Athletic Training

THE ATHLETIC HEART 151 put upon it than any other part of the body. Naturally, constant exercise, such as running and rowing, will enlarge the heart, but it is an enlargement which takes place gradually and in the same proportion that the other organs of the body are enlarged. The larger and stronger the heart the slower will be its beats. In other words, a heart with a pulse-beat of 60 to the minute will do the same amount of work as another heart with a pulse-beat of 7i. But why should one be concerned if his heart, beating 60 times to the minute, sends the same amount of blood through his arteries as his comrade's heart, beating 7i to the minute? In proof of my theory let me quote the results of some experiments which I made with one of the most famous heart and lung specialists in the United States. Our pur– pose was to determine the immediate effects of vigorous competition upon two classes of men, the trained athlete and the untrained student. First, we took a trained champion mile walker. The physician drew a diagram of the man's heart on his chest, then this man walked a mile in 7 minutes. His heart was examined immediately afterward. The