|
During
WWII, the Department of Supervision and Curriculum Development Building America Early in the War, after one of our ships had been torpedoed in the South Atlantic, a physical training director aboard it at the time wrote that "the most vivid need of the men in our Navy was burned into my memory the day our ship was torpedoed. I saws men exhausted and helpless. . ." Later, these same men recognized their need for even more training to develop their strength and endurance to meet such situations as these, which they might have to face some other time. Physical fitness for whatever job needs to be done depends on "conditioning' the body (and mind) for it, as well as giving he body nourishment to make the conditioning possible. And it is not possible to turn an undernourished and badly conditioned boy into a well-nourished and well-conditioned one overnight. Millions of our men and women have been made fit for a great variety of military service, and both the Army and Navy have their own special training programs to meet the conditioning needs. The Army's Basic Field Manual on physical training says that to perform his arduous duties well, "the soldier must possess great organic vigor, muscular and nervous strength, endurance, and agility." How does the Army begin to turn the average recruit into a soldier capable of preserving himself and his country in wartime? The Army does not depend on one type of exercise to condition soldiers but on a variety of them, and each has a special objective. These are the bodily response to ordinary military commands; setting-up exercises; marching; running, jumping, and climbing; personal contests in gymnastics; sports, and group games such as volley ball, football; rifle exercises; and swimming. Together, these activities develop physical and mental alertness, good posture, agility, and muscular strength and control, endurance, and good teamwork. The Navy has several basic programs, each adapted to some branch of the service--the regular Navy, the Coast Guard, or the Marines. In addition to this, both the Army and Navy have training programs to condition the men and women in them for the special services they are to perform. For example, Army aviators need to have lungs that can meet all the changes in atmospheric conditions when they fly, leg muscles strong enough to work the controls of their planes, and lightening-quick cooperation between brain, nerves, muscles, so that they can perform their tasks with as little risk as possible. Special attention is given to exercises that will develop these physical qualities. Perhaps no group in our nation must attain so high a degree of physical fitness as our armed forces; great and unusual demands may suddenly be made upon their bodies at any moment and their lives may depend on their ability to meet them. But unexpected demands on strength and endurance are made upon almost everyone even in peacetime. Experts tell us that almost anyone in reasonable health can improve his physical fitness, but they all agree that no civilian of whatever age, should begin a conditioning program without a physical examination to determine what kinds of activities he can safely engage in. Dr. Jesse F. Williams, a noted specialist in physical education, says that "There is too much mystery and magic about exercise. Simple matters are made to appear complex. The facts about muscles, on the other hand, are very simple. The way to strengthen a muscle is to use it. Use may be linked up with special exercisers, queer apparatus, mystic formulae, but the virtue of any one or all of them resides in the work a muscle does and in nothing else." People condition themselves physically to some extent by the very work they do, whether it is for a living or whether it is doing such useful work as gardening, chopping wood, running errands, or making beds, sweeping, and doing other household work. Games, sports, or walks with a friend--things that we usually think of as recreation--also help to condition the body. All these activities help to develop the strength and endurance of certain parts. But a variety of activities are needed to put the body into its best "form."
All-round conditioning programs can be followed through working with
organized groups or following individual programs.
Among the organized groups are the nation's schools.
Schools all over the country are responding to the nation's need for a
physically fit people with new activities and more time devoted to the health
education and physical training of young people. Specialists in six Federal agencies have worked together and
outlined programs for use in the school based on the needs of the country at
war.2 States and communities have also provided leadership for local conditioning programs. More courses and activities have been provided in community play-groups. Private organizations, such as churches and clubs, have expanded their programs. Many of the war plants and factories have their physical training directors who lead the workers in regular setting-up exercises and organized games--bowling, handball, basketball, etc. There are many things, however, that a person who cannot join an organized group can do and enjoy in order to condition his body to its fullest capacity. In accordance with age and physical condition, choices can be made from a variety of exercises performed either alone or with friends--from strenuous physical work on a farm, to hiking and swimming and even such mild forms of muscular work as croquet or pitching horseshoes. But, Fatigue follows activity, and rest, must follow fatigue if there is to be more activity," says Dr. Williams. So physical fitness also requires relaxation and sleep. A publication prepared by the National Committee on Education and Defense defines relaxation as the ability to slip out from under accumulated nervous tension or physical fatigue, and rest the mind and body. It tells us that in relaxation the muscles must "go limp" and that "A little practice in this will increase the benefit greatly. But in relaxing, remember that your mind is just as much involved as your body. If you keep on thinking about things which bring tension, obviously you cannot relax.3
The relation between physical activity and relaxation is so well
established that industrial plants throughout the country have short but regular
rest periods during the work day. This,
it is believed, results in greater total daily production. Studies made in Britain during the War showed that one
ten-minute rest period during the morning in a certain factory brought an
increase of 8 per cent in production, while in another, where the work was
particularly trying, five-minute rest periods every hour increased production 13
per cent.4 Much longer rest periods than these are needed by the body, however, to give the tissues and blood enough opportunity to rid themselves of "fatigue poisons" or waste chemical substances in the body, and this is most effectively done in sleep. But, "Sleep is more than being dead to the world six or eight hours," we are told. "There is good sleep and poor sleep . . . all of us can learn how to sleep better. . . . A little thinking about sleep will make this major part of our daily routine a more effective health builder and something to enjoy."5 The same sources advises us that "It's a good investment to become acquainted" with the simple health rules on sleeping. Experts have worked out schedules which show the average amount of sleep required by peoples of all ages. Those for young people run from 11 hours at the age of 10, to 8 hours at the age of 18 and over. Like nutrition experts, those recommending a certain number of hours of sleep at any given age recognize that some people will need more and others, less. In developing physical fitness the state of the mind may be as important as the state of the body, for only with a healthy attitude of mind does the body make the best use of the food and exercise given it. Emotional disturbances can interfere with the nourishment and conditioning of the body. Indeed, food taken when a person is angry or worried may not result in building up the body, but, rather, in a few hours of indigestion. Exercise taken under the same circumstances may result only in fatigue. Even rest periods will not really rest the body if the mind is not relaxed also. Habitual mental states such as these may even make the body susceptible to certain kinds of disease. On the other hand, a controlled and healthy state of mind contributes to physical fitness. What are the qualities of a healthy state of mind? Some of those which have been mentioned by writers on the subject are cheerfulness, self-respect, self-confidence, courage, calmness in emergencies, a feeling of satisfaction in one's work, and a feeling of "rightness" in one's goals. As these qualities are analyzed, they seem to be partly a matter of will and self-training and partly a matter of actually attaining physical fitness. Cheerfulness, for example may come as a result of a mental habit or as the result of feeling physically fit. Self-confidence, on the other hand, may come from the feeling that the body is able to meet any demand made upon it. All these factors in conditioning--exercise, rest, and attitude of mind--are important of physical fitness. However, the amount and kinds of exercise needed, the length of rest and sleep periods, the mental attitudes that must be built up are determined by the bodies and minds to be conditioned and the purpose of conditioning. Bodies and purposes vary from individual to individual, and the problems of civilians have therefore to be worked out on an individual basis. Like the matter of nutrition, there are no shortages in the supply of things they can do to condition themselves and there need be no cost except, perhaps, for the physical examination which puts them on their way. References 1Jesse F. Williams, The Business Man and His Health, McGraw-Hill book Co., New York, 1932, pp. 115-116 2These groups are the U.S. Office of Education, the Army, the Navy, Public Health Service, Office of Defense, Health, and Welfare Services, and the Children's Bureau. 3William J. Pitt, "Training through Recreation," Bureau of Publications, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, 1942, p.9. 4Reported in Supervision, Jan., 1942, pp.6-7. 5William J. Pitt, op.sit., pp. 9-10 |