[15] “There is method in walking, method in running, method in raising
a burthen with as little effort as possible. The [correct] practice of
an exercise leads then to a diminution of muscular expenditure, to an
economy of work, whence results an apparent increase of the strength of
man who does the work.”--Dr. Fernand Lagrange, in “The Physiology of
Exercise.”
[16] “After a certain period of study difficult exercises have been
learned, and may then become automatic. Their effects will then be
very different. Is it not quite a different thing to _amuse_ oneself
with dancing from _occupying_ oneself with learning dancing? Dancing,
riding, rowing, even running, when they have long been practised, need
no more [conscious] brain work than walking, which is above all an
automatic exercise.... It actually needs an effort of will to oppose
an action which has become unconscious and to change an acquired
pace.... We see at the first glance the great hygienic superiority [as
increasing the oxygen in the system, removing waste products, relieving
the brain fatigued by intellectual work, &c.] of exercises which can be
performed automatically, with economy of nervous energy, complete [?]
repose of the brain, absolute [?] inaction of the psychical faculties.
The work of the human system is then performed by the coarser parts of
the machine, and fatigue is first felt by the subordinate agents of
movement.
“But for certain bodily exercises the period of apprenticeship is
indefinitely prolonged, and the movements need an increasing guidance
on the part of the nerve-centres and the conscious faculties, because
these movements cannot be constantly identical, and unforeseen
emergencies occur. Fencing can never become an automatic exercise,
notwithstanding the tendency exhibited by certain parries and thrusts
to become habitual actions and to be performed instinctively; the
movement cannot always be performed in the same manner and follow
always the same order, for they are subordinated to those of the
opponent.” Dr. Fernand Lagrange, in “The Physiology of Bodily Exercise.”
[17] Of the value of exercise as a cure, the French nerve-specialists,
Professors Proust and Ballet,[*] speak most emphatically. What they say
about neurasthenics will apply in general to those who feel disinclined
to move:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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