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Mind and Body, November 1915 A
Brief consideration of the Aims and Effects The general aim of gymnastics or systematic physical training is to develop the body "into a harmonious whole under the perfect control of the will." Gymnastics does not aim to produce great bulk or abnormal development of muscle, but rather to cause the muscles present to respond readily to volition. Another aim is to improve the physiological or functional activity of the body and to promote bodily health and general well-being. Still another aim is to counteract and correct tendencies toward poor development and deformities of various kinds, especially such tendencies as those resulting from the artificial life of civilization: for instance round shoulders, hollow or flat chest, abnormal curvature of the spine, flat feet, poor posture in general occupations deformities, etc., etc. As I said before, gymnastics does not aim to develop great large bulky muscles but it does aim to develop coordination, which is control of bodily movements by the will, or as stated above, to cause muscle to respond readily to volition. This is brought about by the concentration of our mind on the movements being performed, as our ability to perform any movement depends on the degree of mental concentration we give while performing the movements. Take a boy who throws a baseball or shoots a basketball for the first time; his movements are apt to be awkward. However, concentration and practice soon polish off the rough edges of awkwardness, and gradually the movement becomes easy, precise, smooth and graceful in execution. Again if the average person brings his four fingers together and then tries to separate the first two from the last two, he will usually find it difficult to do at first; but after several efforts, wherein he more or less unconsciously concentrates his attention to his fingers, he acquires by practice the ability to separate them easily. Again the ability to do certain movements is lost through lack of practice. Take for example a person who has been sick in bed for six months and who attempts to get up and take a walk. He usually finds that if he can get up, he is unable to walk at firs, but has to learn again. The same is true to a certain degree of the crack athlete who has been away from his specialty for a long time. On attempting to perform his specialty he finds that his movements have become more or less awkward, and that the exact precision of form has been lessened to a greater or lesser degree; dependant on his general bodily condition, and on his natural powers of coordination. Gradually through concentration, repetition and practice he regains his former ability and ease of movement. These same ideas also apply to gymnastic movements. The muscles form by far the great bulk of body weight, and their function is to enable the body to perform its movements. In order to gain the ability to get a wider use of our muscles by gymnastics, we design a great number of gymnastics movements, all of which have a definite purpose in view. At first these movements are very simple: gradually the difficulty of the exercises is increased. They are repeated a great many times, always with volition; the movements become smoother and more graceful, and little by little, better bodily control in his every movement, in his walk, exercise, carriage, ordinary actions of like, and even in repose, simply because he has educated his body and brought it under the control of his will. Another aim of gymnastics is to improve the physiological or functional activity of the organs of the body, such as circulation, respiration, digestion, etc. Exercise in general increases the circulation and respiration, that is, the activities of the heart and lungs. Going a little farther, localized exercise increases the functional activity of the organs in the part localized. For instance, if we give abdominal exercises the functional activity of the stomach and its appendages is increased, with the result that the processes of digestion, absorption, and assimilation of nutritive materials are hastened, and the expulsion of waste matter from the intestines is quickened. Still another aim of gymnastics is to counteract and correct poor development. This may be termed the physical side of exercise. Here we are concerned chiefly with shape of the body; also with its weight, elasticity, size, and other properties common to matter, all of which apply to the human body. If any part is misshapen, it means too much bone with not enough muscle, or ill-shaped bones or parts, caused by too great a tension in the wrong direction of the muscles attached to these parts. Muscles have great powers of elasticity and contractility. Bones, especially in the young, are easily capable of being bent. Now, if we are to have correct development, we must have the proper tension of the muscles attached to the body framework. If the muscular tension in any part become too great, a very strong pull is brought to bear on the boy structures to which the muscles exerting the pull are attached, and the result is that a deformity takes plane in that part. Hence we have the proposition that "abnormal muscular tension causes deformity." Now working on the principle that the repeated application of a force will produce a permanent change in structure, we apply certain movements with the object in view, and eventually we can (to a greater or lesser degree, correct the malformity in question, the degree of correction depending very largely on the oft-repeated, proper application of the indicated movement which corresponds to the principle previously stated. Thus, when we see a boy who has a poorly developed chest and shoulders, we find on examination that his chest muscles have been contracted and shortened by some faulty posture or too much exercise of the wrong kind, thereby causing the bones of the chest and shoulders to be pulled out of shape and thereby diminishing the breathing power. In this case by special exercises to stretch out the shortened chest muscles in order to make possible greater chest expansion, a strengthening of the muscles of the back, and by the constant repetition of deep breathing exercises to expand and raise the chest, the contracted muscles are gradually stretched out to normal, and the bones commence to assume their proper relationship and development gradually become better and better, always approaching the ideal. In such a case the inevitable result so far as the physical side is concerned is wonderful improvement, not to mention the approved physiological and psychological effects. We can see, from these few brief and very general considerations, that gymnastics, that a systematic system of physical training when properly organized and taught, brings into play the psychological, physiological and physical side of a man and creates a condition of health and well-being that surpasses anything we have in the way of medicinal agents or any other means existing for the purpose of acquiring one of the greatest assets man can have, namely, Good Health in all that word implies. |