Why? The Science of Athletics

146 WHY?-THE SCIENCE OF ATHLETICS of oxygen, but because certain circumstances, contingent upon the fatigue . of athletic exercise, tend to create a habit of breathing through the mouth and via the stomach; this is particularly the case with unfit people taking athletic exercise. Apart from the considerations just mentioned, when a person breathes through the mouth cold air enters the lungs untempered by filtration and warming in the nasal passages, and this may well induce bronchial trouble when training is done in cold weather. Further, improper breathing has an adverse effect upon the stomach itself, which becomes constricted by the downward expansion of the diaphragm, whereas the stomach should be freed sideways by proper lung expansion in chest-breathing. This causes heartburn, and may possibly be a cause of "stitch". The athlete therefore should learn to breathe deeply and to breathe through the nose. Scandinavian Method E~plained When Scandinavian coaches send their charges walking, in winter training, they insist upon a man breathing in through his nose for five strides and exhaling during the next ensuing four strides. After a few days have gone by the man is required to . inhale during six and to exhale during five strides, - but when he can inhale during eight strides he is taught to allow six strides -for his exhalation, after which he will always exhale during two striCl·es less than the number taken for inhalation. "In during eight and out during six" represents normal breathing for an athlete doing walking training, but a man with good lung <::apacity can reach the proportion of I2 to IO, or even I4 to 12, without very much trouble. This method of breathing is not easy to acquire quickly, but perseverance creates regularity of long deep breaths and an enormous increase in the depth of tidal _ breathing. There are two other points ; the first, that the athlete should attempt to fill the lower parts of his lungs first and empty them last ; and the second, that the