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March, 1913 Education of the
Body by Training Through Exercise Training means to form by practice, to education, to master. Physical training then, is the education of the body through exercise. The underlying principles of education, whether it be mental, moral or physical, are the same; for the aim in each case is to develop power. Now, in order to gain power we must first be educated or acquire power. Education is the attempt at realization of an ideal and may rightly be viewed under the following aspects:--physical, moral, and intellectual. These well defined divisions are so intimately connected, that the improvement of one contributes to the strength of the other; if one is injured or benefited the other is directly or indirectly affected. The developing process is analogous to the improvements made upon machinery, the increase in out-put being parallel with the augmented efficiency of the individual. Each part of the human machine produces a corresponding degree of perfection from the harmony or working together of the parts. In building up the physical qualities, we strengthen the mental and preserve and protect the moral. The good condition of all parts are necessary to the perfect integration of the whole. If we revert to the Greeks, we find that their ideal of education was symmetrical development; that is, mental, moral and physical power. The body was not developed at the expense of the mind, but the mind in its activity was related to the body. It was Plato who said, “to educate the mind and neglect the body is to produce a cripple.” The Greeks studied life not death. The human body is an organization in action; both mind and body are integral parts of the same machine and must work together. The aim of physical training is to develop man to his highest efficiency and to what nature intended him to be. We study man through what he manifest in his body. “’Tis not a soul,’ Tis not a body, we are training up, but a man, and we ought not to divide him.” By training the body through certain neuro-muscular activities, we are able to attain normal development. There are various ways in which we may train our bodies. We have baseball, football, tennis, swimming and many other out-of-door sports; but these do not come within the reach of all. To meet this need we have turned to the gymnasium to obtain the necessary training for the development of the boy. Physical training is as important a factor in complete life as eating. Doubtless eating would often be neglected if nature had not provided for man’s negligence by warning him with hunger. The neglect of physical training also has its warning, and unless these warnings are heeded, we realize, very often too late, that the body has been damaged beyond repair. It is man’s social duty to have a vocation or to ply some trade; but he also owes it to himself to have an avocation. Some people pursue physical training as a vocation, while others look upon it merely as an avocation. In fact, every ones should have some diversion from the regular routine of his calling. The manual laborer would not require as much physical training as the man who leads a sedentary life; a man’s work and play should be well balanced. Exercise means practice, exertion for training or improvement. So it is through exercise that training is effected. When exercise originates in interest, we secure the best results; for here we find co-ordination of the powers of the entire system. Often we hear people say, “they do not need physical training, they have exercise enough in the pursuit of their calling.” There is no kind of manual labor that calls into play all the parts of the body in relation to the whole body. Therefore, we look to the training of the body through systematic exercise to establish this relationship. Well ordered physical exercise should seek the attainment of a rounded development. It tends to make the person well poised and the sensitive organism respond to the feelings and purpose of living. Rousseau says,--“The weaker the body the more it commands; the stronger the body the more it obeys. A feeble body weakens the mind. If you desire your pupil should improve in mental abilities, let him improve the corporeal strength which is subject to their direction. Let his body have continued exercise.” Because of this demand for systemised training certain exercise are selected and practiced to attain the desired end. It is well to consider for a moment the character of a muscle, and the influence of exercise upon it and its nervous connection. When a muscle is forced into action, the flow of blood into it is stimulated and through the dilation of the arteriolae, more blood is poured into the capillaries, which surround the fibres. There is also a corresponding increase in blood flow away from the muscle through the veins toward the heart. Should the arterial blood supply to a muscle be obstructed or reduced, its inherent contractile quality is lowered, when this happens it requires a stronger stimulus to make it contract. Other conditions such as:--impure air, which produces blood lacking in oxygen, or containing poison; or failure to remove waste products from the system may bring about a condition of lowered irritability requiring a greater stimulus. Prolonged or excessive stimulation of a muscle will lower its irritability even when there is no obstruction in its blood vessels. This shows that the main conditions for the health of a working muscle are, a full supply of oxygen and unimpeded and sufficient drainage. These conditions can be obtained by proper exercise. A trained healthy muscle can do more work than an untrained muscle, because its size, strength and capacity have been increased and the response to stimulus is more prompt. The chief effects of exercise on a single muscle, or upon the whole muscular system, are growth, or increase in size of its structure, and development, or increase of its functional activity. The most important object of muscular exercise is the functional improvement of the nervous mechanism which directs all movements, whether they be simple or complicated, reflex, automatic or voluntary. Such functional improvement may be accomplished through trial and repetition. An action which at first is a difficult feat, soon become a pleasurable accomplishment, then a routine performance and eventually an almost instinctive act. A good muscular development will give strength and rapidity of motion, while if the body fails to receive exercise, the muscular system becomes inactive and weak; the flesh soft, energy fails, and the excretory organs cease to perform their proper functions. Health is the harmonious action of the processes of respiration, circulation, digestion, assimilation and elimination. Consequently it will vary with the degree of vigor and harmony with which these processes are carried on. It is the condition of the involuntary muscles that determines the degree of health. If these muscles are strong and active, vigorous health is assured their possessor. This strength and activity will not continue of itself; it requires frequent reinforcement, and nature has wisely arranged that it shall be supplied by action of the voluntary muscles. Regular and judicious exercise of the voluntary muscles is, therefore, the natural and proper means of good health. It is impossible to form a schedule of exercises for universal use. But stereotyped schemes of physical training like “the ideal diet’ have certain general bases. It should be of such a nature as to destroy and renovate tissue; in general, to promote nutrition, circulation, health, strength and endurance. It should be begun moderately, gradually increasing in degree of vigor. It should be sufficient in quantity, but never carried to the point of exhaustion or even fatigue. It should be of good quality so as to yield the benefit commensurate with the amount of effort put forth. It should have sufficient variety to stimulate the interest; all parts should be exercised in proper proportion, so as to acquire symmetrical development. Both the selection and order of arrangement of exercises must be determined by individual needs, otherwise they are not likely to prove especially helpful and may be productive of harm. What these individual needs are depends upon the condition of the system and the defects which may have been either inherited or acquired. But whether inhered or acquired, there are forms of remedial exercises which if begun in time and intelligently applied and used, are able in may instances to correct and improve the discovered abnormalities. As we have already suggested training is a means to an end. Physical training to be made most beneficial, physiologically, should be supplemented by good habits and hygienic conditions of life. Proper air, water, food, bathing, clothing, rest and sleep, sanitary conditions, regulation of the nervous activity, use of narcotics and stimulants, are all matters to be considered. A prevalent mistake in physical training is the tendency to over-exercise. This exerts the muscles beyond their power and finally causes their destruction. The muscle instead of increasing in strength, decreases in size, and may finally lose its power. For while insufficient exercise or none at all, prevents natural development of the organs, depriving them of their ability to perform their functions, over-exertion, too vigorous exercises wears out the tissues too rapidly, not giving nature time to repair the waste. But moderate exercise, well selected, regulated and directed, with proper nutrition, strengthens the body. As Dr. Dudley Sargent of Harvard says:--“The object should be not to develop a runner, a jumper, a boxer, a ball-player, an oarsman, a gymnast, but the highest type of physically perfect man. This forbids excessive development in any one direction. The great thing to be desired is that prime physical condition called fitness—fitness for work, fitness for play, fitness for anything an man may be called upon to do.” In conclusion, then, it becomes evident from what has been said, that sill and culture of the body come by training through exercise. Training and exercise are complementary, as the two blades of a pair of shears. One is useless without the other and both blades must be working in harmony to function properly. So it is with the dual demands for development of the human body. Moreover, any educational system that neglects or under-estimates the value of bodily training is unnatural and contrary to the law of symmetrical development. Scientific training consists of classified truths of a field of human activity put into practice. It is common sense writ large, the guide to the making of a perfect human being, the striving for a growing ideal. Ideals and habits must be developed early in the child so that as a person comes to maturer years, he may derive some pleasure form his exercise. The child should be made acquainted with or trained in all healthful forms of physical activity, while in the grammar schools; in the same manner as he is drilled in what are generally known as fundaments in school work. Physical training must seek recognition from the municipal as well as the national government, with the avowed purpose of aiding in a campaign of education, so that eventually all institutions may adopt a comprehensive system of education which shall consider man as an entity. |