The Washington herald., 1915-05-30
How to Make
anAthIeteOut
Of the FraiI Boy
The great mistake made by many par

THE great mistake made by many par
ents in regard to physical train
ing for their boys is the providing
OF elaborate apparatus for the develop
ment Of limbs and muscles. Lads, of
course, are very fond of dumbbells, bar
bells, punching-bags, developers, and 9TH
er aids to physical exercise, and these are
all right when used at the proper age
and under the guidance of an experienced
teacher.
The first training for the muscles of a
boy. however, is best performed without
any apparatus whatever. Violent mo-
lions are quite unnecessary. With ap-
paratus there Is always a danger of the
boy ever-exerting himself in order to per-
form certain feats, and great harm has
often been done by over-exercise.
The first essential to the proper physi-
cal development Of boy Is to teach him
how to breathe correctly, and the follow
ing simple exercise will be found bene-
fetal:
Stand straight. with heels together,
and raise arms straight overhead, slow
ly taking a deep breath. Keeping the
air in, slowly lower the arms until they
hang loosely by the side, and then eX-
hale. If this Is done a dozen or fifteen
times each morning, in good, clean air,
the effect will be found quite marked.
A child's chest is very flexible, and an in
crease in expansion comes easily.
What has been termed ''pretending"
exercise is one of the best means of de-
veloping the shoulders and back. The
boy pretends that he is going to lift a
heavy weight. with a handle on top Of
1t. He should spread the feet little,
lean over, and grasp rigidly the imagin-
airy handle Of the imaginary weight.
Keeping arms, shoulders. back, and legs
rigid. he should slowly lift that weight
in a vertical line, just as If it weighed
a hundred pounds get half under it when
It is chest high. and lift it straight up as
far as he can reach, squaring the Shout
ders at the same time. This should be
done slowly and rigidly. Then relax and
begin again. stopping when he feels tired.
The following simple exercise is quite
effective for developing the arms:
Place the hands before the boys chest.
palm to palm, having one palm facing the
chest and the other facing outward. Let
the inner hand slowly. rigidly, push the
outer one outward, the latter resisting
with force. When one hand has pushed
the other out as far as possible, then
the latter pushes its opponent in again.
till the original position is reached. II
the right arm pushes outward and the
left inward, then the triceps Of the right
arm and the biceps of the left are being
used When tired change positions, so
that the left pushes outward, then the
left triceps and the right biceps are being
used.
In regard to the legs, there is no better
exercise for a young boy than the follow
ing:
Tell him to stand with the heels to-
gether, and through the exercise keep the
body rigidly vertical. Slowly bend the
knees until he is nearly sitting on his
heels, with his hands on his hips. Then
slowly rise full height and up on his toes
as far as possible, -emain so a moment,
then slowly sink all the way down again.
This exercise is to be done slowly. II
the boy finds it difficult to keep his bal
ance, then have chair placed in front Of
him, telling him to keep a touch on the
top of the chair with one hand.