Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-12-07
OLD MEN IN THE GYM

~ NE Of the Y. M. c. A physician d.
IL rectors-Dr. Louis r. Welxr1iller OF
New York-who attended the re-
cent convention in Washington was talk
ing about the body fitting work of the
great organization.
I'VE hear a good deal about this being
the age of the young man." said DR.. Welz-
miller. land in many respects. with par
ticular reference to mental work. this Is
the golden epoch for men who are very
far from the patriarchal stage OF life.
But the so-termed old boys of this era are
not giving up easily, and more, power to
them, at, that, for refusing to surrender
| until they feel that It's I'D to them to sur
render.
You ought to- see the oldish chaps
| working around the gymnasium of the
Y. NJ. C. A. of'which have charge. OF
course, the younger chaps pseponderate.
but the average age of men Joining the
Y. MA. for the gymnasium privileges
| land they all hitch on with other activi-
| ties oE1the. organization later oD is In
| creasing. all 1.-The time. For example,
| have Aozens OF men around the age !of
forty who are daily visitors at my gym
I nastuas7.a&-least thirty talking daily exer-
else, and strenuous exercise. who are past
! fifty 1nd"not lew who are we'll past the
sixty mark. -.---.-.--.
he's through. is he? Just because a fell
low half Is a bit streaked with gray. is
that aaH reason why he should lay down
and cali the game all over and finished
With so far as he's concerned? Well, l
| think not! And they are getting to think
| not, tool $1,000
| And it's perfectly astonishing what
| wonders" are wrought in the gyms with
mem who have never got the idea of tax
ing care eff themselves until they s,reacled
| n a In
| the Spirit of this time makes for. the care
| of the body. That's in the air. Men are
coming to appreciate, as the Greeks OF
old appreciated, that nobody can reach his
the best that's in him, if his body is not
! in its trimmest and triggest shape.
Well such men come to me in the
| poorest imagina bic shape. All they've got
| is a -saaase jaw and determination to
| take up the exercise and stand the gaff
and get themselves around. physically.
| where they ought to be-where they ought
| to- have been from the beginning of their
manhood.
They're fat. stodgy, wheezy, wabbly,
weak as kittens from overeating, and not
| infrequently from Ove-drinking, of a poor
| color. waxy, sallow, green-all run down
| all out Of kilter; in such wretched shape
that they pant like outwern carriage dogs
after climbing half a dozen steps. They're
me1f-Who- have always neglected them
selves, who have always pampered and
ceddfed their bodies, who would hop a
! street car if they, had three blocks to go,
wire 'sdidnt know the meaning of fresh
| air, and who. always having been too busy
! to. give their physical condition any
| thought, have spent their entire lives in
and surrounded by insanitary and I'M
| hyefanfc conditions
| Say. am too old to get wiggle on
| and pull myself out of this measley.
lumpish state I'm in?' is the first thing
the old boys always ask me. ~
Il tell EN- no, and / mean 1t, for I've
SEEM the results. OF course 1 always have
them strip and look them over to see if
| there's anything the matter with their
| hearts or anything of that sort. If
| They're fundamentallNtall right, as most
q them; sare. 1 make 'em get athletic
through the caHsthenic classes first. but
| these who haven't the time for the classes
are nut To- work that they seem to require
mcst.
1.-THE stout old boys that want to pull
down their weight and harden them
selves are given a lot of the medium
sized medicine BALI Vince! how they
do grunt and puff and perspire when
they first go at that kind of work! It's
dead-new stuff for them. you see
they're so out of shape, some of them,
| that they can barely raise their hands
above their heads. much less toss a heavy
medicine ball around the gym. But they
stick After a few times they begin to
piCh up DIT Lie tHlHS. anu presently
they're shyihg the old ball around like
| a lot of youngsters.
| besides the medicine ball, they get
at other hardening stunts-the weight
pulling ma chimes, the rowing machine, the
stationary bicycle, hand baH-an sorts Of
games and contraptions, each of them
| fitting a particular need ST some men: 8
Maybe 1.-The work doesn't make them
sore at the outset! Sore physically.
mean. For the first week or SO they're
! a III frno fhn
ton. They've got little kinks all over
| them.- and you can almost hear 'em
| creak as they walk. This or that mus
Gle, having been pulled and yanked
| around and made to do the work that
| nature intended it to do, hollers murder
| inside the middle-aged boys. and Sc is up
| the greatest kind of roaring to be let
alone and to be allowed to go back to it's
old loafing, f1abby existence.
r. ''Oh. but the old boys that've never
exercised are put to it to stand the gan
at the outset of their gymnasium careers.
| But they're game. That's got to be said
for them-they're stickers, ninety-nine
| out Of hundred Of them. They don't
teeth together with click and fight it
otst'~ with themselves. And when men
| have the temper and the disposition to
dc.that, all the rest is easy.
Presently the Stiffness disappears. The
| yelling muscles, bones. ligaments, flesh
and such stop their complaining. They
resign themselves. SO to speak, to the
| inevitable.
THAT stage reached, the old boys be-
gin to extract actual fun out of their
| gymnasium work. They get the habit
They improve their way of living in other
essentials. Those of them that have
| hitherto done a bit of drinking knock
| off the drinking and don't miss the
stuff. They regulate their smoking and
| reduce it to reasonable limits. They fall
| into the way of eating nothing but whole
some food that's good for them. They
| develop a desire for fresh air. In short,
they get the hygienic bug. There are
all sorts of bugs in this complex modern
Gfe of ours, but the hygienic bug all in
ALL, is the finest and most helpful and
Improving insect Of the lot.
We'll, the great majority of these Cd
boys. starting thus late in life, finally
become splendid specimens. find that
a really large percentage of them were
interded by nature to be athletes They
were started off at birth as finely up
MISUNDERSTANDING, with the curves and
lines and general confirmation of chaps
who were intended to do things with
their arms and legs and torSos if they'd
ever given themselves chance. Som
of the very strongest men I've got
fOoling around my gym today are chaps
around forty, who came to me in the most
fiaccid and wabbly state imaginable. Now
they're men of power, alertn SIS, nimble-
ness, force. Nothing of the ham or the
polly-wQg about EN-. They can more than
hold their own with the youngsters. Exer-
ton doesn't even make 'em pant. They
ran toss the hig medicine bal around for