A Physical Instructor on the Proper Way to Walk.

Otago Witness, Issue 2666, 19 April 1905, Page 72

A Physical Instructor on the Proper Way to Walk.

The way to walk straight is not to think of the shoulders at all, says a physical instructor. Hang your arms loosely at your sides and hold yourself erect by modern tension of the back and abdominal muscles and the muscles of your neck. Then your shoulders will have to hang right. Don't "throw out" your chest. lne chest that is inflated properly by deep breathing is bound to be thrown out^ and thrown out no£ like that of stuffed figure, but naturally, because it can't help it. Don't walk with a stiff neck. Hold your head erect the way an animal does. Watch a deer. Its neck is always in motion, yet it is always held beautifully. Your head poised on a stiffly held neck is no good tor either balancing or looking- around you. Poised confidently on strong but pliant neck muscles it becomes what a head should bo. Many classes of men. who do much walking such as Indians, guides, and trappers, walk with their bodies inclined forward a little bit. But they don't round their shoulders or stoop their heads. They incline forward from the hips. This throws their weight a little ahead, and gives the leg nraseles the chance to exert all their power in the best direction. Bxit the upper body is never bent by these men. It is simply held forward from the hips at a very slight, barely perceptible, angle. Even if correct poise in walking had nothing to do with other forms of athletics it would be invaluable in itself. The man who walks right is going to keep his 01 gans— heart, kidneys, liver, and lunigs — in splendid form. But, besides all this, it helps wonderfully in all outdoor sports.