Comprehensive physical culture

Preface

T^HE following pages upon physical culture are written in -*■ answer to a demand for a comprehensive work upon this subject, which has met me everywhere during the years that I have been upon the platform as lecturer on the science of physical education. In almost every instance where classes have been conducted according to my system, the pupils have wished for a book with which to review the exercises they found so universally beneficial. A series of articles in answer to this need was published in the Jenness Miller Magazine, but a hand-book which should contain all the exercises of my method was asked for, not only by members of my audiences, but by teachers and those interested in the work throughout the country.

It is believed that the book now presented to the public will find its way to popular favor, because it is founded upon an eclectic system, and not only contains many of the best exercises of the best known systems of physical exercise, but offers movements which I have personally originated, and whose value I have tested. The book is, moveover, designed with the special purpose of appealing to women in the home who feel the need of physical exercise, and yet vi ^ Preface,

shrink, when opportunity offers, from the effort of class membership.

While it will be found most valuable to those who desire a manual for self-instruction, it contains many suggestions for parents, teachers and public educators, which ought to make it equally popular in the home and in the schoolroom, and it will fail in its purpose if it does not awaken new interest regarding the methods of physical education.

I believe that no subject should be more carefully studied than the one pertaining to the health and development of children, and .if my remarks upon the education of girls should seem to some minds too radical, it must be remembered that in my travels from Maine to California, and from the Northern lakes to the gulf, I have known many young women and been the recipient of many confidences. And I know, whatever is asserted to the contrary, that American girls are suffering everywhere from the hot-house system of education to which they are subjected. The statistics of female colleges may make assertions most flattering to the health of their graduates, but when one meets everywhere women who physically refute these statements, what is she to believe ?

The troubles from which the over-taxed feminine system suffers most are not of a character to parade before the world ; they are borne on in silence, often for years, when some critical eye discovers their existence. Few girls will confess to being tired or feeling ill until such a time as such confession is inevitable. One need, moreover, only visit the

Preface, vii

seminaries and schools of the land, and note the physical appearance of many of the giris, to know beyond the need of speech, the influences that are sapping the very forces of being.

It is time that a grand halt was called in the mad rush our girls are making for diplomas which testify only to one-sided culture, and are the price of wasted force and lost vitality. The time is ripe for the establishment of schools which shall recognize the physical needs of the growing girl's system, and teach her to respect and not ignore the wonderful mechanism of her own organism. So deeply do I feel upon this subject, that I should like to be the pioneer of a movement which aimed to emancipate girls from the traditions, the conventionalities, the creeds which, to-day, fetter their lives. For two years in a girl's life I should like to have her live above the rasping, devitalizing influence of class-examinations and enforced study hours. I should like to make the schoolroom one grand kindergarten where the mind could unfold without being conscious that it was being taxed, and where healthful exercise should alternate with all mental effort, and if there are mothers who feel as I do upon this subject of education for their daughters, I want to be assured of their co-operation in a work J hope to see begun for my young countrywomen.

Contents

I. Physical Culture, 9

III. Horseback Riding, Rowing, Swimming, Fencing

AND Dancing, ..... 43

II Systems Of Gymnastics

T AM constantly asked the questions, "Do you believe in heavy gymnastics?" and "Which of all the systems of physical culture do you consider best?"

I believe in any movement or system of movements which have been carefully builded with a view to strengthening, developing and refining the entire physical being; and to engendering, as well as health, the freedom and power necessary to express the emotions of the soul. It matters not whether such movements are classified under the head of heavy or light gymnastics.

A perfect system of exercise is that where energized action is supplemented by devitalizing movements. The energized action, for giving impetus to the blood, diffusing life and warmth; for developing the muscular system, by supplying it with increased nutriment in the increased current of blood; the devitalizing movements for relaxing the nervous system, giving grace of movement ^nd freedom of expression.

Action and rest are laws in animal economy. It is essential to perfect life that every part of the body be regularly brought into action, for where there is continued inaction there will disease be found, and disease is a form of death. But it is essential, in the matter of exercise, to preser\^e the golden mean, for over-exertion, as well as thorough inaction, is disastrous. Unremitting exercise will exhaust the powers of animal nature, for waste is the result of motion ; and where violent action is too long sustained the loss is great, and the system becomes so exhausted that it is unable to supply the demand for new material as fast as it is needed.

The price of life is motion. The Swedes, many years since, perceived this element of truth and established the movement-cure. Discovering that disease was the result of inaction they conceived the idea that motion was needed to infuse life into the patient. The movement-cure had its birth in philosophy and common sense, and it has been most happy in its results.

Motorpathy is successfully used in the treatment of infantile paralysis. The treatment consists of iitassagc-ri\o\&ci\&iV\.^ and Swedish exercise, and as soon as the patient begins to regain control over the muscles, light gymnastics are brought into requisition. If exercises which are so light and simple that a child can acquire them with facility will restore life and activity to partially paralyzed parts, is it not reasonable to suppose that a systematic course of light gymnastics which exercises every muscle in the body will have the desired effect in upbuildment and development where the muscles have not lost their power to contract and expand?

Any person able to be about can take movements without apparatus, and such movements by cultivating a free use of the agents, tend to establish habits of grace.

The system of exercise set forth in this book consists of light movements based upon physiological and aesthetic law, and employs both energizing and devitalizing movements, productive of grace and repose of manner as well as activity. I have proven by experience that this system embodies the elements of strength, development and grace. But I also recognize the benefits to be derived from heavy gymnastics where one is strong enough to take them. Such work should, however, be taken under the direction and instruction of persons who base their teachings upon the natural relation of cause and effect, who give physiological reasons for every movement they make.

Rational physical culture admits of swinging dumb-bells and clubs, executing movements with wands and rings, and all the exercises of a well-appointed gymnasium, as well as light, free movements. The one point to be kept constantly in mind is that energized action should not be used to the exclusion of devitalizing movements ; that rollicking, exciting action must be supplemented by reposeful movements, or the result will be muscle at the expense of grace and expression, and we shall have muscular development at the cost of nerve force, for there must be regular, systematic relaxation of the nervous system if one would keep strong.

There is wonderful power in graceful motion, which need not and should not be sacrificed. Cicero tells us that Roscius gained great love from every one by the mere movements of his person ; and Bacon declares that " In beauty, that of decent and gracious motion is more than that of favor," showing the sway that graceful motion has held throughout the ages. Occasionally a person has talent for grace, as others have for music, painting, or sculpture; but all can cultivate it to marked degree. A graceful mien places a person en rapport with any company, and he who neglects physical refinement does not live up to his highest privileges, for he closes an avenue of good.

To so exercise the body as to produce unity of movement, and hence grace in physical expression, is the object of all physical practice which aims at culture as well as development. Any system of gymnastics which consists merely of the practice of certain mechanical movements defeats the aim at which all physical exercise should direct its efforts. To hold certain attitudes and contract one set of muscles w^hile others are held rigid will produce development, but it will be inharmonious, and such practice but confirms habits of awkwardness, and cultivates that rigidity of movement so

2,8 Systems of Gyrmiastics.

foreign to grace and beauty. To Have the body symmetrically and harmoniously developed those muscles which have an affinity for each other should be allowed to work, together, and exercises should follow each other in such order as will result in symmetrically rounded figures. Such practice is as conducive to health as it is to grace. To work for the possession of mere muscular development or force is to gain a power which may be lost as soon as acquired. Muscles which stand out all over the body like whip cords are often as unallied to health as they are to beauty.

With the Greeks, those unrivalled models of physical perfection, the body was so exercised as to develop naturally. Exercises were taken which brought all the powers into requisition either through sympathy or positive action. Long practice is required to bring all the muscles into harmonious subjection to the will, but the result justifies the labor. There must be, moreover, concentration of all the energies, not in a way that taxes either mind or body, but in that whole-heartedness of effort which stimulates and invigorates all the powers, even as a child's entire being is quickened by the play into which he enters with all his self-hood.

It is through development and culture of all the powers of the body that the faculties of the material form become so disciplined that every emotion of the soul, every suggestion of the reason finds harmonious expression.

The exclusive use of heavy apparatus as a means of physical exercise is to be condemned, because of its want of consideration for the more subtle needs of the system. The work may, indeed, develop the muscular system, and give health of body, but it does not have the desired result in grace of form or of movement. Then, too, in the practice of systems dependent upon apparatus there is danger to the health of the pupil unless the exercises be taken under the direction of a careful teacher. The development brought about by heavy gymnastics is, moreover, incompatible with grace, for they tend to harden the muscles and keep them rigid even when in repose, while light movements make them soft and pliable and thus leave them in a lithe, supple state for motion.

I have seen young women who performed gracefully upon rings, bars, etc., yet became most awkward specimens the moment the appliances were removed, their arms, legs and other members symbols of awkwardness from the self-consciousness of their owners, who were at ease only when they had something upon which to expend nervous energy. As it is impossible to go through life suspended, however gracefully, from bars, or attached to apparatus, we should practice exercises which will not only develop, but refine the muscles.

There is no law relative to the height or rise of a perfect

40 Systems of Gy7nnastics.

figure, for a Lilliputian may be as beautiful in his way as a Brobdynagian and the opposite so long as the law of harmonious development be sustained. A perfect figure does not attract so much attention to its size as to the relation of its parts. The Venus of Milo is a very big woman indeed, but we lose sight of her size in admiring her proportions. A thoroughly developed figure does not at first sight appear to be muscular, for there are no knotted, piled-up muscles on arms, legs or other members to attract the eye. A perfectly healthy, well-developed body is characterized by plumpness — is neither stout nor thin, and where there is excess or paucity of adipose tissue, by bringing the body into a healthy condition we bring it into manageable and pleasing proportions.

There is a class of persons demanding special personal attention — a class whose physical natures are not well balanced, where some one organ or part is weak and liable to disease, and while light systematic exercises are calculated to help these personal weaknesses or defective organizations by improving the general health, such persons should carefully consider their special needs and give much time and attention to such exercises as are especially adapted to improve these particular parts.

The question is asked "What relation do gymnastics bear to out-of-door sports?" They are auxiliaries, but not substitutes. A perfect system of gymnastics exercises every

Syste7ns of Gymnastics. 41

muscle in the body, while walking, running, rowing, ballplaying, tennis and all out-of-door athletics, call into play certain sets of muscles. The former give harmony in action and strength throughout every part of the body, while the latter increase the strength and size of certain parts. It does not follow from this, however, that one may eschew all forms of athletic sport and out-of-door exercise, and find in any gymnastic system as at present arranged, full compensation for such surrender. All physical exercise in the open air is attended with a sense of exhilaration, and a stimulus to the entire being, of whose value no one should remain ignorant, but such exercise must be supplemented by intelligent study of one's physical needs, or undue practice in certain athletics may result in diminished physical power or organic trouble.

The ever-growing interest in the subject of physical culture will result, in the near future, in more intelligent consideration of all influences that affect physical being than has heretofore been accorded them. With a more thorough knowledge of the laws that determine human health and happiness, there will be more general recognition of nature's methods for the physical perfection of her children, and the wonderful mechanism of the human body will be too thoroughly appreciated for any one of its parts to be either neglected or over-trained.

* The Greeks, who have been the world's best teachers in

the science of physical culture, made all forms of exercise

subject to one underlying and all-governing principle- — the

perfection of the entire being, and it is with aims equally

worthy that the directors of modern students of the physical

must enthuse their pupils.

III. Horse-back Riding, Rowing, Swimming, Fencing And Dancing

TT has been said that a history of equestrianism would be a history of mankind, but it is in comparatively modern times that records of riding for pleasure are found. In America an interest in this most healthful as well as delightful form of exercise, is of very recent date, and it is among the cow-boys of the western plains, rather than among gentlemen of leisure and wealth, that the knight of the saddle is, as a rule, found. In England the benefits and delights of horse-back riding have long been appreciated by both sexes, and as trans-Atlantic travel is made more easy, and the pursuits and pleasures of foreign countries are more closely studied and generally known, the interest in equestrianism deepens with our people. In most of our large cities clubs, composed of gentlemen devoted to the practice of this healthful art, have already sprung up, while it is conceded in most fashionable society that ability to ride well must be one of the modern belle's accomplishments. To ride well requires much practice, but the fascinations of the exercise increase desire for its enjoyment, and a pretty woman is stimulated in her ambition to manage her horse skillfully, as well as to sit upon him with grace, by the consciousness that nowhere will her charms be so apparent as in the character of an equestrienne. Indeed, it often happens that a woman of truly regal appearance when well seated on a horse is a most ordinary-looking personage on terra-firma, and hence the pleasures of equestrianism have allurements for women of varied style. Physicians are unanimous in the opinion that no exercise is more beneficial for persons having no organic disease which prohibits its practice. After a five minutes' ride on a trotter the blood mounts to the cheeks, the eyes sparkle, and the whole body becomes instinct with life. Nothing is more efficacious in breaking up a cold than a brisk ride. Horse-back riding has been called a passive exercise, but I know of no exercise which calls so many muscles into play as riding on a trotter. In riding any other gait the body remains passive, and is merely shaken up, while this mode brings the muscles into such active service that the circulation of the blood is accelerated until the whole body fairly glows. While it is true that no other gait is as exhilerating, it is also true that no other is so well adapted to general riding, as this is the only method which can be practiced with perfect safety on all kinds of roads, inasmuch as the pressure of the foot against the stirrup lifts the body,

Swifmning, Fencing and Dancing. 45

and breaks the force of the jar. I do not hesitate to say'that when one has become an expert rider no other mode will ever find favor with her. The resistance of the foot against the stirrup is the first point to be gained in learning to ride (when I speak of learning to ride I refer to riding a trotter, for there is nothing to learn in riding any other gait except control of one's horse, as the body remains passively seated in the saddle), and one's first efforts will be rather discouraging. Even one who prides herself upon the strength of her muscles and athletic skill will find that she has not the necessary control over the muscles used in riding. The strengthening of the muscles can be accomplished as well by practice on a chair as in a saddle, and such exercise will be attended by far less danger.

As riding is too expensive a pastime to be indulged in by all, I am going to give directions for an exercise, which, besides being of value to those wishing to learn to ride, will also be a benefit to those who never expect to mount a horse, as it will improve circulation and develop the muscles of the leg and abdomen. To insure even development this movement should be practiced equally on either side, using first the left and then the right foot as the lever.

Sit sidewise upon a chair, with the left foot flat upon the floor, and the right knee bent ; lay the right leg upon the chair in the same manner in which it is placed over the pommel when sitting in the saddle, the right hand will doubtless have to be used at first to assist the foot in raising the body, but as soon as the muscles strengthen, the arm should be allowed to hang passively at the side. Bear the weight upon the left foot, bend the body slightly forward, and raise it until it is lifted off the chair ten or twelve inches. Next stop the resistance of the foot and allow the body to settle back into the sitting position. Do this ten times in quick succession. After a time one will be able to take the exercise for several minutes.

For those daughters of wealth who do not regard themselves strong enough to endure the practice of horseback riding, save in the mildest weather, mechanical horses are often constructed at prices equal to thos€ asked for genuine quadrupeds, but of more portable size. The object of their use is precisely the one for which the chair practice is given, and the results are as beneficial in the one case as in the other.

To receive the full benefits of horseback riding, both sides of the body should be exercised, instead of only one side as in the present feminine mode of ridmg. One of the best physicians in this country, a man who has made a specialty of spine and hip diseases, says that the fashionable way of riding is a prolific cause of deformed spines. The woman's position on the horse with one leg hanging parallel with the

Swimming, Fencing and Dmicing. 47

horse, and the other on a level with his neck, is unnatural. One side of the body becomes completely numbed, if the position is long held, and there is a continued strain upon the muscles of the back, which few women, or men either, could long endure.

It is noticed that girls accustomed to ride from childhood, grow crooked, and wise parents have insisted that their daughters should use only side-saddles made with two pommels, and alike on both sides, so that the rider may change from one side to the other, and thus counteract the tendency to unsymmetrical growth; and yet, with this style of saddle sensitive spines become weakened. It is asserted that " custom assigns the side-saddle to women because it is suited to the physique of the majority," but this assertion is confuted by the women who have had most experience in the saddle. It is not supposed that the heavy, clumsy saddle used by men would ever be the one in favor with women, but that it is possible to construct a saddle at once hygienic and comfortable, no woman who has considered the question for a moment doubts.

In the time of George II, a movable crutch for riding on the right or left side of the horse was introduced, and the Duchess of Gordon is said to have used it. That a question arose, even in those days, as to the physiological effects of riding always upon one side would seem suggested from this invention. It is within recent years, however, and since woman's interest in athletic sport and physical culture has developed, that serious consideration has been given to the hygienic results of the conventional way in which women ride. As women begin to share the broader life of man, to become familiar with wider interests than have heretofore been theirs, to develop a love of study and a love of travel, they begin to inquire, as never before, into all conditions that may effect physical well-being. Any form of exercise which produces a one-sided development is considered unhealthy and undesirable, though all the traditions of history may regard its overthrow as unfeminine. With the women of the present ambition does not reach its highest form in desire to do as women always have done regardless of the laws of health. They are no longer willing that men shall have a monopoly of comfort, health and strength, and they no longer hesitate over the propriety of their desire to enjoy the fullest freedom in physical exercise. If experience proved that riding astride was the heathful way for a woman to ride, women would ride that way, not one, two, a half-dozen, but all women, and as fashion erects our ideals of modesty no one would be surprised at what was recognized as proper by the arbiters of decorum.

For women who ride occasionally the objections of the present system are not formidable, but for those who are often

Swimming, Fencing and Dancing, 49

in the saddle its evils are manifold. Let such, until a saddle has been invented which shall recognize the needs of women, use only one which shall allow the rider to sit on either side and to develop symmetrically the body. To aid in this development a habit which allows all possible freedom to the wearer should be adopted. Reason and common sense demand that this costume should be bifurcated and all parts of the skirt made of equal length to prevent the possibility of serious injury which the present habit makes almost unavoidable in case of accident.

With growing girls there is serious reason why those who ride much should sit squarely upon the horse. While the body is in the plastic period of youth it may be more easily deformed than in maturer years, and as a girl finds the boy's saddle quite as comfortable as her own, and with none of the evils of the latter, there is no reason why any sensible mother should object to its use, and there is every argument .why it should meet with her approval. The boy's way of riding is the safer, the healthier, and the more natural way, and no wise parent should allow her young daughter's health and happiness to be sacrificed to mistaken ideas of propriety. To ride on one side at an age when the body is sensitive to every influence, is to grow one-sided, to weaken the spine, and to lay the foundation for innumerable feminine weaknesses. Seated astride her pony the young girl can alone receive the full benefits of riding. In this way both she and the horse are free. He travels more evenly, and she, unfettered by the conventional riding habit, can jump from her horse at the slightest intimation of danger, and it is quite as proper to wear a kilted divided skirt on a pony as it is on a bicycle, and no sensible girl or woman rides the latter without one.

Horse-back riding, hygienically practiced, is one of the most healthful of exercises for women. It expands the chest, quickens the circulation and infuses new life into the entire being. Any form of exercise which gives to women out-of-door life is to be commended, and while, as has been previously explained, the muscular system may be strengthened by the mere form of riding, it is the exercise which fills the lungs with pure, fresh air, and sends the blood, tingling with new life, through every vein, which is most beneficial. For this reason rowing is an exercise which should be more generally practiced by young women. Its effects upon the muscular system can be secured by certain mechanical movements, but to learn its full value it must be deprived of none of its legitimate associations. • Nothing improves the complexion more than daily practice at rowing. If the exercise is vigorous, the circulation is greatly quickened, and the system, through profuse perspiration, enabled to free itself from all poisonous matter. Especially

Swimming, Fencing and Dancing. 51

is the exercise beneficial to those affected with torpid livers. No college captain of a boat's crew was ever known to be bilious.

Rowing strengthens, moreover, the respirator)^ organs and so leads to expansion of the chest. It is excellent, too, for strengthening weak backs and admirably calculated to develop the upper arm and shoulder. It gives firmness and strength to the wrist without developing it abnormally, and need not make the hands larger, though it may increase their muscular power. No exercise is more beneficial, if practiced judiciously, upon the diaphragmatic muscles; it can be made a certain cure for weak stomachs. In its early practice, however, one must rest often, and ne\'er work to the point of fatigue.

Another pastime, closely allied to rowing in its practice and results, is that of swimming. From the beginning of human history it has been regarded as a manly accomplishment, but tabooed for woman on the same grounds that most hygienic pleasures have been denied her. In this new era of physical culture it ranks among the requirements of the well-educated young woman. Like rowing it must be enjoyed with all the exhilarations of out-of-door life as its acccessories to realize in full its pleasures and benefits. The fashionable swimming bath gives the exercise it is true, but a plunge in the billows made by old Neptune is worth a whole course of encounters with artificial waves. I do not, remember, decry the swimming bath of the gymnasium or the school. Its exercise is admirable, only whenever possible I advocate the widest enjoyment of all forms of physical exercise. Some of the motions of the arms in swimming are most commendable forms of exercise taken apart from all their accompanying movements and elements. They are excellent for broadening the chest and for flattening the shoulder-blades, but the simultaneous movement of arms and legs taken in the actual performance of swimming increases the beneficial results of both. Swimming is, withal, an exercise whose value may be tested in ways beyond any given, and it behooves every young woman in these days of travel and adventure to educate all her powers to the point of preparation for any emergency. No well-equipped gymnasium or school of physical culture should neglect the exercise of swimming, for its value to health and physical development, as well as its possible importance to life itself, entitle it to the consideration of all teachers and students of the laws of physical being.