Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-06-18
THE QUESLof BEAUTY
Simple and Health Giving
Exercises in the Country.
RUNNINGAND CLIMBING
UNLIMITED FRESH AIR ALONG
WITH BOTH.
The Proper Way Told How to Timber
UP Stiff Or Unused
Muscles.
RUNNINGAND CLIMBING

Written for The Evening Star BIZ Katherine Morton
Is walk mere walk to YOU or is 1t
Infinitely more? Do you know how to get
every possible benefit out Of it, Do you
reallze that the tenth OF a mile may be
made more precious than long cross-coun-
try tramp? 1t is how you walk, not how
much you walk, that makes you young and
strong and happy.
1t Is true that II you are summerine in
the city your walk cannot give you as much
all-round exercise as 1t can in the country
You would appear somewhat unconventional
walking up Broadway or State street, or
whatever your main business street may be-
kicking stone ahead of you or performing
fancy steps. Nevertheless. there are GER
tain exercises that you can take while walk
ing between your front door and the street
car-exercises that are not noticeable to any
other pedestrian and that are building up
day by day a great, full chest, throwing
oack your shoulders and giving you pal.
or lungs so sturdy that they will be able D
fight for their rights against host of mi
crObes.
These exercises, as you must be guessing,
have to do with your breathing mechanism
Take advantage of them wherever you may
be. If the air you inhale is clean country
air, cool from some bay or stream and
sweet with grass and flowers, you can't get
too much Of it. I wish that you could bot
tie 1T somehow In your lungs, ready to have
on hand for the rest of the year after you
return to SCOT and smoke and city doors
In an indirect way, you do The lungs
| are SO benefited by their period of whole
| some breathing that they are in good con-
dition to face tho less wholesome city con-
ditions
1t will be long enough time to inhale dur
ing five steps and eNhale during five. If
your speed Increases count six steps to the
breaths. If you are free from spectators
hn cura fO tph Ia fhro, he
hale through the open mouth. In a crowd
ed city street you may not like to do this,
and so this. the best kind of breathing,
must be confined to your room with Its
open window.
The Chest Forward.
When breathing deeply, throw the chest
forward and the shoulders back. 1t is we'll
for awhile to let the hands rest lightly on
the chest. the elbows held out on a level
with the shoulders. The arms will become
tired of this position long before the lungs
become tired of their heavy exercise. Rest
the arms by letting them drop loosely at
the sides or resting the hands on the hips.
One of the most famous of our American
actresses. one who never went to a dra-
matte school and gave herself all of the
early training which she received, says
that she taught herself a graceful walk by
practicing with her hands on her hips.
This position encourages the shoulders 20
dlO lIlTO" themselves backward
and it gives an elasticity to the tread. Try
1t for mile, resting the arms occasionally,
and see how much more vigorously you
will walk. Lifting the arms in this fashion
seems to lift the whole body. to relieve it
OF it's readily acquired droop.
If you can find hill. either in the city
or out of 1t, take advantage Of that hill.
1t may prove a godsend to you. Walking
I'd 1t quickens the breath and makes the
lungs empty and refill quickly and vigor-
ously. So long the painting Is not severe
this is good for you unless you are VIC
tim to asthma or a weak heart. Try the
same hill at the same pace every day.
Notice how soon you come to take 1t with
scarcely any effort. The lungs are getting
| used to the effort and the respiratory ac-
ton is Quickened hardly at all. 1t is time
to seek a sleeper hill.
When Muscles Ache.
Walking down hill has its advantages
too--they are to be found in pretty leg If
you go down great many hills, keeping up
the exercise for long time, you will no.
tice soreness in the calf of the leg and
under the knee. Do you know what that
| means? Unused muscles are suddenly be-
ing brought into play. You have used them
too much for the first trial. but the soreness
and lameness will gradually disappear and
the next time you take the same walk you
will not suffer. If you make practice of
this walking down hill you will soon see a
marked change in the legs Measure the
calves when you begin, then again at the
end of month, two months, three months.
If there is no hill in sight, you must in
vent one from your own ina gination. Climb
a hill on a level. Take your alpen stock If
you like, and use it to assist you in this
mental clambering. Lift the feet high
ss possible and imagine that you are i'm
planting them far above at each step. This
is practically the same exercise as the stair
climbing one which a Frenchman teaches
corpulent ladies to take in their boudoirs.
In their case there is no advance as the
steps proceed. but If you are tramping In
the country you can take the high step
while You are going on and not waste any
time If You have destination to reach.
Your stick should be with you on every
country walk not only for the real need of
it that may arise but because 1t may help
in the exercises which you are to take Incl
dentally. If you know anything of the use
of wands, taught in our gymnasiums, you
will see how much thu walking stick can
do for you.
Of She Goes!
Place 1t back of the neck, clasp the ends
with both hands, and run with it. This po-
sition forces the chest forward SO that you
are in readiness to get the best out Of your
| run. Run until the breathing Is quick. the
perspira ton starting and the cheeks bright
ened, but not until you are exhausted.
Rest from the scamper by walking slowly,
| letting the stick down; do not stop moving
entlfely. "A stop is dangerous, TOT even on
| the warmest summer days cold turks,
awaiting the unwary, and you must take
no risks by cooling too suddenly. This is
| one of the pitfalls of the athletic girl.
Women who take much exercise are often
| laid up with pneumonia or kindred diseases,
and the opponents of physical culture are
| given a chance to say, Il told you So
| They refuse to see that the error does not
| lie in the system of physical culture, but In
| the carelessness of the athlete. who Is so
strong that She believes herself able to
withstand any strain.
Start Again.
When you are cool and breathing quietly
you may run again. This time the wand
may be held behind the waist. A splendid
exercise for Strengthening the whole body
| is to run with 1t held high above the head,
as high as your extended arms will reach.
| If you chance to pass some fruit hung
| high in a tree, strike at it with your stick.
| 1 don't mean to encourage trespassing-I
| am not referring to forbidden fruit. But
reaching, when 1t is a legitimate kind of
reaching, is most excellent thing for you.
| l am afraid, in spite of poetic justice. that
| it would be just as beneficial to cramped
| muscles if the fruit were not your own.
| When you are following the line of rail-
I do % IL 70