Why? The Science of Athletics

/ WHY?-THE SCIENCE OF ATHLETICS consensus of authoritative opinion that a sane system of athletic training not on!J strengthens the heart but also renders that organ better able to withstand the sudden strain of violent effort, to sustain better the demands imposed by athletic fatigue and to resist a~ sudden form of shock. At the risk of repetition, I would emphasize the unani– mity of expert opinion that the athlete has far less to fear during his period of active participation in athletics than in the earlier years of his retirement from track and field. The tfiing to avoid at all costs is any sudden change in one's mode of life. Even at the end of an athletic season the athlete should go out of training gradually. -When he hangs up his spikes for the last time he should find some milder form of physical sport ; in any case he must moderate his eating and he must go on taking a reasonable amount of exercise. Now, what does the heart do and what are its functions in relation to the athlete? In the first place an increase in muscular activity calls for a corresponding increase in blood supply, firstly to make a greater volume of oxygen available and secondly to remove the waste products which induce fatigue. It is by -proper_ training that the necessary adjustments in the human system are brought about. When a man is in normal health and functioning normally his heart does not get tired and no amount of exerCise is likely to strain it, unless there has been some pn~vious cardiac defect, but the hearf can become dilated by excessive exertion and thereby the seeds of future disease may well be sown. For the reasons just mentioned, training is of vital importance because, by training, the vaso-motor centres which direct the supply of blood to the body can be accustomed to concentrate more and more upon the muscular system, while the heart also is being trained to develop a correspondingly more rapid and more forceful action. In the foregoing connection it may be pointed out