How to Get Strong and How to Stay SoBlaikie, William
Science
How to Get Strong and How to Stay So
Blaikie, William
Physical education and training
Now, take the slim fellow, and set him to making so many efforts a day with
any given muscle or muscles, say those of his upper left arm, for instance.
Put some reward before him which he would like greatly to have--say a
hundred thousand dollars--if in one year from date he will increase the
girth of that same upper left arm two honest inches. Now, watch him, if he
has any spirit and stuff, as thin fellows very often have, and see what he
does. Insist, too, that whatever he does shall in no way interfere with his
business or regular duties, whatever they may be, but that he must find
other time for it. And what will he do? Why, he will leave no stone
unturned to find just what work uses the muscles in question, and at that
work he will go, with a resolution which no obstacle will balk. He is
simply showing the truth of Emerson's broad rule, that "in all human action
those faculties will be strong which are used;" and of Maclaren's,
"Where the activity is, there will be the development."
The new work flushes the muscles in question with far more blood than
before, while the wear and tear being greater, the call for new material
corresponds, and more and more hearty food is eaten and assimilated. The
quarter-inch or more of gain the first fortnight often becomes the whole
inch in less than two months, and long before the year is out the
coveted two inches have come. And, in acquiring them, his whole left
arm and shoulder have had correspondingly new strength added, quite
going past his right, though it was the larger at first, if meanwhile
he has practically let it alone.
There are some men, either at the college or city gymnasiums, every
year, who are practically getting to themselves such an increase
in the strength and size of some particular muscles.
We knew one at college who, on entering, stood hardly five feet four,
weighed but about one hundred and fifteen pounds, and was small and
rather spare. For four years he worked with great steadiness in the
gymnasium, afoot and on the water, and he graduated a five-foot-eight
man, splendidly built, and weighing a hundred and sixty-eight
pounds--every pound a good one, for he was one of the best bow-oarsmen
his university ever saw.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account