The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1905-06-10
CORRECT WALKING is ONE OF
THE BEST EXERCISES.
BY Julian Hawthorne in n. Y. Ameri


done well, is one of the best things
man could do for himself
AnatomiSts, indeed, explain to us tina
even the ordinary human walk is
complicated process, a miracle of bal
ance, fall constantly prevented: unit
/ we feel like the famous EnglishmaI
who was lost in admiration of himself
at the discovery that he had been al
his life talking prose without ever sus
pecting it. The fact remains that min.
! ety-nine out Of hundred persons wall
wrong, and wonder, perhaps, to heal
walking eXtolled as a good excuse. They
walk every day, and never noticed any
particular benefit from it.
The ordinary persons walks too slow
ly for one thing Two and half oil
three miles an hour is about his aver.
| age. His step, even at this gait, is two
| or. three inches shorter than it should
be, so that he seldom straightens his
knees, and his calves, in consequence
and those big muscles at the back OF
his upper legs get no work. His feet
come down listlesSy; he shambles
! Meanwhile his trunk Tolls down be
| tween his hip bones and his chest anC
shoulders are slack. His head is pro-
jected forward. He swings one arm
because he can't help it; but, on the
other hand, he is probably carrying d
cigar or a cigarette so that arm is kept
| at his side with the elbow bent. He
cannot be said to draw his breath; he
! simply let what must come into his
! lungs do so automatically, and through
| his half-open mouth. So far as possible
| he transports himself hither and thithel
as if he were still slouching in his chair;
and the exercise" is of about as much
! use to him. Our Quadrumanous An
| cestor of Arboreal Habits could walk
as well as that.
You must not, when you walk, sham
! bic like an ape; neither must you strut
| like a rooster. You must walk, like a
| king-the king of creation. Here is
/ something worth doing: do it as if you
| comprehended its dignity, grace and
purpose. Hold your head in such a
way that you always feel the back OF
your neck lightly pressing against your
collar. and keep your chin in and your
lips shut. Don't try to draw your
shoulders back: that will only bring
your head forward again; but lift UP
and square out your chest, and draw in
that abdomen; you will find that your
back is now fiat. and that your arms
swing rythmically and vigorously as
you step out And let your step be free
and bold. as if your foot were on your
native heath. and you were proud of it.
Inhale the air as if you liked it, deep
down, till your ribs swell out. and keep
taking it in While you make at least
three steps; with practice you can make
six or seven, or more. Let it come out
again naturally, in gust. AS you go
forward your shoulders will swing spon-
taneously from side to side; do not ex-
aggerate this swing, but don't suppress
it either. Remember that the main
object of walking is to get ahead, but
observe also that your right or left leg
is thrown forward, the corresponding
shoulder tends to make a lunge in the
same direction, while the other shoulder
recedes. The whole body accommodates
itself naturally and fleXibly to the
movements of the legs. The drawing
up of the chest extends the waist
which acts as d pivot on which the
alternating swing of the shoulders
works.
Now. let us attend to your legs.
Throw your leg straight forward to
distance proportional to it length, and
to the speed of your pace. Do not send
it forward loosely, and not stiffiy. either.
Let your heels strike the ground
smartly and firmly, and your body will
instantly pass over it and beyond it to
the ball of the foot. the knee straighten-
ing as it does so. Be not in too much
haste to get that foot off the ground.
push or spring, and at this moment you
must be conscious of the contraction,
or hardening, of the front and back
muscles of the upper leg, and then of
the calf, which imparts the onward
shove to the next step. The import
ance of this tensing of the leg cannot
be exaggerated. 1t marks the difference
between the walk and the shamble be-
tween exercise and Sinking. The
gluteal muscle should participate in
this contraction, and if you don't know
what the gluteal muscle is. look it up
in the dictionary; there is nothing OBJ
scure and mysterious about it. Per-
form all these movements with a GER
tain elasticity and harmony, as if you
and your limbs belonged together. and
were not a fortutious aggregation of
parts.
This is walking Fast walking is al
lied to it, but is not quite the same
thing. I will speak of it another time.
But this is just everyday walking, at
the rate of four miles an hour or
trifie less. You must train yourself to
be judge of pace-to know just what
self get so slow as three and half
miles an hour, but if you must for any
reason, walk slowly, you can get exer-
else out of it by contracting the leg
muscles vigorously. AS soon as you
have begun to get an idea of what real
walking is you will find out for your
self how to do this.
I see thousands OF persons upon the
streets every day. who might be greatly
their physique ana health, if
they would but use the time they take
i'm dragging or shutting themselves
from place to place in real walking
hobbling. dawdling. dragging,
are much more wearisome than walk
ing is, when you have found out how
to walk 1t will do you little or no
good to go shambling and slouching
down Broadway, instead Of taking the
car: but if you will walk down, keep
ing your body light and alert, conscious
Of the play of your muscles breath
ing as if you were alive, and filing out
your chest stoutly, it will do you more
good then you would belive.
If were to get myself lin condition."
as the trainers say and were restricted
to some one form of exercise to ac-
it, 1 would select walking; for
all real walking is good both for the
surface muscles of the body and for the
as some ingenious person
called them. And fast walking-six
niles an hour and upwards one of the
hardest exercises in the whole cate
CORY. But you could count upon the
fingers OF your two hands. almost. the
men in New York today who have