The San Francisco call., 1904-10-09

ever one speaks OF physical cul-
ture, or exercise in any form for
4 that matter, every one promptly
thinks OF the gymnasium, or. worse
yet. the athletic field.
Now, that is not the only mode of
exercise by any manner Of means, and
if you did but know it, all the appara-
tus that one really needs to keep the
muscles OF the body in good condition
are 10 be found within your own bed
room. Gymnssiums, if used systemat-
icslly and sensibly, are a paying prop
osltion, but II you are willing 10 search
for exercises you can readily find any
amount that viii thoroughly test and
develop the entire body.
For instance, take an ordinary chair
and see what can be done with it.
Place IL in an open space and lie down
on il, face downward, with the upper
part Of the legs and the lower part Of
the stomach resting on the chair. Nat
urally you viii tilt back and forth a
little, but that is not the exercise.
Stretch the arms out IN front and the
legs in back and then see how high in
the air you can get them, or in other
words, how much Of a bow you can
make. Keep this position for a min
ute until you feel the muscles pulling
and stretching and then touch the
floor with both hands and feet relaxed.
A motion Of this kind can be kept up
until il tires you, which, by the way,
will not be long, but rest assured it will
make the muscles in the small Of your
back and your hips so strong that you
viii never have even as much as a
speaking acquaintance with backache.
There is another movement that is
simple but very effective. Sit down in a
chair as usual and place your hands
on the bottom Of the chair and then
raise yourself as high as you can. This
viii pull the arms and chest vigorous
ly as the weight rests upon the arms.
AS you gain strength, try another part
ef the same exercise that viii call the
abdomen into activity. When you are
raised from the chair try to raise the
legs and extend them in a horizontal
position and hold them there for a few
minutes
Don't be discouraged II YOU cannot
accomplish this feat at first, for IT is
most difficult and will only come with
hard. steady practice. All this time re-
member that a Eoodly supply OF pure
g. d keo
you viii progress more rapidly If you
will acquire the habit Of drawing in
deep. full breaths, filling your lungs to
their utmost capacity.
Another good exercise is to place two
chairs Of an even height near enough
TO serve as parallel bars. Raise and
lower the body until you are tired,
but draw a line between merely tired
and tired out or exhausted When one
aids materially the other deters, and
II is never the part Of wisdom to keep
at thing until 1t is painful or dis
tressing in any way.
The ordinary stool is good instru-
ment TO work with, for II lends itself
10 all sorts and conditions Of exercises.
For instance. put a couple of toe
straps on the floor or Dashboard and
draw the stool up near enough to slip
the toes through the snug openings.
Deliberately bend back until the head
touches the floor and then pull your
SELF into sitting posture again. II
You cannot DO this with comparative
case try IL again and again, for the av-
erage person with ordinary strength
should find this little or no exertion.
To Ice sure The muscles will pull
and probably make their presence
known the next day or so. but after the
first sharp tug is over the movements
should not be painful.
There is scarcely a move that can be
made that does not accomplish some
little good unless it has been too purely
lackadaisicai for anything and in that
event il is like the -breath-iust a
little something that cannot be got
along without.
The ordinary movements of everv-
day life amount 10 exactly what one
makes them. Each and every one of US
stoops over and picks up some article
every day, but we do it in as easy a
fashion as We can. thinking that we
are saving ourselves trouble Instead
Of that we are deliberately storing up