Impressions of Northern Athletes and Athletics

and quantity of exercise which was originally intended for our performance, symmetrise, and strengthen our bodies to a comparatively ideal degree. Two Extremes in Exercise It almost universally happens, that the manual worker, instead of being rendered massive, supple, and strong by his physical exertions, is woefully weak, his joints stiff, his physique poor, bound and inactive. The sedentary worker, on the other hand, although of slim proportions, turns with avidity to physical culture, and by systematic exercise with carefully graduated dumb-bells develops his muscles into handsome and manly proportions, commanding a corresponding amount of strength. The apparent anomaly lies in the fact that when the body is too idle, or, on the contrary, overwrought, the inevitable results are the same – the body, sooner or later, becomes weak or debilitated owing, in the first instance, to the inherent energy and sprightliness of youth being exhausted, and, in the second case, to these attributes being allowed to decline or deteriorate through inaction and laziness. Exercise In the case of a manual worker who may be feeling out of sorts at odd times, physical exercise work[s] wonders. If his muscles are not so well developed, strong, and responsive as they should be, his nervous system shaky and too susceptible to the irritating influence of the many vicissitudes of everyday life; if he is affected with acatharsia, or general impurity of the blood; anaemia, or impoverished blood; gout, indigestion, sleeplessness, lumbago, obesity or stoutness, palpitation of the heart, a common thing usually occasioned by functional disturbances of the stomach, as in flatulence, rheumatism, which is the after effects of chills, dampness, sudden changes in temperature, or the body being exposed to the cold – in fine[?], if he is affected with these or any other curable ailments, a reasonable amount of exercise is the best, most pleasant, and profitable cure. The exercise advocated in this case is termed “will-power movements,” which actuate the will, the dumb-bells being inadmissible. These special exercises have the wonderful attribute of rendering over-taxed, weak, and stringy muscles thick, soft, responsive and strong. The Sedentary Worker The above remarks also apply to sedentary workers, who are even more liable to ailments, owing to the predisposing nature of their vacation [sic]. Sedentary employment, especially carried on continuously, is a sure provocative of constipation, which is a potent evil, causing an increased susceptibility to many other diseases which are incidental to an unhealthy state. Hence muscular exertion is essential to the proper performance of the functions, and those who must sit for hours at a desk for a livelihood should always have their morning and evening exercise preferably with somewhat heavy dumb-bells, preceded or followed by other diversions such as cycling, walking, &c.,