Modern Athletics 1868

OHAPTEE Y. TRAINING. TRAININGis a process which, requires more care and atten­ tion than any otherordeal through whichan athlete has to pass, though its injurious effects have always been overrated by the timid. There is*an old maxim that "everything is good inmoderation,'' and this is as appli­ cable to training as to othetrhings. The object of training is to enable a man gto through violent exercise with the least possibleinconvenience and injury tohimself. An untrained man not only feels the exertion most severely during a race,but his frame does not resume itswonted state forsome time after. On the other hand, a man in good condition wilclontend in a most severe contest, and recover his usuatlemperament a short time after passing the winning post. Whatever may be the effects, whether for good or ill, of athletic contests, E ersonal experience and observation prove thamtuch more arm ensues from any severe bodily exertion, when a man is untrained than whehne is trained. Another very important point, generally overlooked by those who talk about thediseases broughton inafter life throughtraining, is the "going out of training." After a man has been living in "temperance, soberness, and chastity" for a period varying from oneto two months, oerven more, and then, after a race, suddenly indulges eivnery kindof excess and debauch, the reaction is tosoudden, and far greater than nature canbear. There is no general imputationof excess after enforced abstinence, but such a thing some­ times is. When one hears of all the crew of a certain University boat in sucha year having all died at anearly age through the effectosf training, the answesrometimes has been that either there was no race that year, or else that the competitors died from othcearuses besides those originating in training. It must, however, be said, that