The average sportsman of today is in most cases a plain, unpretentious
business man of sedentary habits and with a consequent physical
condition a little below the normal, but fortunately he retains a
primitive unsatiated love of the outdoors. This same business man needs,
as few others do, exercise to regain and retain health and efficiency.
Without this exercise his occupation which keeps him indoors results in
physical inactivity reducing his usefulness and happiness and markedly
affecting his tenure of life. The average span of life is between 45 and
60 years. The age limit should extend from 80 to 100 years and this can
be made the rule if we but go about it rightly. A large percentage of
American business men have functional heart disease because of lack of
exercise. They could well afford to walk daily until tired out in order
to rid themselves of drawn faces, sallow cheeks, and weak hesitating
steps. To them pedestrianism affords not only profit but real pleasure
in getting away from the routine of city and office irk and hieing to
the glorious out of doors.
Years ago man was a savage, and in spite of the restraining influences
of civilization which have acted for centuries the spirit of this
primitive life is still strong within. There is after all but one class
of men who _live_ in the world and they inhabit the wild places--the
rest of us only exist. We do not thrive in cities but simply adjust
ourselves to their unnatural and perplexing conditions. In the out of
doors sheer physical existence may afford the richest pleasure.
It is commonly conceded as a well established hygienic fact that
unexercised muscles become useless and inefficient, a condition which
only properly directed physical exertion will restore to assist in
meeting the exigencies of our modern top-speed life. This exercise must
be varied to escape tediousness. Indoor gymnastics is not enough:
outdoor games provide proper lung aeration but these are not feasible
for all: pedestrianism is the simplest, safest, most spontaneous, and
hygienic means of exercise. For most people no other sport is such an
untasted experience, yet none is so productive of healthful results or
so well adapted to the means, physique, and temperament of the masses.
Indeed in this age of mechanical transportation we have almost forgotten
that we were endowed with a pair of legs, given us for the sole purpose
of walking--an essential exercise in the building up of healthy bodies
and minds.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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