The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-02-18
MUST Guard The
HEART when We
take EXERCISE

Suppose that you are one of the
many who for years have neglected
the question of exercise. You have
lived a physically stagnant life. What
does this mean? It means that your
heart has had something in the nature
of a long rest. Not an actual rest, for
it never gets that, but a comparative
rest. During this long period of in
activity in which no special demands
have been made upon it, the heart has
accommodated itself to your lack of
strenuous effort. Perhaps it has
grown weak. 1t certainly is not ready
for any athletic exertion. If then, just
because you feel strong in your back
and biceps, you plunge into some vio-
lent pastime you will naturally place
a considerable strain upon the heart.
Perhaps it will stand it nicely. And
perhaps it will not. At any rate, it
is an unaccustomed strain. Your mus
Giles will stand it well enough. They
may be a little sore and stiff. That
means nothing. But the tax on the
heart may be serious.
Keep in mind, therefore, that in
starting any accustomed course of
training you are really adopting q
course of exercise for your heart. Do
it gradually. But that is why road
work represents the ideal method of
training for an all around good condi-
ton. You can start in by walking
alone. Perhaps only two or three
miles. Then as soon as you feel
little more vigorous you can introduce
short run. You don't need to run
far or run fast. Just little run will
provide the slight additional exercise
for the heart that will strengthen this
organ By following out this program
and feeling your way cautiously you
will reach a condition within a few
months in which you will be ready to
dig trenches, march all day or chase
Germans up and down hill Or, on
the other hand, you will enjoy such
condition of fitness that when the
emergency comes you can work at
your desk half the night for a month
without breaking down under the
strain.
| There is one essential of exercise
that applies in road work just as it
applies in all other forms of exercise.
That is enjoyment. Exercise under
the right conditions is stimulating. 1t
| 10 IL 10 pA OduIl1FS VI d
sense of vitality and joyousness. For
! this reason you should attempt no
eXhausting effort. An exhausting en-
durance feat may be a test of good
condition, but it is not the way to
build that condition. Remember, you
have a constructive program in view.
So long as you can enjoy your exer-
else it is doing you good. AS soon as
it becomes exhausting and deadening
in its influence upon your spirit, II Is
no longer of benefit.
| If you will spend anywhere from
one to two or three hours of each day
on a country road, there is little else
that you will need in the way of ply
steal culture, apart from plenty of
sleep, good food and congenial work
If there are any hills, take them at
good brisk walk. Hill climbing will
take the place of running Remember
that hill climbing is primarily an eX-
ercise for the heart, and not for the
legs. Study out your own personal
problem in the matter of physical
training and then apply this general
scheme of road work according to
your needs.
From Road Work-The Supreme
Conditioning Exercise" by Carl Easton
Williams, in February Physical Cul-
ture.