Why? The Science of Athletics

CONSIDERATIONS IN RELATION TO COMPETITION 145 strengthening the leg .muscles and increasing stamina. All said and done, however, the walks are undertaken mainly as training for the heart and lungs. With the aforementioned object in view, the walking training is carried out upon set principles, which will be enunciated in a moment. Before doing so there is a word to be said about tidal breathing. The facility to breathe deeply is of Tidal major importance to the athlete, but unfor- Breathing tunately the circumstances of modern life make shallow breathers of most of us. Riding in motor-cars and trains, sitting long hours at sedentary jobs, and an ever-growing national disinclination to take exercise postulate circumstances that do not create the conditions favourable to the stimulation of the respiratory centres in the brain, which cause the lungs to put out big efforts. That is why any sudden violent exertion so quickly makes most people breathless. A person sitting still does not need to breathe very deeply and indeed it is surprising, in the case of a man driving a motor-car and rather inclined to "hold his breath" in the ever present strain of watching the road, how very little oxygen is taken in at each inspiration. But a person who is a shallow-breather makes use of only the upper portion of his lungs, the lower lobes of which become almost atrophied by misuse, and in the case of such a person contracting pneumonia it is the lower part of the lungs which first become congested. It is an interesting surgical fact, moreover, that a post– mortem examination of the lungs of a heavy smoker, particularly in the case of sedentary workers, shows the upper portion of the lungs to be blackened, while the lower portion remains pink, thus proving to what a small extent the average person makes full use of his lung capacity. To all people the proper functioning of the lungs is important, to the athlete it is vital, not only for the elimination of carbon dioxide and the proper provision K