Athletic Sports (extract)

The Physical Proportions of the Typical Man The strength of the back and legs was tested by a dynamometer (seeFig. 2). The strength of chest, tri­ ceps, and back was deter­ mined by the number of times that thesubject could raise his weight between the parallel barswhile sup­ porting himself on his hands. The number of times a person, while holding on to the sus­ pended rings, could raise his own weight by con­ tracting the arms was the manner of testing the bi­ ceps, chest, and upper back. The strength of the chest and tri­ ceps of all who were unable to lift their own weight was tested by means of a dy­ namometer constructed for the purpose (see Fig. 1). The strength of the fore­ arms and hands was tested by a hand-dyna­ mometer (see Fig. 3). The capacity of the lungs was determined by the number of cubic inches of air the individual could blow into a spirometer. The manometer was used to test the strength of lung-tissue and the force of the expiratory muscles.