Success in Athletics and how to obtain it

56 SUCCESS IN ATHLETICS arms swing loosely to resume their position. As the right leg, with knee forward of course; passes the left leg, the pelvis begins to be turned for the lengthening out of the stride, an,d at the same second the body rises up on the toes of the left foot, from which comes the impulse for the next stride forward. It must not be understood from the foregoing that the arms are allowed to swing loosely across the body of their own volition simply because there is nothing better for them to do. On the contrary, the arms are worked stro11gly across the chest; indeed, it comes into our minds that the first-class walker's attitude is not unlike that assumed by some of the olden-time pugilists. The whole of the movements should be loose and easy, and it will be seen from the detailed description just given that the body carriage is slightly forward as the stride is made, but perfectly upright when the leg is grounded, and herein lies the whole secret of why walking is harder on the athlete than running. It is because the runner, by reason of his forward carriage and bent knees, gets the shock of landing more evenly distributed and absorbed than does the walker, whose whole weight comes down in a direct thrust over the grounded leg. It has already been pointed out that in walking– races practically every muscle in the body is brought into vigorous and forcible use. It will therefore b.e obvious that a man who takes up this branch of athletics will do well to get his body into really hard condition during the winter months by plenty of good solid work in the gymnasium. In this way a month should be passed before any really strenuous work on the road or track is attempted. The athlete will