Fitness

“ Nor is this fitness, which we desire to see the birthright of the entire race, at all confined to the body only, for to have the body in subjection in this manner necessarily contributes to the mental and moral health of a man. ”

“ The record breaking achievements in Olympic games, International competition and World Cups were made possible by the effective introduction of the training methods. As the Olympic motto is ever faster, ever higher and ever longer, FITNESS is the key work to it. Achieving the total fitness is the aim of all individuals. Total fitness to four components such as :-
Physical fitnessMental fitnessEmotional fitnessSocial fitness Physical fitness is his or her potential for physical effort toward their specific task as well as toward their general fitness. ”

“ The sense of fitness was so strong that during the next two vitally important, developing years she avoided any physical expression of her natural exuberance of spirits; and habits now formed which were, for years, to deny her any right use of her muscular self. ”

“ But good looks and nerve, athletic success and social charm are certainly more and more dependent on physical fitness and mental poise as the years go by after forty; health is, indeed, as essential to the enjoyment of middle life as in the more buoyant time of youth. ”

“ Physical fitness is vital to a healthy lifestyle. During National Physical Fitness and Sports Month, we highlight the importance of integrating exercise into our daily routines and encourage all our citizens to live more active lives. ”

“ Resistance to disease. Muscular strength and Muscular endurance. Cardiovascular—respiratory endurance. Muscular power. Flexibility. Speed. Agility. Co-ordination. Balance. Accuracy. Though the physical fitness components are specific but they are inter-dependent. If one component is developed the other related components are also slightly improved. Strength and Endurance are very important components to be developed first. Strength has its influence in all other components of physical fitness so strength has to be developed first. ”

“ Again, in the working together of those many actions, internal and external, which determine the lives or deaths of organisms, we see nothing to which the words fitness and unfitness are applicable in the physical sense. If a key fits a lock, or a glove a hand, the relation of the things to one another is presentable to the perceptions. No approach to fitness of this kind is made by an organism which continues to live under certain conditions. ”

“ Scrutinize it closely at foot and ankle; at calf and knee and thigh; at hips and waist; chest, arms, shoulders, and neck, and say if, taken altogether, you ever saw, physically, a better man, or as good a man. We took one of Harvard's most famous coaches—an oarsman of record and renown—in there one day; a master in the art of choosing men for strength, speed, stay, and fitness for arduous struggle combined; and asked him what he thought of him. He looked at the picture long and earnestly. Again we asked the verdict. ”

“ The fittest survive.
What is meant by the fittest?
Not the strongest; not the cleverest—
Weakness and stupidity everywhere survive.
There is no way of determining fitness except in that a thing does survive.
"Fitness," then, is only another name for "survival."
Darwinism:
That survivors survive. ”

“ There is a kind of exercise, purely natural and mechanical, that renders the body robust without injuring the mind. Of this description are swimming, running, leaping, spinning tops, and throwing stones. All these are well enough; but have we nothing but arms and legs? Have we not eyes and ears as well? and are they of no use while the others are employed? Use, then, not only your bodily strength, but all the senses which direct it. Make as much of each as possible, and verify the impressions of one by those of another. ”

“ The exercise consists of throwing ball to one another, and the catching of it develops the chest, exercises the back, arms, legs; in fact, improves the whole system.
Home Apparatus “One of the aims of physical training is to make exercise interesting and enjoyable. To be beneficial in the highest sense it must be recreative. Particularly is this true of physical exercise for business men. As a class, in their daily work, they are kept on a constant mental strain. Besides, they are, to a large degree, physically inactive. Life becomes too intense, too serious, too sordid. ”

“ He promises them increasing health and beauty as a reward; that the primary object is vital supply. He means exercises which help the body get nourishment from food; that this is accomplished first by securing the proper position of the vital organs; that any exercise when they are not in a proper position is harmful to those organs; that—and this is his fundamental and most important teaching—the greater the altitude of the cited organs, other things being equal, the greater is their vigor; that the heart beats with a more perfect rhythm when lifted high in the chest than when it is low ”

“ As long as a man breathes the breath of this earthly life, he must exercise his body as regularly as he eats his meals; if he would maintain it in health. Never forget that health of body depends upon how you use it. I have in mind one member, past seventy-two years of age; who was so enthusiastic in his talk of what body-building work had done for him that he was continually bringing some one in on his arm to join the gymnasium. ”

“ Exercise.—This is as necessary to health as food. "Only by exercise—physical exercise—can we maintain our muscles, organs and nervous system in proper vigor; only by exercise can we equalise the circulation and distribute the blood evenly over every part of the body; only by exercise can we take a cheerful and wholesome view of life, for exercise assists the digestion, and a good digestion is a sovereign antidote to low spirits; only by exercise can the brain be strengthened to perform the labor demanded of it." [2] No sensible man will try to do without it. ”

“ Even those whose work is largely muscular, unless it involves most of the muscular system, may do well to exercise the unused muscles—although Nature herself produces to some extent the necessary compensation by what is known as the “law of synergic movement,” by which unused muscles profit by the exercise of those which are used.
Exercise of the Mind, Will and Emotions
Not only the functions of the body but those of the mind require exercise—exercise in thinking, feeling, and willing. A person who does not read or think loses some of his ability to read or think. ”

“ A. Bodily exercise, particularly in the open air, creates hunger and thirst, helps the digestion of our food, and makes it nourishing; it purifies the blood, keeps the bowels healthy, and causes rest and sound sleep.
Q. Can any body remain in a good state of health, without much bodily exercise?
A. No; God has given to man, not without wise design, a body, hands, and feet: he is to make use of them and labour, and through labour to preserve life and health, to promote his own happiness, and that of his fellow creatures.
Q. But cannot exercise and labour hurt a man? ”

“ Value of physical exercise.—The beneficial effects of physical culture cannot be overestimated. It strengthens and develops the muscles. It restores the natural functions of the skin. By exercising the muscles of the external organs of the body, exercise is given to the muscles of the internal organs. By restoring the natural functions of the skin and giving{375} normal exercise to the internal organs we correct the functional disorders of the digestive system, the heart and the lungs, and restore to them their natural functions. ”

“ He should remember that training ought to be a preparation by means of which his men will at a certain time arrive at the best limits of their muscular strength and activity, at the same time preserving that equilibrium most conducive to normal health. Such a preparation can be accomplished by the judicious use of the ordinary agents of well-being—exercise, diet, sleep, and cleanliness. ”

“ To sum up in a few words, training is a complete system of diet and exercise duly carried out and strenuously adhered to. From the mode of life which almost all lead, the health becomes impaired, and the only remedy will be discovered by him who follows the principle of training in some form or other, the more simple the better. ”

“ But even where natural or physical energy is deficient, an energetic manner may be acquired by practice and exercise under judicious direction; just as the muscular powers may be improved, and bodily vigor increased, even in a feeble frame, under a course of training and well-regulated exercise. ”

“ For this purpose, pure air, enforced exercise, the use of cold, warm, and vapor baths, of spirituous lotions and frictions, a simple yet eminently nutritive diet, regular habits, and the administration of those medicinal alteratives which would give tone to the system, activity to the absorbents, and vigor to the muscles, were the remedial measures adopted. As their strength increased, they were led to practise the simpler gymnastic exercises,—running, jumping, climbing, marching, the use of the dumbbells, etc. ”

“ It should aim at the healthy development of the body, as well as of the mind, by the regular development of all the muscles, the quickening of the intelligence and activity, and the formation of the habits of prompt obedience, precision, smartness, and discipline. The exercises should not be for mere display or entertainment, but each should have its particular purpose and value to develop all parts of the body.
“A certain amount of physical exercise once a day or oftener is preferable to even a greater amount, at longer or irregular intervals. ”

“ The only mode of preserving the health of these systems is to keep up in them an equilibrium of action. For this purpose, occupations must be sought which exercise the muscles and interest the mind; and thus the equal action of both kinds of nerves is secured. This shows why exercise is so much more healthful and invigorating when the mind is interested, than when it is not. As an illustration, let a person go shopping with a friend, and have nothing to do but look on. How soon do the continuous walking and standing weary! ”

“ MILO'S STRENGTH FOR ALL.— A splendid book and guide to the would-be athlete, as well as those in search of good health through the medium of exercises. Advice is divided into four classes, for the benefit of the different degrees of stature, constitution and habits. Special regard is given to Diet, together with exercises for the perfection of health and strength, and the eradication of bodily imperfections. ”

“ The processes of digestion, respiration, secretion, absorption, and nutrition, are promoted, and the healthful condition of the whole body influenced. The mind also is depressed or exhilarated by the proper or improper use of muscular exercise; for man is intended for a life of activity: nor can his functions ever go on so properly as when he duly exercises those organs with which Nature has endowed him. ”

“ Now, in the same way that education develops and increases the power of the brain, so exercise has a similar effect on the body. When the muscles are strengthened, the beneficial effect is also participated in by the heart, lungs, and digestive organs, and thus the removal of worn-out material from the body is assisted. The effect of exercise is thus to remove used up products from the system, and so afford an opportunity for renewed material to take their place. ”

“ In the first place, let it be understood that the connection between these systems is intimate, and that the judicious building and strengthening of the former, and the keeping up that strength by sensible daily exercise, tells directly on the latter. Vigorous muscular exercise, properly taken, enlarges the respiration, quickens the circulation, improves the digestion, the working, in fact, of all the vital parts. ”

“ Both made provision for exercise and contained a system of baths, but in the thermæ the baths occupied the greater part of the space, and the rooms and courts for exercise were smaller and fewer.
The Influence of Physical Training on the Health and Life of the Individual.—If we believe, with Spencer, that “Education is preparation for complete living,” we must appreciate that good carriage, bodily control, physical judgment, will power, and courage are an important part of the equipment of every man and woman. ”

“ Health, as we understand it, the condition, that is to say, not of the ordinary man who considers he is “well enough,” but that higher health which is the result of training the body to quickness, energy, and so to strength, which implies an obedience to the reason in matters of food and stimulants, directly benefits a man’s moral and mental life. ”

“ CHAPTER XXII. EXERCISE. Nature demands of us that we use our mental and physical powers in order to get the best results. Man was made to be active. In former times he had to earn his bread in the sweat of his face or starve. Now we have evolved, or is it a partial degeneration, into a state where a sharp mind commands much more of the means of sustenance than does physical exertion. The consequence is that many of those equipped with the keenest minds fail to keep their bodies active. ”

“ In short, if exercise is spontaneous and rational, qualitative rather than quantitative, for the nerves rather than for the muscles, it will improve the efficiency and facility of one’s habitual occupation, will establish a general vigor and stability of body, and maintain mental balance and alertness ”