Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-11-02
TRAINING THE BODY.
Three Leading Methods of Making
Men Physically Perfect.
Mr.. CHECKLEY's NOVEL THEORY.
How John N. Latin Trained Fred Gebhard,
and MuIdoon's Ideas.
WILL POWER IN CURING OBESITY


rcoRREsPoEDENCE OF THE DIsPATCH.I
NEW YORK, November 1.-The diverg-
eueies of opinion among teachers of physical
culture are at present so great that the man
who would train" his body is apt to be-
come more and more bewildered as he in
vestigates the merits of the various systems
now in vogue.
The three men best known to New Yorkers
as trainers are Edwin Checkley, John NJ.
Latin and William Muldoon. Superintend-
ent of Police Murray and John L. Sullivan
are among the recent pupils of Muldoon.
Mr.. Frederick Gebhard is Lahin's latest
subject Mr.. Checkley is now reducing the
| flesh of one of Brsoklyn's most prominent
4 citizens, and has advanced IDEAS in training
so revolutionary as at once to challenge COM
parsons between the results of his and
others systems. To hear Checkley, one
would much rather not have Muldoon's or
Lafin's training as gift. Not that Check
ley speaks disparagingly of these eminent
athletes, but because that which they de-
clare beneficial to the body he believes posi-
| lively detrimental.
TRAINING BY voLITIoN.
| The Checkley system is founded on this
| basic principle: Instead of drawing water
punching the bag or pulling rowing ma
chine for the purpose OF making your
muscles grow and your lungs expand, by an
| effort of the will restrict the contraction of
| the muscles. II lifting 50-pound weight
| from the floor will cause a visible swelling
of your bieeps, and so exercise that muscle
| and produce what is conceded TO be a de-
| sirable result then by the Cheekley system
one may ''go through the notions" of rais-
ing the weight without doing any work at
all-for raising the weight would be 'work'
and, by an act of Volition, swell and so
exercise the same muscles and derive the
| same benefits from the exercise.
| Muldoon believes in work for his pupils.
Latin prefers outdoor sports to outdoor
work and rowing machines to most other
apparatus for indoor exercise. Instead of
| setting man to raking hay ne accompanies
him on long fishing, shooting, swimming or
! rowing excursions.
| Checkley, however, not only thinks, but
| he sets others to thinking. He exercises
his brain as we'll as his body, and develops
both through the very superiority Of mind
| over matter. If a man may stay at home
| and by Will power make himself as tired as
he would be at the end OF day on the nay
rake it stands to reason that good many
men would prefer the Checkley system. 1t
| appeals to the curiosity above all others.
MURRAY, SULLIVAN AND GERHARD.
A day of Murray under the Muldoon
regime was, in few words, as follows: Ex-
ercise with light dumb-bells; firing"
stuffed balls across the room and catching
them when fired back; pounding block
of wood with two twelYe-pound hammers,
one in each hand; long walk, the latter
portion OF it done on run SO as to heat the
body up well; wrapping in blankets for
sweat and rub down; salt shower and an
1 L Il IL At.
varied with horseback exercise and general
gymnasium work. A day of Sullivan under
the Muldoon regime was much more labor
ious and included longer and more violent
exercise in the way of running, wrestling,
punching the bag and walking.
A day with Latin is quite different.
"Freddy" Gebhard has been with him for
some time up in Pike county working up
muscle and working off tat. A day of Geb-
hard with Latin up in Pike consists of this:
Rising at or $50; Short brisk walk be-
fore breakfast; start for the woods after
breakfast with gun and dogs, or up trout
brook with rod and creel, in flannel shirts,
stout walking shoes and knoekabout cos
tune; brisk run, just long enough to set
the heart pumping blood through the arteries
on the return in the evening; then a rub
down and sponge bath, and dinner or sup
per; then little smoke and talk and bed.
work.
| MIND TRAINING MUSCLE.
Now, that was not the way the ancient
Greeks trained for the Olympic games, the
victors in which were the favorite models
for the worlds greatest sculptOrs. Theirs
was an open air training, however, and
running long distances, throwing weights,
wrestling and the eastus were their favor
ite exercises. Yet Mr.. Edwin Checkley
| \ -
modern athletes would greatly surpass the
Greek records. "Muscle moulding schemes"
saws Checkley, ''that makes men die in
middle life NAV be pictorially interesting
and may sound heroic, but they are not
for that wise average mortal who wishes
simply to feel light and strong, and, if
need be, to find himself ready to enter
safely on any reasonable physical under
taking, There is more straining than train
ing in a good many popular systems prae-
ticed in and out of the college gymnasium.
What do the adherents of other systems
think OF the following: "a man covered
with hard muscles will often display great
immediate power, but not endurance, and
of after health he can have little chance.
His muscles feed upon his vitality and
threaten his general health. On the other
hand, a man who keeps his muscular sys-
tenn in state of comparative softuess and
| nlRu ueAlOAlltI CdhAOb OHlg SEGds
strength, but his powers of endurance are
surprising. He is easily kept in training"
Checkley recommends that girls and boys
should as soon as possible and first of all
learn thoroughly how to breathe, stoop,
stand, walk and sit properly; the proper
uses of the joints, as the shoulder, hip, neck,
etc. ''Ieach them tumbling, both girls as
well as boys" says he. 'There is nothing
better. Iadvise generally mixed diet"
OF the various athletic sports, Mr.. Check
ley expresses this opinion: 81 look upon
tumbling as the acme of physical periec-
tion because the person so fortunate as to
possess this ability you will notice is gen.
orally strong, agile and intelligent; the very
nature of the movements must make him
quick, self-reliant and TO a certain extent
courageous.
GET STRENGTH FIRST.
bicycling, boxing, fencing, dancing and
running are all good, but what 1 claim 10
that the power to enter any OF these sports
should be gained first. 1t is rather in the
conservation of energy we gain strength
and not in the expenditure Of force. The
power to do these things should be made
the effect and not the cause
Mr.. Cheekley, who can lift 1, 800 pounds,
two-thirds of the work in thar feat being
done, he says, by the will, prides himself
specially on his cure for adiposity. This is
what he says OF his cure: ''I first teach the
person how to carry the body, then how 10
| oain the control of tha r,n.oIo. e .ba ah-