Athletics of To-Day 1929

352 Athletics of To-day from the nervous system to the muscles ? Can one even make a mental cinematograph of one's own movements? I dare say we do so in remembering the style displayed by another athlete, but in our own case I am sure that we can neither visualise nor memorise a series of intricate movements taking place at speeds of thousandths of a second. A man does not remember what he has learned, or even done, in training, but rather recollects the sensations he has experi– enced. If this were not so, then a man learning the art of shot putting from a book should prove himself straightaway a first class performer, provided his strength were equal to the task. As it is, the sequence of sensations correspond to a muscular and nervous system sensory cinematograph of the whole evolution practised. Athletic skill depends upon the co-operation of the muscles, nerves and nervous system, plus the ability to assume certain postures and to perform certain actions in the most economical manner. The importance of nerve training is further proved by the fact that we have only one means of making a muscle do more work. That is by sending it its instructions to increase its activity along a larger number of nerve fibres, so that more muscle fibres may take part in the required activity. The necessities and dangers of v ryday life cause us to perform certain acts for our self-pr servation quite unconsciou ly; and in the same way, the athlete can, by training his nervous system, acquire an almost equal facility for performing any required athletic evolution automatically. He can, moreover, aid his progress a lot by just thinking s nsibly and con cutively about his event and by educating his n rvous ystem and muscles. Why does the hunting man, "hen he tak s a toss, roll to save his n ck and limbs? He is not in the habit of falling, and so the act of self-preservation is seldom call d for. He would not admit such to be the case, but I fancy that he acts as he does because he has often thought of falling and has thereby trained himself to perform the necessary action of rolling. The power of conditioned reflex action can also be produced