The principles and practice of educational gymnastics for the use of officers and physical training instructors in His Majesty's fleet

Preface

Tliis treatise lias been compiled with the object oi! supplying a clear and concise explanation of the principles and practice of the Swedish system of Educational Gymnastics.

A set of Tables are included for reference.

The Handbook of Physical Training contains the detailed description and diagrams of the exercises mentioned in this book.

Contents

I. The object and requirements of Physical Training

II. The Exercises Employed -

III. Name of Exercises - - - -

I. The Object And Requirements Of Physical Training

1. The object of Physical Training is Health, by means of which are acquired the capacity of endm-ance and of resisting disease, and the manly qualities of strength, activity, courage, and presence of mind.

2. To fulfil this object the training must produce harmonious development of the body. This, which is the very essence of health, is attained when all the various parts and organs are fully developed according to their own natural purposes and powers, each doing its full share of work, and the whole acting in response to the will.

3. The exercises employed in this training must, therefore, be chosen for their effect on the body. They must be adapted to its construction and requirements, and develop equally all its parts. The practical application of these exercises is called “ Gymnastics.”

4. Particular attention must be paid to the development of the chest, in order to strengthen and develop the heart and lungs which lie therein, and to afford them ample space for their proper working; as it is upon the capacity and healthy action of these organs that harmony in the development chiefly depends.

5. Every exercise employed must allow of full and free breathing ; for, besides the beneficial effects of this upon the development of the chest, the muscles while at work require much more oxygen and give off far more waste matter than when at rest. The oxygen is taken in and the waste matter eliminated through the hrngs, and unless the breathing abundantly supplies the one and quickly removes the other, overstraining and injury to the heart will result as a consequence of the deficient cleansing of the blood.

Every exercise must, therefore, be done with due regard to free respiration, and this requirement being of ff the first importance in gymnastics, should be impressed upon tlie men ( see par. 104).

6. In order to produce the best results, the physical education of the body must take place during youth, because at this period the natural growth and development can be powerfully aided and directed in building up a perfectly formed and healthy body by the propel* application of suitable physical exercises.

The neglect of physical education during youth very frequently results in a flat chest, round shoulders, poor physique, clumsy and ill-controlled movements ; with their sequels, organic weakness, predisposition to disease, and lack of efficiency. These defects are, moreover, very little amenable to correction by physical training commenced at a later age.

The physical education must be conducted in accordance with the requirements of the young but yet weak and unformed body. It must begin with the simplest and easiest exercises, and progress by slow but continually advancing stages, keeping pace with the natural growth until complete development is attained.

It must be borne in mind that while the neglect of physical education is injurious, its improper application is equally so. The practice of exercises too advanced for the period of development reached, the progression forced too rapidly, or the attempt to get improper results, will work infinitely more harm than good.

The benefits resulting from properly conducted physical training may not be immediately apparent, especially in youth; but if the training is rightly carried out these benefits are certainly being derived. “ Attempts to ‘ form muscle ’ in the young result in stunting and arresting their growth, whereas the building up and tending of the framework, the skeleton, is the first consideration. To attain this development with its outward signs — a wide, healthy chest and straight spine — is the aim of physical exercises.”

7. The Swedish system of gymnastics is designed with the single object of fulfilling the requirements stated above.

Its aim is the even development of the body, the exercises employed are hut the means to that end.

The acquisition of skill in the performance of tricks on any particular apparatus (which is the commonly hut erroneously accepted meaning of the word “ gymnastics”) cannot give this result. Exercises of this description, conceived as an end in themselves, are adapted to the construction of the apparatus and not to that of the human body. Therefore, while the practice of such exercises in moderation hy those of mature development is unobjectionable, their exclusive or constant practice, especially in youth, leads to the overdevelopment of one part of the body at the expense of the remainder, with risk of injmy to the vital organs.

So, also, the acquirement of great muscular development, without regard to the corresponding development of the vital organs, will lead to injurious results, especially to the heart, through the excessive work required of it to drive the blood through the abnormal mass of muscle.

The evil effects of these different forms of defective development may not be immediately apparent, and in fact may seem to be wholly absent ; but in time they will show themselves by the premature failure of some under- developed or overstrained organ to perform its appointed work.

8. It must always be remembered that the pm-pose of the training is the uniform development of all the men. The few who show exceptional ability are not to receive special attention at the expense of the remainder.

II. The Exercises Employed. '

9. The exercises employed in this system of training are chosen with regard to their effects upon the human body.

Different exercises are employed to produce different effects, the whole giving a uniform and harmonious development.

10. The exercises are therefore classed in groups according to the particular effect that each group produces, and not according to any apparatus, which would give no indication of the effect of the exercises upon the system.

The groups are named as follows : —

1. Leg exercises.

2. Span bending exercises.

3. Heaving exercises.

4. Balance exercises.

5. Dorsal exercises.

6. Abdominal exercises.

8. Lateral exercises.

9. Jumping and vaulting.

10. Breathing'exercises.

The order in which the groups are here set down is also that in which the exercises should follow each other in the daily lesson, because in this order one exercise prepares the way for the next, and experience has shown that the exercises can be made more powerful, and therefore more effective, without injurious results.

When the training has sufficiently advanced, a second Leg exercise and a second Heaving exercise may lie added between groups 8 and 9, making in all 12 groups for a full day’s scheme of training.

11. The Introductory exercises placed at the beginning of a lesson are easy and familiar exercises used to concentrate the attention upon muscular work, to correct the carriage, and to lead up gradually to the harder exercises to follow. An exercise may also be included here which prepares for some particular exercise to follow, such for instance as the Lateral exercises, thus saving time later in the correction of awkward men.

III. NAMES OF EXERCISES. (Terminology.)

General Principles.

12. The names given to the exercises exactly describe the positions and movements of the body in performing them.

This method of naming the exercises has the advantage that, given the name, we know at once what must be the positions and movements of the body in order to carry out the exercise. If the exercises were named according to the apparatus employed we should have no indication of the required movement of the body. Thus : “ Short circle,” which means “ short circle the bar.”

In Swedish gymnastics even the form of apparatus which may be employed is not indicated in the names of the exercises, as this is quite immaterial provided the desired effects on the body are obtained.

13. It is obvious that at the commencement of any bodily exercise whatever the body must be in some particular position.

When the object of the exercise is to produce some specific effect on the body, ^ome one particular position must be chosen from which to start the exercise, namely that from which it will be able to produce the desired effect most completely. Change the position, and the effect of the exercise is changed also.

For example : “ Arms stretchings ” carried out from the position of “ Attention ” exert a powerful influence principally upon the “ heaving muscles,” and thus give a good carriage of the shoulders ; whereas, when carried out from the “Stoop standing position” they chiefly exert the dorsal muscles, and so straighten the spine.

The positions selected from which to start the exercises are called “ Starting Positions,” and are so chosen in the Swedish gymnastics that the exercises performed from them produce the exact effects required.

It is therefore of the utmost importance that the “ Starting Positions ” should he perfectly correct before commencing the exercises. This is all the more important from the fact that many exercises consist of the starting position itself. In such exercises the taking and holding of the starting position constitutes the exercise, where the sustained contraction or static activity of the muscles is required. This holding of the starting position may or may not be combined with a movement of some part of the body to occupy the time and attention. Por example, in the exercise “ Wing Forward Lying : Head turning ” the exercise is the sustained contraction of the spinal muscles holding the body in the Forward Lying position for a sensible period of time ; the head turning is executed merely to occupy the time and to free the muscles of the neck from straining, and although valuable for that purpose, adds nothing to the work of the spinal muscles.

■ It will now be seen that every exercise consists of two parts : —

(1) The Starting Position from which it is carried

out.

(2) The Exercise itself.

The names of the exercises must therefore contain these two parts in order that the exercises may be completely described. The Starting Position is given first, as this must be known before the exercise can be carried out. The names are therefore built up in the following way : —

(1) The name of the Starting Position is given,

(2) The name of the Exercise to be done from it.

For example: “Stretch Stride Standing: Trunk

bending sideways,” which means that the “Stretch Stride Standing Starting position ” is to be taken, and then the exercise of “ Trunk bending sideways ” done from it.

In order that its name may give the precise form of the exercise, the descriptions of the Starting Position and of the Exercise itself must both be exact. This is obtained in the following way : —

The name of the Starting Position expresses — •

(1) The position of the whole body, as: Standing,

Sitting, Hanging, &c.

(2) The positions of the various parts of the body,

as : Wing, Stride, Stoop, &c.

The name of the Exercise expresses —

(1) The various parts of the body that are to be

moved, as : Arms, Feet, Trunk, &c.

(2) How they are to be moved, as : Bending, Stretch-

ing, Placing, Turning, &c.

(3) The direction in which the movement is to- be

made, as : Upwards, Sideways, Forwards,

Backwards, &c.

Thus —

(1) Arms (2) stretching (3) upwards.

(1) Feet (2) placing (3) forwards.

(1) Trunk (2) bending (3) backwards.

Note. — When there can be no doubt as to the direction of the movement, this is omitted in the name of the exercise as imnecessary. Thus : “ Arms bending,” “ Trunk turning,” in which the arms are always bent upwards, and the trank turned always to the right and left.

An exercise carried out from a Starting Position continues until a “ finishing position ” is reached, or from this returns to the Starting Position.

Certain Starting Positions, such as Standing, Lying, Sitting, Hanging, &c., are called Fundamental Positions, as from them all other positions are derived ; the simplest derived Starting Positions being the finishing positions of exercises earned out in the Fundamental Positions. Again, from these simple derived Starting Positions more complex Starting Positions are derived in the same way. Thus a great many Starting Positions can Ire obtained, each one being more complex and therefore a progression on the last.

The name of the Fundamental Position is always placed last in the names of the Starting Positions.

15. The Names of the various Starting Positions

employed.

1. Positions of the whole Body.

( Fundamental Positions.)

Standing. — This is the first or principal position, from which all the other positions are derived, and on the correctness of which they greatly depend. It is a working position, and is taken on the command “ Attention ! ” The name is usually written abbreviated thus : St:

Sitting. — Position sitting on the ground or bench with trunk erect.

Kneeling. — Kneeling — the knees together; Stride kneeling— the knees one foot-length apart, the body and thighs erect above the knees, the arms hanging by the sides.

Bying. The body extended flat on the ground, back downwards, the arms by the sides.

Hanging. — The whole body suspended by the hands from some apparatus.

2. Positions of the various parts of the Body.

(Simple derived Starting Positions.)

(a) Those on the upper limbs : —

Wing.— Hands on the hips. Taken on the command : Hips — firm !

B>est. Hands behind the neck. Taken on the command : — Neck — rest !

Bend. Elbows close to the sides, fingers pointinotowards the shoulders. Taken on the command” Arms — bend !

Yard.— Arms held straight out sideways, level with the shoulders, palms downwards. Taken on the command : Arms sideways — stretch ! or Arms sideways— raise !

Reach. — Amis parallel forwards, level with the shoulders, palms inwards. Taken on the command: Aims forward — stretch ! or Arms forward — raise !

Stretch. — Arms parallel upwards, palms inwards. Taken on the command : Arms upwards — stretch ! or Arms forward ( sideways ) and upwards — raise !

(b) Those of the lower limbs : —

Close. — Inner sides of the feet close together. Taken on the command : Feet — close !

Stride. — Feet placed sideways two foot-lengths apart. Taken on the command : Feet sidewafG— place ! •

Walk (a) . — One foot placed two foot-lengtlis outwards in its own direction. Taken on the command : Foot outwards — place !

Walk (b).— One foot placed two foot-lengths straight forward. Taken on the command : Foot forward — place !

Lunge (a). — One foot placed as in Walk (a), but three foot-lengths, and with the forward knee bent. Taken on the command : Foot outivards — lunge !

Lunge (b) — One foot placed as in Walk (b), but three foot-lengths, and with the forward knee bent. Taken on the command : Foot forward — lunge !

Crook. — The knees bent upwards, the thighs at right angles to the trunk, the legs at right angles to the thighs. Chiefly used in combination with Hanging position.

(c) Those of the trunk : —

Arch. — The back, neck, and head bent backwards hi one arched curve. Taken on the command : Trunk backwards— bend !

Note. — A distinction must be made between the Arch and Span-bending positions. The Arch position 1'is taken free standing; the Span-bending position is taken with the arms in the Stretch position and the hands supported on some apparatus. The Arch position is used in certain exercises as a preparatory to Span-bending.

Stoop. — Tlie trunk leaning forward with the spine straight, and bending at the hips. Taken on the command : Trunk forward — bend !

Fall. — The trunk leaning forward, backward, or sideways with straight spine. Mostly used in combination, as “ Stoop Falling,” “ Fall Sitting,” “ Fall Hanging,” &c.

Turn. — The trank turned to one side. Taken on the command : Trunk to the left (right) — turn !

Those of either the Upper or Lower Limbs.

fialf — means the position of a leg, arm, or knee on one side only. Written abbreviated thus : -§-•

e.g., “ Crook i St.,” which means that one knee is placed in the Crook position while standing on the other leg. “f Yard 1 Stretch” means that one arm is in the Yard position while the other is in the Stretch position.

Combined Positions. — When two or more of the above positions are combined, the name of the resulting position is composed of the names of the separate positions, arranged so that the position is read from above downwards, and in the order of the movements for taking the position.

Thus “ Stretch Stride Turn Arch Standing.” Reading from above downwards the “Stretch” and “ Stride ” positions are taken together, and then follow in their proper sequence the “ Turn ” position and the “ Arch ” position.