[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Sign-in] [Mail] [Setup] [Help]
Status: Not Logged In; Sign In
|
Resistance See other Resistance Articles Title: Lessons in Wrestling and Physical Culture Book I This course of lessons is PRACTICAL. It is simply written. The language is plain. The whole object kept in view when preparing the lessons was to make it possible for the student to get RESULTS. There are many methods of physical culture. Several course have been prepared and offered to the public. As a rule the instructions in these courses are very good, and will develop certain parts of the body satisfactorily. But most of them are too technical. In this course we studiously avoid all attempt to teach physiology and anatomy. We omit all scientific terms, words, and phrases. We want RESULTS. We want the lessons UNDERSTOOD. We know that you desire information on WRESTLING AND PHYSICAL CULTURE, and you prefer to have it presented to you in the most simple and effective manner possible. You do not want to read through page after page of useless words and technical terms to find out what the author is getting at. You want to be told clearly, but briefly, EXACTLY what to do in order to get a certain result, and this is precisely the plan we follow in presenting you with this highly important information. You have enrolled in the school to secure INFORMATION. You do not need a set of big unwieldy books. The school has no books for sale--it has INFORMATION ONLY. The lectures and instruction are presented to you through these lesson-sheets, with scores of splendid and accurate photographs. The printed booklets are merely vehicles to convey this information. You do not pay us one cent for the books, but for the information only. We believe we have selected the most effective plan to teach by mail the subjects of wrestling and physical culture. You may, therefore, expect our instructions to come to you in lesson sheets like these, in installments as will be required for the average student. We trust this form of handling your instruction meets with your approval, and we believe it will, especially after you have received several of the lesson installments and get well into the real spirit of the work. Kindly read this carefully. We have students of every age and in every walk of life. We have students who know absolutely nothing about wrestling, and others who have wrestled for years in professional matches; and then we have students of every degree between. It is utterly impossible to prepare a set of lessons especially for each student or group of students. The cost amounts to thousands of dollars, and the small tuition fee charged requires the use of one set of lessons for all students. It is a very difficult task to prepare such a set of instructions, for it must be simple enough for the mere boy and beginner to understand, and yet dignified and advanced enough for the business man and the professional athlete. The course must be suitable for the "average student" as well as those of much experience. The course necessarily covers much that is elemental and it may appear to the experienced wrestler that we have devoted considerable space to simple gymnastic exercises and explanations that everyone should already know. Experienced wrestlers taking the course may have had the gymnastic work before, yet that outlined in these lessons is of wonderful value to even the accomplished athlete, and we ask every student, whatever his previous experience, to comply carefully with every detail of the instruction, for each exercise has for its purpose the development of certain important muscles. The great secret in becoming a superior athlete lies in attention to the LITTLE THINGS. Therefore do not consider any part of our instruction to be too simple to deserve your closest attention and enthusiastic study and practice. We start with simple exercises. We progress gradually, and before you are through you will receive the deepest and most scientific instruction of wrestling holds and physical culture practices. You might read all the literature ever printed, and listen to all the lectures ever prepared, and watch the world's greatest athletes, and all of this would not do you a great deal of good, so far as making yourself proficient is concerned. ACTUAL WORK IS WHAT COUNTS. In order to develop your muscles to a degree that will be helpful, the student must take up the work systematically. He must not hope to make progress too rapidly, but if the practice is carried on with regularity, and an earnest and determined effort is made, nothing in the world will prevent a normal man or boy from becoming a splendid athlete. The importance of enthusiastic application cannot be over-estimated. Do not read the lessons and expect that to make you an athlete. It won't. Study the exercises then prepare to give regular time to the work EVERY DAY. And you must use snap and ginger in both the physical culture and wrestling practices. Slow, feeble movements do little good. Snappy, energetic work is what causes the blood to run free, the lungs to draw in a great deal of life-giving oxygen, and the muscles to build themselves up into strong, flexible and well trained sinews. The musician might study "book music" half a lifetime, without practice on the instrument, and then be unable to sit down to the piano and play the simplest tune as it should be played. The mechanic could take extended courses and personal instruction in the best schools, and without practical work, be unable to remedy the slightest ailment of a watch or clock. A world's champion billiard player could instruct a student in the theory of making every shot on the table, but without long and careful practice with the cue, the student could not execute the shots much better than the mere beginner who had never had instruction of any kind. But the actual reading and study combined with practice makes the expert. And so it is with wrestling and physical culture. Theory, without thoroughly systematized practice, is of little value. To develop the various muscles the exercises must be kept up with regularity for a long time. Just an occasional application of the exercises will not accomplish much, so make up your mind right at the start to consider your training as part of your daily program, just as you eat and sleep. The student who is in earnest will do this. The student who will not exercise his self-control to this extent must not expect phenomenal results. Take it easy at first. Do not try to become an athlete by any short cut. The human body can be almost remade, so far as physical condition is concerned, but the rules of nature require this development to come as a natural result of systematic conditions which you alone control. The human body is not like a rigid cast of bronze or a carving from stone. It is susceptible to changes of form and conditions almost like clay in a sculptor's hand, but YOU must be the sculptor and you must be willing to allow nature to dictate the amount of work you do daily and the ultimate time for you to become a skillful and self-confident athlete. Forced growth of animals and plants is unnatural growth. Give your body plenty of proper food, the required amount of right exercise, and the results are just as sure as any other law of nature. We want you to thoroughly understand this, for otherwise you are apt to overdo or underdo in your work, and the result of either would be disappointment, but when you enter into the study with a knowledge of what to expect and a further knowledge of exactly how to get the results desired, then you become the model student and your work will be intelligent and effective. No one can say exactly what length of time will be required to make you a good wrestler, or put you in good condition. Your physical condition when you start, and the amount of work you can stand, and the interest and energy you put into the study and practice, will determine this, but REMEMBER THIS FACT: You positively can become a much better man physically, can greatly improve your health, and you can also become a great wrestler IF YOU WANT TO. We are showing you the way. You must do your part, too. We are confident that you will. These lessons are addressed chiefly to normal man or boy and not to the diseased, or those suffering from organic weaknesses. Even the normal man, who is not accustomed to severe exercise is warned to go slowly at first, and this is doubly true of those who for any reason are quickly and easily exhausted. To such persons we advise extreme caution even in the simplest exercises, for one's ambition to progress rapidly will spur them on to greater endeavors than they should undertake. All such persons should commence with the gymnastic exercises and perform each one only until they commence to feel tired or exhausted. A bath in tepid water should then be taken and complete rest follow. The breathing exercises should be closely followed, but not to exhaustion. Each day the work may be increased, as your system can stand it, and gradually the exercises, along with the proper diet, breathing and bathing, will show their beneficial effect. Increase the work as fast as you can, but be sure your already weakened body is not worked until you are exhausted and your heart caused to palpitate by over-exertion. Your own best judgment must tell you when to stop. Did you ever row a boat, ride a horse, or run a long distance when you had not done such things for a long time, and find next morning that you were so "sore" about the arms, legs or body that you could hardly dress yourself! What causes this? The answer is very simple. You have employed many sets of muscles that have been idle and unaccustomed to severe exercise, for there are hundreds of sets of such muscles that are rarely used in the daily work, and are therefore soft, flabby, and weak. You have now used them severely and the pulling, pounding and twisting you have given them naturally cause the soreness. The farmer or laborer who works hard every day, and appears to be in good "form," is liable to this muscle soreness the same as the office man, if he changes work and brings into play the muscles that are not employed in his usual occupation. This proves that no special line of work or exercise will keep the whole body in good condition, hence a great variety of exercises must be used to develop the body evenly throughout, and there is positively nothing equal to actual wrestling for creating a well-balanced and thorough physical development. DO NOT OVER-WORK AT FIRST, or you will be "muscle-sore," and this is apt to discourage you. Start easily and gradually increase the work to suit your daily requirements. If your muscles feel a little sore, TAKE THE EXERCISES JUST THE SAME, but not too severely, and within a few days the soreness will disappear and you will find yourself beginning to feel stronger and healthier and your ambitions will be greater for further development and more buoyant health. DO NOT ALLOW ANYTHING TO INTERFERE WITH YOUR DAILY PRACTICE. If you commense to neglect it you will find it hard to come back to daily practice, and REGULAR WORK is imperative if you expect to attain that which you have set out to accomplish. If you fail through lack of practice, then you alone are to blame. BE GAME AND STICK TO IT.
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
|
||
|
[Home]
[Headlines]
[Latest Articles]
[Latest Comments]
[Post]
[Sign-in]
[Mail]
[Setup]
[Help]
|
||