USEFUL NOTES.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume IX, Issue 31, 30 July 1892, Page 769

USEFUL NOTES.

GYMNASTIC EXERCISES FOR WOMEN. LIGHT gymnastics embrace the use of dumb-bells, barbells, Indian-clubs, wands, hoops and exercises without anything whatever in the hands. Marching, deepbreathing movements, poising, stretching and equilibrium exercises, all of which have, in a great measure, grown out of the Delsarte system, also come under the general term, light gymnastics. The beneficial results of all these are many and varied. Hardly any one is too weak for gymnastics. Gentle massage will start the muscles and send the blood into healthy circulation. Then the patient should help herself. One of the advantages of light gymnastics is that the sick and convalescent can make what appear to be triHing efforts, and by them, in time, be restored to active health. If too feeble to be practically able to make but little exertion, try what are known as deep-breathing movements. Lie flat upon the back, take as long and as deep breaths as possible, and while the mouth is closed, slowly throw the arms up in front and then at the sides. Rest for ten minutes. Try again the same inhalation and exhalation of air, the latter being pure and fresh. After awhile, attempt the same, sitting up. These exercises can safely be taken by the sick one every day, several times, and the whole muscular system will be improved, just as if some revivifying tonic had been given, a far better one than any charged with alcohol or some like stimulant.

From this step to the use of light apparatus in the dumbbells is a short one. But the mistake is too often made in trying to be too muscular and using bells of too great a weight. Attempt nothing above your strength at the start; it is even better at first to go under it than over it. Above all things be methodical and regular in these exercises. Irregularity in anything—habits, expenditure, diet —brings its uncomfortable reward. Exercise must be constant and systematic to be effective. If a beginner, purchase wooden dumb-bells of a pound each in weight. Stand with the heels together, body erect and head up. Place the bells on the shoulders and push up that in the right hand to a count of eight or twelve ; then the left, then both together at the same time. Place the bells on the chest. Push the right-hand bell out in front eight times, the left hand afterwards, then both. Push the bell in the right hand out from the chest to the right, the left the same, and next both. Put bells under the armpits. Curl them out alternately and both at the same time. With bells on the shoulders roll out as in the movement about described. Strike the bells quickly over the head and under the right leg ; then the left leg, then again behind the back. With the right-hand bell extended from the right side at right-angles with the body, strike it, as if it were an anvil, eight times with the bell in the left hand as a hammer. Do this in the same manner to the left and in front, holding the bell, that acts in lieu of anvil, on the right and left knees. These are but simple movements. A teacher in the gymnasium will give you dozens more. But just after the morning bath, in a cool room, before the corset is put on, if tried for five or ten minutes daily, will end in sending a glow through the body and bringing a rich tint to the cheeks. Beauty is not always born ; it can be made. Not with cosmetics ; try light gymnastic exercises and you will prove to your own satisfaction that a light step, a bright eye, a clear, good-coloured skin without the faintest hint of louge or powder, makes a woman truly beautiful as well as • healthy, wealthy and wise.’ Apropos of this last assertion, that a woman can grow wiser, yes, actually know more, from regular gymnastic exercise is an established truth. The greatest practical result of both light and heavy gymnastics is the fact that the mind grows in proportion to the muscle. The muscles need a will, and a strong one, to control them. The moving to exact time and to music demanded by these exercises when taken in the class of the gymnasium, has its effect on the brain and is as important as the resulting physical gain. Dr. W. G. Anderson, the specialist, states that those women who by reason of undeveloped will power cannot compel this servant to aid them in works they must perform, are greatly benefited by light gymnastic exercises ; and that those women who are sensible enough to adopt the methods that make men the stronger, the healthier sex, who expect to be known as the mothers of healthy children, and, above all, women who wish to aid in the realization of the ideal human being whether mentally, morally or physically, are able to be all that they would be, by gymnastic exercise. It is a constant source of complaint that many women are not graceful. And the dancing-school lias been, until recent years, the refuge for the awkward and unbalancedmuscled young or old woman. But much more valuable is the gymnasium in its education of the feet, and of the poise and carriage of the body. To this end, fancy-step movements are given, and grace and ease of self results. Then, too, dexterity is a quality the phlegmatic, slow by-nature girl and woman needs to get on in this busy work a day world, where she who moves the quickest and thinks the fastest, keeping her mind clear and steady on what she has in hand, puts to rout the moral of that ancient fable of the hare and tortoise, in reaching the goal long before her slower and more deliberate neighbour.

Ellen Le Garde.