Why? The Science of Athletics

66 WHY?-THE SClENCE OF ATHLETICS athletic career, for a man similarly circumstanced who never had been an athlete would be just as likely to pass out. All of which, of course, brings me to that much debated question, "athlete's heart". What is Athlete's Heart? Dr. Adolphe Abrahams and his brother Harold, in their book Training for Athletes, state definitely, "We do not believe that in a healthy per son even the most violent exercise can produce strain or disease of the heart." Dr. R. Tait McKenzie, Research Professor of Physical Education, and formerly Director of the Depart– ment of Physical Education, University of Pennsylvania, U.S.A., had put to him, when delivering his Wingate Memorial Lectl;lre in the I 930-3 r session, the question, "What is your opinion about the term 'athletic heart' which we often hear?" His reply was, "An athletic heart is a large heart, and a large heart is very much like any other large muscle-it is developed to supply the definite need. If you are living a very active athletic life, you require a large and well-developed heart. The man who hasn't got it is not able to stand the fat~gue. It will go down as the necessity decreases ; t~at is, if a man leads a less active life, the heart will grow smaller. It is not a per– manent thing. There is no special danger about it. It is, of course, sometimes called 'soldier's heart' among soldiers marching. It is called 'athlete's heart' and it is called 'miner's heart' among men who have heavy work to do. It all means the same thing. It means an increase in the size of the heart to supply the necessary amount of force for increased muscular work." In answer to further questions Dr. Tait McKenzie agreed that the said reduction of size is accompanied by a softening of the heart ; but he pointed out, in that connection, that the only danger associated with such - softening, which is like the softening of any other muscle that is allowed to go out of training, is the really great danger that there is "in a man trying to do what he used to do suddenly, without training".