Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-05-15
TRAINING OFF FLESH.
The Mistake Young Athletes Make Is
in OVERRIDING the Thing.
A Y0UNGSTER WHO RAN A NILE.
The Statement That Men of Muscle Die
Young Is Misleading.
TWENTY-FIVE YEARS ON THE TRACK
TWENTY-FIVE YEARS ON THE TRACE
rMRIrTEN For THE DISPATCH

A0"oSV PoSsiUie pOIut. reIuenDeT one
warm evening in June, a few years ago,
when went to the athletic grounds to ex-
ercise, finding a young stonecutter on the
track. Judging from his appearance he had
| already run some distance. He ran half a
mile more and then stopped him. "what
| are you doing?" asked.
Training, sor,'' he managed to gasp
| after while. 1t seemed to me, rather,
that he was trying to kill himself. He
wore thick woolen jersey, and the sweat
was fairly dripping from him. His cheeks
were pale except for bright red spot in
the center of each, and he was breathless to
the last degree. Though his legs refused
almost to support him, he had intended to
run twice more around the quarter-mile
track.
He Ran = Mile Every Day.
He told me, when he had recovered a
little, that he intended to challenge fel-
low workman, who had boasted of his
speed, to o one-mile race. He had begun to
'train," and each day for week after his
work was done he had run mile as hard as
he could.
"But it seems, sor," he said, "I do be
running slower all the time, SO to-day I
thought I'd run two miles,
In this way he expected to get in condi-
tion for the race in month. More likely
at the end of that time he would have been
in better condition for an undertaken. His
mistake was the mistake of all beginners.
He was simply oyerworking himself. In
other words, he was wasting muscle faster
than he could replace it.
1t needed but little argument to show the
young fellow that he hadn't gone about his
training in the right way. He rested for
week, during which he regained the six
pounds he had Grained off, and then he
began again, but this time under the care of
an experienced trainer He had some nat
ural ability and improved SO rapidly in his
running that he was unable to make match
with his rival. He is to-day fairly good
man at distances of from one to five miles.
What Training Should Result In.
The objects which the athlete usually has
in view when he begins to train are:
First-To get rid of all tissue, the loss of
which will not impair the strengthen a
word, the 'dead weight" of the body.
Second-To improve the "wind.
Third-To develop the particular sets of
muscles to be used in the actual contest, to
the highest degree possible.
The first step toward the removal of fat
is in judicious regulation of the diet.
The athlete, particularly if he is inclined to
take on weight rapidly, diminishes the
amount of fat-producing foods. He avoids
fat meat, sugar, starch and butter and limits
his liquid food to minimum. His bill of
fare consists chiefly of lean beef or mutton,
varied by poultry, eggs or fish, stewed veg
etables, greens and fruit and jelly or bread
pudding for dessert. The bread used should
be about "a hours old. For drink weak
coffee or tea, the latter iced, and with lit
tie lemon juice added, are best.
Such diet in itself will ordinarily re-
duce the weighr somewhat, but, by exercise
and rubbing, the fat is removed more
quickly. If the athlete is so heavy that he
must train off great deal, he wears a heavy
sweater" or jersey, while exercising, in
order to induce perspiration. He must
then be very careful not to drink much, else
he will regain in few minutes the weight
it took hours of hard work to get rid Of
Developing the Lung Power.
By "wind'' we mean the power of the
heart and lungs to do their work properly
in spite of continued exertion. Everyone
is familiar with the distressful feeling oc-
easioned by unusual and violent exercises
This distress arises simply from the inabil-
ity of the lungs to supply the proper amount
of oxygen to refresh the blood and to get
rid of the poisonous carbonic acid gas,
the production of which is greatly increased
by muscular work, and from the inability
of the heart to circulate the blood freely.
1t is necessary for the athlete, therefore,
no matter in what branch of sport he in
tends to compete, to take as part of his
training, exercise that will develop the
powers of these organs. Running is by all
means the best method of developing the
wind, and for this reason is practiced not
only by the runners themselves, but by
oarsmen, boxers and football players as we'll.
To develop any particular set of mus
cles, those muscles must be given a great
deal of work. The athlete begins by exer-
else well within his powers, and then, by
gradually increasing the demands made
upon the muscles, they become accustomed
easily to perform work that before would
have been impossible. 1t is taken for
granted that during his course of training
the athlete will submit to such regulations
of hygiene as Will tend to put his system
generally in a condition of perfect health.
Why Athletes Die Young.
He is expected to keep regular hours, to
get sleep enough without becoming lazy, to
avoid unusual excitement to get plenty of
pure air and sunlight, and if he is smoker
to give up tobacco. A word as to the al
legged dangers of training, Athletes die
young" is warning have often heard.
Of course they do, if after training they
plunge into all manner Of excesses But it
isn't athletics or training that kills them
In truth it is the regular temperate lives
they have to lead while in condition that
keeps some well7known professional ath-
letes out of early graves. On the other
hand, know of one amateur athlete who
last winter celebrated the twenty-ffth an
niversary of his first race by winning, in a
competition lasting hours, the figure skat-
ing championship of America. The same
athlete in one afternoon won the five, ten
and twenty-five mile skating championships |
of America At another time in one day |
he rowed in four races, each of mile and |
half, and in each race rowed with the |
winning crew. This athlete has record |
for walking that has stood for years; and
he has won score of medals for distance |
running.
Now, if training brings one to an un-
timely end, why is not this man, after |
quarter of century of active participation |
in athletics, at least broken down and Grip |
pied, instead of being an active, energetic |
business man, who has given up athletics |
simply because he has no longer the time to |
devote thereto? WALTER G. DoHM.