region expanded as fully as possible. Do not draw in the waist line.
The importance of this admonition cannot be too strongly emphasized. If
you maintain a full abdomen, thyroid-stimulating movements seem to tone
up, increase in size, and strengthen all the vital organs lying in the
gastric region.
In further proof of the value of the exercises described in this work as
a means of building unusual vital vigor, note the remarkable stamina
and virility of men possessing an unusual development of the neck. Where
the neck is broad and well filled out at the back, you can depend
absolutely upon the possession of great vital vigor. It is quite plain,
therefore, that by merely adopting some method of developing this part
of the spine you will have accomplished a great deal towards obtaining a
high degree of vital stamina. Some of the strongest men in the world
can be found among professional wrestlers. Many of those following this
profession retain their athletic ability a great many years beyond the
athletic life of men in other branches of sport. In fact, champion
wrestlers sometimes retain their championship honors for a score of
years beyond the age at which champion boxers and runners retire. It is
a well known fact that wrestling requires extraordinary strength of the
upper spine. Some of the most strenuous wrestling holds use the muscles
of the upper back and neck in a very vigorous and violent manner.
Consequently wrestlers are noted for what are often termed bull necks,
thus plainly indicating the exceptional degree of vital vigor which they
possess.
Accordingly it is well to remember in connection with these exercises
that many movements which assist in the development of the neck
muscles also serve to stimulate the activities of the thyroid gland. You
cannot go through the process of training for a wrestling match
without stimulating this organ to an exceptional degree. Therefore, in
following the suggestions which are given in this chapter, you are
securing the full benefit of a vitality-stimulating process that
ordinarily can be obtained only by going through a prolonged course of
wrestling. There is no necessity for you to develop a "bull neck," but
you should make the most strenuous efforts to acquire a sufficient
development of the back of the neck to give it an arched appearance. The
more nearly you can approximate a development of this character, the
more vital will you become. And along with this superior power will
come a similar improvement in every other capacity, mental as well as
physical.
That there may be no mistake, let me reiterate: That the spine must be
held erect at all times when sitting or standing. That frequently
during the day when sitting or standing the chin should be brought down
and in with a backward movement, the head being turned at times far
either to the right or left side, with a vigorous twist of the strongly
tensed muscles.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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