Athletics of To-Day 1929

Athletics of To-day might be considerably increased by a practice exercise with a shot attached by a swivel to a triangular handle. One might start with a Slb. shot and work up to a weight of r2lb. to 14lb. The exercise would be carried out as shown by the four figures in Fig. 34 on page 275. Then, again, some very good work can be done with a chest expander, turned to one's own uses, and also with those elastic strand '' developers '' which one fixes to the wall. The delivery punch, or jerk, is, I believe, best acquired with a punch ball of the type that is suspended from an overhead platform. A glove should be worn and the ball struck with the side of the fist nearest to the little finger, in the same action as is used in throwing the javelin. TRAINING The system of training will be best explained perhaps by a brief personal reminiscence. When I went into training under the late S. A. Mussabini in February, 1924, he kept me at two tasks for a number of weeks. My job was to take long walks and chop wood with a heavy, long-hafted axe. I had been throwing 130 ft. to 140 ft. in the autumn of the previous year. Although I hated walking and the chopping made my hands sore and my back ache, I stuck it out, but I wanted badly to begin throwing again. In the second month'' Sam" sent me five-mile runs with instructions to ll shack" along on my heels with every muscle loose, and he gave me a r6lb. hammer and a shot to play with. When the real work started I did half an hour's fast walking at 7 a.m., followed by a cold shower and breakfast. After rr o'clock I was allowed to hop, skip, sprint, jump, and pole vault or hurdle. Between 3 and 4 p.m. I did light throwing for style only, and the trouble old Sam took over that phase was simply amazing. He made diagrams on the ground, in the air, and on paper. He took photographs and made sketches, timed everything with a stop-watch, and finally brought along a cinematograph machine. After supper he was all in favour of