THE DAILY DOZEN

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 117, 19 May 1937, Page 16

THE DAILY DOZEN

EXERCISE AND SLIMNESS

' Slimness in maidens seems so natural" a,thing to an older generation in whom curves were appreciated that it is taken for granted as having come into being of its own accord, states an exchange. While it .is-, true that less stuffy food is-eaten and that breakfast is nowadays at a discount, it is not always realised that the slimmest 'of maidens work very hard indeed at their figures and that it is not entirely based on orange juice. Diet counts, and self-denial is exercised in the interest of vanity, but every form of exercise is added to this, ranging from squash to pedalling with the feet in the air. Series of gramophone exercises aid many people to keep up what is a rather arduous habit and one which, like piano practice, to miss is to court disaster. It is of no use merely to get through the daily dozen. Heart and soul have to be behind them, so that when muscles are stretched and superfluous fat is to be removed it can be done with the utmost thoroughness.

Many people, therefore, who simply cannot bear merely, to lie on their backs day after day and endeavour to rise withdut lifting their heels take to the more strenuous forms of dancing, do ballet exercises which really mean work, or tap-dancing, which also is calculated to keep the figure trim. Ballet exercises take hold of those muscles and sinews at the backs of the legs and persecute them into doing something of what they are told. The really exercised person should be able to sit on the ground with her legs straight out and to touch her knee with her forehead without raising that knee one iota from the ground. There are those who can do it; more who find it impossible until they have brokendown resistance by standing, placing one leg on the back of a chair, and then bending their foreheads to it. These are much more exciting than the usual exercises, and many people have taken to a great weariness of the flesh to prevent a greater weariness of the spirit.