Music Welcome to Snewscast, the podcast designed to help you fall asleep. Find us at snewscast.com and if you enjoy our show, please share us with a friend. This episode is brought to you by intervals of repose. Tonight we'll read from Walker's Manly Exercises and Rural Sports written by Donald Walker and published in 1855. Walker was a Victorian author of several books, including this one, and exercises for ladies. He helped to introduce British society to an unfamiliar topic in the early 19th century, physical education. The birth of modern physical education teaching can be traced to teachers in the 1800s who focused on nurturing a child's ability to use their body for self-expression, in combination with approaches from the 1960s which featured Special awareness, effort and relationships. Let's get cozy. Close your eyes. Relax your body and the softness of your bed.

Now, take a few deep breaths. Education may be divided into two parts.

Physical? Education may be divided into two parts, physical and mental. Of the former, exercises or gymnastics are the most extensive and the earliest portion. Their extent is learnt by an enumeration of them. Walking, running, leaping, vaulting,

pole leaping, balancing, skating, carrying, climbing, and swimming.

Throwing the discus, and in a course of British exercises, we think rowing, sailing, riding, and driving would be very improperly omitted. The object of these exercises is to strengthen the muscular system by subjecting it to a regular process training, and to teach the means of employing it most advantageously. The expediency of their early acquisition is rendered evident, by the first tendency of youth being directed to them, by the rapid progress made in them, by the delight derived from them at a period when the body is incapable with real or solid advantage of higher requirements. Their general utility will be questioned only by those who are not aware that the health and vigor of all the bodily organs depend on the proportioned exercise of each. Inactive exertion and heat is developed in it with greater abundance, and if we repeat the same motions many times after intervals of repose, all the muscles exercised become permanently developed, a perfection of action and soos, which it did not previously possess. Any deformity by which it is affected is corrected, and strength and activity are required. That man, therefore, gains the most strength who engages in muscular exercises that require the application of much power, but which are sufficiently separated by intervals of repose. It must be remembered, however, that in exercising particular muscles only, the others become weak. The strength of martial sacks was sufficiently great to stop a chariot, drawn at speed by four horses, by merely seizing the wheel. He bent pieces of silver with his fingers, made them into boats as he would with paper, and presented them to the ladies. Count Orlov, a Russian general, broke the shoe of a carriage horse in the same manner, and there are innumerable examples of similar feats of extraordinary strength. Active exercises at the same time confer beauty of form, and they even contribute to to impart an elegant air and graceful manners. If the exercise of a limb be continued for some time, a painful sensation is experienced, which is termed lassitude, and a difficulty of contraction, which is the result of it. If the motion has been excessive, and the organic elements in the member have been acted upon beyond all physiological laws, inflammation would take place, and its functions be performed with great difficulty, if at all. Such are the effects of exercise on the local mode of system, to all the functions of animated beings, so long as they are exercised with moderation, equality, and at-do intervals, working for their own preservation. Of course, the general effect of active exercises is marked in proportion to the number of parts that share in the motion or are brought into energetic action. In general exercise, the increase of organic action is not confined solely to the parts which are the seat of muscular contraction, but is repeated throughout all parts of the economy and influences all the functions. By inducing cutaneous exhalation, it promotes the expulsion of injurious agents, produces a fresh color in persons who may have become pale through a sedentary life, and to a certain extent renders the human constitution by means of habit, proof against the action of surrounding objects. Ancient writers inform us that it was a rare thing to meet with athletes who, having signalized themselves from their earliest youth in gymnastic combats, were of so excellent a constitution as to be able when they had reached a more advanced age, to acquire the same honors on contending for the prize with grown men. Aristotle assures us that amongst the conquerors in the Olympic Games, not more than two or three at the most, could be found to whom nature had granted such an advantage. In relation to the mental or thinking system, every movement becomes in its turn the principle or occasion of new impressions of which the frequent repetition and the varied character must increase more and more the circle of our judgments or tend unceasingly to rectify them. It hence follows that labor, giving to this world the most general signification, cannot but have an influence infinitely useful on the habits of the understanding. This argument is evidently applicable to varied exercise. On the contrary, the great division of labor so favorable to the perfecting the arts, contracts more and more the understanding of workmen. Exercises, moreover, inspire confidence in difficult situations and suggest resources in danger. Their consequence, influence upon the moral conduct of a man is such that by a courage which is well-founded, because it springs from a perfect knowledge of his own powers. He is often enabled to render the most important services to others, although the direct effect of exercise is not only to confer power on the muscular and other organs, but to multiply external impressions and to occupy with them all the senses at once, still minds thus disposed in general occupy themselves rather with objects of imagination and sentiment than with those which demand more complicated operation. The sense of muscular power impresses determinations which, carrying man perpetually out of himself, scarcely permit him to dwell upon impressions transmitted to his brain. The only action of that organ during these exercises seems to be limited to ordering the movements. Hence, exercise, especially taken in the open air, amidst new and varied objects of sight, is not favorable to reflection, to labors which demand the assemblage and concentration of all the powers of the mind. It is on the contrary, in the absence of external impressions, that we become more capable of seizing many relations, and of following a long train of purely abstract reasoning, as life spent chiefly in active muscular exercises would leave in a state ever pose those central organs that are subservient to the moral qualities and intellectual faculties in prescribing all such exercises, or such degrees of exercises as would exhaust the mind and render man incapable of aptitude in science, polite literature, and art. The cultivation of bodily strength in preference to everything else would establish only the right of the strongest, as it is found to exist in the origin of society. To cultivate the faculties of the mind exclusively would produce only the weakness of sentiment or excess of passion. There is, for every individual, a means of making all these dispositions act in harmony, and the duplunding of physical and moral education alone can produce it. Let it be remembered that young persons will much more easily be withdrawn from the application they ought to pay to the study of the sciences by insipid recreations and trifling games, then by the fatiguing exercises necessary for their development and the preservation of their health, which, however, habit soon renders easy and delightful. To what vices do not asceticery life and the practice of gaming give rise? Whilst well-regulated exercises excite ambition to excel and energy in the performance of every duty. The philosophers of antiquity, such as Aristotle and Plato, regarded gymnastic exercises as a vast importance and considered a state defective and badly organized where these exercises were not instituted. Colleges called gymnasia were therefore established everywhere and super-intended by distinguished masters. Accordingly, the illustrious men of the Grecian and Roman republics, even those who shone in literature and the fine arts, received the same physical education. The gymnastic exercises which are here recommended are not intended to produce athletes, but to strengthen the human constitution.

One exercise gives solidity, another address, and we may even say that the various kinds of exercise are sometimes opposed to each other. The strongest peasant is far from being the best runner, and the most vigorous dancer would probably be deficient and strength. There is, however, a mean to be found in the disposition of every individual to preserve both skill and strength. And this is what ought to be sought. For this purpose, it will suffice to practice young persons a few hours every day, sometimes at one exercise, and sometimes at another. General Directions It only remains for us to give a few directions as to the time, place, and circumstances of exercise.

The best time for the elementary exercises

is when the air is cool.

As even in summer, it is early in the morning

or after the sun has declined.

And they should never immediately follow a meal.

The best place for these elementary exercises

is a smooth grass area or a firm sandy sea beach. At the commencement, the coat and all unnecessary clothes should be laid aside, a very light covering on the head as a straw hat is best. The shirt collar should be open. The brass to be either exposed or thinly covered. The waistband of the trousers should not be tight, and the boots or shoes should have no iron about them. As sudden transitions are always bad, exercise should be gong gently, and should terminate in the same manner. The left hand and arm being commonly weaker than the right, they should be exercised till they become as strong. This custom is advantageous, not only for all military and mechanical, gymnastic exercises, but also for all their operations. No exertion should be carried to excess, is that only exhausts and infeples the body. Therefore whenever the gymnast feels tired or falls behind his usual mark, he should

resume his clothes and walk home. The moment exercise is finished, the clothes should always be put on and the usual precautions adopted to prevent taking cold. necessary fittings up of an exercising ground are a leaping stand, a vaulting horse, a balancing bar, a climbing stand, with ladders, poles and ropes, which may be seen united as simply and economically as possible. most exercises, a belt is of utility, and it seems in all ages to have been naturally employed. The weakest man, who could not follow others in the course without panting, would find by placing his hand over his abdomen and supporting the liver and other organs which descend into that cavity that he was aided in running and breathed more easily. And thence, he would make for himself a belt. United in societies, men would still preserve their belt, though it might not seem particularly advantageous, except those whose active mode of life approached a primitive state, such as travelers, couriers, and porters. The Greeks put on their belts before they commenced wrestling, and many physicians, both ancient and modern, recommend the use of belts as being to the whole of the body, into the parts over which they are placed, what the exterior sheaths are to the muscles, bands which embrace and keep firm the parts over which they are placed. The common belt has leather straps and buckles to fascinate, an iron ring and a pocket. A double sink chair for wrestling forms a very strong girth which is put on by pupils who are very strong when they wrestle. These belts may be made of different sizes for youths of different ages, of 5 or 6 inches for tall youths and men, and of 8 or 10 inches for wrestlers. Their length is in proportion to the size of the person who uses them. These belts are very useful in strengthening the abdominal region and running and leaping. Riders also should furnish themselves with belts before getting on horseback to prevent two violent motion of the abdomen and the disorders which may result from it. The use indeed of belts will by degrees prove the utility, and they will probably be worn even externally without reference to physical exercises. They deserve this the more because they give an air of lightness and elegance to the shape and develop the chest. Training is important in relation to the various exercises to be described. The art of training for athletic exercises or laborious exertions consists in purifying the body and strengthening its powers by certain processes which are now to be described. The advantages of it, however, are not confined to pedestrians, wrestlers. They extend to everyone, for we're training generally introduced instead of medicine for the prevention and cure of diseases, its beneficial consequences would assuredly prolong life and promote its happiness. Every physiologist knows that all the parts which compose the human body, solids, as well as liquids, are successfully absorbed and deposited. Hence ensues a perpetual renovation of them, regulated by the nature of our food and general habits, the health of all the parts, and the soundness of their structure depend on this perpetual absorption and renovation. Now, nothing so effectively as exercise excites at once absorption and secretion. It accordingly promotes all the vital functions without herring them, renovates all the parts, and preserves them apt and fit for their offices. That follows then that health, vigor, and activity, chiefly depend upon exercise and regimen, or, in other words, upon the observance of those rules which constitute the theory of training. The effect has accordingly corresponded with the cause assigned in this view of the subject. In every instance where it has been adopted, and although not commonly resorted to as the means of restoring invillage to health, there is every reason to believe that it would prove effectual in curing many obstinate diseases, such as billious complaints, obesity, gout, and rheumatism. Training was known to the ancients who paid much attention to the means of augmenting corpul vigor and activity. Accordingly, among the Greeks and Romans, certain rules of exercise and regimen were prescribed to the candidates for gymnastics celebrity. We are assured that among the Greeks, previously to the solemn contests at the public games, the strictest temperance, sobriety, and regularity in living were indispe. The candidates were, at the same time, subjected to daily exercise in the gymnasium, which continued during ten months and which, with the prescribed regimen, constituted the preparatory training adopted by the athletes of Greece, among the Romans the exercises degenerated from the rank of a liberal art and became a profession, which was embraced only by the lowest of mankind, the exhibitions of the gladiators being ferocious spectacles. The combats, however, were regularly trained by proper exercise and a strict observance of regimen. In the more early stages of training, their diet consisted of tried figs, new cheese, and boiled grain. A very small quantity of liquid was allowed to the athletes, and this was principally water. They exercised in the open air, and became familiarized by habit to every change of the weather, the vicissitudes of which soon ceased to affect them. When the daily exercises of the athletes were finished, they were refreshed by immersion in a tepid bath. The skin was then diligently rubbed dry and again anointed with oil. If thirsty, they were permitted to drink a small quantity of warm water. They then took their principal repast, after which they used no more exercise that day. They occasionally also went into the cold bath in the morning. They were permitted to sleep as many hours as they chose, and great increase of vigor, as well as of bulk, was supposed to be derived from long continued and sound repose. The man- are of training among the ancients bears some resemblance to that practice by the moderns. Perhaps it is because their mode of living and general habits were somewhat different from those of the present age. That a difference of treatment is now required to produce the same effects. The great object of training for running or boxing matches is to increase the muscular strength and to improve the free action of the lungs or wind of the person subjected to the process. Seeing that the human body is so capable of being altered and renovated, it is not surprising that the art of training should be carried to a degree of perfection almost incredible, and that by certain processes, the muscular power, the breath, or wind, and the courage should be so greatly improved as to enable them to perform the most severe or laborious undertakings. When the object in view is the accomplishment of a pedestrian match, his regular exercise may be from 20 to 24 miles a day.

He must rise at five in the morning, run half a mile at the top of his speed uphill, and then walk six miles at a moderate pace, coming in about seven to breakfast, which should consist of beef steaks or mutton chops under done with stale bread and old beer. After breakfast, he must again walk six miles at a moderate pace and at twelve lie down in bed for half an hour. On getting up he must walk four miles and return by four to dinner. Immediately after dinner he must resume his exercise by running half a mile at the top of his speed and walking six miles at a moderate pace. He takes no more exercise for that day but retires to bed about eight. And next morning he proceeds in the same manner. having gone on in this regular course for three or four weeks, the pedestrian must take a four miles wet, which is produced by running four miles in flannel at top speed, immediately on returning. Hot cocoa is prescribed in order to promote the perspiration. And of this he must drink one English pint. It is termed the sweating cocoa and is composed of one ounce of chocolate, half an ounce of coriander seed, one ounce of root liquorice, and half an ounce of sugar candy mixed with two bottles of cider and one boil down to half. He then put to bed in his flannels and being covered with six, or seven, or eight, pair of blankets, and a feather bed must remain in this state from 25 to 35 minutes when he has taken out and ramped perfectly dry. Being then well wrapped in his great coat, he walks out gently for two miles and returns to breakfast, which, on such occasions, should consist of a roasted foul. He afterwards proceeds with his usual exercise.

These sweats are continued weekly, till within a few days of the performance of the match, or, in other words, besides his usual or regular exercise, a person under training ought to employ himself in the intervals in every kind of exertion which tends to activity such as golf, crickets, bowls, throwing darts, bad men, tennis. So that during the whole day, both body and mind may be

constantly occupied. you