Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-04-22
ADVICE TO ATHLETES.
Over Exercising is More Dangerous
Than None

This is the advent of the season when
the thoughts OF some young men turn Idly
TO the muses.. and of others very ener
getically to their protgess in athletic fields
and to the active development of their mus
cies," said a weIl-known Washington ply
stefan, himself an athlete. 80 word to
the would-5e young Shadows of the capital
will not be aIniss.
THE ebullitlon of youth and the instlac-
tive emulation of the strong and the skill
fui has been the undoing of many a useful
career. and this Is one of the hardest
problems that physicians interested In the
matter and athletic teachers, have to
contend with. In their haste to excel their
fellows in the sports of the day, and in
their intense desire to put on muscle the
three organs which are brought most forci-
bly, into activity in the attainment of this
end are either overlooked or forgotten by
the subject. and they are the heart, lungs
and kidneys. The young athlete. absorbed
only IN the enlargement and the strength
ening of his physical frame, notices from
time to time that perhaps his heart is
humping like a trip-hammer beneath the
embroidered emblem of his college or club
upon his sleeveless exercise shirt, or that
his breath is coming in short, quick gasps,
which for the moment gives him feeling
OF temporary weakness which he does not
understand. But he goes just the same.
In some Instances. however, the warnings
are sufficiently strong to bring him to
physicians office for examination as to
that little sharp pain he has. His surprise
Is very great when he is informed that his
heart is distended abnornally, or that there
is pulmonary affection which he was the
last person in the world to suspect.
I'm 80 per cent of the cases this lament
able result may be traced directly to a
condition precedent which is briefly summed
UP In two words, over-eXercise. Here Is
where the difficulty comes in to differ
entate as to the proper amount of exercise
to fit the individual case. The great trouble
is that weak men attempt and aspire to the
deeds of the strong, and that the strong
overdo themselves to the point OF exhaus-
ton Of the organs In question. Even physi-
cal instructors err frequently in this re-
spect as to the ability of those under their
supervision, and in this instance the effect
Is doubly bad for the reason that the young
athlete relies upon what the professor
says Now rowing, for instance, is par
ticularly hard exercise upon the heart and
lungs; it would be slow suicide for man
with these organs weak to get into a shell
or barge. To men who over-exercise IN
their younger days 1t means certain tTou-
BILE and unpleasant restrictions upon daily
conduct In after life.
'.Now that the balmy days of spring are
here, let me say to the eXuberant young
Samsous of our local athletic fields-go
slowly. Ten years hence you may wish you
had now thought less of the size of your
biceps and more of the condition of your
blood-pumping apparatus Before DOMINIC
your exercise clothes for the season go to
your physician and have yourself examined,
and repeat 1t every year that you aspire to
athletic honors 1t is dangerous to take
things for granted when we can see them,
demise that has come to thousands before