The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1889-05-29
TRAINING FOR THE FIGHT.
JOHN |. SULLIVAN GETTING READY.
a Fighters Feelings After Being Punished
Recovering From Injuries-DOctor-
ing Between Rounds-Descrip-
ton of the Ffstic Art

ludJ ccCllOu vi blc bOuull9 10 NCIl Ia
miliar to me, for it was at the same place
trained for my fight with Ryan some six
years ago. The climate there is good, the
ground is dry, the place is free from
malarial affections, and the thermometer
seldom ranges above 90 degrees or goes
below 50. But have lately changed my
mind. ! have decided to train near New
York
will give as careful a description OF
my course of training as | can Here is
what 1 90 through every day from the
18th of May until the day of the fight:
get up about 6 o'clock and start
on a ive-mile walk. When / re-
turn from that exercise l am
rubbed down with coarse towel
and rest for about half an hour; then l
am ready for breakfast. That meal con-
sists of chops or beefsteak and a cup of
weak tea. / am not allowed to drink cot
fee, because coffee has tendency to make
a man bilious. Tea, if it snot too strong,
and you don't drink too much of it, is
good for the nerves. Did YOU ever notice
that nearly all people who have grown to
an old age have been very fond of their
cup OF tea? think that fact proves that
tea is good thing for the human system.
After breakfast | sit around awhile,
read the newspaper or chat with my
trainer, and then for half an hour l exer-
else with two-pound dumb-bells or swing
a small pair of Indian clubs / also skip
a rope. That may seem a very womanish
exercise and the statement may make
some people smile, but the fact is that
skipping the rope is an excellent
exercise for limbering up the joints;
most every joint in your body
receives benefit. believe that
such exercise Is excellent for young
girls. though they have a tendency to
overdo it, in which case. OF course, it is
very harmful Another exercise l indulge
in at this time is punching the football,
which is suspended by a rope from the
ceiling. All these exertions occupy the
time until the dinner hour. They are
continued pretty constantly one after the
other, slowly and easily, and not to the
degree Of fatigue.
For dinner | eat roast mutton, roast
beef or roast chicken. l eat only the lean
of the meat at this or any meal; the fat
is cut off and thrown aside. / consider
chicken, broiled or roasted, good food !;
the meat is dry and somewhat strengthen
ing. There is no choice between roast
beef and mutton; one is as good as the
other. After resting a while after dinner
GO out on my long walk and run-fOr a
distance of twenty miles l walk and run
alternately. This is the most Sc
we're exercise Of the day, and has for
Its object the strengthening OF the
legs and the wind. When l come in
from the long run / am rubbed down
with a coarse towel after which l
Jump into a bath-tub with salt in the
water, or if | am in a neighborhood where
there is sea bathing l take the benefit of
that. ] also let the water run over me in
a shower. Then / am rubbed dry with a
coarse hard towel, after which my trainer
rubs me down with his hands-always
rubbing in a downward direction, not
both ways The object OF this rubbing is
20 harden the flesh; if you rub both ways
instead of one it would have tendency
10 make the flesh sore, because under this
high training the flesh becomes very sensi-
tive until, under proper treatment, 1t be-
gins to harden. By this time it Is o'clock.
Alter dressing myself in ordinary costume,
/ pass away the time for an hour in read
ing or chatting, and then | have good
appetite for supper. This Is not such a
heavy meal as breakfast or dinner. ! gen
J. orally eat little cold chicken, some dry
bread II always eat the bread dry, and
drink bowl of weak tea. As rule L eat
no dessert, though am sometimes allowed
a little rice pudding. | don't smoke or
drink any kind OF liquor, though for din
ner | sometimes take bottle OF Bass ale.
That drink, taken in a very moderate
quantity at the noon meal, consider
beneficial; IL is, TO a certain extent,
strengthening | 90 to bed at . o'clock
and, It is almost needless to say, l enjoy a
good nights rest.
Now the reason that don't eat fat is
becaus tat makes fat The object of train
ing is TO get rid of your surplus fat, to de-
velop your muscles and to harden your
flesh, and to get what fighters call your
wind" all right. An ordinary man can
not run up flight of stairs, or two or
three blocks, without being "winded. "
II makes no difference how strong a man
may be, if his wind" gives out easily he
Is powerless- A man can reduce his
weight by sweating, but the proper way to
reduce your weight is by exercise and
harden your flesh BY rubbing. OF course
1t is necessary to take sweats; they help
man; but you can not rely upon them
altogether.
Again, as to eating l do not eat large
meals during the day. And / eat food
that is adapted to make strength. l do not
indulge in what the cook calls palate
ticklers.' | suppose many business men
eat more than do, but l don't think their
appetite can be a healthy one. Then,
again, they eat a light breakfast, a moder-
ate lunch and consume a large meal at
the close of the day.
People sometimes express surprise that
prize-fghters recover so quickly from the
punishment they receive in fight. After
the fight Is over the fighter is given hot
bath. that takes the soreness out OF him
and keeps the blood in circulation. If be
has bruises the blood hasn't time to con
geaI. For very bad swellings the tincture
of iodine is used. If your eyes are all
bunged up you simply apply bot water
Just as hot as you can bear. and that will
soon reduce tEe1a to their natural state
i suppose the great secret of the fighter
quick recovery is the TACT that he is in
such a high state of health; nature does
most OF the work they say if you cut an
Indian with hatchet-I mean a strong
healthy Indian that hasn't been soaked in
bad whisky-the wound will neal of Itself
in few days. Give a white man the same
kind of blow and it will kill him.
fighter don't feel so bad while bat
Ting; be is In a state of activity and the
excitement helps to keep him up. After
the fight he feels stiff and sore. Between
the rounds his mouth is sponged out to