The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-08-09

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The value of a muscle consists only
in its power to move. 1t must be able
to move a certain weight certain dis
tance in a certain time.
Strength in motion. Every machine
ever made by man is valuable only for
what motion it can produce in the OBJ
jects which it is set to handle.
Even when your body is in what
you might think a perfectly notion
less condition, it is moving all the
time. Hold your arm out straight,
either with a weight in the hand or
with all the muscles straining as if
you were holding a weight. You will
observe that, no matter how steady
your nerves are, there is a constant
tremor and trembling of the whole
limb.
Do you know what is happening?
The nerves that telegraph the order
to the muscles to do the work are
sending a rapid succession of shocks
to each sinew and muscle, faster than
any man-made telegraph instrument
could click. These shocks make the
muscles contract and expand so fast
that they vibrate. So, even when a
man is doing the very thing that he
thinks is overcoming motion, he is
only doing it by the means of motion
The reasons the muscles vibrate in
Cessantly when they are held tense is
that the muscle is naturally a con-
tractor. Like a powerful rubber
band, each muscle strives to pull to-
gether every time it is stretched out.
The nerves keep ordering: Stretch
OUT Stretch Quit" and the muscle
obeys, thus vibrating all the time.
Now the stronger" a muscle be-
comes, which means the bigger and
thicker it becomes, the more powerful
ly does it strive to, contract, just as
a rubber band is harder to stretch out
the thicker and wider it is.
Therefore, the stronger a boy or a
man gets to be, the more important it
is for him to preserve the elasticity of
his muscles if he expects them to do
the full work for which their size en-
powers them.
1t is this great fact that makes the
expanding and limbering exercises so
valuable.
If you go to big football, baseball,
lacrosse hockey. polo, or other games,
you will find that the man always in
dulge in a little frolicking or horse
play just before the game is called.
They do it to Timber up" All ath-
letes know how necessary this is, al
though many of them don't know just
why.
Savage uaces all lay stress on being
timber. they have been taught by
years of experience that quickness and
activity are the best forces of mus
cular strength. Indeed, in an open-air
life they are vital.
The ancient Aztecs and Toltecs and
the still more ancient Maya Indians
of Central America used to play Won
derful game of ball, which shows to
what a pitch they had developed agil-
ity The ball was put and kept in play
without being touched by the hands
once during the game. 1t was struck
at by the hips and shoulders of the
players, and it was a disgrace for any
one of them to touch it otherwise. So
perfect did these ball players become
that some of them could strike the ball
with their hips and shoot it through
a stone ring that was fastened high
above the field. This ring was just
large enough to permit the ball to pass
through it. You can imagine what
dexterity was required to perform this
wonderful feat; yet the old Indian le-
The Filipinos also have a game in
which the ball is never touched by the
hand. 1t is kept in play altogether
by being struck with the side of the
leg.
Now what is this agility that is
brought into play by such games? 1t
is nothing more or less than Quick
Strength. The muscles have been
trained to do their maximum of work
.rk ~ kIak 4e he
| final object of every form OF athletics.
To produce this perfect action of the
muscles, it is necessary that they be
| stretched as much as possible.
Magnificent stretching exercises are
| those that can be taken on the trapeZe
and the flying rings. But it is eX-
| tremely difficult for most boys to find
a place where such apparatus can be
erected out of doors, and the gymna-
! stun is too combining a place for va
cation time, when the sun and wind
must be utilized as much as possible.
The best exercises to do without the
| aid of apparatus are the "tumbling"
! exercises, which cannot be done bet
! ter than on grass or earth. When you
| go in for them, you must expect a
| few falls at first and if you fall on
! grass ii won't hurt half as much as it
| would on a gymnasium floor.
! orally is considered more a trick than
| an exercise, is one of the finest lin
! berers" that there is. You will find
it hard to get yourself upside down.
and you will be tempted to let some
other boy help you by lifting your
heels till you are perpendicular.
But don't let him do it. In most
/ forms of athletics. such help does more
| harm than good. because often it ena-
! bes boy to do thing without really
/ having caught the knack OF 1t. For in
! stance. many a boy let's others sup
port himself in the water while he
! tries to swim. The result usually is that
| he wastes his time and has to learn
! all over again in the end before he can
swim alone. This is because. when sup
ported by other boys or by a life pre-
server. he learns to strike out and
! to kick before he learns to sup
! port himself in the water whereas the
/ only right way to learn to swim is to
/ learn how to float in the water be-
fore bothering about strokes or leg
motions.
Thus in standing on the hands, the
first important thing is not to stand
with the head down but to get such
command over the body that you can
get your feet into the air and still
retain your balance; and that you can
learn only by yourself
II will be a help. sometimes. 10 learn
near a wall. so that you will be able
to support yourself against IL after
you have gotten into position.
You viii find that II you control all
! your muscles properly you viii be able