The Ancient Greeks the Most Perfect Type of Beauty; the Cause of the Inferior Physique of American Women; the Physical Training of the Japanese Women; Improved Physique as the Result of Physical Training; Increasing Stature and Improved Physique of American Men; Report of the Royal Commission of Great Britain on Physical Training; Physical Training Among the Ancients; the Influence of Physical Training on the Health and Life of the Individual; the Effect of Exercise on Brain Development and Character; the Physiology and Pathology of Exercise; the Relative Proportions of a Perfect Female Form; Table of Standard Weights for Women; the Muscular System; the Benefits of Exercise; Passive Exercise; Massage; the Balance and Carriage of the Body; Common Defects in the Carriage of the Body; the Heart’s Need of Exercise; the Gymnasium in the Campaign against Disease; Gymnastic versus Athletic Training; Exercise after Eating; Effect of Brain Fatigue on Body Fatigue, and vice versa; Marks for Physical Efficiency; Advantages Derived from Athletic Sports; Ethical Value of Sports for Women; Forms of Athletic Games Best Suited to Women.
Physical training is the key to all beauty of form and face as well as grace of motion. Beauty without health is inconceivable.
The Greeks were the devotees of the beautiful, and they were the most perfect embodiments of health and beauty the world has ever seen. Their splendid physique was due to their outdoor life, physical training, which began in childhood and youth, and was systematically carried on throughout life, their public baths, and their athletics, sports and national games. Beauty is the inevitable corollary of health.
And the Greek artists bequeathed to all future generations a legacy of untold value, using the men and women of the golden age of Greece as the prototypes for the most beautiful statues which the world has ever seen, proving that through the perfect development of the muscular system alone can an ideal type of beauty be attained, and these statues also show that the women of that day were the physical compeers of the men.
The greatest attention to the physical development of her citizens was given in Sparta. Girls and young women were subjected to a similar, though less severe, training than men and boys. It included running, leaping, wrestling, and throwing the lance; these formed the favorite contests in the national games. Xenophon says: “The Spartans are the healthiest of all the Greeks, and among them are found the finest men and the handsomest women in Greece.” The women of the Teutonic tribes frequently accompanied their husbands to war, and exhibited instances of the most daring bravery.
History, as well as these magnificent legacies in marble and on canvas, teaches us that no greater fallacy could be imagined than that “we are women, and therefore weak.” On the contrary, “We are weak, because it never entered into our thoughts that we might be strong,” and it has been repeatedly proved that physical deterioration can be overcome by exercise, and that the same means greatly increases the mental capacity.
In savage races women are the equal, if not the superior, of the men, and woman’s smallness of stature, physical inferiority, and lessened powers of endurance must be attributed to the customs of civilized society carried on for hundreds of years.
The Cause of the Inferior Physique of American Women.—The majority of American girls and women of the present day have undeveloped muscles, a bad carriage, an impaired digestion, and are without skill in outdoor games, and unable to ride, row, or swim.
From the measurements of twelve hundred boys and girls, Professor Sargent ascertained that at the age of fifteen years boys are three-quarters of an inch taller than girls, but that the mean height in the two sexes is the same, and that, taking the sum of the measurements of the head, chest, waist, legs, and arms, the mean total was equal in boys and girls. The sum of these measurements is regarded as indicative of the strength of the individual, but that, as a matter of fact, it was found that the girls did not compare favorably with the boys in point of strength. In capacity of lungs the girls were seventy cubic inches behind the boys, and that, in strength of the expiratory muscles, the weakest boy was stronger than the average girl. In strength of back, leg, chest, and arms, the showing of the girls was a little better, though considerably below what it should have been.
At twenty years of age the man was found to be five inches taller and twenty pounds heavier. The superiority of the male in strength was now much more apparent than at an earlier age. He now presented ninety cubic inches greater lung capacity and one hundred and forty-three pounds, greater strength of legs, while the muscular power of the arms and chest was more than double that of woman. The charts showed that women were physically inferior to men in almost every particular.
Dr. Sargent then goes on to say, “The principal characteristics of general form that distinguish civilized women from men are smaller muscles, sloping shoulders, broader hips, and shorter legs. The smaller muscles and the shorter legs may be said to be embryonic, while the superior breadth of the hips indicates a greater evolutionary advancement in this part of the body than has taken place in man. The constricted waist must be regarded as a deformity artificially produced. When the hips are large in the male or female, the waist will naturally be larger if the muscles which connect the trunk with the pelvis have nothing to constrict them. Since the hips of women are much wider than those of men, we should expect to find the waist proportionately larger in women than in men.
In close antithesis to these observations of Dr. Sargent’s on the physical inferiority of American women to men, it is both interesting and instructive to note those of Dr. Hancock in his work on “Physical Training for Women by Japanese Methods.”
The Physical Training of the Japanese Women.—A Japanese woman is usually the peer of a man of her own race who is of the same age and height, especially when weights are about equal. This is due to the fact that the Japanese women exercise in much the same way that the men do, and devote fully as much time in the endeavor to gain strength.
In the Japanese system of bodily training, known as jiu-jitsu, it is considered advisable in the initial stages to have boy and girl contestants as nearly equal in age and height as possible. The girls enter the arena upon equal terms with the boys, and have proved their fitness to do so. Grown men and women practise together; other conditions being equal, the women show an equal amount of strength with the men.
The back of the average Anglo-Saxon woman is generally the weakest part of her body, while the normal Japanese woman satisfies the artist’s ideals as well as the surgeon’s. The average Japanese woman of to-day shows a figure as perfectly molded, and of as true proportions, as the women of ancient Greece were able to display.
First of all, the Japanese women are taught that life is impossible without a sufficient supply of fresh air. This internal cleansing with air is deemed of more importance than the bath which follows soon after. That the Japanese woman is a deep breather is shown by the firm muscles that stand out on the abdomen.
Consumption is a rare disease in Japan; even winter coughs are of rare occurrence. The Japanese look upon full, deep breathing as being the most vital function in life; food is not so important, although it is necessary. The best exercises are of little importance when the breathing which accompanies them is not properly done.
Improved Physique as the Result of Physical Training.—Dr. Mary Taylor Bissell, formerly the medical director of the New York Berkeley Ladies Athletic Club, and one of the pioneers in the systematic physical training for women, gave as the result of her experience there, “The gain of twelve months’ exercise in the gymnasium is, for the chest two inches, stature two inches, and an increase of 30 per cent. in the lung capacity; many of the strength tests were doubled, the spine became erect and the arm vigorous, and the girl gained for herself the consciousness of controlling her own body instead of having it control her.”
Increasing Stature and Improved Physique of American Men.—Dr. Born’s measurements of Yale athletes and students suggest the inference that American men are becoming physically greater than any other known race. Comparing averages in 1903 and 1908, it appears that Yale men are one inch and a half taller than their predecessors of five years ago; they are twenty-seven pounds heavier, broader chested, and have an increased lung capacity of seventy-two cubic inches.
The measurements of Harvard students, published last fall by Dr. Sargent, corroborate Dr. Born’s deductions, that American college men have larger and more vigorous bodies than their fathers.
Dr. Sargent’s association of vigorous brains with strong bodies is borne out by Professor W. T. Porter’s examination of 30,000 school-children in St. Louis in 1893, and by subsequent observations made by other men.
It is the opinion of Dr. Crampton, director of physical training in the New York city schools, that this improved physique in American men, observed in the universities, is not in a small measure due to the fact that within the last five years athletics have been introduced into the public schools, so that there are now hundreds of teams of baseball, football, basket-ball, and track athletics, where there was only one before, so that already the colleges are reporting that the young men entering them are bigger than they were ten years ago.
Professor Phillips of Amherst thinks that the young women are certainly one inch taller and five pounds heavier than they were ten years ago. This improved physique of Americans he attributes, like Dr. Crampton, to the fact that the American boy has now come in for his heritage of athletic sports, and he makes a strong plea for “adult play”—that every man and woman should have as good an opportunity as boys and girls to get out on an open space and play baseball, football, hockey, run, jump, and have a good time.
To show the importance which Great Britain places on physical training for boys and girls the following report of the Royal Commission of that country for 1903 is given under the caption “A National System of Physical Training.”
Report of Royal Commission of Great Britain on Physical Training.—“(1) Physical training should be regarded as of equal importance with mental training.
“(2) During school life physical training is quite as important for girls as for boys.
“(3) Systematic physical training is necessary both for country and town children.
“The daily walk to school is exercise, but not exercise which develops the body as a whole, or counteracts the liability to stoop, to be round-shouldered, or to be slovenly in gait. Moreover, all children during school life must spend many hours with but little change of position, the effects of which can only be corrected by systematic physical exercise.
“It should aim at the healthy development of the body, as well as of the mind, by the regular development of all the muscles, the quickening of the intelligence and activity, and the formation of the habits of prompt obedience, precision, smartness, and discipline. The exercises should not be for mere display or entertainment, but each should have its particular purpose and value to develop all parts of the body.
“A certain amount of physical exercise once a day or oftener is preferable to even a greater amount, at longer or irregular intervals.
“Games are very useful and ought to be encouraged, but they cannot be played by all children, and usually the weaker ones go to the wall; that is, those most needing systematic development are excluded. Games affording opportunities for violent exercise are useful for the development of reserve strength, and form an admirable field for the cultivation of social and public spirit. We strongly favor their organization and development at all schools.
“For boys, in addition to the regular games, country runs, leaping and dancing the Highland Fling; for girls, skipping and hockey. For both, swimming is strongly advised.”
Physical Training Among the Ancients.—Greek culture regarded the individual as valuable in and for himself, and sought to promote first of all his full and free development. The idea was symmetry and balance of parts, and, to attain complete and harmonious manhood, mind and body were trained together.
Games played an important part in the life of the Athenians, and their importance in the education of children was early recognized.
From the age of seven to sixteen it is probable that one-half of the day of the Athenian boy was spent in intellectual and the other half in physical education. The aim of the Athenian education was to produce men, independent but respectful, freedom loving but law abiding, healthy in mind and body, clear in thought, ready in action, and devoted to their families, their fatherland, and their gods.
Gymnastics included everything relating to the culture of the body.
The culmination of the Athenian education was dancing. As a supplement to gymnastic culture, it toned down the ardent exercise of the gymnasium and the over-energy of muscular development to the ease and grace which was the Athenian ideal.
The Romans.—The early Romans possessed some traits in common with the Spartans. They were intensely practical and interested in those things whose usefulness was apparent. Education should fit a man for his work in the world.
A Roman structure, quite as characteristic as the Greek gymnasium, was the public bath or therma, found not only in Rome, but in every important provincial town in the days of the empire. Both made provision for exercise and contained a system of baths, but in the thermæ the baths occupied the greater part of the space, and the rooms and courts for exercise were smaller and fewer.
The Influence of Physical Training on the Health and Life of the Individual.—If we believe, with Spencer, that “Education is preparation for complete living,” we must appreciate that good carriage, bodily control, physical judgment, will power, and courage are an important part of the equipment of every man and woman. These qualities are intimately associated with motor coördination, and they are best developed through physical training.
The power of self-preservation, by which the individual is enabled to handle his body easily under all conditions, and so escape physical injury and death, depends upon physical judgment of time and distance, and the ability to run, jump, vault, climb, and swim. These are all fundamental exercises.
The love of play and the ability to play a number of games contribute very largely to health and happiness. The play habit must be acquired in youth or it will never be developed.
The best qualities of mind and character can only be obtained through physical experience and physical struggle. With stalwart physique comes a vigorous type of womanhood, physical courage; with flabby muscles there is apt to result flabby thinking and flabby acting, superficiality, and inefficiency. Next to hunger the most dominant instinct is the play instinct.
The Effect of Exercise on Brain Development and Character.—The growing interest in preventive medicine, and the very great popularity of the opportunities afforded for athletic training, attest to the value which people are beginning to place upon health as an asset in their social, domestic, business, and professional lives.
But it is not generally or sufficiently understood just how great is the effect of physical training on the development of the brain or upon the mental activities. With a strong, vigorous action of the heart there is a feeling of courage and general exaltation, whereas with a weak heart and enfeebled circulation, fear and impaired mental activity predominate.
The manner in which the organic functions are performed not only determine the health of the body, but the temperament and character as well. There is a conservation of energy in the fashioning of the will—only part of the energy is expended in the outward effort, while the rest goes to lay the foundation of a future will, so that exercise builds up faculty and conduct character.
We cannot perform an act voluntarily unless we know what we are going to do, and we cannot know exactly what we are going to do until we have learned to do it. The very simplest movement brings about a change in the organic structure of the brain, and this change leads to more complex movements and further improvement in brain structure. Most skilled movements give more exercise to the central nervous system than to the muscles. Movements calling for a high degree of skill, correlation of the different senses, sense discrimination, fine coördinations, and a rapid and responsible exercise of judgment, all tend, through the action of the association fibers, to a high degree of brain development.
An essential feature of exercise is that a part of it at least shall afford amusement, diversion, and recreation to the overwearied and harassed brain. Hence, the necessity to introduce dancing, field sports, etc. By these means industrial efficiency, communal morality, and social consciousness are promoted. Public amusements of a proper sort are a public necessity.
The great menace to the city is the limited opportunities for healthful play, and over one-third of the population of the United States live in towns. The physical side of the question is the largest, for it involves health, and consequently poise and self-control. It involves a legitimate occupation of surplus energy and its wise direction, and it also involves companionship.
The great object of physical training is then to secure the most perfect development of the body, with the corresponding development of the brain, so that the highest physical and mental efficiency of the individual may be attained.
The possession of a large reserve of muscle and nerve force, ready to be used in any emergency, gives confidence to the individual, increases the spirit of taking the initiative and undertaking grave responsibilities that come into the life of every woman, especially those who are engaged in the business or professional world, and the building up of this necessary reserve force is one of the inestimable advantages of a gymnastic and athletic training.
The Physiology and Pathology of Exercise.—Exercise is divided into active or voluntary and passive.
Passive exercise does not require any exertion of the will power. Massage increases the local nutrition of the parts, stimulates the nerves, and is restful, rather than exhausting, to the overwrought brain and wearied nerves.
Active exercise is further divided into exercise of effort and exercise of endurance. Under exercise of effort are classed all gymnastic feats. The primary object of a gymnastic training or education is to produce a symmetric development of the entire body, while, on the other hand, the training necessary to execute gymnastic feats produces an overdevelopment of one part of the body at the expense of the rest, as is seen in the arm of the blacksmith and the leg of the danseuse. All exercises of effort, whether of strength, skill, or speed, demand and cultivate mental concentration, a rapid response of the muscle to the orders of the will, develop the power to accomplish complicated coördinations, and the knowledge of how these difficult movements may be performed with the least expenditure of nerve and muscle force. Exercising a muscle develops it up to its physiologic capacity, but if a muscle is habitually overworked, pathologic results occur, and instead of a quick, sharp contraction of the muscle, the contractions will be weak and uncertain, and, if carried too far, the muscle may eventually atrophy from overwork.
Exercises of endurance include walking, running, swimming, and rowing—the range of movement in these is much more limited than in exercises of effort. In these, each movement is well within the individual’s powers, yet, by increasing the rapidity of the movements, or by their prolonged continuance, the total amount of muscular work accomplished may be very great. Normally, the contraction and relaxation of the muscles are comparatively slow, so that the poisonous waste matter producing fatigue is continually being removed from the tissues, and not allowed to accumulate; whereas, in exercises of effort, there is no time allowed for the scavengers to work, and fatigue of the most active muscles sets in rapidly.
Fatigue may appear in several forms, depending on the character of the exercise which produced it. When the exercise is sufficiently active, the amount of waste matter thrown into the circulation is greater than can be eliminated by the lungs; breathlessness and palpitation of the heart result; so soon as the equilibrium between waste production and elimination is established, the individual is said to have gotten his second wind. Or, again, a slow pace, too long kept up, will produce exhaustion, so that the products of tissue waste accumulate, the beat of the heart is fast, irregular and weak, the nervous system becomes stupefied, and the muscles fail, to respond to the normal physiologic stimulus. This is a form of fatigue not infrequently found among zealous housewives, in which the demands made upon the nervous system by continual and carking family cares, added to the very strenuous work of the household, exhausts both nervous and muscular systems.
Recovery from this form of fatigue takes a much longer time than the preceding. The individual is too tired to sleep, the night is troubled by disturbed dreams, there is a soreness and stiffness of the muscles and joints which remain for some days. There may be an actual rise in temperature, and the urine passed has a high specific gravity, with sometimes even albumin.
If, now, this overwork is continued over prolonged periods of time, without allowing sufficient time for the necessary recuperation, there follows a slow and profound exhaustion, which is much more difficult to overcome. In this condition the temperature becomes subnormal, the weight decreases, the skin and muscles become flabby, and the skin is pale, the eyes are dull and listless, and the individual is without ambition to rouse herself from her lethargy.
During a contraction each muscle-cell shortens and thickens, giving off some of its substance into the lymph-space which surrounds it, and absorbing food, consisting of carbohydrates and oxygen, from the surrounding plasma. Exercise improves nutrition by the rhythmic, automatic massage caused by the contraction and relaxation of the muscles on the vessels which they contain, while warmth favors the elimination of waste matter.
It has been proved by Hawk, of the University of Pennsylvania, in his experiments on the blood-count of an athlete in training, that various forms of active muscular exercise produce an average increase of 16.8 per cent. in the number of red corpuscles. When exercise is long-continued, the rate of increase lessens, and, further, the number may be decreased in greatly prolonged violent exercise. The explanation of this is that a large number of cells lie inactive in various tissues of the body until they are brought into the circulation by muscular exercise.
PLATE III
Senegalese woman. (From Stratz, after Dr. Rykens, in Shufeldt’s
“Studies of the Human Form.”)
Athletic training has been called “mainly heart training.” Exercises of endurance do not require supreme efforts, but they do accelerate the action of the heart and lungs, and the aggregate of work done is very much greater than in exercises of strength, but the exercise must be sufficiently active to provide for the free circulation of lymph, which is carried on mainly through the massage of muscular contraction.
If a walk be so listless that there is not sufficient movement of the muscles to overcome the pernicious influence of gravity acting on the column of blood contained in the veins of the abdomen, thighs, and legs, the vessel-walls may become permanently overstretched and varicose. The exercise must be sufficiently active for the muscular contractions to empty the lymph-spaces and hasten the circulation. It usually raises the general bodily, as well as the local, temperature of the parts, and so facilitates the removal of the waste-products.
The acquirement of skill lies in the training of the nerve rather than the muscle. A simple movement requires only a nerve impulse to the acting muscle, while a complicated movement requires a wave of impulses to the accessory and antagonistic groups of muscles which control and steady the movement. It is easy to see how, in the first efforts to perform complicated movements, the contractions of the muscles will be jerky and inaccurate, many useless muscles will be employed, and the expenditure of nervous energy will be out of all proportion to the result, and these first attempts at new feats of skill rapidly exhaust the attention. This is well illustrated in the first efforts of a child learning to walk.
Exercises of strength and skill train that alertness of mind so essential in ordinary life. They shorten the period between thought and action, producing what is known as “presence of mind.”
The Relative Proportions of a Perfect Female Form.—The relative proportions of a perfect female form, as deduced by modern sculptors from the Greek statues, are as follows: With a height of five feet five inches, the weight should be one hundred and thirty-eight pounds. The woman should, with the arms extended, measure from tip to tip of the middle finger, five feet five inches; that is, exactly her own height. The length of the hand should be one-tenth, the foot one-seventh, and the diameter of the chest one-fifth that of the height. The distance from the perineum to the ground should measure the same as from the perineum to the top of the head. The knee should be exactly midway between the perineum and the heel. The distance from the elbow to the little finger should be the same as the distance from the elbow to the middle of the chest. The measurement from the top of the head to the chin should be the same as the length of the foot, and there should be the same distance between the chin and the armpits. A woman of this height should measure twenty-nine inches around the waist, thirty-four inches around the bust, if taken under the arms, and forty-three inches if measured over them. The upper arm should measure thirteen inches and the wrist six inches. The calf of the leg should measure fourteen and one-half inches, the thigh twenty-five inches, and the ankle eight inches.
The table on page 297, compiled by Dr. Weisse, the Medical Statistician of the New York Life Insurance Company, “A Table of Standard Weights for Women,” is based on the average weights of over 58,000 insured women, and is given to show the normal relation between the height and weight. A point of extreme interest in the table, and one that is not generally recognized, is the variation in weight, independent of the height, at different ages.
PLATE IV
Juno.
PLATE V
Venus de Capua.
| Ages | 15-19 | 20-24 | 25-29 | 30-34 | 35-39 | 40-44 | 45-49 | 50-54 | 55-59 | 60-64 | Combined |
| Heights | Ages | ||||||||||
| 4’-11” | 111 | 113 | 115 | 117 | 119 | 122 | 125 | 128 | 128 | 126 | 118 |
| 5’-0” | 113 | 114 | 117 | 119 | 122 | 125 | 128 | 130 | 131 | 129 | 120 |
| 5’-1” | 115 | 116 | 118 | 121 | 124 | 128 | 131 | 133 | 134 | 132 | 122 |
| 5’-2” | 117 | 118 | 120 | 123 | 127 | 132 | 134 | 137 | 137 | 136 | 125 |
| 5’-3” | 120 | 122 | 124 | 127 | 131 | 135 | 138 | 141 | 141 | 140 | 128 |
| 5’-4” | 123 | 125 | 127 | 130 | 134 | 138 | 142 | 145 | 145 | 144 | 131 |
| 5’-5” | 125 | 128 | 131 | 135 | 139 | 143 | 147 | 149 | 149 | 148 | 135 |
| 5’-6” | 128 | 132 | 135 | 139 | 143 | 146 | 151 | 153 | 153 | 152 | 139 |
| 5’-7” | 132 | 135 | 139 | 143 | 147 | 150 | 154 | 157 | 156 | 155 | 143 |
| 5’-8” | 136 | 140 | 143 | 147 | 151 | 155 | 158 | 161 | 161 | 160 | 147 |
| 5’-9” | 140 | 144 | 147 | 151 | 155 | 159 | 163 | 166 | 166 | 165 | 151 |
| 5’-10” | 144 | 147 | 151 | 155 | 159 | 163 | 167 | 170 | 170 | 169 | 155 |
| Combined Heights | 123 | 126 | 129 | 132 | 136 | 139 | 142 | 145 | 144 | 142 | 133 |
Dr. Weisse found the average height of women to be five feet four inches, and the average weight one hundred and thirty-three pounds, and that the average male height was three inches greater than that of the female.
Women should range in weight from one and eight-tenths to two and two-thirds pounds to each inch in height. In order to determine your own factor in this respect divide your weight in pounds by your height in inches. Any weight above two and one-half pounds to the inch in stature may be considered as excessive, inasmuch as it adds nothing to one’s mental or physical efficiency, and is frequently the forerunner of obesity, the remedy for which is to live on a selected diet and to burn up more through exercise.
In an ideal condition there is a sufficient quantity of fat to give a pleasing rotundity of outline. In women the tendency is for fat to accumulate, especially after forty years of age, about the waist, abdomen, and upper part of the thighs. In addition to the unsightliness which this gives to the figure, it is often the indication of the fatty degeneration of the muscles, and the heart is liable to become involved, and fatty degeneration of the heart is one of the frequent causes of death. The lack of use of the muscles in these regions of the body, which is caused by wearing corsets, is the reason for the accumulation of fat here. It can be reduced by the proper exercises and regulated diet.
PLATE VI
Venus de Medici.
PLATE VII
Venus de Milo.
The Muscular System.—The bony skeleton forms simply the framework of the body, and, while it determines the general outlines and height for the most part, the weight and general size of the body depend upon the muscular development and the amount of adipose tissue. The bones are not only padded about with muscles, but the muscles are inserted into the bony sheaths in such a way that a development of the muscles causes a development of the bones as well. Again, the stature is increased by the erect position of the spinal column, and this can only be attained by great strength of the muscles which hold the spine erect. The inequalities of the muscles are filled out with adipose tissue, giving a pleasing contour to the face and figure.
Fig. 21.—The skeleton (Lewis).
There are some five hundred muscles in the human body; these muscles vary in size and form, according to their situations in the body and the functions which they are called on to perform.
Nearly all the muscles in the body are arranged in two different or antagonistic sets, and are placed on the opposite sides of the part, so that in acting—that is, by their contractions or shortening—they move the limb in opposite directions, and it is by the alternate contraction, or shortening and relaxation of the two sets of muscles, that the movements of the body are accomplished. The muscles which bend the joints are called flexors, while those that extend the joints are called extensors, so that in order to perform their work, which is that of contraction, the muscles must exert enough force to elongate the opposing muscles, overcome the tonicity of the antagonizing muscles, and lift the weight of that portion of the limb into which they are inserted. It is by the action of the muscles that the body is held upright.
Fig. 22.—Muscular fibers, highly magnified.
Fig. 23.—Different directions of fibers in the three layers of abdominal muscles.
Action of the Muscles of the Abdomen.—The trunk is maintained from falling backward by the action of those huge muscles on its anterior surface. The space between the pelvis and the thorax is called the abdominal cavity. Its walls are almost wholly composed of muscles. There are several important facts to be noted about these muscles. First, that they extend from the brim of the pelvis, into which they are inserted, to the ribs and breast bone, to which the other ends of these muscles are attached; that there are three layers of these muscles; and, lastly, that the fibers of the different layers run in different directions, so that they cross each other, as shown in the figure. The reënforcement of the layers, the arrangement of their fibers, and the manner in which they dovetail into the adjacent groups of fibers give a structure of the greatest possible strength.
Fig. 24.—Muscles of the anterior surface of the trunk (left side, superficial; right side, deep).
Action of the Muscles of the Back.—The trunk is kept from falling forward by the action of the muscles of the back. These are arranged in six layers. The cut shows the direction of the fibers. The first, or outside layer, consists of the trapezius and latissimus dorsi, or, in other words, the broad muscle of the back. On the one side these muscles are attached to the spines of the vertebræ; the sharp ridge which is felt in the middle of the back, and the broad attachment to the pelvis afford a firm base of support. There are other muscles which run parallel with the spinal column, whose function it is to hold the spinal column erect.
Fig. 25.—Muscles of the posterior surface of the trunk (left side, superficial; right side, deep).
Standing erect calls into action almost all the muscles of the lower extremities, trunk, and neck. So long as the line of gravity falls within the line of the feet, the muscular effort required is so slight that it is little more than the tonicity contained in all living muscle. The greater the displacement of the line of gravity, the greater the muscular effort required to maintain the equilibrium of the body.
Muscular Energy.—The muscles of the body, even when at rest, are under a slight degree of tension. When stimulated, the muscle contracts—that is, it becomes shorter and thicker. A muscle can only remain in a state of contraction for a few seconds, because the force of the muscular fibers is more or less exhausted during contraction. The more rapid the contractions, the sooner does fatigue manifest itself.
Like the steam engine, the muscles of the body, in performing their work, produce heat and motion. The fuel which supplies this force is taken into the body in the shape of food; it is prepared for use in the intestinal tract, and from there carried by the blood, to be stored up in the muscles and various tissues as latent force. The muscles contain one-fourth of all the blood in the body.
Heat Production.—By watching a muscle when contracting, we see that there is not only a change of shape, but a dilatation of its blood-vessels, that is, more blood passes through a muscle when it is contracting than when it is at rest, and this increased flow continues for some little time after the contraction has ceased; there is also a rise of temperature. Nearly three-fourths of the heat developed in the body is produced in the muscles at the actual moment of muscular contraction. Hence, we learn that the whole body is heated by muscular exercise; the even temperature of the various parts is maintained through the circulation of the blood. This combustion, going on throughout the entire economy, is the source of all force or energy in the body. In every movement, every breath taken, in the change even of a muscle of expression or the conception of a passing fancy, combustion has occurred and potential force has been liberated.
Muscular Fatigue.—The fatigue produced by muscular contraction may be due to the consumption of the readily available material present in the muscle, to the consumption of the supply of oxygen, or to the presence of the products of combustion, and, if Weichardt’s theory is correct, to these must be added the presence of a definite “fatigue toxin.”
During repose the internal changes of the tissue manufacture new explosive material out of the comparatively raw material already present in the fiber, and the directly hurtful products of the act of combustion are either carried off, or undergo changes by which they are converted into comparatively inert bodies. A stream of fresh blood may exert its restorative influence, not only by quickening both of these events, but also by carrying off the immediate waste-products, while, at the same time, it brings new raw material.
Every movement of the body depends as much upon the proper coördination of the muscles for its accuracy, grace, and force as upon the strength of their contraction, and while the fatigue, of which we are conscious in our own bodies after prolonged or unusual exertion, arises partly from the exhaustion of the motor nerves, it is chiefly from the exhaustion of the central nervous system concerned in the production of voluntary impulses. A man who feels absolutely exhausted may, under excitement, perform a very large amount of work with his already wearied muscles. The will rarely, if ever, calls forth the greatest amount of contraction of which the muscle is capable.
Passive Exercise: Massage.—Massage has been defined as the systematic manipulation of the surface of the body by the hands of the operator in movements of stroking, pinching, kneading, and striking. The passive movements consist of flexions, extensions, rotations, and other movements of joints and limbs by an operator or machine without the coöperation or resistance of the patient.
Massage takes the place of voluntary muscular movement, in promoting the flow of lymph and the flow of venous blood toward the heart, if the proper direction, that of rubbing toward the heart, be followed; while, on the contrary, rubbing down a limb or from the heart actually retards the process which it is meant to facilitate. Gentle rubbing of any part of the body promotes growth, while vigorous rubbing removes superfluous fat.
Massage finds its widest field of usefulness in conditions of fatigue, where the elimination of waste matter must be assisted, and where the nutrition of a part is impaired or destroyed. Muscles can be improved in size, tone, and nutrition; ligaments can be stretched and lengthened, the general circulation accelerated, and overloaded veins made to disgorge their blood. The digestive tract can be stimulated, and overwrought nerves soothed and relieved of their hypersensibility.
The nourishment of the muscle-cell is improved by forcing out the products of fatigue and keeping it bathed in a constantly renewed stream of arterial blood. This alone is sufficient to prevent wasting of substance in conditions where active movements are impossible.
Massage relieves the nervous system by maintaining the nutrition of the muscles, without the expenditure of nerve force required to make them contract. It acts on the central nervous system through the nerves of sense, stimulating or soothing them, according to the nature and the amount of the manipulation.
Mosso and Maggiora, of Turin, have proved, by their experiments as to the effect of massage on the muscles, that muscles were capable of doing twice as much work after massage. It was also discovered that extending of the period of the massage did not produce any greater results in the capacity for work; the full effect was obtained in five minutes.
The action of massage in improving muscle tone, in postponing the onset of fatigue, and hastening recovery from it has long been recognized by athletic trainers. After a hard race or other contest, it is a matter of knowledge among trainers that a five minutes’ treatment will enable an athlete to repeat or continue a performance otherwise impossible.
Massage is the most economic form of exercise on the nervous system. Its potency is shown by the increase of the red-blood corpuscles and hemoglobin, and by the increased rate and force of the heart’s beat without a corresponding change in the arterial tension. It accomplishes these results by decreasing the resistance in the peripheral vessels, by the removal of the products of oxidation, and by mechanically moving the blood-current forward in the lymph-spaces and venous channels. It is thus shown to stimulate the circulation, the respiration, nutrition, and excretion.
Mezger describes four principal manipulations: First, stroking or effleurage, in which the hand is passed lightly over the skin, with the pressure from the periphery to the center, following the course of the venous circulation, and the long direction of the muscles from their insertion to their origin. It may be performed by stroking with the palm of one or both hands, with the thumb or tips of the fingers. The two hands are used upon the large fleshy parts of the thighs and buttocks, the back, chest, and neck.
Second, Friction.—This is a deep circular movement, performed with the thumbs and tips of the fingers, or by one hand open or clenched. The products of fatigue collecting in deep muscular tissues are thus thrown into the circulation, the gentle manipulations of stroking carrying them into the superficial veins. The friction should proceed in the same direction as the stroking movements.
Third, petrissage, also described as pinching and grasping, is performed by picking up the skin and subcutaneous tissues between the thumb and fingers, and manipulating it with an amount of force not sufficient to cause pain. In this procedure the skin moves with the hand of the operator, and the underlying structures are thus massaged by it under the pressure of the fingers. The thumb and fingers are used to reach the individual muscles and small groups. The movements should proceed from the periphery toward the center. It is used to improve muscular nutrition in case of fatigue, in atrophy, in obesity, and other forms of muscular degeneration.
Fourth, Striking, Tapôtement, or Percussion.—Other names are clapping, beating, knocking, or hacking. It has a stimulating action on the skin, superficial nerves, and vessels. Hacking is performed by the ulnar border of the hand, and is used along the nerve-trunks.
Fifth, Shaking or Vibration.—Shaking involves movements of the whole body or region to be treated, while vibration is a lesser motion in which the body or region remains at rest, while the surface and the structures immediately beneath it are affected.
General massage is best given at an hour midway between meals, and never immediately after eating. The parts are at first lubricated with cocoa-butter or vaselin, to avoid the irritation which may follow the friction of the surface.
The first process of massage is the simple stroking to empty out the lymph-channels; the next process is directed to the deeper tissues. This is deep kneading, and skill is particularly required here. As the result of this, the muscles are toned up and the nerves are soothed, so that the total effect is that of sedation, and is followed by the removal of the fatigue toxins, so that if necessary it will be possible to undertake work after the massage that would have been impossible before.
The operator starts with the feet. After both surfaces of the foot have been well covered, the foot is firmly grasped and all the natural movements of the toes and ankles are gone through with. Next the region of the ankle, the leg, which is treated by circular friction by the fingers, by deep grasping of the areolar tissues, and, last, by deep pinching of the larger muscle masses. At brief intervals upward stroking is given from the ankle to the knee, to favor the venous flow of blood-currents. The same process is gone through with in the case of the hands and arms. Especial care is next given to the muscles of the loins, back, and neck. The abdomen is then treated. Massage of this region concludes with deep kneading by the heel of the hand in the direction of the colon. The chest is manipulated upward, from the sternum along the line of the pectoral muscles. The face is not usually treated in general massage, but the sides of the neck are stroked from above downward, along the course of the internal jugular veins. Each part operated upon should be carefully covered as soon as finished.
There is a constant rise of temperature after the treatment, and there should be a rapid improvement in the tone and reaction of the whole muscular system.
The usual fault in giving massage is that too much is given at one time; the maximum effect on a part is obtained in five minutes. Another mistake is to employ too heavy a hand. A patient should never feel bruised or exhausted after the treatment; there should be simply a pleasant lassitude and feeling of drowsiness.
While massage is not essential for the health, it aids materially in maintaining good health, but, in order to be efficient, a skilful masseuse is necessary, as a considerable amount of manipulative skill is essential, which can only be acquired by proper training. Massage, especially when taken in connection with the Turkish bath, is most valuable to remove weariness of nerves and muscles, as well as slight aches and pains.
The Balance and Carriage of the Body.—The erect position of the body is maintained through the exertion of more or less muscular force. The base of the erect human body is the soles of the feet; the smaller the base, the more danger of a fall. The base is the smallest when one stands on the toes.
The way in which the spinal column is carried by the pelvis determines the way in which the whole body is carried. An erect and graceful carriage in standing and walking is not only desirable from an esthetic point of view, but it is most essential to good health. Without a proper development of the chest, it is impossible to secure a normal development of the lungs and vigor of the heart.
It is upon the erectness, suppleness, and strength of the spinal column that most of the power and grace of the body depend. In the proper carriage the natural lines of the spinal column form a graceful and undulating line, and the body stands erect without any particular effort.
The curves of the spinal column are of great value in protecting the brain, as they weaken the force of any shock, which may be caused by striking the bones of the feet.
Common Defects in the Carriage of the Body.—Owing to the common faulty position of school children at their desks, the sedentary occupations of women, and their lack of physical training, curvature of the spine is very common. A stooping carriage is the most common. The head is bent forward, the chest is sunken, the back is round, the shoulder-blades hang outward, the inner edges standing out like wings, and the abdomen is protuberant. The muscles are poorly developed and are weak and flabby.
This stooping carriage interferes with the freedom in breathing, and prevents the proper development of the upper part of the chest and lungs. Hence, it predisposes to lung diseases and tuberculosis, a weak heart, poor circulation, shortness of breath, inability to take proper exercise, and thinness of the blood (anemia).
Spinal Curvatures.—The spinal column is normally directly in the middle of the back; any deviation of this column to either side is abnormal, and the lungs become cramped in a small and non-distensible bony cage. This spinal curvature is most apt to take place in young girls or in adult women after a severe illness, when the muscles of the back have become particularly flabby, and, while still in this condition, improper attitudes are assumed at the desk or other sedentary occupations.
Preventive measures are of the utmost importance. First of all, comes the general strengthening of the body, and of the muscles and bones in particular, by plenty of exercise in the open air.
The habitual attitude at the desk and work should always be carefully observed, and in all sedentary occupations the work should be frequently interrupted to take systematic breathing exercises before an open window.
Where spinal curvature has actually taken place, especial exercises must be taken under the supervision of a physician and instructor. Gymnastic exercises must be supplemented by outdoor games and sports.
The Heart’s Need of Exercise.—The first essential for the maintenance of health, capacity for work, and power of resistance of disease is a normally developed and strong heart. First, there must be secured a vigorous circulation of the blood, and the two greatest helps to this are exercise and deep breathing. In the sedentary posture the heart works at a disadvantage.
For the young, exercise of the heart is the chief object of physical exercises; this object is best attained by exercises of speed, especially in the form of games which require rapid movement. In youth the recuperative powers of the heart and lungs are at the highest.
An adult cannot race and scamper about like a child who plays for hours together, and a disturbance of the heart’s action brought about by strenuous exercise to the point of fatigue of the heart is not so quickly compensated. On the other hand, severe exercises of strength and endurance are not so apt to prove injurious after the completion of growth as they are in the growing youth. Up to the age of eighteen years no feats of strength or of endurance should be attempted. From eighteen to thirty years is the period of life when any kind of athletic exercise can be taken, not only without any injurious, but with beneficial, results. After the period of youth new conditions begin to make themselves felt, and more care must be exercised in the demands made upon the heart. In some persons obesity sets in before they have reached thirty and impedes the action of the heart. About the fortieth year the walls of the arteries begin to lose their elasticity, they become more rigid, and chalk salts are deposited in them. Golf and lawn-tennis are now excellent.
And now it is most essential that exercise be kept up; the heart must still be trained and practised. The fibers of every muscle degenerates when their work is reduced to a minimum.
Proper health without proper breathing is a physical impossibility. It is necessary that those portions of the lungs which do take part in ordinary breathing, and which would atrophy from lack of use, should be fully developed and kept ready for suitable exercise. As soon as the lungs grow weary and the power of breathing is exhausted, the most powerful muscles of the body give way. The pleasure of vigorous walking, especially in mountainous places, is alone for her who can respond easily and readily to the enormously increased demands on the power of the respiration.
The direct result of exercise is an increased demand for oxygen by the tissues, and, to meet this demand, respiration is deepened and quickened, and the beat of the heart is more rapid and more forcible. But the phenomena of increased breathing power and increased heart action benefit other parts of the body. At the commencement of an exercise the contraction of the voluntary muscles called into action compresses the blood-vessels, and impels the venous blood actively toward the heart, which, thus stimulated, contracts vigorously, and propels the blood in increased quantity toward the lungs. Stimulated by the pressure of a large amount of venous blood, the inspiratory muscles contract and elevate the bony structure of the chest, the diaphragm pushes down the abdominal contents, and the air rushes in to fill the vacuum thus produced and to supply the oxygen necessary for the purification of the blood. Supplied with this life-giving element, the blood is returned to the heart, to be distributed again throughout the system, and to restore the loss incurred in the original muscular movements.
In this manner are not only the voluntary muscles enlarged and strengthened, but also the involuntary muscles, particularly the heart and the diaphragm. The increased activity of the circulation stimulates other organs to increased activity. The quantity of perspiration from the skin is more than doubled, the appetite is increased, digestion is more perfect, absorption is more rapid, the hepatic circulation is more active, and the abdominal circulation is carried on more vigorously.
But, on the other hand, actual harm may be done if any one who has been accustomed to lead a sedentary life, or who is not vigorous, suddenly engages in the more violent forms of exercise. In this extreme exertion the heart may be embarrassed by the respiratory action. At the end of deep inspiration the increased pressure of the lungs impedes the flow of blood from the right side of the heart, while the compression of the heart itself by the distended lungs tends to overfill the large veins, and to further endanger the right side of the heart.
During general muscular contraction the arterial pressure is increased at the outset of exertion, before the arteries have become relaxed, and this in turn may lead to the engorgement of the left side of the heart and the circulation through the lungs. To these conditions may be added still another; that is, the exhaustion of the respiratory muscles, partly because of the unusual amount of labor thrown upon them, and partly from the inadequate supply of properly oxygenated blood. If the disturbance of the pulmonocardiac equilibrium be severe and the condition unrelieved, general prostration ensues long before the muscles engaged in the work are exhausted. If, on the other hand, the equilibrium be restored, or when the heart and lungs have been trained to accomplish the restitution, the distress disappears, and the individual is said to have gotten his second wind.
The Gymnasium in the Campaign against Disease.—Women, generally speaking, do not take sufficient exercise. The trend of the present day is for girls of the richer classes to lead an outdoor life, but the women of the middle and lower classes do not obtain enough variety of exercise or enough fresh air, and to the lack of proper outdoor exercise is due their anemic condition, pallor, flabby muscles, and generally ill-nourished appearance.
With the division of labor and the increase of wealth it has become possible for a large proportion of the community to live without much all-round mental or physical activity. As a consequence, there are faulty circulation and defective nutrition, the vital resistance of the body is lowered, and some of its various organs or tissues are ever ready to take on disease. The lowering of the tone of the body through dissipation, want of fresh air and sunshine, insufficient sleep, lack of proper occupation or recreation, also increases the susceptibility of the body to disease.
Senile decay is by no means only a matter of years, but the manner of life led. And very many people over forty years of age fall into a condition of senile decay, merely because they do not take a sufficient amount of active exercise. In consequence the joints stiffen, the muscles relax, and the arteries harden prematurely. The prime of life would be very greatly extended, and old age delayed, if women only continued their active interest in work and systematically kept up gymnastic exercises and outdoor sports.
For all classes of women provision must be made, and sufficient time afforded, to be devoted to some form of mental and physical recuperation and systematic physical training.
Gymnastic versus Athletic Training.—The actual experience of the past few decades has proved that the most effective way of developing the mental and physical powers and the constitutional vigor is through a judicious system of gymnastics, athletics, and carefully supervised plays, sports, and games.
To show which of the two contestants was the “better man” was the primary object of all contests, and this is the fundamental source of the love of games and athletics. England has relied for her physical training upon a large variety of games and sports, instead of an elaborate system of gymnastics. The Englishwomen live an outdoor life, are great walkers, horseback riders, and go in for athletics and sports, and we find that the English women have a much more vigorous physique and healthy and ruddy appearance than their American sisters.
In Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, and Italy more stress is laid on the gymnastic training, and in the Olympic contests, held in London in 1908, the twenty-five women from Denmark afforded a revelation to many of the Americans present.
Medical gymnastics had their origin in Sweden, and are practised largely in that country and on the Continent.
In gymnastic exercises the work done on each piece of apparatus must be tried repeatedly, in order to be learned, and then must be practised assiduously, in order to be well performed. This is what makes gymnastics so valuable as a means of physical training and development. The first essential is to learn to handle one’s own weight, and to have the muscles of the body under complete control, and much of the interest and fascination found in practising heavy gymnastics come from this acquired power over one’s own body, and the ability to make it do the feats and stunts which one desires it to do. This is one reason why children love to climb fences, trees, etc., and test their ability to handle and master themselves in new and untried situations.
But, in order that good and not actual harm may be done, gymnastics must be carried on under medical supervision. Bodily exercises should, as far as possible, occupy the mind at the same time. The fact that gymnastic training is being taken up in our high-schools and colleges for girls is a great gain, not only to the individual, but to the race as well.
The proper development of the body, the clear skin and eye, the upright and graceful carriage, the free swing of the body and limbs when they move, give happiness to the possessor as well as to the onlookers. The esthetic advantages of health are very considerable.
Among the mental and moral advantages to be derived from the practice of exercises and games are a greater amount of self-control, persistence, regularity, promptness, and of general self-confidence. In the playing of games there is opportunity for originality as well as for observation. The unwritten code of honor, the need of accuracy—all these qualities are essential for a successful and happy issue in the great battle of life.
The ideal physical training requires that systematic gymnastic exercises should be supplemented by outdoor games and sports. Gymnastics are not sufficient for an all-round means of development, because the movements are too regular, too expected, and too deliberate, but they are invaluable for health and physical development, for the correction of physical deformities, as a foundation for many games and sports, and for supplementing the same. Many games are so one-sided that gymnastic exercises are essential to prevent the body from becoming unsymmetrically developed, and, further, gymnastic exercises must invariably be the foundation for all games; no games can do what they are really capable of doing without the firm foundation of the best gymnastic training.
Those exercises and games should be selected which are the most fundamental and the most healthy, which will cause the all-round development of the body, the muscles, heart, lungs, chest, a good condition of the blood, good circulation, breathing, digestion, and the getting rid of the waste-products.
Such exercises should teach obedience to law, self-control, regularity, promptitude, and readiness to meet fresh conditions or emergencies, persistence, pluck, and the ready coöperation of nerves and muscles.
The aim of gymnastic exercises should be to secure a symmetric development of all the muscles the body, to correct one-sidedness, spinal curvatures, and other physical defects, and to strengthen all the muscles of the body. In the gymnasium especial attention must always be given to the development and strengthening of the muscles of the back and chest, as these are the ones that are apt to be the most poorly developed in women, since they are less called into play in walking, which is the only exercise that most women take, and on their good development and strength depend the upright carriage of the body, a good chest capacity, and, hence, good respiratory capacity, a vigorous heart, and good circulation.
Exercise after Eating.—Severe mental and vigorous bodily exercise immediately after a meal retards gastric digestion. The entrance of food into the stomach excites the free flow of gastric juice, which, like all the secreting processes, is dependent upon a flux of blood to the secreting glands. Other parts of the body, notably the brain, suffer from temporary anemia, and hence the great tendency to drowsiness after eating a hearty meal. At such a time severe mental work or vigorous bodily exercise must necessarily cause a corresponding withdrawal of blood from the alimentary canal to the brain, or, in the case of physical labor, to the extremities, in order to furnish the amount of blood necessary for the proper performance of the functions of these parts. The withdrawal of blood from the digestive organs has the effect of inhibiting gastric digestion, since there has been an interruption of a free flow of gastric juice.
We are safe then in believing that digestion is favored by rest of the stomach before eating, by gentle exercise of the mind and body after eating, and by an undisturbed mental condition.
An athletic training is productive of a more complete oxidation of the nitrogenous materials of the body, and, therefore, of a more economic utilization of these substances. In those cases in which there is lack of physical training, sudden muscular exertion is followed by a waste of nitrogenous matter.
The Effect of Brain Fatigue on Body Fatigue and Vice Versa.—Brain fatigue makes the sense of touch less delicate. Similarly, muscle fatigue affects brain power; severe muscular exertion may bring a disinclination and incapacity for brain work. Hard exercise uses up nerve force, and also causes the circulation of waste-products in the blood, and so the action of the brain is hindered. On the other hand, many people who do a great deal of brain work know that an early morning walk, a pull on the river, is most refreshing and stimulating, and actually makes them more capable of doing good brain work; that is, if they are in fair training and do not take enough exercise to make them tired.
It is beyond question that a dull gymnastic drill, coming after hours of hard school work, may be a very heavy tax on the brain and nerves, and can hardly be a relaxation. Outdoor exercises, which require practically no brain work and a good deal of muscular exercise, would do good, such as walking, running, jumping, and various kinds of games; while, on the contrary, exercises of skill would be a serious tax.
The suggestion has been widely accepted, that brain work should occupy the morning hours, while technical education, such as singing, drawing, and physical training, should be given in the afternoon.
Marks for Physical Efficiency.—The tests suggested some fifteen years ago by Sir Francis Galton, the eminent English scientist, for assigning marks for physical qualifications were the following: First, breathing capacity; second, strength tests, both of them to be regarded with reference to the stature and the weight; third, quickness of response to a signal, made either to the eye or ear; fourth, keenness of eye-sight; fifth, keenness of hearing; sixth, color sense.
Dr. Sargent, realizing the usefulness of these tests in measuring physical efficiency, included them in the physical examinations of the Harvard students. The strength tests consist in the strength of each forearm, of the back of the legs, the dip, the pull up, and the lung capacity. The combination of these seven tests is known as the intercollegiate strength test, and is the best means as yet devised for measuring the general muscular strength and the respiratory power.
The Advantages Derived from Athletic Sports.—Nothing can take the place of athletic sports to develop strong vigorous bodies in girls and young women. While formal gymnastics have both an educational and corrective value, and lay the foundation for athletic sports, they cannot take the place of outdoor sports to develop organic vigor, physical and moral courage, self-reliance, judgment, self-control, decision, and ethical training, a consideration for the rights of others, and a relaxation, particularly from mental work. Athletics are to youth what play is to children. Groos tells us that a function of play is to furnish an outlet for exuberance and animal spirits in the young.