his health and spirits during the process, improve in wind, and increase in strength, it is certain that the object aimed at will be obtained; but, if otherwise, it is to be apprehended that some defect exists, through the unskilfulness or mismanagement of the trainer, which ought instantly to be remedied by such alterations as the circumstances of the case may demand. It is evident, therefore, that in many instances the trainer must be guided by his judgment, and that no fixed rules of management can, with absolute certainty, be depended upon, for producing an invariable and determinate result. In general, however, it may be calculated, that the known rules are adequate to the purpose, if the pedestrian strictly adhere to them, and the trainer bestow a moderate degree of attention to his state and condition during the progress of training.

It is impossible to fix any precise period for the completion of the training process, as it depends upon the previous condition of the pedestrian; but from two to three months, in most cases, will be sufficient, especially if he be in tolerable condition at the commencement, and possessed of sufficient perseverance and courage to submit cheerfully to the privations and hardships to which he must unavoidably be subjected. The criterion by which it may be known whether a man is in good condition--or, what is the same thing, whether he has been properly trained--is the state of the skin, which becomes smooth, elastic, and well-coloured, or transparent. The flesh is also firm; and the person trained feels himself light, and full of spirits. In the progress of the training, his condition may also be ascertained by the effect of the sweats, which cease to reduce his weight; and by the manner in which he performs one mile at the top of his speed. It is as difficult to run a mile at the top of one’s speed as to walk a hundred; and therefore, if he performs this short distance well, it may be concluded that his condition is perfect, or that he has derived all the advantages which can possibly result from the training process.

A few words may be here added on the comparative strength of different races of men. In order to procure some exact results on this point, Peron took with him on his voyage an instrument called a dynamometer, so constructed as to indicate on a dial-plate the relative force of individuals submitted to experiment. He directed his attention to the strength of the arms and of the loins, making trial with several individuals of each of the races among whom he then was, viz., twelve natives of Van Diemen’s Land, seventeen of New Holland, fifty-six of the Island of Timor, seventeen Frenchmen belonging to the expedition, and fourteen Englishmen in the colony of New South Wales. The following numbers express the mean result in each case, but all the details are given in a tabular form in the original:--

Strength of the Arms. Strength of the Loins. Kilogrammes. Myriagrammes. 1. Van Diemen’s Land 50.6 2. New Holland 50.8 10.2 3. Timor 58.7 11.6 4. French 69.2 15.2 5. English 71.4 16.3