The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1888-01-31
HEAVY LIFTING.
Various Modes of Lifting from
the Shoulder.
AT ARM'S LENGTH BY UPWARD PULL.
ICopyrlghted. 1888. by the Author.

only will be a slow mover, and what Blaikie
calls ''musclebound." meaning that the mus
cles themselves, by their undue or dispropor-
tionate development, limit the play of limb
Without agreeing with him that the full de-
gree of lissomeness which can be attained by
exercises OF contrary tendency is desirable
we must admit that q muscle-bound condition
is Instantaneous. Yet lifting exercise, pur-
sued with due consideration of the necessity
for an adequate amount Of correcting exercise
is exceedingly useful, because in our daily life
we constantly find occasion for the use Of the
lifting powers of the body
Lifting from the shoulder ought to be but .
portion of the lift from the ground to the full
height of the oustretched arm or arms. To
lift pair of weights from the ground, slowly
raising them to and past the level of the
shoulders, and thence to thrust them upwards
still slowly, till the arms straiohten, is a much
severer exercise than to raise the same weights
from the shoulder only. And this last again,
is more trying than to send up the same pair
OF weights with sufficient velocity to carry
them past the dead part of the Lift, which
ranges from the height of the mid chest to a
few inches above the shoulder /, who can
make no claim to exceptional strength, can
readily Tor could year or two once, and sup
pose | still cam lift any one not exceed
ing hundred and forty or fifty pounds
i'll weight to the full upward reach of
two-thirds of that weight slowly from the
ground to above my head, Or even, slowly,
from the height of my waist. The way to lift
any one easily i'll that manner is 10 place one
hand upon the waist, passing the other under
tie knees so that the body OF the carried sinks
somewhat, a motion resisted by the elasticity
of the arms and legs of the carrier and con-
yerted into an upward motion from q height
favorable to lifting-Such rapidity of rise
being communicated that the body is carried
pf off
which the arms readily straighten and
carry the weight to the full height. The
exercise is not to be recommended, how yer,
as a safe one for the person lifted; because the
person lifting has TO shift the hold of both
hands on the way up, and if this is not deity
done an unpleasant fall is apt to result. (The
last time | attempted feat of the kind [ was
standing before II tall wardrobe with my wife,
when she remarked, joking, ! wish | could get
into that top Shelt-into whose receSseS she had
been vainly reaching. | naturally pretended to
take her in earnest, and in another second she
was on the level of that shelf, but, | fear, not
more favorably placed for getting what she
wanted than when on the floor. In that case,
however, there was no danger of fail because
of the Wardrobe's position)
Nathalie, a French female gymnast. was
able, according to Farini, to take two iifty-six
pound weights from the ground, one i'll each
hand, and put them slowly above her head.
Let those who can easily put up two such
weights with quicker motion try the slow
movement even with much smaller weights
and they will recognize the difference. Farini
pointed out to Charles Re&de that putting up
an agile gymnast is mere child's play to this,
because in dealing with the live object, the
strong stoops, the agile springs, and the strong
arms are at an angle OF forty-tive before the
weight tells; now proceeds Rcade, "the arms
as they near the perpendicular can hold up
three times the weight they can put up Gle
should rather have said that the arms as they
near the perpendicular can put up three times
theweight they can lift up before they reach
that position; they can, however, lift up from
the ground twice the weight they can push up
to their full upward reach.
Lifting at arms length exercises, SO far as
the arms are concerned, an entirely different
set of muscles from those used in putting uD
weights. Nor can strength be so satisfactorily.
tested, or compared, by the former as by the
latter exercise. A long armed man is here at
disadvantage, and judged by the weight he
can lift might appear weaker than q short
arm man really OF less power in the arms. I
remember the disgust with which, when at
college, L found men whom | knew to be no
stronger than myself able to lift greater
weights at arms length-till | no.
ticed that the unusual length of my arms.
which span horizontally fully half foot more
than my height, put me at disadvantage.
owing to the extra leverage involved. Our
strongest man at Cambridge university then
1856 TO 1860, was my time) was L believe Mr..
Duncan DarroCh who roWed "four' i'll the
VARSITY boat in 1865 the year when Cambridge
rOwed the famous race, which they won by q
feet, with the London club eight, manned by
Casamajor, Playford, the Paines and other
famous oarsmen of the days before sliding seats
were invented) Howard Snow, afterwards
one of the masters Mt Elton and now-but with
altered nanIe-head master at Cheltenham
college, and himself a famous oarsman spoke
of the Cambridge boat of 1851, (and bracketed
first in Classics in 1SjSl wrote of Dauoeh, i'll
somewhat doggrel rhymes