Athletic Sports (extract)

The Physical Proportions of the Typical Alan In order to form some idea of the gen­ eral strength of the individual, the results of the several tests were summed up. The amount represented the total strength so far as determined. I should add that, before summing up theresult of the arm or chest tests, the number of times thata person had lifted himself either way was multiplied into a tenth of his weight, the object be­ ing to credit eachperson with the number of foot-pounds lifted, rather than to reckon the number of times the body was raised, without regard to its weight. A tenth of the weight was decided upon in order to reduce the number of figures that would result from the multiplication. To add interestto the work, the girths of the head, chest (natural and inflated), waist, thighs, upper and forearms —these being the parts tested — were summed up. The differencebetween this amount, which was taken torepresent the potential strength, and the amount found to repre­ sent the actual strength, was termed the condition. In tabulating the first thousand measure­ ments, the sumof the figures representing the potential strength and the sum of the figures representing the actual strength were found to correspond very closely in 20