Success in Athletics and how to obtain it

WALKING 55 possible on the toes of the straightened-out back leg as the heel of the leading foot takes the track, and also of stretching out the leading leg as far as possible by twisting the pelvis sideways, so that the track of the feet come in the same straight line. (See the photo– graph of Webb, fig. 21, p. 66.) But before going into details, let us consider the carriage of _the body. The correct poise of the body is perfectly upright, with the chin somewhat thrust forward and the whole body working strongly on the hips, propelled by the legs, and aided by the proper swinging of the arms. As to the arm work, this is much stronger than in any of the running events, and is somewhat as follows. As the right leg comes right out to the front, the right arm (with the elbow bent) swings back level with the right hip-bone, and the left arm (also with the elbow bent) swings across t_he body until the hand is level with the point of the right shoulder, and vice versa; the legs alternate. Picking up the walker in his stride, and taking his action in detail, let us start from the point where the left heel comes to ground and the front part of the left foot is still off the ground. At this point the knee is of course firmly locked, the toes of the right foot are just leaving the ground, the left elbow is drawn back and the left hand is level with the side, the right hand is across the body opposite the point of the left shoulder. Next, the right foot leaves the ground, the sole of · the left foot comes on to the track, and the left leg is directly central under the body with the knee locked. The left leg, upon which the whole weight of the body is resting, is now kept stiff and well braced back, as the right leg swings through to the front. The