Personal hygiene and physical training for womenGalbraith, Anna M. (Anna Mary)
Science
Personal hygiene and physical training for women
Galbraith, Anna M. (Anna Mary)
Physical education and training; Women -- Health and hygiene
Exercise should not be taken after long fasting; hence, never before
breakfast, nor immediately after a hearty meal. An hour after
breakfast or a light lunch, or two hours after dinner, is the best
time for regular exercise.
A certain amount of daily exercise is essential for the preservation
of the health. A healthy woman should be able to walk five miles a
day, at the rate of three miles an hour, without feeling any sense of
fatigue.
In order to secure the greatest amount of benefit from exercise, the
mind should be entirely free from care during the exercise, so that
the woman should leave her cares at home and give up her mind and
body to recreation while she is out-of-doors.
Regularity in taking exercise is absolutely essential to secure good
physical development and to maintain the body in a condition of
health. A fixed hour should be set aside for this purpose every day.
No definite rules can be given for the exact amount of exercise to be
taken at one time, but the occurrence of fatigue is the signal for
rest; after a five minutes’ rest, exercise may be again resumed, to
be stopped again at the same signal of fatigue. Perhaps three periods
of exercise, alternating with rest, may be taken, but, in order to
do good and not harm, the individual must always stop before she is
tired.
A period of free exercises should begin with a twenty minutes’
practice, including movements for arms, legs, back, chest, and
abdomen, with especial emphasis on the correct poise and carriage of
the body and deep breathing, and it should terminate with running;
or, if in a class, with a running game.
For those of mature age and sedentary habits especial care must be
taken not to overtax the heart, always beginning with the simplest
movements and stopping at the first signs of fatigue.
In the gymnasium the periods of exercise generally cover forty-five
minutes, with frequent intervals of rest in between. Even here an
invariable rule should be never to exercise to extreme weariness.
All exercise should be followed by a shower or needle bath, and a
vigorous rubbing with or without alcohol. Very delicate women who
have been unaccustomed to taking exercise should rest on the couch
or bed for one hour before proceeding to dress. It is well to sleep,
if possible, and in this way they will find the good effects of the
exercise very greatly increased.
=Gymnastic Dress.=—The usual and best style of gymnastic dress is a
bloomer costume, the bloomers coming above the knees, long stockings,
and thin, flat-soled shoes without any heels. The dress must be loose
at the neck and waist, or it may be cut low in the neck. The sleeves
are preferably short elbow sleeves.
If the exercises are taken at home, the woman may wear a combination
undersuit, with stockings and broad-soled heelless slippers. The
lighter the dress, the better, so that there shall be no sense of
weight or restriction about the neck, waist, or shoulders.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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