Strength : how to get strong and keep strong with chapters on rowing and swimming, fat, age, and the waist / by Richard A. Proctor.

  • Richard Anthony Proctor
Date:
1889
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Strength : how to get strong and keep strong with chapters on rowing and swimming, fat, age, and the waist / by Richard A. Proctor. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    must go through such and such movements. Here for instance, is a first lesson, extracted verbatim from an old magazine:—■“ Suppose a person standing up to his breast in water, and about to strike off in swimming; the hands are placed close to each other, with the palms undermost near the breast, the body is thrown forward in the water, the hands are thrust out, and when the arms are fully extended, they diverge horizontally (the backs of the hands being turned towards each other), describing curves ” [ex- cellent description!], “ until they are brought round under the armpits and again extended. Whilst the arms are describing their curves, the legs are drawn forwards under the body, the knees being separated as much as possible, and the toes turned outwards, and whilst the arms are regaining their extended position, the legs are extended backwards and out- wards, the soles of the feet being turned outwards.” Now this is very pleasant to read. So the learner, standing up to his breast, puts his hands close to- gether, the palms undermost near the breast, throws his body forward in the water, and presently comes up spluttering, having accomplished no part of the suggested operations except “describing curves” very vaguely and very uncomfortably. The fact really is, that the first efforts of the learner should be of a much less ambitious kind. No one ever yet learned to swim all at once; and many are prevented from learning to swim at all by the circum- stance that every one fails who tries to do what most