Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1906-10-24
PERIL IN ATHLETICS
PHYSICAL EXERCISE SHOULD BE
TAKEN IN MODERATION.

Muscle Building Is Not Necessary to
Good Health, and Severe Training
Weakens the Heart and Nerves and |
Lowers Vitality.
Once beyond the bounds of modera- |
ton, physical exercise and physical |
training not only weaken the heart for |
a lifetime, predispOse to pneumonia,
cause pulmonary tuberculosis and make
extra possible a dozen other ills, but
they unfit a man from being the ideal
husband and father
DR. Robert K. COughlin of Brooklyn,
says the New York Times, has been
collecting statistics upon and follow
ing the careers of athletes for years.
He examined the contestants in anna
teur boxing Matches and the abnormal
development of the best of them struck
him. Magnificently developed as to
their muscles, they were far from be-
ing men of normal health and strength.
Beyond q certain point the muscular
training was at the expense Of their
vitality. 1t took away from the heart
and lungs. There was scarcely an or
gan of the system not affected and
made less efficient. It seemed worth
while to explore further into the cause
In regard to the benefit to be de
rived from athletics" says the doctor
zone has only to remember the physiol-
ogy of exercise to become convinced
of the fact that exercise, per Sc, may
be very beneficial. The point to bear
In mind is to advise the person to stop
before fatigue becomes evident. We
can do this readily when the athlete is
interested in games for the mere eXer-
else, but such advice cannot be offered
when his aim is to excel in an athletic
contest Here is where athletics do
great harm, and it would be a safe rule
, to advise against all forms Of athletics
in the nature of Il contest.
"Athletics may be said to be bene
fetal until the heart begins to be mark
edly hypertrophied. This is the dan
ger signal
Hypertrophied is the medical mans
way of saying enlarged-that is, the
walls or muscles of the heart increase
In size. Though this is the danger
signal" there is no real danger here,
only warning. The danger comes
when, in consequence of additional eX-
ertion. the heart dilates, it's interior
grows larger, displacing the delicate
machinery, causing the valves to leak.
Then come 'murmurS,' and though
man may live for years with weakened
valves he may die any day and any
moment.
Does physical exercise, then, build
up the general health and make a
better man out Of a man? There
seems to be a question, with some
scientific men saying today very en-
phatically, mot unless that physical
exercise is very moderate indeed"
Health, one of the big English au-
thorities (Sir Michael FOSTER puts it,
does not exist 1t is like happiness.
Each has a goal or limit which, while
| seemingly attainable eludes perfect
| possession. The body consists Of a
number Of mechanisms which have the
closest and most exact relations, and
as they approximate to harmony there
| is health, but when disordered there is
| i'll health.
Not necessarily does a man by phys
| ical training and much exercise be-
come a better man, nor does he even
get better health. Here is the striking
evidence of it in scientific statements
of the day.
To obtain good health, muscle build
| ing is not necessity. One cannot
| Judge of persons health by the size
and hardness of the muscles. We
| have seen that the converse may be
| true To obtain health one must not
| be in perfectly trained condition Ow-
| ing to the effects of severe training on
the nervous system. There is no evi-
dence to prove that athletics and mus
Gle building improve the constitution.
One should always keep in mind the
| fact that built up or hypertrOphied
| muscle has a tendency to degenerate.
| The heart, being a muscular organ,
| shares in this tendency.
But the athlete Is a man who goes
through the severest physical strain
and training. If he boxes, runs, is
| gymnast, a football player, wrestler,
| an expert at baseball or tennis, any
sport requiring violent exercise and
, the constant keeping in trim for it, all
the rest of his body is sacrificed for
| the overdevelopment of these special
muscles. and the rest of it must some
| how suffer.
I All the body should develop together,
as it were Body and mind should be
built up evenly. If overathletics does
nothing else it produces a wearing and
tearing nervous strain.
/ When it comes to the actual athlete,
! the man who specialiZes on some form
( Of physical force and muscle power,
| these conditions are greatly aggrayat-
ed Severe athletic training and mus
Gle building, it Is now an acknowledged
fact of science, are at the expense Of
the nervous and glandular systems.
AN experienced athlete" says one
authority, gave as his opinion that
man sacrifices d certain part of his life
every time he enters a contest of any
kind He also said that a man when
fit as expressed by athletes, is in an
abnormally nervous condition. In 9th
er words, he can never remain at ease
for a minute at a time and, like the
Gagged lion, is forever on the move dur
ing his waking moments. 1t has been
noticed by observers that athletes are
often sickly and particularly suscepti-
ble to constipation and appendicitis
!