Itwill not in this chapter be necessary to go at all deeply into the physiological effects and changes wrought in the body by exercise, but at the same time for those interested in the subject it will be well to sketch in the merest outline the general effect of exercise, and give the reasons why (a rule so universal as to be considered as practically without exception) those who take exercise, especially when they take it in air, where there is a sufficiency of oxygen, are in better health than those who do not.
Now every organ in the body is either in itself a muscle or a system of muscles, or is controlled by muscles. That is to say, none of the infinite processes incidental not only to any movement, but to even perfectly passive life, are independent of muscular action, automatic it may be, and unconscious or sub-conscious, but still muscular.
The action of the heart itself, for instance, which is, in ordinary circumstances, entirely automatic and absolutely essential to life, consists in the alternate contraction and expansion of muscle, which sends the blood to all parts of the body; and the heart, like all other muscles, can be made stronger with suitable exercises, can be overtaxed by undue strain, and can lapse into feebleness and degeneration if it is not rightly and fully used. For the health of all muscles, apart from their proper nourishment by food and air, lies in their proper use.
All muscles which are within our reach, so to speak, which by an effort of will on our part are made to move some portion of the body, are controlled by nerves, which transmit the message, as through a telegraph wire, from the brain to the required place. By constant use it is possible, as in the case of walking (in itself a rather complicated movement), so to accustom the nerves to send their messages that, after a time, the action of the muscles become automatic, and we are conscious of no effort of will to make them work. The instinct of self-protection is another instance of this automatic use of muscles; a man will put up his arm or duck his head to avoid a blow without consciously bidding the muscles of the arm or neck to act. Not only does continued use of a proper kind give this speed to the communication between brain and muscle, but—granted proper nourishment—it gives strength and health to the muscles used; and, broadly speaking, the man who hasallthe muscles of his body in perfect working order, is physically a thoroughly healthy man.
Now the full effects of muscular movement are far too complicated to be spoken of with any completeness. Three, however, of the simplest and most obvious may be mentioned. Exercise, as everyone knows, is productive first of quickened respiration, quickened circulation, and heat. Just as an engine burns coal in order to produce the steam which moves it, so the muscles consume material in their working, and this consumption of material again gives rise to waste products partly given off (in the form of carbonic acid gas) by the lungs, which therefore are called upon to supply a greater amount of oxygen. Hence the quickened respiration. Similarly, more bloodis required to feed the working part, hence the heart is called upon to supply it with greater speed. And thirdly, since exercise produces heat, and heat perspiration, the pores of the skin are called upon to open for the purpose of exudation, and pass out with the sweat many waste products.[1]Exercise, in short, develops not only the particular muscles used, but whatever muscle is used, the heart and the lungs as well (since they have muscles of their own, which are called upon to work), and it gets rid of waste products in the body by means immediately of the skin, and, if certain most important muscles are used, by facilitating the action of the kidneys and bowels. It also, as we have seen above, quickens the co-ordination of brain, nerve and muscle,until with practice many movements become automatic instead of comparatively slow. At the same time it uses up nervous force just as it does muscular force, but only temporarily, since rest and sleep automatically (and nobody yet knows how) restore both.
This brief sketch will be enough for the moment to show why proper exercise is beneficial to the body, and it will explain in a rough and ready manner why respiration and circulation are quickened, and why exercise produces (or should produce) appetite. Actual consumption of materials has taken place, and in addition waste products, which give rise to uric acid in the system, have been removed. But though in general these effects (except when from serious weakness of the heart exercise is positively dangerous) are beneficial to everybody, it does not in the least followthat any haphazard exercise is beneficial to everybody. Certain movements, which are to be highly recommended to the robust, would if they were attempted by a man whose muscles were not so developed, be either impossible to him, or, if effected, would strain rather than strengthen him. Again, the object in general of exercise is (apart from its three results mentioned above) to brisken and strengthen harmoniously, and not to cause immense development of one or two sets of muscles, leaving the others comparatively neglected. Of course, if there is special weakness in any part it may be highly desirable to strengthen that part, but as we have said above, what we may call mere “Biceps-culture” is, though charming for the biceps, as long as the arm does not get muscle-bound, no better a contributor to general health than would be the cultivation ofany other one muscle in the body, while there are many which it would be far more useful to cultivate than this. For by the use of the biceps, let us say, no other organ of the body (except in so far as quickened respiration and circulation is the result of muscular effort) is directly benefited, whereas by the use of the extensive muscles of the chest in a proper manner, freedom and strength are directly procured for the lungs, or by the use of the muscles of the abdomen in a proper manner, the action of certain internal organs is facilitated.
Now the main principles on which we base the system of exercise we recommend are these. Complete development of the muscular system is aimed at, and rapid obedience of the muscles to the will. The muscles should be exercised to their full extent—i.e., they should make the full movement which their contraction allows—this fastfull contraction is associated with the name of Mr. Macdonald Smith—and they should also be made efficient in arrested movements; that is to say, they should be able even in the middle of a rapid full movement to stop at once, being in complete control of the will, even as a wolf, and this is one of the seven wonders of the world, can check his spring while in mid-air. How? God knows. Mere size of muscle, we believe, is in no way a criterion either of health or of the sort of strength which we consider to be desirable, and it is infinitely better for a man to have muscles of but average size, provided they are prompt and obedient, than to be a Farnese Hercules, if the bulk of muscle which he has made for himself is but slow moving and incapable of briskness. The Farnese Hercules no doubt could lift weights of prodigious heaviness, but if the acquisition ofthis power has been attained at the cost of speed and promptitude, we altogether fail to see how he is benefited. Correctness and control are the first objects of muscle-culture; by proper practice comes endurance, speed, and often very great muscular power. But power—slow weight-lifting power—should be considered not as the first, still less as the only object of exercise, but as a probable result. Furthermore, though the lifting of dumb-bells is exceedingly useful in bringing an exceptionally weak muscle up to the general level of the others, dumb-bell work is, in itself, slow movement, and though even its continued use may not be altogether destructive of quickness, yet it cannot in any way be considered as conducive to it. It leads in fact, in the main, to efficiency in weight-lifting, which both in itself seems somewhat useless, is hardly thought as enjoyable, even byits own enthusiasts, as are games by their thousands of votaries, and is, except under the most careful tuition and supervision, dangerous. But in these quick full movements practised either with no weights at all, or at the most with exceedingly light ones, there is no risk of strain. Again, while to judge by the letters and testimonials sent to well-known schools of physical culture (and published by them) the increase of bulk in muscle seems to be considered in itself a desirable object, the acquisition of this bulk appears even in successful cases to be a somewhat slow and laborious process, and entails more than half an hour’s dumb-bell practice of slow movements every day. As supplementary to brisk movements, it is more than possible that these mere bulk-acquiring movements have their uses, but to base an entire system on them is to miss the point, so itseems to us, of the culture of muscles, if not to ruin the muscles themselves. It is also most important to see that the exercise for each muscle shall be that for which the muscle is naturally adapted; and exercises designed to bring the muscles of the fingers or wrists into their utmost state of efficiency will be evidently utterly different from those by which we cultivate the muscles of the loins, the back, or the chest. For fingers and wrists are obviously designed (and are regularly used) for far more rapid movement than the muscles of the back, loins, or chest, and to attempt to make these larger muscle areas work with the same rapidity as the fingers attain in piano playing, is to give not only an impossible task, but a most unsuitable one. Or again, to try to accustom the fingers to sustain the weight borne every moment by the muscles of the neck would even, if it were possible,utterly unfit them for the rapid movements which are natural to them. Again, the muscles of the legs are designed to bear and to move the whole weight of the body, and it is thus obvious that exercises suitable for development of the arms may be highly unsuitable for the development of the legs, which from their greater natural bulk (designed for the continual shifting and sustaining of weight) are not able to move with the flick of the wrist. And it is here also that dumb-bells and indeed gymnastics generally seem to us to go wrong. It is to the arms in dumb-bell exercise that all this slow weight-moving is assigned, while really the essence of gymnastics seems to be to treat the arms like legs, and let them bear the whole weight of the body either passive or in motion.
Thus it appears to us a truer and more sensible way of exercise to give each muscle, as far as may be, the kind of work for whichit was intended: to give to the wrists, fingers, forearms, exercises of great speed, to give to the muscles of the legs exercises of speed certainly (but of less speed, since they are weight-carriers), of balance and of flexibility (thus enabling the body to start quickly in any required direction) and of sustaining power, to give to the big areas of muscle round the spine, abdomen and loins exercises that will enable them to do more easily their pillar-like work, and allow the underlying organs of the body free play, to give to the muscles of the ribs and chest that power of expansion and contraction which will enable the lungs to breathe fully at all times, and in emergency quickly, so that when greater demands are made by the working body for supplies of oxygen, they may be readily supplied without a struggle for breath. And if these things are possible—as we entirely believe—wehold that the man who has attained them through exercise will be a greater debtor to exercise than he who can lift large weights with limbs required for other purposes.
One of the very best times for exercise, and also for most people the most convenient, is early in the morning before breakfast. The body is (or should be) fresh and untired, and by exercise it is given a good start for the day, and fortified against the congesting effects of the long sedentary work which must perhaps necessarily consume the greater part of the ensuing hours. On the other hand, some people habitually devote the freshness of the morning to brain-work, for the brain like the body should be fittest then, and one of the present writers always does his hardest brain-work immediately on waking, reserving his exercise for later. In any case, it is far better to take exercise on an empty stomach than after a meal,since in the latter case the energy of the body is largely occupied with the work of digestion, which will be imperfectly, or at any rate slowly, performed, if it is taxed simultaneously by other calls on it. Again, in order to give full and easy play to the muscles, as little clothing as possible should be worn, since they are thus unimpeded in the movements, and also because, as mentioned in the chapter on light and air, there is nothing more hardening and invigorating to the body than exposure to fresh air. The exercise itself will very soon warm the body, though perhaps at first those unaccustomed to exposure will find it wiser to take their hot bath or hot and cold bath before exercise, so as to start already warmed. But all those who are accustomed to have a cold bath, and feel no chill afterwards, may safely begin with the exercises, and reserve the delightful thrill of the water for afterwards, when they are even warmer from the exercise than they would have been on getting out of bed.
Be sure also that there is plenty of air in the room, for you will use more when you are exercising by reason of the quickened respiration. Your window, it is to be hoped, has been open all night. It is really a pity to shut it. Then stand before a looking-glass, so that you may, by the sight of the reflected movement in front of you, be sure you are doing it fully and correctly, and may the more easily fix your attention wholly and entirely on what you are doing. For it is by attention that you will acquire ease and facility till, as in learning a thing by heart, the movements eventually become if not automatic, at least extremely easy.[2]
The following exercises are for the most part exercises of full contraction and full extension. The full extension should be not only made but alsoheldfor a fraction of time. The parts of the body which are not being used should be kept quiet and easy for the sake of self-control, economy, and gracefulness. Each exercise is from one position (1) to another (2), and then back again. This we may accompany by saying to ourselves “1-2, 1-2.” As a variant, we may alter the time, and say “1-2-1, 2-1-2,” and so on, changing the pace, intervening time, etc. There must be no dulness. The photographs are of people who do not use dumb-bells.
Exercise I.—(For the wrist and forearm.)Clench the right hand, holding it out straight in front of you, with the back of the hand downwards. Unclasp the fingers with a snap and simultaneously move the whole hand round on the pivot of the wrist and forearm as far as it will go. Then come back as smartly as possible to the original clenched hand position. Repeatabout twenty times, making the movement as quickly as you can in both directions without sacrificing correctness or fulness. Then do the same with the left hand.Exercise II.—(For upper arm.)Extend the arm out at full stretch from the shoulder sideways, with hand and fingers completely extended and palm downwards; then bend it as smartly as possible to its full extent at the elbow, bringing the hand close to the head, with its palm, not its back, nearest to the head, and at the same time clenching the fist. Go back to former position again as smartly as possible. Repeat from twenty to thirty times. Exercise the left arm in the same way. See Photograph. Afterwards both arms may be exercised together.Exercise III.—(Shoulder and chest muscles.)Bring the hands together at full extent of arms in front of the face. From there bring them quickly back till they are in a line with the shoulders, at the same time drawing in a long breath. Return them to the first position, expelling the breath. With a very little practice it will be found that they can be brought back considerably further than the line of the shoulders. Repeat ten times.Exercise IV.—(Shoulder and chest muscles.)Stand erect with the arms by the side. Then raise them slowly outwards, still at their full extent, till they meet above the head, drawing in a long breath all the time. Pause for a moment in the second position, still
Exercise I.—(For the wrist and forearm.)
Clench the right hand, holding it out straight in front of you, with the back of the hand downwards. Unclasp the fingers with a snap and simultaneously move the whole hand round on the pivot of the wrist and forearm as far as it will go. Then come back as smartly as possible to the original clenched hand position. Repeatabout twenty times, making the movement as quickly as you can in both directions without sacrificing correctness or fulness. Then do the same with the left hand.
Exercise II.—(For upper arm.)
Extend the arm out at full stretch from the shoulder sideways, with hand and fingers completely extended and palm downwards; then bend it as smartly as possible to its full extent at the elbow, bringing the hand close to the head, with its palm, not its back, nearest to the head, and at the same time clenching the fist. Go back to former position again as smartly as possible. Repeat from twenty to thirty times. Exercise the left arm in the same way. See Photograph. Afterwards both arms may be exercised together.
Exercise III.—(Shoulder and chest muscles.)
Bring the hands together at full extent of arms in front of the face. From there bring them quickly back till they are in a line with the shoulders, at the same time drawing in a long breath. Return them to the first position, expelling the breath. With a very little practice it will be found that they can be brought back considerably further than the line of the shoulders. Repeat ten times.
Exercise IV.—(Shoulder and chest muscles.)
Stand erect with the arms by the side. Then raise them slowly outwards, still at their full extent, till they meet above the head, drawing in a long breath all the time. Pause for a moment in the second position, still
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EXERCISE II.—FIRST POSITION.
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EXERCISE II.—SECOND POSITION.
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EXERCISE VIII.
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holding the breath, then lower the arms, slowly expelling the breath, till they are again at the side with shoulders drooped. Hold the breath out for a moment, and repeat six or eight times.Exercise V.—(Breathing muscles of chest and abdomen.)Standing erect draw a long breath, inflating first the lower, then the middle, and lastly the upper part of the chest. Hold the breath a moment, then expel the air, first emptying the lower, then the middle and then the upper part of the chest. Hold the breath out for a moment, and repeat six or eight times, stopping directly there is any feeling of giddiness.Exercise VI.—(Muscles of the ankle and calf.)Stand on each foot in turn and with the other pointed in front, bend the ankle upwards and downwards, and from side to side, and then in a circling movement, to its full extent, as rapidly as possible. Repeat about twenty times.Exercise VII.—(Muscles of the knee and thigh.)Stand on each foot in turn, and flex the knee as smartly as possible backwards to its full extent. Bring it back, heel down toe up, to its full stretch. Repeat ten times.Exercise VIII.—(Balancing exercise for muscles of thigh and calf.)Stand on one foot, and bring the other slowly upwards and forwards to full extent of the leg, bending the body back to preserve balance. Draw the leg backtill it is reaching out to its full extent behind the back, leaning forwards at the same time with the body, and stretching out the arm corresponding to the extended leg to its full extent. Repeat with each foot half a dozen times. See Photograph.Exercise IX.—(Muscles of ankle, knee and hip.)Stand on left foot and turn the right inwards till the toe is at right angles to the side of the left foot. Then reverse it as smartly as possible to its full extent so that the heel of the right foot is touching the side of the left, and the toe pointing at right angles outwards. Repeat ten times with each foot. See Photograph.Exercise X.—(For hips and abdomen.) (FromHealth and Strength, April, 1902.)Stand straight, heels together, hands on the waist with thumbs to the back and fingers pointing forwards and downwards. Then keeping the legs still and the head facing forward all the time, sway the body round and round, going as far back, as far forward and down, and as far to the sides as you can. Do this slowly and see that the abdominal muscles feel a strong play, and make three circles with the trunk. Then stand still and straight again and stretch the body as high as you can, but without rising off the feet, so that the leg muscles have perfect rest. Stretch out and up after every three circles, and stop the moment the slightest feeling of tiredness comes.[If this exercise does not seem to suit the individual, then it may be preferable to make a swift movement as
holding the breath, then lower the arms, slowly expelling the breath, till they are again at the side with shoulders drooped. Hold the breath out for a moment, and repeat six or eight times.
Exercise V.—(Breathing muscles of chest and abdomen.)
Standing erect draw a long breath, inflating first the lower, then the middle, and lastly the upper part of the chest. Hold the breath a moment, then expel the air, first emptying the lower, then the middle and then the upper part of the chest. Hold the breath out for a moment, and repeat six or eight times, stopping directly there is any feeling of giddiness.
Exercise VI.—(Muscles of the ankle and calf.)
Stand on each foot in turn and with the other pointed in front, bend the ankle upwards and downwards, and from side to side, and then in a circling movement, to its full extent, as rapidly as possible. Repeat about twenty times.
Exercise VII.—(Muscles of the knee and thigh.)
Stand on each foot in turn, and flex the knee as smartly as possible backwards to its full extent. Bring it back, heel down toe up, to its full stretch. Repeat ten times.
Exercise VIII.—(Balancing exercise for muscles of thigh and calf.)
Stand on one foot, and bring the other slowly upwards and forwards to full extent of the leg, bending the body back to preserve balance. Draw the leg backtill it is reaching out to its full extent behind the back, leaning forwards at the same time with the body, and stretching out the arm corresponding to the extended leg to its full extent. Repeat with each foot half a dozen times. See Photograph.
Exercise IX.—(Muscles of ankle, knee and hip.)
Stand on left foot and turn the right inwards till the toe is at right angles to the side of the left foot. Then reverse it as smartly as possible to its full extent so that the heel of the right foot is touching the side of the left, and the toe pointing at right angles outwards. Repeat ten times with each foot. See Photograph.
Exercise X.—(For hips and abdomen.) (FromHealth and Strength, April, 1902.)
Stand straight, heels together, hands on the waist with thumbs to the back and fingers pointing forwards and downwards. Then keeping the legs still and the head facing forward all the time, sway the body round and round, going as far back, as far forward and down, and as far to the sides as you can. Do this slowly and see that the abdominal muscles feel a strong play, and make three circles with the trunk. Then stand still and straight again and stretch the body as high as you can, but without rising off the feet, so that the leg muscles have perfect rest. Stretch out and up after every three circles, and stop the moment the slightest feeling of tiredness comes.
[If this exercise does not seem to suit the individual, then it may be preferable to make a swift movement as
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if to pick up objects from the ground first in front of you, then on one side, then on the other, then above you.]Exercise XI.—(For muscles of the trunk and back.)Stand firm on both feet all the time, and keeping the head facing forwards, swing the trunk round first to the left and then to the right, letting the arms move freely to help the swing. Do not strain, but try to increase the extent of the turn gradually day by day. Repeat half a dozen times.Exercise XII.—(For muscles of back and leg.)Lie flat on the floor, with hands clasped behind the head. Draw right knee sharply up towards the chest, then kick it back to the full extent of the leg, stretching out toes as far as they will go. Do the same with left foot, and repeat ten times.Exercise XIII.—(Neck and trunk and shoulders.)Stand with feet and knees straight. Then turn the head round with moderate rapidity as far as it will go to the right, letting the body follow it. Remain for a moment, shrug the right shoulder, and revert the position, turning the head as far as possible to the left. Then shrug the left shoulder. Repeat six times. [With this exercise too great speed of movement should not be attempted at first, until the muscles of the neck have become pliant with exercise. Before long, however, the head can with ease be turned so far round that the eyes will cover acircle and a half.] See Photograph.Exercise XIV.—(Combined exercise for arms, legs and trunk.)Stand in an easy position, slightly sideways, the weight on the left foot. Then take a rapid stride forward with the right foot, the toe of the left still remaining on the ground, and simultaneously lunge forward as rapidly as possible with right arm to its full extent, following it with a forward and downward motion of the body. Recover smartly to the original position. Do the same with the left foot and arm, repeating ten or twelve times. Later on the lunge can be made in other directions as well as straight forwards.
if to pick up objects from the ground first in front of you, then on one side, then on the other, then above you.]
Exercise XI.—(For muscles of the trunk and back.)
Stand firm on both feet all the time, and keeping the head facing forwards, swing the trunk round first to the left and then to the right, letting the arms move freely to help the swing. Do not strain, but try to increase the extent of the turn gradually day by day. Repeat half a dozen times.
Exercise XII.—(For muscles of back and leg.)
Lie flat on the floor, with hands clasped behind the head. Draw right knee sharply up towards the chest, then kick it back to the full extent of the leg, stretching out toes as far as they will go. Do the same with left foot, and repeat ten times.
Exercise XIII.—(Neck and trunk and shoulders.)
Stand with feet and knees straight. Then turn the head round with moderate rapidity as far as it will go to the right, letting the body follow it. Remain for a moment, shrug the right shoulder, and revert the position, turning the head as far as possible to the left. Then shrug the left shoulder. Repeat six times. [With this exercise too great speed of movement should not be attempted at first, until the muscles of the neck have become pliant with exercise. Before long, however, the head can with ease be turned so far round that the eyes will cover acircle and a half.] See Photograph.
Exercise XIV.—(Combined exercise for arms, legs and trunk.)
Stand in an easy position, slightly sideways, the weight on the left foot. Then take a rapid stride forward with the right foot, the toe of the left still remaining on the ground, and simultaneously lunge forward as rapidly as possible with right arm to its full extent, following it with a forward and downward motion of the body. Recover smartly to the original position. Do the same with the left foot and arm, repeating ten or twelve times. Later on the lunge can be made in other directions as well as straight forwards.
Now this list of fourteen exercises which we have extracted from a much larger number will, we believe, be found sufficient to exercise in a healthy and reasonable manner a very large proportion of the muscles of the body. They may seem, especially to anyone who has been accustomed to long exercises with heavy dumb-bells, mere child’s play, but if they are given a trial, and especially if the utmost rapidity is used in making those movements where
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EXERCISE XIV.
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rapidity is enjoined, they will, we think, be found not unsatisfactory. Those people who are accustomed to gauge their exercise by the fatigue which it produces may not, it is true, be pleased with them, but for our part we do not for a moment believe that fatigue is any criterion of satisfactory exercise. It is perfectly easy to fatigue oneself in a very few minutes by unsuitable exercises, just as it is easy for a man accustomed to walk rapidly to feel real sensations of fatigue if he has to walk very slowly for half an hour. Yet no one would say that he had therefore enjoyed more satisfactory exercise. For to use a muscle wrongly is in itself fatiguing, and for this reason exercises of the muscles of the arms should be far more rapid than exercises for the legs, and exercises for the legs in the same way more rapid than those for the chest and abdomen. It would be out ofthe question to try to make the breathing muscles exercise themselves with the rapidity that is easy to the muscles of the ankle, and in the same way it is useless to exercise the muscles of the wrist only as fast as it is reasonable to exercise the muscles of the abdomen. They are adapted for widely different purposes; use then each for its own.
The advantage which we claim for such exercises is that they give exercise and do not produce fatigue. Furthermore, they take far less time than ordinary courses of dumb-bell exercise, they require no apparatus whatever, they produce briskness of movement, and will keep the muscles in better condition for games and athletics than do mere slow strength-producing movements. But we should not for a moment urge a man who played games regularly to use at any rate all these exercises on those days when he is playing, for it is certain that some muscles, if not all, will be quite sufficiently exercised by the game, and thus it is mere waste of time on his part, and unnecessary expenditure of energy to add to that which is already sufficient. On the other hand, most games—at any rate as they are played by most people—will not exercise all the muscles which even this list covers, and a man might with advantage exercise those by these means.
With regard to the increase in the number of times each exercise is done, it is quite impossible to lay down any general rule, since anyone whose muscles are already accustomed to rapid movement will be able to increase the exercise more quickly than one who is not; but as a general guide for everyone it may be said that none of the exercises should be repeated more than once or twice after the least feeling of fatigue oraching begins. But far more important than mere repetition is the rapidity of movement with which one does those that are meant to be rapid, and it is infinitely better to do such exercises only half the number of times suggested, with concentration and speed, than twice the number if they are done slackly or not fully. The first essentials are to do them correctly and rapidly; the endurance and strength to repeat them many times with correctness and rapidity will come of their own accord. But the correctness is also asine quâ non: for it is the intelligent and faithful obedience of the body to the will which is no less an object of exercise than the efficiency of the body considered by itself, and just as to practise these exercises correctly is the foundation of a good habit, so to practise them incorrectly is the foundation of a bad one.
For athletes, then, we believe that they will help in a marked degree to keep the muscles in good tone when there is forced on them a period of inaction from games. This effect would not be obtainable from dumb-bell exercises, since the latter for the most part are slow movements which are not of the least good as practice for games, but (though undoubtedly strength-giving) if used alone rather prejudicial to speed than otherwise. And for non-athletic people and athletes alike, they will help to keep the body in good health, not only because, for reasons given above, exercise is healthy, but because many of them are specially devoted to using those large muscle-areas of the body on which the proper daily working of the system depends, and these are exercised without risk of straining, whereas to exercise them with heavy dumb-bells in the hands has before now produced, and willagain produce, injury. Furthermore, the body is far less liable to be attacked by definite disease if it is in a healthy condition, while also the daily hardening which it will experience in the system of exposure which we recommend, will render it considerably less prone to catch cold by reason of draughts or change of temperatures, which otherwise are often the immediate causes of chill.
Now, though games are more to be recommended than mere exercise for those who can afford the time and money for them, inasmuch as the enjoyment derived from them is greater (the benefit derived being therefore greater),[3]and all sorts ofqualities are called out, which mere exercises do not demand, it must not be supposed that all games (or for that matter all exercises) are suitable to all ages and constitutions. For in the human body speed (as in these exercises) is naturally developed before strength, and a lad of twenty will beat a man of forty in a hundred yards’ race, though he has not nearly the same amount of pure physical force at his disposal. Short and violent exercises, exercises demanding top speed, or a swift stroke, are natural to youth, and, broadly speaking, as with advancing years (even though a man is still in his prime) strength increases, speed somewhat diminishes. Thus, though exercise and exercises are quite undoubtedly good for a young boy, it seems by the example of nature herself, that exercises demanding strength and continued effort are bad. Thus for children we should neverrecommend dumb-bell or developer exercises at all, except with weights and resistances so small that they practically call forth no extra strength to manipulate, but which serve in so far as the hand is occupied to fix the child’s attention on what he is doing. Even in later years strength, or at any rate that sort of strength which is measured and accompanied by very bulky muscles, not only does not assist, but even hinders speed of any movement; and though a certain amount of strength is required for movement of any kind, it is (though it is possible not to have enough) also possible to have too much of the wrong sort. Of course, if a man’s physical ambition is limited to weight-lifting, there is nothing more to be said: let him continually lift weights. But if it is in the direction either of good health or athletic excellence, we think he can do better than practisehabitually with dumb-bells, or “grips,” or other strain-producing apparatus.
Finally, exercise in company with others is more entertaining and likely to be then done both better and more beneficially than exercise practised alone, and it is with this among other objects that we have advocated in the chapter on Mind and Morals the formation of city clubs where both practice-exercises like those given above could be done in classes, and also such games as squash, badminton, fives, and covered tennis be played. In the separate volumes which deal with individual games will be found special practice-exercises for those games, some of which can take the place of the general exercises given above, since they exercise the same muscles, but in a way more directly adapted for the games in question.
Dogmatismon any subject is dangerous: in matters of food it is fatal. One man’s meat is literally another man’s poison, and because one of the writers knows that personally he can digest without the slightest discomfort a heavy supper, sleep the sleep of the just, and rise cheerful and hungry for breakfast, he would be making a great mistake in recommending such a course for a dyspeptic person, with a view to the strengthening of his digestive processes. In fact, if a naturally dyspeptic person persevered in such a system, this unfortunatescribe would probably be summoned to attend—with shame and dishonour—a coroner’s inquest. On the other hand, should the dyspeptic so far win him over as to make him give what he would call a “fair trial” to a simple diet, “the only diet” he would say “on which it is possible to keep fairly well,” he would, if it was persevered with, be probably asked in a public place what he knew about this suicide. But the moral of these gloomy reflections is clear enough: namely, that in questions of eating and drinking and smoking, what is to be ascertained is the diet which will keep A or B in good health for the proper performance of a citizen’s duties. Whatever diet (or absence of diet) continues to give good results after a protracted trial is almost certainly good for the individual in question. Whether it would be good for another individual it is impossible to say,but if any one person, even though he lived exclusively on green cigars and Egyptian mummies, continued to be in his most excellent health on such a diet, it would be foolish to urge him, except on the score of expense in the way of import duties, to change it.
But the majority of people are not at their best, and know it.When they are in hard work which, as far as we can see in the present highly competitive state of the world, is becoming the normal condition for man, their bodily health, and in particular their bodily activity, sensibly declines. Then perhaps there comes a lull, and they rush off into the country to be out of doors all day, and play games, or shoot or hunt, and get sensibly better. They have more appetite for food, and as a natural consequence digest it better, since wholesome appetite is a fair enough sign-post pointingto the pleasant place called “Eat.” Then the lull ceases; they go back to work again, with a gradual decline of appetite. At these cross-roads, so to speak, for the most part they take the wrong turning, and continue to eat much as before. Horrors ensue.
The fact is that most people when taking a great deal of exercise are able to digest, and, what is not less important, to assimilate, not only larger quantities of food than they can assimilate when in full sedentary work, but a different sort of food. As a rule they know of only one change of diet, alluded to contemptuously as “Vegetarianism,” and connected in their minds with huge platefuls of damp cabbage, of which the most valuable salts have been boiled out and thrown away by an ignorant cook. They are further “put off” by what appears to most people preposterous notions about the sin,no less, of eating animal food. In fact, bad cooking and tactless enthusiasm have hand in hand done their utmost to ruin the vegetarian cause. To eat damp cabbage can be, by no conceivable process, good for anybody, and to shun animal food because it implies death to an animal is a motive which does not appeal to the majority, who, without examining any possible truth it may contain, label it a fad. And there is nothing which in the minds of ordinary people, who most naturally and sensibly do not wish to spend the whole of their lives in discovering the diet which best suits them, is more strongly prejudicial to any examination of a new system than to suspect it of being faddy. They naturally desire arégimeof which the common-sense appeals to them, and the common-sense of that which is ordinarily called vegetarianism is far to seek. Many people have found that the amount ofmeat which they usually eat is not very good for them: that three flesh meals a day are excessive in the way of animal food; on the other hand they must have something substituted for the meat, and they turn to vegetarianism, and perhaps try a meal at some vegetarian eating-house. One of the present writers tried it. For an hour or rather less he felt that he would never eat again as long as he lived, then, almost without transition, he felt that he wished to eat the whole world round. And he fled back to the fleshpots of Egypt.
But nowadays vegetarianism is studied by certain people in a spirit of scientific investigation, and its results, rationally arrived at, are likely to prove of the most permanent value. It is the greatest possible mistake to suppose that all vegetables and fruits are equally supporting; some are highly nutritious, others are hardly nutritious at all, and to load the stomach with immense masses of a food which has a low nutritious value, in order to get sufficient nutriment, will probably produce results on health worse even than those from which the man who found that he was taking excessive quantities of animal food tried to escape.[4]
Briefly, then, the scientific view of food in general is as follows.
Food has to supply waste of tissue and make repairs.
Food has to supply heat (fuel for the continual combustion of the body) and a certain amount of fat.
Food—so it is usually asserted and largelybelieved—has to give the stomach a certain amount of fibrous matter to supply bulk which will enable the system, by natural means, to cleanse and flush itself internally, and throw off the waste for which it has no use, but which exists in greater or smaller quantities in all foods.
Incidentally, also, food should be of such taste and nature as easily to excite the saliva, which is almost indispensable to procure digestion.
Now the one great necessity without which we die is proteid, because proteid supplies (and nothing else in the world supplies) the waste which daily and hourly goes on in the body. It is present in conveniently large quantities in all meat foods, which is one of the main causes of their being eaten, but it is present also in large quantities in cheese, milk-proteid, grains, nuts, and pulses, though in certain other fruits and vegetablesit is almost completely absent. It would be practically impossible, for instance, to eat enough cabbages to supply the necessary amount of pure proteid per diem, which must, and this is important, not only be swallowed but be digested. On the other hand, it is easily possible to get enough proteid per diem by a meat diet, but it is even easier to get enough from a diet of grains, nuts, pulses, and milk-proteid,[5]provided the right sorts are eaten.
The following abridged table giving the values of certain common articles of diet both in proteids and also in fattening and heating products will make this clear.
TABLE OF FOOD VALUES.
(ABRIDGED FROM “FAILURES OF VEGETARIANISM.”)
It is obvious then, that as far as the theoretical reasons for eating food at all are concerned, it is perfectly easy to obtain all the essentials for support without touching animal food, and without in any way loading the stomach with unnecessary bulk; and leaving out of the question, for the present, the economical advantage of adopting these simple foods, there is one enormous advantage which they possess for many. These are they who, especially in town life, and when they are not able to take the requisite amount of exercise, suffer chronically from slight biliousness or congested liver, and the depression attendant thereon, who feel sleepy or fatigued when in better health they would feel neither. Their ailments may rarely or never amount to what they would call “an attack,” but habitually they are slightly clogged. Now in nine cases out of ten this feeling is due to the presence ofuric acid in the body, which is produced in larger quantities than the system, without the aid of daily perspiration, which gets rid of acids to a large extent through the skin, can throw off. This uric acid is a product of waste within the body, and the foods which cause it are (to a much larger extent than all others) flesh foods.
Many people know this without knowing it; in other words, many men who have an attack of biliousness, lumbago, or gout (all direct results of the presence of uric acid in the body), at once cut off, even without consulting a doctor, their daily consumption of flesh. But then their ignorance makes them suffer, for they most likely in the curtailment of flesh-food do not take enough proteid, with the effect that after a day or two of such treatment they feel lowered. Naturally: they have been starving. And the lowered feeling they putdown to the absence of flesh-food, whereas it is chiefly the absence of proteid from which they are suffering. They could easily have avoided this by eating instead of flesh some of the fleshless foods which are valuable in proteid, and they can—humanly speaking—if the abstinence from flesh-foods, as is almost invariably the case, relieves their attack, guard against such attacks in the future, by a diet, complete or modified, of the kind which has relieved them. But, and this is highly important, it is a fatal mistake not to take enough proteid, and not to remember that it is easily possible to eat heavy meals without taking enough. Four or five ounces per diem of proteid, not only swallowed but digested, is said to be the average required.
Now there are many people in excellent health who live in the ordinary manneri.e., on a varied diet including meat, and aslong as they are well, there seems to be no reason, except to be humane and to save the money they spend in food—and that may be a great inducement—why they should try a new diet when their present one suits them well, except that, for all they can tell, another diet might suit them better. At the same time there are certainly many people who are perfectly aware that they have periodical attacks of liver or biliousness directly traceable to diet, and many others who put themselves down as having chronically bad digestions, with which any food is continually liable to disagree. It is to these particularly that a trial of the simpler foods is recommended, whether they are adoptedin toto, or used to modify existing diet. Similarly, also, the simpler foods are recommended as worth a trial by athletes who are in training for some special event, to whom either economyis an object (for a most varied diet of simpler foods can be had at a daily cost of less than a shilling), or whom the present heavy though wholesome meals do not suit. Furthermore, it is quite possible, as we said, that even those who consider themselves well might be still better without flesh-foods.
Another effect of this simpler food diet is that it has been found by trial to lessen greatly the desire for stimulants. Why this should be so is a question for physiologists, and cannot be discussed here. It may, however, be taken as a fact. And those who have tried the diet fairly (and one of the present writers has lived on simple foods—i.e., scarcely touched meat in any form for some years) find that abstinence from meat directly increases the activity and promptitude, not only of the body, but of the mind, while both mind and body are capable of doing far harder and betterwork than before. The simpler food diet by itself will probably be found adequate to reduce the excessive uric acid in the body to practically nil—i.e., natural means will be sufficient to cope with it; but it is useful to remember that alkalis may also be used as a preventive or cure.
Another alteration in diet, which we give with the reiterated proviso that it may not suit everybody, is the habit of having no breakfast, or if any, only a fruit breakfast. A very great number of people do not feel hungry immediately on rising, and in America this plan is largely adopted even by those who have to start the day with severe physical work. For those who do feel hungry on rising it seems most probable that breakfast is indicated, but on the other hand it is more than possible that for those who do not, breakfast is not indicated. And to eat a typicalEnglish breakfast, consisting probably of fish and meat, washed down with tea—which cannot be recommended as a fluid likely to help digestion. When one does not want it, is really to require a daily miracle from the inside if one is so unreasonable as to demand that it shall dispose of these things without more ado. Similarly, to limit one’s eating to two meals a day has been found by many to be a valuable aid to health, though others, on the other hand, find that the quantity they really feel that they require, if they only eat twice, is apt to overload the stomach.
Again, it is probably not good for anybody to take violent exertion of the body, or do headwork immediately after or before any meal. With many people it is unfortunately impossible to prevent this; a man’s only free time for his exercise may be immediately after lunch, or he may have to continue his deskwork till immediately before. In such cases this must be taken as a necessary evil; for exercise even immediately after a meal will probably be better for a man than none at all, while not to work up to the meal may mean neglect of work, which is more culpable than indigestion. For such, a light meal is strongly recommended, and in particular a meal as free of flesh-foods as the eater can manage.
It is of the greatest importance that whatever diet is found to suit the individual taste, this diet should be eaten slowly and thoroughly masticated, otherwise the most suitable and wholesome food may both disagree with the eater, and lose most of its nourishing value. Nuts are a good example of this—they have an odious reputation for indigestibility which is quite unfounded, for they are perfectly easy of digestion to most people if only they arevery thoroughly masticated. But swallowed in large pieces, in any pieces in fact except the smallest, they are exceedingly indigestible. Similarly, also, many nuts are extremely rich in proteids (the chestnut, for instance, containing 14·6 per cent., the peanut[6]upwards of 28 per cent. of proteid), but in order toget atthe proteid they must be bitten almost to powder and thoroughly mixed with saliva. Otherwise they are not distributed (i.e., digested), but are passed through the body in the same way as chests of gold (securely fastened up) can be sent by train, so to speak, through a country without enriching it. It is of equal importance thoroughly to masticate all starchy foods (bread, potatoes, &c.), so that the saliva may penetrate them and begin the work of digestion in the mouth, and it is largely for this reason that doctors recommend toast or biscuits to dyspeptic patients rather than bread, because it is impossible to swallow crisp toast without properly biting it, whereas lumps of soft bread can be swallowed without actual pain. On this point we adopt a fearless dogmatism, and assert that it is good for nobody to swallow unmasticated food, both because the act of mastication is part of the digestive process, and because mastication itself renders the nutritive elements of the food accessible to the stomach. Thus less bulk of food is needed, there is less waste, and the digestive juices of the stomach are not, so to speak, called on to make violent assaults on what they receive, to behave like burglars, wresting what is valuable from the food. The burglary is done by the teeth, which, by the way, seem to be kept in better repair by mere mastication than by any other means, and theenergy otherwise used by the stomach remains undrawn upon. Also, if one bites food well it is far easier to know correctly when one has eaten enough; lumps of food bolted are for the time being “locked up”; it is uncertain whether they are going to satisfy hunger or not. Even if unnutritious they will produce a feeling of satiety for the time being, and an hour later they may be found wanting. A certain amount of bulk, as we have said, is needed, but beyond that the richer a food is in the desired qualities of power of repair, and of supply of energy, the better is that food, provided it is easily digestible. And its full value cannot be brought into play, especially in the case of starhy foods, without thorough mastication.[7]
As to drink and stimulants more regardif possible must be paid to what we have called “the personal equation” than even in matters of food. Excess of everything—for such is the implication of the word itself—must be bad for everybody, but there is no earthly foundation for supposing that what is excess for one person injures another in the very least. A shower of rain ruins a picture-hat in a few moments: the same shower does not practically injure a locomotive engine at all, and is absolutely good for sprouting corn. Alcohol for instance, if indulged in at all by one man, will assuredly lead either to excess or to inordinate craving for it, while another man will drink wine at lunch and dinner for years without ever feeling the slightest desire to increase his usual quantity. What he drinks, again, would hopelessly disagree with, or perhaps intoxicate another man, while it seems as far as we can judge to suit him; he would perhapseven be definitely less well without it. It is on this point that preachers of total abstinence, just like vegetarians, are often their own worst foes. They seem to regard the process of fermentation (a natural one after all) as productive of something which is in itself immoral. Drunkenness, of course, is a vice; we all know that; but so, and certain teetotallers seem to forget this, is gluttony. They each of them turn man into a brute beast, though what many teetotallers would look approvingly at as “a good hearty meal” appears to us to partake fully as much of the nature of debauchery as does the drinking of a bottle of champagne at dinner. The question of drinking, in fact, seems to us one that each man must settle for himself, by finding out experimentally whether he needs stimulant or not. Probably the healthier he is the less he needs it, and to spur a horse thatis already going as well as the rider has any right to expect is both a cruelty and a false use of energy. It seems certain, also, that most people who take stimulants at all take more than they really need, partly because of the pleasant effect of stimulant in the heightened vividity it gives (leaving anything like drunkenness out of the question), and because of the taste of alcoholic beverages, which nine out of ten people find most palatable. Here again preachers of total abstinence put forward an argument so silly that it is scarcely worth combating (were it not for the fact that it is so often repeated), when they say that what we have called “heightened vividity” is the thin end of intoxication. It is nothing of the kind. Food itself is a stimulant as well as a nutriment; a mutton chop or a welsh rarebit when one is hungry gives heightened vividity; so also does whisky and soda.
But, and here we tread more sensible ground, it must be remembered that alcohol isnota nourishing stimulant, and that its effect quickly wears off, leaving reaction, however slight, in everybody. Nor must we keep out of the question what the continued effects of alcohol are. Its bad results may not be apparent for a long time. In certain cases there are bad results; in certain other cases apparently there are none. Authorities on training are universally agreed that very little, if any, should be taken when the training has begun; and they are unquestionably right, because the object of training is to produce before a certain date or during a certain period a specimen of manhood at its highest possible physical level, strung up and maintained at concert pitch. To do this the whole structure must be sound, and stimulant then appears to be of the nature of a temporary prop, which has again and again to be set up afresh. Also, repeatedly applied stimulant followed by repeated reaction is not ideal.
The same remarks apply to the ordinary individual in a less degree; for though he should aim at ideal health, he does not want the sort of health which a boat-race crew want. In fact, in a necessarily sedentary life it would be exceedingly inconvenient to him; for to maintain it it seems necessary to have hard daily exercise, quantities of open air, and hours which are practically impossible for the ordinary man who has to do his daily work. An abstemious man who has been accustomed to alcohol may easily, if he drops its use altogether, find himself continuing to desire it, at an expense of nervous fretting which will cost him more than the possible gain in health may be worth. But when any manwho takes alcohol finds himself desiring it more and more and in increased quantities, if even at one meal, let us say, he is unable to get it, and finds himself fretting for it, we have no hesitation in begging him at whatever cost to drop it altogether and at once. We do not say he is on the high road to become a drunkard, but somewhere ahead of him there easily may be that high road. We should further advise everybody to try at any rate what is the effect of drinking alcohol, let us say, once a day only. Of course, the difficulty which faces most people is what to drink instead; and, as far as pleasure goes, the difficulty is a real one. We cordially recommend total abstainers to try to find a solution. Various non-alcoholic drinks have from time to time been sedulously advertised, but most of them are abhorrent to the ordinary palate, being sickly sweet.
Here comes in the question of the general regulation of drinks, which, theoretically, we are afraid, is a most uncomfortable gospel. For the effect of drinking cold things during a meal, except in very small quantities, is without doubt digestively criminal: since the result of pouring cold aspersions into the stomach while it is busy with digestion is to lower its temperature at the time when heat is needed, and also to weaken and water down the digestive juices.[8]There is no getting over this: long drinks on hot days at lunch are not to be recommended. But even here the baffled voluptuary may find a way out which is not so disagreeable. He may by all means have his long drink half an hour before lunch, or at a rather long interval after. If he choose after, he will find, especiallyif he has eaten fruit at lunch, that he does not want it, and that though the satisfaction of a real throatful of cold liquid is denied him, he will have taken during lunch quite sufficient liquid to satisfy his thirst. But that is the best we can do for him, and we will not insult him by saying that plenty of hot water or hot water and lemon is delicious, and so much nicer than whisky and soda iced. For it is not nearly so nice.
Finally, with regard to that other soother and strengthener, tobacco, we have no sympathy with extremists, and we assert that the moderate use of tobacco will not and cannot reduce the ordinary constitution to a wreck in ten years, while in many cases it is absolutely beneficial, at least for the time, as a nerve-sedative. Many people, one of the present writers is one, finds that he can work more steadily and with less restlessness when smoking. But, and here isa warning, if, after a spell of hard work of three or four hours, you find the ash-tray a pile of cigarette ends, most of them probably smoked only half-consciously, take steps. Put the box of cigarettes in another room, so that you have to get up in order to procure one. Then, if you find yourself wondering whether it is worth while getting one, you may be quite certain that you do not really want it. Furthermore, tobacco is not nearly so insidious as alcohol; it is perfectly easy for every one who smokes to know whether it suits him. Many people it does not suit at all, and most of them know it. Here we should recommend all smokers to try the effect of abstinence for a couple of days, or at any rate of abstinence up till dinner-time. This would separate the sheep from the goats: many—the present writer is one again—will find that apparently no good effects ensue, anda certain restlessness is the only result. Others will find themselves distinctly better both in energy and in accuracy of eye and keenness of perception. These we should recommend to drop it altogether, and for their comfort the writer can assure them that, having tried this experiment himself, he found that the craving for it lasted only a few days, and that during those few days it was always possible to neutralise it for periods of an hour or so, by chewing an ordinary dried camomile-flower (2d. per ounce), the extreme and rather pleasant bitterness of which renders the thought of tobacco literally abhorrent as long as the taste of it remains in the mouth.
But here again strict training for a special event almost, if not quite, unanimously demands a total abstinence from tobacco from the beginning of training. The use of this we confess ourselves utterlyunable to see, since we do not believe at all that, as in the case of drink, to take a little necessarily means a desire for more, but rather the extinguishing of the desire for the time being. The case is, in fact, in our judgment, a parallel to the shower of rain on the locomotive: it is inconceivable almost that it should do so much harm as its uncompromising opponents assert, and in many cases we believe its very moderate use would save a certain amount of restlessness, which in present systems of training is far more common than it ought to be. It is not in fact rare, whereas it should be not only rare, but almost unknown. For training is supposed to be the ideal way of living with a view to complete physical fitness, but under most systems severe training entails an almost total cessation of brain work, while it does not imply a total cessation of mental worry. Men often getfidgetty and stale before their weeks of training are nearly over, and this is due partly, no doubt, to the absurd system of training a whole crew, for instance, as if they were identical specimens of the same man, but also to the very fact that brain work is practically tabooed, just as tobacco is tabooed. Neither, in strict moderation, we believe, particularly brain-work, can possibly be as bad as they are frequently accused of being, and both might very possibly be found a sedative for a body that is bursting with condition. Besides, if training unfits a man for brain-work there is something probably wrong with the system of training, whereas if any brain-work unfits a man for training, it is seriously to be considered whether it is worth while to train at all.[9]
For the right training, so we believe, is that which shall enable a man—this is no fanciful idea, but one that has and is now being put into practice by both the writers—to be capable of hard brain-work during the whole time that he is putting his body into the best possible condition both for general health and also for a special event. Themens sanashould not be left out of thecorpore sano, and health consists in the efficiency not of one at the cost of the other, but of both to the benefit of each. Finally, with regard to special training, we believe that it cannot possibly fail to be injuriousto a man to go out of severe training with the completeness and suddenness with which many do when the event is over. After a training of weeks, the desire for certain foods and stimulants, if they were in themselves unhealthy, should have ceased, the body in fact should have been brought into such a condition that it would feel by now a natural repugnance for them. If, then, this repugnance, or at any rate absence of desire is not felt, either they were not unhealthy, and might have been allowed in moderation, or the resumption of them with that extreme freedom—not to say excess—which marks the end of training, is only compassed with a certain effort. Is it worth while?
Finally, also, with regard to general training, the acquirement that is of really good health, which is within the reach of the majority, and incumbent upon all toattempt, a fair trial of simpler foods is recommended to all who habitually feel slightly indisposed when working hard, and who are cut off to a large extent from regular exercise, and is suggested, if only on the ground of expense, to many others. Similarly, a diminution in stimulants is recommended to all who habitually take them, in order that they may find for themselves what the effect (on themselves only) is. Similarly, also, with regard to smoking: for the concensus of professional trainers is dead against it, as a foe both to eye and endurance. Some, we believe, will not find it so, but anyone may, and very likely the majority will. In any case, it will hurt nobody to drop it for a week or two.