Athletics and Football (extract)

7° ATHLETICS training must always tend to fail in proportion as they are elaborate, because the end to be acquired is perfectlysimple— to become hard and muscular,and at the same time to be in perfect and robust health, and sound in everyorgan, and no rigid rules can possiblysuit all persons alike. Just as every man over thirty should, it is said, be his own doctor, so every man whohas been a couple of seasons ' on the path' should be able to train himself. At the same time there are certain general rules which help a man to attain his best form, and these weshall not fail to enumerate. First of all, then, before a man begins to train for any event of any kind he should have a good substratum of health and strength to start upon. If the would-be athlete is very badly out of condition, and fat and flabby from laziness and high living,it will do him no harm to take a Turkish bath to start with. Some smart five-mile walks followed by a good rubbing down with a rough towel on returning will soon make himfit to begin his training, if he has in the meantime kept regularhours and lived on a modicum ofgood healthy food of the kind to which he is usually accustomed. Without this preliminarycare, not onlywill the runner get stiff and jaded by beginning violent exercise too quickly, but he will incur the greatest possiblechance of straining or snappinga muscle,and thus placing himself hors de combat for a season. Granting, however,that our novice is, from the effects of football,walk­ ing, tennis, or cricket, in fair ordinary condition, we willfollow his course through the different branches of athletics. And firstas to sprinting. SPRINTING, or SPRINT-RUNNING, is the technical name given to the running of those short distances over which a man can spurt or ' sprint' at top speed without a break. The rough- and-ready experience of the last generation, which almost stereotyped the distances and conditions of racing, decided that 300 yards was the limit of sprinting distance, and that the next distance for racing purposes—thequarter of a mile—was something sui generis, and distinct from sprinting. Probably