Gymnastic Exercises.

Auckland Star, Volume XXII, Issue 139, 13 June 1891, Page 3 (Supplement)

Gymnastic Exercises.

A careful observer in the gymnasia of the athletic clubs can scarcely help reaching the conclusion that many young men geb more harm than benefit, either because of an injudicious selection of their mode of work or by reason of carrying it beyond a reasonable limit. Lifting heavy bells is almost a mania with a large class of amateurs, though one may search the town in vain to discover a single case of a professional acrobat using a bell of more than one or two pounds' weight. Add to bell-lifting various other labours of an exhausting nature, heavy work as it is called, designed to abnormally develop the arm and chest muscles without the adjunct of running and jumping and bar work, which adds so greatly the wanted elasticity. The effect of this heavy work on the vital organs, especially in the case of those not used or bred to violent exercise, is noticeably injurious. Some loso their colour and become sallow, some grow pale and take on a bired, overworked expression, while nob a few geb sprains which force bhem to lie off for longer or shorter periods.