Lifting

“ Quite often, if the lifting be not carefully graduated in weight, the in-rushing blood bursts some of the finer net-work of the vessels, or the delicate covering of the muscles is rudely torn, and the would-be athlete is an invalid for life.
The one-pound or two-pound dumb-bell strains nothing: it only adds to the swing of the hands. The exercise can be varied so as to develop upper and lower limbs and trunk. It is particularly adapted to those who are not trained athletes. Say, the arms are thin and weak and soft, and you want to increase their size, strength, and firmness. ”

“ The method of training and development that may fit a man admirably for the purpose of weight-lifting, or of excelling his fellow-creatures in the measurement of his chest and his muscles, is utterly unsuited for a contest that requires great quickness of movement, highly developed lung-power, and general endurance spread over a period of some twenty minutes. ”

“ With both hands catch hold of any bar or the rung of a ladder about as high above your head as you can reach. Steadily pull up till your chin touches your wrist. In both of these exercises you have lifted your entire weight; the backs of your upper arms doing the chief part of the dip; and the flexors of the arms, and those of the body near them and working with them, doing the lifting in the pull-up. ”

“ It is not my purpose in this book to give anything beyond general directions for lifting heavy weights. You can become thoroughly strong and enjoy perfect health by means of the series of exercises already described. Heavy weight-lifting requires personal instruction; that instruction will be given to those who may desire it at my schools. Under qualified instructors it may be pursued without the risk of danger. ”

“ Lifting heavy weights where one stands nearly erect; as when practising on the lifting-machine; pulls very heavily on the extreme upper muscles of the back; those sloping off downward from the back of the neck to the shoulders; and a great shoulder-broadener is even five minutes a day, with your hands as on a cross, but just as far apart—to the last sixty-fourth of an inch even—as you can possibly get them. ”

“ A man in Boston a few years ago, by directing his attention exclusively for a long time to the single act of lifting, educated his body to the power of lifting enormous weights. But this power was gained at the expense of agility, grace, and many other bodily qualities quite as important as that of lifting weights. ”

“ When this has become easy, hold one foot front or back, and have the other leg do the lifting.
The under part of the thigh, in the ordinary occupations and recreations of life, does not get as much exercise as the front muscles. A slovenly, shambling gait is characterized by a feebleness of this muscle, while a strong, elastic step is accompanied by a well developed under thigh. ”

“ A weight should be distributed over a set of muscles as evenly as possible, and this is the reason for suspending a knapsack from two shoulders instead of one, when possible.
Finally, in doing any sort of lifting or pulling, if the muscles that are to be used are contracted before grasping the weight they will be able to do their work with far less effort. Try lifting a small weight like a book in two ways—first, have your hand and fingers relaxed and limp when you grasp it, and see how heavy it seems and how hard it is to contract your muscles properly while lifting it. ”

“ They practice leaping, running, and lifting weights. Some standing at their full height, brace up the muscles of the shoulder and upper arm, and then leaping up, allow themselves to fall to earth on the tensely strung muscles of the shoulder. ”

“ The opposition between the lifting of the chest and extending the balls of the feet takes place in all good positions in standing and walking. This exercise initiates or accentuates the co-ordination of the muscles used in standing. It tends also to harmonize and bring into unity all the conditions so far attained, and gives practical application to those parts of the body which are active all day, in standing, walking and in sitting. ”

“ Heavy-weight exercises, consisting in the use of heavy dumb-bells or other apparatus in which the actual physical pull exerted by the body in moving the weights is sufficient to try the muscles to their maximum capacity. This system of exercise should be discouraged; while it may add to the mere lifting strength, it takes from the muscles their flexibility, and from the body its agile and supple activity. ”

“ Lifting and carrying weights was a favorite exercise with the ancient athletes, and our modern rustics are still very apt to estimate a man's strength by his lifting capacity. The "best man" of a Yorkshire parish is generally he who can shoulder the heaviest bag and carry it farthest and with the firmest step. Feats of this sort require certainly a sound constitution in every way; weak lungs, especially, are sure to tell, but the main strain bears upon the thighs and the small of the back: a good lifter has to be a strong-boned man, and will generally make a good wrestler and rider. ”

“ This is when it pays to be a perceptive. I've talked to many TK's about how they visualize their lifts. We all conceive of it differently. With me a real strain is like shining a bright beam of light on the spot you're lifting. ”

“ To children and young persons, light and suitable apparatus will furnish added stimulus and interest.
Climbing a ladder or rope, hand over hand, or lifting the body so that the chin may touch a horizontal bar overhead, are exercises better suited to later stages of biceps development. To be able to lift the body to the bar with one hand, three to five times, should satisfy any reasonable ambition. ”

“ Mounting a ladder or a rope hand-over-hand; lifting any weight in front of you, whether a feather, or a child, or a barrel of sugar; picking up anything from the floor; holding weights out in front, or at your side, at arm's length; pulling downward on a rope, as in hauling up a sail; hammering—in short, anything which bends the elbow and draws the hand in towards the shoulder, takes the biceps muscle; and, if the work is vigorous and persisted in, this muscle will ere long become strong and well-shaped. ”

“ The farmer and the laboring man, in all their heavier work done stooping over their tasks—such as lifting, shovelling, picking, and mowing—use the thighs much, but keep them so long fixed in one position, with little or no varying exercise to supple and limber them and the joints, that both gradually stiffen, and their instep soon begins to lack elasticity, which tendency is too often increased by heavy, stiff, and unwieldy boots. ”

“ Most of the mechanical occupations requiring the use of axe, saw, plane, hammer, shovel, plow, or any tool or instrument requiring a firm grasp of the hand, develop these muscles. The lifting of a heavy weight suspended from a bar or handle, to be grasped by the hands, produces speedy results, but must not be attempted until the muscles of the back, abdomen, and shoulders have had preparatory training. ”

“ In heavy dumb-bell work, and in weight lifting, you raise far more than your whole body. Nearly all of these exercises are spasmodic—taking but a moment each—indeed are so violent that no one could do many of them consecutively. While work of this sort makes the muscles which it uses large and strong; it does little or nothing for the unused muscles. Nor does it give the lungs nearly as much, or as protracted, though easier work, as many other gymnastic exercises ”

“ All the feats of strength of which we hear and read, are not the result of merely accidental muscular action, but an effort of well-trained muscles and of a desire to accomplish with ease and precision something out of the ordinary course of our action. The man who lifted the two hundred and twenty pounds with one hand in Gilmore’s Garden began, perhaps, with lifting twenty-eight pounds. ”

“ When any person puts forth his strength in lifting—‘hill-climbing is merely a form of lifting’—the abdominal muscles are called strongly into play, and if by belting or other means they are prevented from expanding and increasing the circumference of the waist, their force is then directed towards forcing the abdominal contents downward, and thereby greatly increasing the chances of causing hernia. ”

“ Leg-lifting.—Assume the standing position, but with hands resting on the hips. Raise the right thigh until at right angles with the body, leg at right angles with thigh, thrust the leg straightforward to a horizontal position, then sweep the leg back to standing posture. ”

“ Hartelius, “is to have two thick vertically hanging ropes fixed to the ceiling, at two feet distance from each other, for all the members of the household to perform daily a hanging or trunk-lifting exercise. The hands grasp the ropes at equal heights above the head, and support, for a short moment, the whole weight of the body, either by simply hanging with straight arms or—if the person be sufficiently strong—by slowly bending the elbows, thus lifting the body. ”

“ Laying any weight on the foot, and lifting it clear from the ground, will also call on this muscle. So will fastening the feet into straps, like those on a boat-stretcher or rowing-weight, and swaying the body of the sitter back and forth; for these muscles have heavy work to do to aid in pulling the body forward, so that the rower may reach his hands out over his toes for a new stroke. ”

“ The Best Bone Building Exercise The best exercise for your bones is the weight-bearing kind, which forces you to work against gravity. Some examples of weight-bearing exercises include lifting weights, walking, hiking, jogging, climbing stairs, tennis, and dancing. Examples of exercises that are not weight-bearing include swimming and bicycling. While these activities help build and maintain strong muscles and have excellent cardiovascular benefits, they are not the best way to exercise your bones. ”

“ But there are many other exercises which will bring this same development. Now stand erect again; with neck back, head and chest high; shoulders low; and knees sprung back. Start off at an ordinary pace, and walk. But, instead of, as usual, putting the foot down and lifting it without thinking about it; this time, just as it leaves the ground, press hard with the soles and toes. Go on for a block or two; and you will suddenly find that your calves are having new and unwonted duties—indeed, a very generous share of work. ”

“ Nor have I much faith in gymnastics as they are usually taught. They don't bring out the muscles one uses in every-day life. Parallel bars, and much of the apparatus of training, I have found of little use. My faith is pinned to dumb-bells; and I do all my training with their aid, supplemented by weight lifting. By the constant use of dumb-bells, any man of average strength can bring his muscles to the highest possible development ”

“ If your abdominal muscles are not sufficiently strong, at first, to do this without a jerk or without lifting the legs, place the feet under the dresser, couch or some other object until the muscular contraction is sufficient of itself to raise and lower the body slowly. ”

“ As far as health goes, it passes the bounds of imagination to conceive that the main organs of the body will be benefited by excessive biceps, whereas as regards strength, for all purposes except the lifting and holding of weights, it is extremely doubtful whether an increase{44} of such strength does not imply a corresponding decrease in speed and agility. ”

“ If we are capable of lifting but eighty or a hundred pounds when putting forth our full strength, let us begin with fifty or sixty pounds, adding to that weight, day by day, a single pound for example, until we reach the eighty pounds, which we shall be able then to lift with the greatest ease. ”

“ The men at both ropes set their feet firmly in the ground, the veins swell in legs and arms and brows, sinewy hands are stretched forward to pull, and the lifting of the heavy loads begins. A fearful and responsible task!--if one fails, all is lost. ”

“ The balancing the body in the erect position at starting, the maintenance of that balance by a new adjustment of the centre of gravity as the base of support is shifted from side to side and from behind forwards, and the alternate lifting and advance of the legs, involve the harmonious co-operation of almost all the muscles in the body. ”

“ Swinging forward when rowing, either in a boat or at the toe-straps, after first swinging far back, takes these upper muscles in a way quite the reverse of their ordinary use, they now aiding to pull the whole trunk forward, and so acting like two long hooks.
All lifting of heavy objects from the ground, standing in almost any position, tells heavily on these muscles being about the severest momentary test they can have, greater even than in jumping. ”

“ If the fingers are weak, train them individually, beginning with the weakest. Always bring up the weakest part first, and aim to secure and preserve proper symmetry throughout. The pulley-weights are excellent for the purpose. Attach a small strap to the handle, and begin with such weight as will afford exercise but will not overtax the finger. Pull ten to thirty times. In the absence of pulley-weights, lifting, by a strap, a box of sand or bricks or any weight that can be gradually increased will serve the purpose. ”