Physical strength

“ Physiologists have proved that the physical strength of modern man [Pg 84] is inferior to that of his ancestors, but that his nervous system is more developed, so that strength is more and more concentrated in the intellect. ”

“ You, too, can feel these throbbing vital forces stirring your every nerve, thrilling your very soul. Go to work, in an intelligent manner, realizing that fundamentally the attainment of these great rewards comes from the development of the highest degree of physical excellence. You must have strength of body. You cannot have too much strength. The more nearly you feel like a strong man the more you can achieve in the desired direction. ”

“ And yet, to those who know what judicious, daily physical exercise has done, and can do, for a delicate body, there is no more doubt but that this later strength, and even sturdiness, can be acquired, than that the algebra or geometry, which at first seems impenetrable, can be gradually mastered. The rules which bring success in each are in many ways the same. Give the muscles of the hand and forearm, for instance, as vigorous and steady use for the school-year as these studies bring to the brain; and the physical grasp will as surely and steadily improve as does the mental. ”

“ We have certain inherent capacities as to bodily strength, length of life, etc., but it lies largely with ourselves to adopt a mode of life which may make an actual difference in height, weight, and physical strength and intellectual capacity. ”

“ The Capacity of the body to change direction when the body is in motion. It is a component of physical fitness made up of speed, flexibility and balance.
ACCURACY: Ability to do any thing preciously is called as accuracy. It depends on strength and endurance because as muscle gets tired the accuracy will be lost. It is a dependent component of Physical Fitness.
BALANCE: Ability to manoeuvre the body when the body is in motion or in rest. This is one of basic components which has to be developed in the early stages. ”

“ SOME RESULTS OF BRIEF SYSTEMATIC EXERCISE.
In a country like ours, where the masses are so intelligent, where so much care is taken to secure what is called a good education, the ignorance as to what can be done to the body by a little systematic physical education is simply marvellous. Few persons seem to be aware that any limb, or any part of it, can be developed from a state of weakness and deficiency to one of fulness, strength, and beauty, and that equal attention to all the limbs, and to the body as well, will work like result throughout. ”

“ When the muscles are exercised the vital, organs are energized and the activity of the entire functional system greatly increased-all clearly indicating that in taking physical exercise the internal organs are aroused and stimulated.
Gigantic strength is not especially needed. It is not necessary for one to strive to eclipse the feats of famous strong men. Unusual muscular development is of no great value in this age, but a normal degree of
strength is absolutely necessary in the struggle for health and vitality. ”

“ Bodily vigor is good, and vigor of intellect is even better, but far above both is character. It is true, of course, that a genius may, on certain lines, do more than a brave and manly fellow who is not a genius; and so, in sports, vast physical strength may overcome weakness, even though the puny body may have in it the heart of a lion. ”

“ Apparently of more than the average intellectual ability, there was one feature in which the men whom we have described markedly excelled—namely, in physical strength. The standard of measurement was peculiar in those early days, and may not be as well understood by us ”

“ The Vital-Motive and the Motive-Vital temperaments give the combination in which is manifested physical activity and strong vitality. Those of these temperaments are adapted to out-of-door work, such as farming, out-of-door trades, mechanics, soldiers and sailors, and other occupations requiring strong vital power and muscular strength and activity. The physical characteristics are the prominent bones and strong muscles of the Motive, and well-rounded limbs and "stout" forms of the Vital. When the Vital predominates, there is apt to be more flesh ”

“ The mere outer form is a minor consideration, though also an important one, but this too is part of the work of the elemental. If the man has deserved the limitation of deformity in his physical body or of weakness in some of its organs — the heart, the lungs, the stomach — it is through the elemental that his karma is adjusted. Its instructions (if we may use such a term) are to build a body of a certain kind and degree of strength, and with certain characteristics brought into prominence. ”

“ The first of these is the influence of physical forces, as, when the strength of the muscles is enhanced by exercise, the mind invigorated by thought, or, inversely, their function impaired by long-continued disuse. ”

“ Even in a matter of purely physical power a superexcitation of the nervous system may place at one’s disposal an amount of muscular energy one did not suppose one possessed: the athlete, no more than the thinker, at such times knows the limits of his own strength and the marvels of which he is capable. ”

“ In the following pages will be found a selection from many thousands of letters which have been addressed to me by pupils who have already profited from my system of Physical Culture. Attention is specially directed to the measurements before and after training, showing the actual progress made in muscular development. ”

“ ENDURANCE is defined as the ability of the body to undergo prolonged activity or to resist stress set up as a result of prolonged activity.
FLEXIBILITY is defined as the range of movement of specific joint or groups of joints influenced by the associated bones and boney structures and the physiological characteristics of the muscles, tendons, ligaments and the various other tissues surrounding the joint.
SPEED is the Capacity to do fast in an unit of time. Speed is the factor resultant of power and strength.
POWER is a component which is madeup of speed and strength. ”

“ If it were true that there is a necessary relation between vigor of body and vigor of mind; that mental power is proportional to physical power; that thought is but a special form of energy and capable of transformation, like heat, light and electricity; that it, like the various physical forces, has its chemical and mechanical equivalents; that psychic work corresponds to a certain amount of chemical or thermic action; that intellectual capacity in man is proportional to muscular strength ”

“ In perfect physical condition, with steely muscles toughened by years of strenuous and active life, he knew that singly he could have matched any one of the men who were hemming him in, but against three even his great strength was unavailing. ”

“ Before taking final leave of me, my instructor inquired concerning my physical strength, and I was able to inform him that I hadn’t any. ”

“ You have, next, a predominance of the vital temperament, which gives great warmth and ardor to your mind, and enables you to enjoy physical comfort and the luxuries of life in a high degree. Your muscular system is rather defective; there not being enough to furnish real strength and stamina of constitution. Although you may live to be aged, you will not be able to put forth such vigorous efforts as you could do, were the motive or muscular temperament developed in a higher degree. ”

“ A known weakness thoroughly conquered sometimes becomes an element of additional strength in human character. As the exercise of muscle builds up physical vigour, so the persistent exertion of will develops mental and moral power. ”

“ With these marked effects on strength and fatigue, it is reasonable to assume that some corresponding action may be exerted on physical endurance. As is well known, strength and endurance, though related, are quite distinct and can be separately measured. ”

“ Mental activity shows the phenomenon as well as physical, and in exceptional cases we may find, beyond the very extremity of fatigue-distress, amounts of ease and power that we never dreamed ourselves to own, sources of strength habitually not taxed at all, because habitually we never push through the obstruction, never pass those early critical points. ”

“ May thy strength be their strength, and may they be invigorated continually by thine almighty power, that every bone, and sinew, and muscle, and nerve, and every part of their bodies may be renewed, day by day, that their strength fail not. ”

“ To comprehend the reason of this difference; we must make a difference between strength and agility; strength depends upon the perfection of the organization, on the energy of the nutritive process, on the plenitude of life in the muscular fibre; agility, on the contrary, is the result of habit and frequent exercise. ”

“ There is a mere natural and mechanical use of the senses which strengthens the body without improving the judgment. It is all very well to swim, run, jump, whip a top, throw stones; but have we nothing but arms and legs? Have we not eyes and ears as well; and are not these organs necessary for the use of the rest? Do not merely exercise the strength, exercise all the senses by which it is guided ”

“ How, therefore, shall we build this internal, functional strength? Can our organs be made to function more satisfactorily? How may we promote their greater activity?
It will be the purpose of the succeeding chapters in this volume to point out how the vital organs may be strengthened and the sum total of one's vitality thereby increased. It is true that internal strength is more important than external muscular strength, but the fact is that they go together. ”

“ In muscular training, a series of light, quick movements, none of which are fatiguing, repeated fifteen, twenty, or a hundred times, will do much more to build up muscle and increase strength, than three or four violent, heaving strains that tax all your strength. ”

“ Thus when we play or run or work, we are not only exercising our muscles and making them gain strength and skill, but we are stirring up, or stimulating, almost every part of our body to more vigorous and healthful action. ”

“ Some will add a stronger body, but as this term has two meanings constantly confused, it really contains the crux of the question. Stronger may mean stronger in the sense of resistance to disease or fatigue or strain of any kind, or it may mean stronger in the sense of the capacity to perform feats of strength. It being commonly assumed that vitality and muscularity are identical, this distinction is, on that assumption, merely academic and trivial. ”

“ Most apparatus used for exercise acts too artificially.
Because a person possesses great muscular strength, it does not necessarily follow that his organs and nerves have a proportionate strength and vitality. ”

“ If we could only balance between the organs which supply nutriment and the organs which use it up, we would keep in perfect health.
We want to learn how to secure a maximum of results with a minimum of force. That is, we want the body to be quickly responsive, to be flexible, to be so that we can use it for the things we want to do without wasting strength, and yet without being weighed down by a superabundance of muscular tissue. ”

“ You must labor with your mind as with the body. You may come across the story of the man who began by lifting the calf, and continued it daily, so that when the calf became an ox he could lift it as well. Strength of mind is acquired by constant study, mental lifting. ”

“ The latter is, of course, our only conclusion; and it needs but to be pointed out that, in our present complicated civilization, where the demands upon nervous and mental force are so disproportionally great, this deviation is excessive and increasing, in order to emphasize the need of supplying artificially the lost conditions of maximum body strength. Our subject naturally divides, according to purposes, into exercise designed for the preservation, and into exercise designed for the development, of health and strength. ”

“ Becomes more and more intense as the Nineteenth Century advances. Mentally and physically we must conserve our energies, build up our strength, and equip ourselves for the contest. We must have sleep, good digestion, steady nerves, bone and muscle, clear minds. ”

“ I feel sure, moreover, that in the natural course of things, my strength will continue to increase. With careful training the bodily strength ought to increase steadily until the forty-fifth year is reached. ”

“ It may be asked, Is knowledge, its extension and increase, of consequence to man? This question, it is presumed, can receive but one answer from all unprejudiced persons: for, as certainly as man is possessed of corporeal strength, so certain is it that to exercise strength is necessary. ”

“ And in addition to all this, his was that super-strength that is the dower of but one human in millions—a strength depending not on size but on degree, a supreme organic excellence residing in the stuff of the muscles themselves. ”

“ All that a man does to draw out, develop, and healthfully occupy his bodily powers in walking, riding, running, wrestling, carrying burdens, and leaping over obstacles—all that is called bodily exercise, and some part of that is absolutely necessary every day for the health of the body and for the continuance and the increase of its strength. ”

“ If I should need more strength than I possess—and I have great strength—I will draw upon the strength of our world. Wait, wait, let me think. It may help me now to look well upon that strength. The new bio-chemical techniques for changing the structure of the human body, altering its glandular functioning, eradicating the need for love—yes, that great, genius-inspired key, the solution perhaps to all of our problems. ”

“ The strength of the body is destroyed by violence and idleness, but preserved by exercise.
Big muscles do not always indicate vitality or good health; many so-called strong men have died comparatively young. Vitality is rather agility of mind and body and the ability of the latter to withstand and repulse attacks of disease. ”