PHYSICAL TRAIN ING 
 FOR WOMEN 
 
 BY JAPANESE METHODS 
 
LIBRARY 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 Class 
 
By H. IRVING HANCOCK. 
 
 Japanese Physical Training 
 
 (Jiu-jitsu). I2mo. 19 illustrations. Net, $1.25 
 
 Physical Training for Women 
 
 By Japanese Methods (Jiu-jitsu). 
 
 I2mo. 32 illustrations . . . Net, $1.25 
 
 Physical Training for Children 
 
 By Japanese Methods (Jiu-jitsu). 
 
 I2mo. 32 illustrations . . . Net, $1.25 
 
 Life at West Point 
 
 I2mo. With 25 illustrations . . Net, $1.40 
 
 G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 
 New VorK London 
 

 No. 1. RESISTANT WRIST WORK. 
 
Physical Training 
 for Women 
 
 By Japanese Methods 
 
 BY 
 
 H. Irving Hancock 
 
 Author of " Japanese Physical Training 
 " Wfe at West Point, " etc. 
 
 Illustrated from photographs by 
 A. B. Phelan 
 
 G. P. Putnam's Sons 
 
 New York and London 
 Knickerbocker press 
 1904 
 

 COPYRIGHT, 1904 
 
 BY 
 G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 
 
 Published, April, 1904 
 
 "Cbc ftnfcfeerbocfccr press, Hew Corfe 
 
TO THE 
 AMERICAN WOMAN 
 
 AND TO 
 HER ENGLISH SISTER 
 
 THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED BY 
 THE AUTHOR 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Basis of the Japanese Physical Training that is In- 
 tended Especially for Women Absurdity of the 
 Existence of the " Weaker Sex" ... I 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Additional Preliminary Exercises for the Development 
 
 of the Body 22 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Advanced Work, to be Taken up after a Few Weeks 
 
 of Preliminary Training . . . 36 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Especial Exercises for the Waist-Line and for the 
 
 Organs .... .... 51 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Fresh Air the Vitaliser in Womanhood Some Other 
 
 Suggestions . 66 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Exercises for the Back, Especially for the Small of the 
 
 Back 8 1 
 
vi Contents 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Perfect Chest The Best Development for the 
 Hollow of the Back, and for Giving Strength and 
 Proper Proportions to Arms and Legs ... 96 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Strength in the Neck, Upper and Lower Arms, and 
 Wrists, the Thighs, Upper and Lower Legs, and 
 Ankles in 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 Obesity and Leanness, and the Remedies . . .126 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Our Outdoor Sports for Women, as Seen from the 
 
 Japanese View-Point 134 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 Sleep and its Value 142 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 The Age at which Girls should Begin the Study of 
 
 Jiu-jitsu 147 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 RESISTANT WRIST WORK . . . Frontispiece 
 
 THE STRUGGLE 10 
 
 " Walking-beam style." 
 
 RESISTANT NECK WORK 12 
 
 RESISTANT SHOULDER WORK 14 
 
 RESISTANT BACK WORK ; NO FALL TO BE ACCOM- 
 PLISHED 16 
 
 RESISTANT WORK WITH HANDS OVER HEADS . . 18 
 
 THE UP AND DOWN MOTION OF THE WRISTS , . 20 
 
 RESISTANT WORK AROUND THE HIPS .... 22 
 
 RESISTANT ANKLE WORK 24 
 
 THE RESISTANT WORK DONE FROM SIDE TO SIDE, 
 VICTIM RESISTING .26 
 
 THE RESISTANT DRAG 32 
 
 Each student shoving her whole weight against the 
 other, the work to be continued until one has con- 
 quered. 
 
 J| 
 
 RESISTANT ANKLE WORK 34 
 
 While seated on floor and leaning back on hands. 
 
viii Illustrations 
 
 PAGE 
 
 "THE TRAVEL" . . . . * . . . .36 
 
 THE ASSAILANT LETTING THE VICTIM OVER BACK- 
 WARDS TO THE FLOOR 38 
 
 RAISING THE VICTIM FROM A PROSTRATE TO AN ERECT 
 POSITION 40 
 
 A THROAT-HOLD TO BE EMPLOYED RESISTANTLY . 42 
 EMPLOYED AT LEFT SIDE OF EACH CONTESTANT . 54 
 
 RESISTANT BACK WORK WITH SLIGHT BENDING BY 
 BOTH CONTESTANTS .... 56 
 
 RESISTANT NECK WORK 58 
 
 THE REAR CLUTCH FOR STRENGTHENING THE THROAT 84 
 
 THE SMALL OF THE BACK BEND 86 
 
 A STRONG RESISTANT EXERCISE FOR THE BACK . . 88 
 
 BACKWARD AND FORWARD BENDING AS RESISTANT 
 WORK FOR WRIST 90 
 
 RESISTANT SWAYING FROM SIDE TO SIDE, NO MOVE- 
 MENT BACKWARD OR FORWARD 96 
 
 AN EXERCISE FOR DEVELOPING THE CHEST AND THE 
 
 HOLLOW BETWEEN THE SHOULDER BLADES . . IOO 
 
 THE RESISTANT POLE WORK 102 
 
 One of the best possible exercises for the entire 
 body. 
 
 RESISTANT OVER-ARM WORK 104 
 
Illustrations ix 
 
 PAGE 
 
 THE BEST RESISTANT LEG WORK . . . .108 
 RESISTANT WORK FOR BOTH SHOULDERS AND ARMS . no 
 WORK FOR THE UPPER ARM AND FOREARM . . .116 
 RESISTANT TWISTING OF ANKLE AND LEG . . .118 
 THE ACME OF " JIU-JITSU " TRAINING . . .120 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 IN this volume the author has endeavoured, 
 with painstaking care, to make plain the prin- 
 ciples of the kind of athletic work that has 
 resulted, undoubtedly, in making the little 
 Japanese women the strongest and most cheer- 
 ful members of their sex to be found anywhere 
 on earth. 
 
 It is not claimed that the application of jiu- 
 jitsu will bring a dying woman away from her 
 bed and give her the best of good health at 
 once. Such an achievement would be termed 
 a miracle. Jfatjiu-jitsn, if followed out in all 
 its details, will make a weak woman stronger, 
 and will make of any reasonably strong woman 
 one who is the physical peer of any man of her 
 own size. The day has gone by when women 
 prize weakness as a dainty attribute of their sex, 
 and the science of jiu-jitsu points out the path 
 for the new physical woman to pursue. 
 
 xi 
 
xii Introduction 
 
 BE STRONG! There is neither grace nor 
 beauty in weakness. Nor is there, when a 
 woman possesses very ordinary strength, any 
 excuse for her being weak. On almost the 
 poorest of foundations it is possible to build 
 up the most vigorous health. 
 
 In Japan there are, to-day, six different sys- 
 tems of jiu-jitsu in vogue. The movements 
 differ somewhat, but the underlying principles 
 are the same in each. The author, who has 
 been trained under such renowned teachers of 
 the science as Matsuda, Yako, and Inouye, has 
 studied all of the systems, and the work pre- 
 sented in this volume is intended to be a com- 
 bination, a blending, of all that is best in 
 jiu-jitsu for women's especial training. Inouye 
 San is a splendid master in the tricks of com- 
 bat ; Matsuda San is unquestionably the Japan- 
 ese instructor who is best versed of all in the 
 anatomical principles of training the muscular 
 body; Yako San, at the age of seventy-five, 
 was a magnificent exponent of what one may 
 acquire through the life-long practice of jiu- 
 jitsu. 
 
 He met on the floor all of the best of the 
 
Introduction xiii 
 
 younger Japanese experts, and defeated them 
 invariably. His defence was performed with 
 the utmost gentleness. His sole aim was to 
 show how useless it was to attack a man of his 
 skill and strength. 
 
 Women who attend the jiu-jitsu schools in 
 Japan are given the regular course with, in ad- 
 dition, training for their own needs. Combat 
 enters much into the work, but in this volume 
 it has been aimed only to show the feats that 
 make for womanly strength. The woman of 
 ordinarily good condition, who takes the 
 trouble to master them, will have no occasion 
 to complain of occasional weakness or ill-health. 
 After every practice bout she will feel exhila- 
 rated. After a little while any tendency to 
 weakness will have disappeared. 
 
 H. IRVING HANCOCK. 
 
 NEW YORK, February 27, 1904. 
 
PHYSICAL TRAINING FOR 
 
 WOMEN 
 BY JAPANESE METHODS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE BASIS OF THE JAPANESE PHYSICAL TRAIN- 
 ING THAT IS INTENDED ESPECIALLY FOR 
 WOMEN ABSURDITY OF THE EXISTENCE 
 OF A "WEAKER SEX " 
 
 ONE of the phrases that should be stricken 
 from the English language is, "the weaker 
 sex." After a long experience in Japanese 
 athletics the writer has no patience with wo- 
 men who consider that merely because of their 
 sex they should be weaker than men. In 
 Japan the women are not weaker, and in this 
 country they have no right to be. A Japanese 
 woman is generally the physical peer of a man 
 i 
 
2 Physical Training for Women 
 
 of her own race who is of the same age and 
 height, and especially when weights are about 
 equal. 
 
 This is due to the fact that the women of 
 the Land of the Rising Sun exercise in about 
 the same way that the men do, and devote 
 fully as much time in the endeavour to gain 
 strength. Of course there are some cases of 
 insufficiently developed physical power among 
 the women of Japan, but these instances are 
 so rare that the woman of Dai Nippon marvels 
 that there should be such a word as "weak- 
 ness. ' ' 
 
 From remote antiquity there has existed in 
 Japan a system of bodily training known as 
 jiu-jitsu. Its age is established by reasonably 
 authentic records as being at least twenty-five 
 hundred years; undoubtedly the science is 
 older than that. In feudal Japan knowledge 
 of the science was imparted only to the sam- 
 urai and only under the strongest oaths of 
 secrecy. The samurai were the men and 
 women of the privileged military class. The 
 men did the fighting, but the women, who 
 were to rear the sons of the next generation, 
 
Basis of Japanese Training 3 
 
 were required to understand all the principles 
 of jiu-jitsu. In the initial stages of the training 
 it was considered always advisable to have a 
 boy and a girl contestant who were as nearly 
 equal in age and height as was possible, but 
 the girls entered the arena upon equal terms 
 with the boys and proved their fitness so to 
 do. Grown men and women practised & jiu- 
 jitsu, nor did any woman find it necessary to 
 take refuge in her sex. She did not need to. 
 Other conditions being equal, she could show 
 an amount of strength that paralleled that of 
 her husband or brother. 
 
 Ultimately jiu-jitsu is a highly scientific sys- 
 tem of rapid and convincing attack and de- 
 fence. Before the stage of combat is reached, 
 however, much work must be devoted to 
 acquiring a knowledge of the nerves and 
 muscles of the body, such as comes from well- 
 sustained preliminary practice. This prelimin- 
 ary practice will strengthen every portion of 
 the body to its utmost, and will give to any 
 woman the greatest strength of which she is 
 capable. 
 
 Jiu-jitsu is no longer the sole property of 
 
4 Physical Training for Women 
 
 the aristocratic fighting class of Japan. When 
 the present Emperor came to the throne he 
 abolished all feudal rights and customs. Jap- 
 anese who are descended from the samurai are 
 proud of their blood, but they have no status 
 as a class. Jiu-jitsu is taught, now, to any 
 subject who desires to learn it. In the Empire 
 there are hundreds of schools where the science 
 is taught, and there are thousands of instruc- 
 tors millions of graduates. In these schools 
 women frequently enter the lists with men. 
 An exciting time is looked forward to always 
 when it is announced that a woman champion 
 will contest with a male expert. 
 
 Some years ago I had the pleasure of work- 
 ing in a jiu-jitsu school in Tokio. I had had 
 previous instruction in this country, and in 
 Nagasaki and Yokohama, and the Tokio man 
 was engaged in putting me through a course of 
 the advanced tricks of combat. My muscles at 
 that time were in as good condition as I could 
 have desired, and my instructor complimented 
 me upon my work. Then he suddenly asked : 
 
 "You like see what Japanese woman can 
 do?" 
 
Basis of Japanese Training 5 
 
 I assured him that it would give me great 
 pleasure to have such an exhibition. There 
 were half a dozen smiling little Japanese wo- 
 men among the spectators. My instructor 
 spoke to one of them, who bowed and disap- 
 peared. After a little while she re-appeared, 
 and came running across the floor in a gym- 
 nasium costume consisting solely of short 
 trousers and a jacket. She was laughing as 
 she approached, and her little bare feet made 
 a swift, rustling sound on the straw of the 
 padded mats with which the floor was covered. 
 It did not require an expert's eye to note that 
 hers was the body of a trained athlete. If any 
 American woman believes that perfect physical 
 training brings out ugly, "bumpy" lines, she 
 should see such a little brown sprite as I then 
 saw a supple young woman, bounding with 
 the vim of life, and graceful in every line of 
 contour. 
 
 While I stood looking at her, the little 
 woman halted before me, made a polite bow, 
 and then backed away, in the manner that 
 is common to students of jiu-jitsu when invit- 
 ing combat. She was fully six inches shorter 
 
6 Physical Training for Women 
 
 than I and at a great disadvantage in point of 
 weight. 
 
 "Surely you don't want me to struggle with 
 her?" I asked my instructor. 
 
 "Oh, yes; try," came the smiling answer. 
 "Don't be 'fraid. She one of my old pupils. 
 She what what you say? hard as board." 
 
 The little woman stood some distance from 
 me, still smiling, while the spectators looked 
 on with interest. The little woman again ap- 
 proached and bowed. There was no help for 
 it. I bowed, and we backed off a little way, 
 then approached each other sinuously, each 
 looking for an opening. There was a clinch 
 that lasted, as nearly as I could judge, about 
 five seconds. Three seconds later I was com- 
 pelled to pat the floor in token of surrender. 
 There were five bouts in all, of which I secured 
 the distinction of winning one. Then my in- 
 structor spoke to my smiling little antagonist, 
 who walked over to the side of the hall. Next 
 he turned to me and beckoned me into another 
 room. 
 
 "She very good," observed the teacher, a 
 statement in which I was quite willing to con- 
 
Basis of Japanese Training 7 
 
 cur. "But I not teach her too fast. Best to 
 go slow. You have not so much time. I 
 show you things now." 
 
 There followed a half hour of rapid instruc- 
 tion, in which I gained more of the science of 
 jiu-jitsu than ever I had expected to acquire in 
 such a length of time. Finally my instructor 
 suggested : 
 
 "Now you go back and try." 
 
 My late antagonist was waiting for me. She 
 came forward as smiling as ever, made her 
 little bow, and retreated slowly. When we 
 met she took a clever hold, but went to the 
 floor and patted it as a sign of surrender. 
 There were a dozen bouts in all, in every one 
 of which I was now victor. After each fall 
 the little Japanese woman rose, took two or 
 three deep breaths, and then gave a signal for 
 renewed attack. The new work that I had 
 learned in half an hour baffled her. It was 
 work at which she would be required to devote 
 at least the next six weeks, for the Japanese 
 instructors do not believe in passing from one 
 step to another until the former has been mas- 
 tered thoroughly. To me the last instruction 
 
8 Physical Training for Women 
 
 had been given rapidly, since my stay in Japan 
 was to continue but a little while longer. 
 
 It is this principle of mastering one step 
 thoroughly before the next is undertaken that 
 the writer wishes to impress most deeply 
 upon all readers among American women. 
 Nothing is to be gained by haste ; much is to 
 be lost by it. The elementary principles that 
 underlie the whole science of jiu-jitsu are 
 directed to the creation of strength and health. 
 It is as easy for a woman to build up what 
 is considered in this country as surprising 
 strength for her sex as it is to eat a breakfast 
 but it takes much longer to do the former 
 thing. If American women would take gener- 
 ally to the practice of the elementary work of 
 jiu-jitsu feminine weaklings would be as rare in 
 this country as they are in Japan. 
 
 The exercises that are to be described in 
 these chapters are those that have been taken 
 from fait jiu-jitsu work with especial regard to 
 the needs of women who are not as strong as 
 they should be. In the regular Japanese 
 course women take the same part as do men, 
 but the exercises here offered are those in 
 
Basis of Japanese Training 9 
 
 which Japanese women receive special train- 
 ing, and are those best adapted to the present 
 purpose of the author. 
 
 In any kind of athletic work that is to pro- 
 duce the best results the selection of the right 
 costume counts for much. It should go with- 
 out saying that corsets cannot be worn while 
 exercising. Loose-fitting garments of any kind 
 may be worn, but when two women are to 
 practise, without spectators, the most con- 
 venient costume is one consisting of a com- 
 bination bathing-suit and stockings. If the 
 addition of a short skirt is desired the neces- 
 sary movements will not be hampered thereby. 
 If the students do not care to practise in stock- 
 ing feet, very low-heeled shoes of the gym- 
 nasium pattern should be worn. Athletic 
 work in high-heeled slippers or shoes would 
 be absurd. 
 
 Now, for the first of the exercises. Take a 
 look at photograph number one. Study the 
 illustration and this text until it is reasonably 
 clear how the work is to be performed. The 
 two students stand at each other's right side, 
 a little way apart, in such attitude that the 
 
io Physical Training for Women 
 
 clenched right hands of both are held about 
 eighteen inches from the body and just below 
 the line of the hips. The right wrists of the 
 two antagonists are crossed on the inside. 
 Now, one of the two, who may be designated 
 as the assailant, exerts all the strength she can 
 employ without fatigue to push the other's 
 wrist backward, swinging the one on the de- 
 fence as far around as the latter can go without 
 losing her balance. The right arms of both 
 are held as rigidly tense as is possible. The 
 assailant, while gradually exerting this press- 
 ure, walks around the one on the defensive 
 until a half circle has been covered, while the 
 latter, as far as possible, uses her feet only as 
 pivots. 
 
 In this work it is well to arrange in advance 
 who is to be the assailant, and she should be 
 allowed to win the victory, although the con- 
 testant on the defensive should exert all the 
 resistant pressure that can be used without 
 preventing the assailant's success. As soon as 
 the victory has been won assailant and victim 
 should change places and try the work once 
 more. After a few deep breaths the same feat 
 
Basis of Japanese Training n 
 
 should be tried with left wrists opposed, the 
 contestants standing, of course, at the left of 
 each other. At first, one right and one left 
 wrist attack for each of the contestants is as 
 much as should be attempted. The amount 
 of this work may be increased very gradually 
 as the strength of the student grows. A 
 similar feat should follow, with the insides of 
 the middle forearms crossed, and then with 
 hooked elbows. Last of all, the middles of 
 the upper arms may be crossed in the same 
 way. At all times it should be understood 
 beforehand who is to be the assailant, and that 
 the assailant should win, but that the one on 
 the defensive should exert as much resistant 
 pressure as is needed to all but prevent the 
 victory of the assailant. 
 
 There is one fault that is to be found with 
 nearly all American students of jiu-jitsu: After 
 a little practice they find so much exhilaration 
 in the sport that they are likely to overdo in 
 the exercises. There are two safe indications 
 of over-zeal palpitation of the heart and pant- 
 ing. Either of these symptoms proves that 
 the student should stop work, rest, and breathe 
 
12 Physical Training for Women 
 
 deeply, this to be followed by lighter exercise 
 when it is resumed. Danger signals of the 
 kind mentioned must be heeded at all times, 
 but if the work is begun lightly, and is in- 
 creased moderately, just as the strength grows, 
 not even the slightest discomfort can result. 
 
 In photograph number two is shown the 
 " struggle." Beyond doubt it is worth more 
 to the student than is any other single exercise 
 known to the teachers of jiu-jitsu. It is so 
 ingeniously arranged that it strengthens every 
 portion of the body at once. There is not an 
 important muscle that does not share in the 
 benefit. Let the two contestants stand facing 
 each other, and a little apart. Extend the 
 arms sideways on a level with the shoulders. 
 Let each clasp the other's opposing hands. 
 The feet of each should be as far apart as is pos- 
 sible. As soon as this position is secured, the 
 contestants throw themselves forward so that 
 the chest of one presses strongly against that 
 of the other, with heads to the left of each 
 other's, no other portions of the body to touch. 
 
 Now, putting in as much strain as is possible 
 without causing extreme fatigue, let the con- 
 
No. 3. RESISTANT NECK WORK, 
 
Basis of Japanese Training 13 
 
 testants struggle against each other, each striv- 
 ing to push the adversary to the wall. The 
 "battle" should be fought inch by inch. 
 While the struggle is going on the arms should 
 be raised alternately up and down on either 
 side ; when the clasped hands on one side are 
 up those on the other side should be down. 
 When up the hands should be brought just a 
 little above the top of the head ; when down 
 the hands should be just above the level of 
 the waist-line. The arms should be moved 
 vigorously up and down, and the whole exer- 
 cise is one that is to be taken with snap and 
 vim. When there is great disparity of strength 
 between the two contestants victory should 
 be arranged before the struggle begins. The 
 stronger contestant, when on the defensive, 
 should exercise just enough strength to make 
 success difficult but certain for the weaker one. 
 As soon as this exercise has been mastered it 
 will be found to be a most exhilarating tonic 
 in all its properties. It is a vitaliser and causes 
 the blood of a weak woman to circulate in an 
 unwonted manner. 
 
 Resistant neck exercises are depicted in 
 
14 Physical Training for Women 
 
 photograph number three. Let one of the 
 contestants be designated as the victim and 
 the other as the assailant. They stand facing 
 each other. The victim places her hands on 
 the other's hips with all the arm muscles tense. 
 The greatest tenseness should be in the wrists. 
 The assailant places the palms of her hands on 
 either side of the face of the victim, finger- 
 tips up, in such manner that the tips of the 
 forefingers rest just at the base of the temples, 
 while the thumb tips press in side by side, just 
 under the centre of the chin. This grip should 
 be taken firmly enough to hold the victim's 
 face as in a vise. 
 
 Now, the assailant twists the victim's head 
 so that the latter's chin is forced as far as is 
 possible over the latter 's right shoulder. All 
 the while the victim resists by trying to force 
 her chin around over the left shoulder. Then 
 the exercise is reversed by an attempt on the 
 part of the assailants to force the victim's chin 
 over the left shoulder, the victim resisting to the 
 right. No better work than this can be devised 
 for strengthening the cords of the neck a most 
 important point at which to possess strength. 
 
No. 4. RESISTANT SHOULDER WORK. 
 

 Basis of Japanese Training 15 
 
 A valuable variation in this work is found 
 when the assailant throws her left hand around 
 the victim's neck in such fashion that the 
 finger-tips dig into the spinal column just at 
 the base of the skull, while the thumb presses 
 into the centre of the throat. The assailant's 
 open right hand is forced under the victim's 
 jaw, with the thumb under the victim's right 
 ear and the fingers under the left ear. As 
 soon as this grip is secured the assailant forces 
 the victim's head as far backward as may be 
 done, the victim resisting all the while. When 
 the head has been pushed back as far as may 
 be done, the victim gradually brings the head 
 forward against the resistance of the former 
 assailant. 
 
 In order to "square" and strengthen her 
 shoulders the Japanese woman student of jiu- 
 jitsu is taught to rest her open hands upon 
 her sides at the lower ribs. The elbows are 
 brought forward then as far as is possible. In 
 this position the young woman bends over 
 backward, raises her shoulders all she can, 
 throws them up as high as they will go, and 
 twists the shoulders upward and over backward 
 
1 6 Physical Training for Women 
 
 in a gradual, semi-rotary movement. By the 
 time that the backward bend has been carried 
 as far as it can be done the elbows will be at 
 or near a level with the hips. From this posi- 
 tion the student recovers slowly to starting 
 position. This movement is repeated several 
 times always 'without hurry during each les- 
 son that is aimed at the development of 
 the shoulders. In photograph number four 
 one model is shown at the starting point of 
 the exercise, while the other illustrates the 
 position at the moment of the utmost bend 
 backward. 
 
 It is supremely important that a woman 
 should be strong and supple in the small of 
 her back. The two contestants, as is shown 
 in photograph number five, should stand facing 
 each other with feet spread wide apart. The 
 assailant throws her arms around her intended 
 victim's waist, clasping her own hands so that 
 the interlaced fingers rest just over the base of 
 the spine. The victim may allow her own 
 hands to hang at her sides, or she may rest 
 them upon her companion's arms. Now the 
 so-called victim bends over backward as far as 
 
Basis of Japanese Training 17 
 
 she can, doing so very gradually, and relying 
 upon her antagonist to support her. Every 
 muscle that is brought into play must be 
 made tense during the exercise. When the 
 backward bend has been carried as far as it can 
 be done, the assailant should gradually draw 
 the victim back to upright position, the latter 
 resisting all the while. It requires several 
 practice bouts to make one perfect in this 
 exercise. 
 
 By the time that the student has gone this 
 far always provided, of course, that each 
 step has been mastered patiently and thor- 
 oughly a variation of the "struggle" is em- 
 ployed. The two contestants face each other, 
 standing with feet far apart. The hands are 
 raised a little above the level of the head, and 
 the opponents press both flat palms against the 
 opposing palms. (See photograph number 
 six.) In this position both lean forward, with 
 no portions of the trunks touching, and each 
 endeavours to force the other across the room 
 to the wall. Next, single arm work is taken 
 up, one adversary employing the left palm 
 against the other's right. In sequence the 
 
1 8 Physical Training for Women 
 
 assailant uses the right palm against the vic- 
 tim's left palm. A most interesting variation 
 of this work is found when each contestant 
 places the inside of her middle right forearm 
 over the back of her own left forearm in such 
 manner as to form the letter "x." The 
 palms are outward and the finger-tips up. 
 Now the adversaries oppose right palm to 
 right palm and left palm to left palm, and the 
 struggle is carried on as before always with- 
 out allowing any portions of the trunk to 
 touch. 
 
 The woman who wishes to prove the posses- 
 sion of strength must have splendidly de- 
 veloped wrists. In fact, the Japanese value 
 most the muscles that are strong between the 
 base of the hand and the bend of the elbow. 
 Swelling muscles in the upper arm do not 
 count for much with these sturdy, healthy 
 little brown people of Dai Nippon. The wrist 
 is the portion of the body that may be de- 
 veloped most quickly. In the best exercise 
 for this part of bodily training Japanese women 
 are taught to stand facing each other with the 
 arms extended downward in front so that the 
 
1 
 
 No. 6. RESISTANT WORK WITH HANDS OVER HEADS. 
 
:v 
 
Basis of Japanese Training 19 
 
 hands are about on a level with the waist-line. 
 The contestants clasp hands with fingers inter- 
 laced, whereupon the assailant endeavours to 
 twist her victim's hands slightly upward and 
 decidedly over and outward, the victim all the 
 while resisting. The movement is shown in 
 photograph number seven. When the wrists 
 of the victim have been turned as far outward 
 as they can be forced, the assailant begins to 
 twist them inward in reverse manner, encoun- 
 tering all the resistance of which the opponent 
 is capable. 
 
 In these exercises the writer has described 
 all the work that any woman should attempt 
 to master within a month if she wishes to be- 
 come truly strong in the right and moderate 
 way. If all the directions are patiently, 
 methodically followed there can be no doubt 
 as to the results. By way of system, in pur- 
 suing these exercises, the writer wishes to 
 make the following suggestions: The work 
 shown in this chapter is designed for a pre- 
 liminary course of thirty days. The resistant 
 wrist and arm exercises depicted in photo- 
 graph number one should be practised almost 
 
20 Physical Training for Women 
 
 exclusively for the first three days. During the 
 next three days the neck work should be taken 
 up in connection with the wrist and arm work, 
 about equal time being given to each. The 
 " struggle" work should be taken up on the 
 second day of the course, but should not be 
 practised too much until the neck work has 
 been gotten well under way. 
 
 Each one of the succeeding exercises should 
 be taken up at intervals of three days each 
 and in every exercise bout all the work that has 
 been tried before should be repeated from time 
 to time. When all of the seven exercises 
 herein given have been well learned the balance 
 of the month should be devoted to the succes- 
 sive practice of them all. 
 
 If one practice bout a day can be had, it is 
 better to take half an hour in the late after- 
 noon, or in the early evening. Exercise before 
 meals should terminate half an hour before 
 the time of eating. Exercise after meals 
 should not begin until an hour and a half after 
 eating. Where possible it is better to take a 
 twenty minutes' bout in the morning and 
 another in the aft'ernoon or evening. 
 
No. 7, THE UP-AND-OVER MOTION OF THE WRISTS. 
 
Basis of Japanese Training 21 
 
 There is no need for any American woman 
 who is not nearly bedridden to be weak if she 
 will follow the course that makes her Japanese 
 sisters strong. Yet nothing can be accom- 
 plished unless the reader goes at each task 
 persistently and with the full determination to 
 win, through actual work, all the strength that 
 is hers by right. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 ADDITIONAL PRELIMINARY EXERCISES FOR 
 THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE BODY 
 
 IN the average school of instruction in Japan 
 the girl student is not allowed to take up addi- 
 tional work until she has spent something like 
 a month in mastering, by constant, daily exer- 
 cise, the work described in the last chapter. 
 The work that is to be offered now is some- 
 what more advanced. It is supposed to repre- 
 sent the second month's addition to the work 
 that has been explained already but the work 
 insisted upon for the first month, like that 
 described in this chapter, should be kept up 
 all the time the student so dividing the exer- 
 cises that as many forms of them as are possible 
 may be taken up in each practice bout. 
 
 In this special system of training for women 
 it is the intention of the Japanese instructors, 
 while developing the whole body, to give espe- 
 
 22 
 
No. 8. RESISTANT WORK AROUND HIPS. 
 
Preliminary Exercises 23 
 
 cial heed to the training of all of the muscles 
 that lie between the thigh and the breast. 
 Within this compass all the organs are located, 
 and the well-devised plan of the Japanese aims 
 at the development of the organs. Incidentally 
 every other muscle of the body is brought into 
 the right sort of play by one or another of the 
 exercises. 
 
 At about the beginning of the second month 
 of training the Japanese woman will be taught 
 some such exercise as the one that I am about 
 to describe. The exact form does not matter, 
 so long as the student carries out the theory 
 of the exercise in a practicable manner. The 
 student of jiu-jitsu is taught always to think 
 out for herself all of the variations of an exer- 
 cise that are possible. 
 
 Place the hands just over the hips, with 
 fingers resting forward on the sides and thumbs 
 backward, the familiar position of "arms akim- 
 bo." Stand erectly, with the heels touching 
 and the feet at an angle of about forty-five de- 
 grees. Make every muscle in the body as 
 tense as it is possible to do, and then begin to 
 turn slowly from side to side. This exercise, 
 
24 Physical Training for Women 
 
 if it is to give benefit, must be accompanied 
 by the resistant work that has been explained 
 already. For instance, when making a turn 
 to the right, always resist by employing the 
 muscles in such manner that the turn is ren- 
 dered difficult. In turning to the left, always 
 employ a counteracting, resistant pressure to 
 the right. In exercises of this kind it should 
 be understood that at all times there must 
 be conscious but inferior muscular resistance. 
 The resistance must be great enough to all but 
 defeat the victory of the muscles that are 
 employed in achieving victory. 
 
 This principle cannot be too thoroughly ab- 
 sorbed by the student. At the same time care 
 must be taken not to carry the resistant idea 
 so far that panting or palpitation is caused. 
 The student, whether engaged in exercise by 
 herself, or in association with a companion, 
 can determine readily just how much resistance 
 can be offered without causing fatigue. FA- 
 TIGUE AND EXERCISE DO NOT GO HAND IN 
 HAND ! Any exercise that truly fatigues is in- 
 jurious. Caution should be given not to try 
 the exercise described in the foregoing and 
 
Preliminary Exercises 25 
 
 illustrated in photograph number eight to the 
 degree that will cause fatigue. A woman who 
 is absolutely strong can perform, without stop- 
 ping, from twenty-five to forty of these turns 
 from right to left; the woman who is not 
 strong should content herself at the outset 
 with two turns from right to left in a single 
 practice bout. Then the strength will come 
 that will enable her to increase the number of 
 times that she does the work at the beginning. 
 The next exercise that should be added to 
 the list is somewhat difficult of achievement at 
 the outset, but skill comes with a little prac- 
 tice. As is shown in photograph number nine, 
 each contestant stands on the right foot, hold- 
 ing the left foot backward, and clear of the 
 floor. They clasp right hands at arm's length, 
 or nearly so. Arms and legs should be as tense 
 as is possible. While the victim stands on her 
 right foot, using it as a pivot only, the assail- 
 ant, hopping on her right foot alone, endeav- 
 ours to swing her opponent around to the 
 right. Each should use as much force in 
 the arms as can be done without preventing 
 the victory of the assailant. 
 
26 Physical Training for Women 
 
 This is an exercise that should not be taken 
 often at the outset. Too much of it will ex- 
 haust the strength of a woman who is not 
 accustomed to physical training. But the 
 amount of this exercise can be increased gradu- 
 ally, just as the strength of the student in- 
 creases, and just as the task becomes a pleasure 
 instead. A very little practice is needed in 
 order to convince the student that the exercise 
 is one that shakes up the vital organs, 
 strengthens the muscles over the hips, and 
 makes the arms and legs stronger. There is 
 the added advantage that agility and physical 
 poise are improved. 
 
 Of course it is to be understood that the 
 hopping on the right feet with the right hands 
 clenched can be duplicated by hopping on the 
 left feet while the left hands are grasped, in 
 the same fashion that is shown in the photo- 
 graph. In fact, it is well to have rather more 
 practice for the left side of the body than for 
 the right, as the tendency of nearly all physical 
 training is to develop the right side of the body 
 at the expense of the left. 
 
 From photograph number ten a very perfect 
 

 No. 10. THE RESISTANT WORK, DONE FROM SIDE TO SIDE, 
 VICTIM RESISTING. 
 
Preliminary Exercises 27 
 
 idea may be gained of the next exercise that is 
 to be taken up that is, to be taken up after 
 the second month's work has been under way 
 for a week or so. The caution is to be given 
 in advance that too much of this work is likely 
 to prove injurious to the heart. A normally 
 healthy woman need not be in the least afraid 
 of the exercise. The Japanese woman minds 
 it no more than she would washing her hands. 
 The woman student who fears that her heart 
 is weak should take the work with caution, at 
 first, noting whether she suffers discomfort 
 in consequence. If she discovers discomfort 
 around the heart she should try the work very 
 easily at first, increasing it by very gradual 
 degrees. This caution is given for the reason 
 that in the United States heart troubles are 
 very prevalent among women at least, im- 
 agined diseases of the heart exist, which may 
 mean very much the same thing. 
 
 The woman who feels that her heart action is 
 weak may try the exercise very lightly at first, 
 and with gradually increasing exertion. If she 
 finds it too severe for her, she would better 
 leave it alone. But if she will persevere, 
 
28 Physical Training for Women 
 
 without fear, taking the work a little more 
 strenuously as the days go by, and never to 
 the point at which she suffers discomfort in 
 her heart, she will find that the heart action is 
 greatly strengthened. 
 
 And now, with this preliminary warning, we 
 will come to a description of the exercise that 
 is illustrated by photograph number ten. It 
 represents another form of the "struggle," a 
 form of exercise which represents all that is 
 best in jiu-jitsu. It is the resistant work pure 
 and simple. Every muscle employed stands 
 opposed to a corresponding one in the body 
 of the opponent. 
 
 As is shown, the contestants stand facing 
 each other with feet spread wide apart. The 
 arms are raised horizontally sideways, and the 
 opposing fingers of the students are interlaced. 
 Each then leans forward enough to enable the 
 pair to cross necks in the manner that the illus- 
 tration depicts. The body is made as tense as 
 is possible throughout, and then the assailant 
 endeavours to press the victim's neck as far to 
 the opposite side as is possible, the victim all 
 the while resisting. The arms are employed 
 
Preliminary Exercises 29 
 
 in moving down or up on either side as much 
 as may be done. Both contestants should 
 hold their arms as rigidly as they can, with 
 tight, firm grip of the hands. The upper chest 
 is the only part of the torso that should touch. 
 
 Now, when the position has been secured and 
 the contestants have their necks crossed as much 
 as may be in the form of a letter "x," the one 
 who is to make the assault should struggle to 
 push the victim's head over. When necks are 
 crossed at the left the push should be to the 
 right. When the necks are crossed at the right 
 the push must be to the left. The upper chest 
 may be employed to advantage, and the value 
 of the use of the arms in twisting the oppo- 
 nent's head over should never be lost sight of. 
 The main strain must come in the neck, but 
 all of the muscles from the neck down to the 
 abdomen will be brought into play. The 
 arms, too, will be benefited, especially at 
 the wrists, where most American and English 
 women are weakest. 
 
 I have spoken of the practice that obtains 
 among jiu-jitsu instructors of requiring the 
 pupil to think for himself. In the analysis of 
 
30 Physical Training for Women 
 
 the foregoing exercise there is an excellent 
 opportunity for careful study of the work that 
 can be exacted from the muscles. 
 
 Take each part of the body, from the neck 
 down, that is brought into play. Note the 
 tension on the side of the neck that is crossed, 
 and the amount of strain on the side of the 
 neck that is not crossed. Try the work again, 
 and note the corresponding effect on the mus- 
 cles when the necks are crossed on the other 
 side. It must be remembered that the necks 
 may be crossed either at the right or the left 
 side, and that the work at the left side should 
 not be neglected in favour of the right. 
 
 In another lesson, study, through careful 
 observation, the play that this exercise gives 
 to the muscles of the upper chest and back. 
 In still another bout come down to the small 
 of the back, the abdomen, and the arms, espe- 
 cially the wrists. Discover how the muscles 
 are played upon in these parts. Do it slowly 
 and intelligently, and it is surprising how 
 much knowledge of the use of muscles is 
 acquired. 
 
 From this sort of work the real student will 
 
Preliminary Exercises 31 
 
 learn much that she will never forget. She 
 will be able to devise variations of every exer- 
 cise that is described in this volume. She will 
 awake by degrees to the fact that any muscle 
 may be strengthened by resistance from an- 
 other muscle. She will acquire an idea of the 
 kind of work that brings results never to be 
 achieved by such simple work as the use of 
 Indian clubs and dumb-bells. Whenever a 
 muscle is to be hardened the trick is accom- 
 plished by using some other muscle resistantly 
 against it. 
 
 When a Japanese woman has reached this 
 stage in physical training she is encouraged to 
 practise and to discover all manner of tricks for 
 training the muscles. She is made to stand 
 apart, to place her thumbs across her thorax 
 and her fingers over her ears. Then, she must 
 bend her head to the right, resisting to the 
 left, and then do exactly the reverse thing. 
 Then she must place her thumbs once more 
 over the thorax, with her fingers interlaced 
 below the base of her brain. Now, she 
 must bend her head forward and backward 
 and finally sideways always resisting the 
 
32 Physical Training for Women 
 
 movement in the desired direction by a reverse 
 use of the muscles in the other direction. Every 
 possible movement along these lines is encour- 
 aged, because they can do no harm, and all the 
 while the instructor stands at one side, looking 
 on but making no comment. His teaching is 
 that any resistant play of the muscles that 
 does not cause undue fatigue is of value in 
 strengthening that part of the body to which 
 the muscles belong. 
 
 As soon as the reader has made herself real- 
 ise the need of analysis it will be time to take 
 up another exercise that may be carried out 
 in many ways. This new work involves the 
 "struggle," but one of a kind that has not 
 been described as yet. The two opponents 
 stand facing each other, each bending well for- 
 ward, and with feet wide apart. Opposing 
 hands are clasped, preferably with fingers in- 
 terlaced, and then begins what might be 
 termed a "tug of war." Each strives to pull 
 the other forward, and the effort is kept up 
 until the fatigue point is in sight. Of course 
 a contestant who is very much stronger than 
 her opponent should allow the latter to gain a 
 
fe Jf 
 s I 
 
Preliminary Exercises 33 
 
 grudged advantage in the alternate bout. This 
 is an all-round exercise that is employed in 
 many of the Japanese schools. It is intended 
 especially for the strengthening of the back, 
 and it is at this point that the first strain of 
 undue fatigue is to be felt. A minute of 
 struggle employed in this work should be 
 enough, when followed by deep breathing, and 
 by just one more struggle of the same kind as 
 soon as both students are breathing properly. 
 Photograph number eleven depicts this form 
 of the struggle with all the accuracy that is 
 needed for a quick comprehension of the work. 
 Once the attitude is taken all that is needed is 
 for the contestants to begin to pull each other 
 forward. 
 
 In photograph number twelve is shown a 
 form of exercise that does much to develop 
 the legs and the vital organs. The woman 
 who finds herself becoming too fleshy around 
 the waist-line will take away much of her need- 
 less flesh if she will practise this exercise with 
 the persistency that is needed for development 
 of the body at a period in life when birthdays 
 come with annoying frequency. The same 
 
34 Physical Training for Women 
 
 exercise, taken often by girls and young wo- 
 men, will keep flesh from accumulating around 
 the waist-line. Japanese women do not wear 
 corsets, yet they possess as slender waists as 
 are consistent with their prettily rounded 
 contours. 
 
 It is necessary for the two contestants to sit 
 on the floor. The hands are placed out at the 
 sides, a little behind the waist, and the arms 
 give leverage. Both assailant and victim 
 secure support from the hands resting on the 
 floor. The assailant pushes her victim's leg 
 around to the right by putting the flat of her 
 own right foot against the inside ankle bone of 
 the victim's right foot, the victim resisting all 
 the while. Then the left foot of each contest- 
 ant is employed in the same way. After that 
 victim and assailant change places. The work 
 should not be kept up very long at first, but 
 the amount of it may be increased by very 
 gradual degrees. No harm can result from the 
 performance of this exercise, but it will be 
 found that the task requires a very consider- 
 able amount of balance and strength in the 
 arms and legs at first. Four struggles of this 
 
Preliminary Exercises 35 
 
 kind, one with each foot for the assailant, and 
 then one with each foot by the victim who 
 has changed to assailant, will be found to be 
 enough in any practice bout at first. The 
 amount of this work can be increased gradu- 
 ally, especially in the case of a student who 
 has found that she is growing too rapidly at 
 the waist-line. It is the habit of many Ameri- 
 can and English women to neglect growing 
 corpulency at the waist-line until they reach the 
 time at which heroic measures are necessary. 
 
 The student is advised, as she would be in a 
 jiu-jitsu school in Japan, to take up the exer- 
 cises described in the first chapter as the found- 
 ation. Those given in this chapter will be 
 found of advantage for occasional added use. 
 Not all of the exercises can be taken up in a 
 single bout of practice. The student will be 
 able to decide much for herself as to which 
 exercises are needed in the greatest frequency, 
 but all of those that have been described 
 should be employed at least once in a while 
 and there is no use in taking up jiu-jitsu physi- 
 cal training unless it is to be persevered in 
 every day in the week. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 ADVANCED WORK, TO BE TAKEN UP AFTER A 
 FEW WEEKS OF PRELIMINARY TRAINING 
 
 IT is not expected or desired that the woman 
 student will take up any of the exercises de- 
 scribed in this chapter until she has spent some 
 weeks in patient, regular study of the feats that 
 have been described already. The exercises 
 that are to be described now are those that are 
 fitted to pupils who are fairly advanced those 
 who have learned how to employ their muscles 
 and who have gained the strength that is 
 needed for the new work. 
 
 There will be no harm in practising the ex- 
 ercises given in this chapter when the student 
 finds herself strong enough to go through 
 them without fatigue. But the causing of 
 fatigue must be the guide. Some women are 
 naturally strong enough to go quickly through 
 all the feats described in this volume. Others 
 36 
 
Advanced Work 37 
 
 will have to take them up in the sequence 
 given, care being taken never to reach the 
 point of pronounced fatigue. In this each 
 student will have to be her own judge. All of 
 the exercises are presented in a sequence that 
 will enable the student to go ahead as rapidly 
 as her individual strength permits. 
 
 For the woman who is normally strong, and 
 who has put in a few weeks of daily work in 
 the preliminary work given in the first two 
 chapters, there is nothing in the work of this 
 chapter that can do her the least injury unless 
 it is carried to extremes. The motto of the 
 patient little Japanese is MODERATION IN 
 EVERYTHING! Through observing this pre- 
 liminary caution the American woman will find 
 herself, after following systematic daily work 
 for a little while, greatly improved in strength 
 and in suppleness. 
 
 In photograph number thirteen is shown an 
 exercise which, at first sight, may seem to 
 border on the comical. Yet it is one that 
 should be taken very frequently, without too 
 much of it in any one practice bout. One of 
 the students, who may be designated by the 
 
38 Physical Training for Women 
 
 convenient name of "victim,** lies on the floor, 
 face downward. Her "assailant" takes up 
 position behind the former's feet. The assail- 
 ant lifts the victim's ankles, holding them 
 clear of the floor. At the same time the vic- 
 tim raises herself clear of the floor by leaning 
 on her hands, as is shown in the illustration. 
 
 As soon as the position has been taken cor- 
 rectly, the command, "travel," is given. The 
 victim, walking on her hands, moves forward. 
 The assailant does not exert much strength 
 in fact, does nothing except to support her 
 fellow-student's feet. As soon as a few steps 
 forward have been taken the victim walks 
 backward upon her hands. The assailant 
 does not push in going forward, nor pull in 
 going backward. 
 
 By degrees, the victim should learn to arch 
 her back upward as far as possible, yet never 
 to the point of straining. At first it will be 
 found convenient to let the abdomen remain 
 close to the floor, the arch upward increasing 
 only very slowly as the length of time given to 
 this exercise goes on. 
 
 A valuable variation in this work will be 
 
<\ 
 
 No. 14. THE ASSAILANT LETTING THE VICTIM OVER BACKWARD 
 TO THE FLOOR. 
 
Advanced Work 39 
 
 found if the assailant, while holding the vic- 
 tim's ankles, twists the latter 's legs and trunk 
 first to one side and then to the other. More 
 work along this line will be described in a later 
 chapter. At all times, in twisting, the victim 
 should resist the twist as much as is possible 
 by employing her own muscles to twist in the 
 opposite direction. 
 
 And right here is where the Japanese prin- 
 ciple of allowing the student to instruct him- 
 self as much as is possible comes in very 
 forcibly. In this feat of the " travel" the 
 careful student will discover just what muscles 
 are used. There is much strain upon the arms 
 and the torso. When the twist of the legs 
 and the body is employed there is added strain 
 upon the torso, while the legs receive additional 
 exercise. In the twisting the assailant benefits, 
 slowly, by exercise of the wrists. The benefit 
 to the victim, however, is greater. It should 
 be borne in mind that in this, as in all other 
 exercises, victim and assailant should change 
 places as soon as a feat has been accomplished. 
 
 Photograph number fourteen shows a some- 
 what difficult exercise. It is one that many 
 
40 Physical Training for Women 
 
 women cannot accomplish at ail, unless the 
 muscles employed have been well hardened by 
 the work that goes before this. It is work, 
 too, that should be employed with caution in 
 the case of stout w r omen or those inclined to 
 apoplexy or weakness of the heart. During 
 the first two or three weeks after this exercise 
 is taken up it should be employed only once In 
 each practice bout. 
 
 The assailant should clasp her hands at the 
 small of the victim's back, as is shown in the 
 illustration. The next move is for the assail- 
 ant to place the back of her right thigh against 
 the back of her victim's right thigh. Now the 
 victim bends backward, placing her whole 
 weight upon the assailant's arms, with a little 
 added support, at first, from the assailant's 
 thigh. Now, as the bending backward goes 
 on the assailant steps slowly forward, gradu- 
 ally lowering the victim until the latter's head 
 touches the floor. When the victim is weak 
 it will be found better not to lower her head all 
 the way to the floor until the exercise has been 
 practiced for two or three weeks, but the head 
 may be let lower and lower on succeeding days. 
 
No. 15. RAISING THE VICTIM FROM A PROSTRATE TO AN ERECT POSITION 
 
Advanced Work 41 
 
 Photograph number fifteen shows the work 
 of raising the victim to an erect position. Do 
 not bring up the victim with a jerk, but raise 
 her as gradually as she was lowered, the assail- 
 ant moving slowly backward in short steps as 
 the lifting is accomplished. While this is bein^ 
 done the victim throws her full weight against 
 the assailant, with arms hanging down and the 
 abdominal muscles as tense as they can be 
 made. The work is severe upon both students, 
 but ics benefits will be discovered by noting 
 the muscles that are strained in this exercise. 
 
 Caution must be given that the assailant, 
 who does the lowering and raising, be strong 
 enough to hold her fellow-student. Great 
 pains must be taken, too, that, at the start of 
 the lowering, the thighs be placed against each 
 other in just the position indicated. The as- 
 sailant must not hurry with the lowering, as a 
 sudden slip forward would result in landing 
 the back of the victim's head against the floor 
 with a jar that would not make for good physi- 
 cal training. It is an exercise to be employed 
 always with caution, but its benefits, for a 
 normally strong woman, are great. 
 
42 Physical Training for Women 
 
 This work strengthens the whole body, from 
 the neck to the toes. There is not a muscle 
 that is not employed, but those of the abdo- 
 men, of the waist-line, and the small of the 
 back will receive the greatest benefit when the 
 work is rightly done. If at all in doubt, 
 the student should read the text over and 
 over, and study the photograph persistently. 
 While at the outset one of these feats should 
 be enough for each practice bout, students who 
 are strong enough may try the feat twice in 
 each bout during the second week, three times 
 in each bout during the third week, and in 
 this ratio until both students are able to per- 
 form the feat five or six times in a single bout. 
 But it is not intended that, at any time, this 
 work should be tried more than in three bouts 
 in a week. 
 
 An exercise that will furnish welcome relief, 
 and one which will do much to strengthen one 
 for the foregoing drill, is the form of struggle 
 shown in photograph number sixteen. Here 
 the contestants face each other. Each throws 
 her left arm around the waist of the other. 
 The right hand of each is employed in such a 
 

 No. 16. A THROAT-HOLD TO BE EMPLOYED RESISTANTLY. 
 
Advanced Work 43 
 
 way as to get a good grip under the other's 
 chin, forcing the contestant's head back as far 
 as is possible. When this position has been 
 taken the two students begin to struggle, each 
 trying to force the opponent backward. This 
 struggle may be carried on in a very lively 
 fashion, where the students are about evenly 
 matched, and with mutual advantage. They 
 may travel all round the room in the contest. 
 No harm can be done in this work, so long as 
 a fall is not attempted. Advanced students 
 who are sure of the condition of their muscles 
 may attempt even a fall where the floor is 
 padded, as with gymnasium mats. But it is 
 safer, on the whole, not to attempt the fall, 
 even in the advanced stages of the work, as a 
 quick wrench at the instant of the fall might 
 produce lacerated ligaments of one or both 
 knees. 
 
 This exercise, like all of the others, may be 
 varied in many ways that the student may 
 solve for herself. For instance, throw the left 
 arm around the antagonist's waist as before, 
 placing the right hand at the left side of the 
 victim's neck. Then force her head over as 
 
44 Physical Training for Women 
 
 far as it will go to the right, the victim all the 
 while resisting this pressure. Then the victim 
 should bring her head back again to the left, 
 the assailant all the while resisting this return 
 movement. In this case it is not necessary 
 that the victim have her arm around the assail- 
 ant's waist, unless support is gained thereby. 
 
 Still another beneficial form of this work is 
 found when the two students take the same 
 clasp, with left arms around each other's 
 waists, the assailant this time placing the right 
 forearm against the right side of the victim's 
 neck. The assailant presses the victim's head 
 over as far as possible to the left, until even 
 the lower abdominal muscles share in the 
 strain. When the victim has been forced thus 
 over to the left as far as is possible, she strug- 
 gles to return to erect position, the assailant 
 now resisting in turn. 
 
 If proper pains be taken to make sure that 
 the muscles at the waist-line are tensed and 
 strained by this exercise, it is all but impossible 
 that any other muscle involved can fail to re- 
 ceive its proper share of benefit. The wrists 
 and neck, too, come in for their share of play, 
 
Advanced Work 45 
 
 and it is at the wrist and in the neck that the 
 American woman is most likely to be weak. 
 These two parts should receive much attention. 
 
 Now has been presented work enough for 
 any American student to attempt during the 
 first three months of her training in jiu-jitsu. 
 Many students will go ahead with it much 
 more quickly, and a comparative few will be 
 justified in so doing. Everything depends 
 upon the strength of the student. But too 
 much stress cannot be laid upon the point that 
 heavy work that is, work requiring the utmost 
 exertion of the strength does not produce 
 the quickest results in the building up of the 
 body. Japanese women do not attempt to 
 strain until, by easy work, gradually increased 
 in strenuousness, they have acquired the mus- 
 cular development that fits them for strain 
 without injury. 
 
 While daily work, faithfully adhered to, is 
 absolutely necessary to proper physical de- 
 velopment, it is not intended that all of the 
 exercises described in the foregoing should be 
 taken in each day's bout or bouts of practice. 
 The better rule will be, at the beginning of 
 
46 Physical Training for Women 
 
 each bout, to select certain exercises to be em- 
 ployed at the time. All of the lighter ones 
 may be used, and should be, but two or three 
 of the harder ones will suffice, and these 
 should be used in turn, so that, during the 
 week's work, one is used as frequently as the 
 other. 
 
 At the outset most students will be tempted 
 to turn the performance of the feats into tests 
 of comparative strength. This is a tendency 
 that Japanese instructors strongly discourage. 
 Where the contest is a friendly one it makes 
 no difference whether the assailant or the vic- 
 tim is really the stronger. It is sufficient 
 and better that the victim resist just enough 
 to all but prevent the assailant's victory. If 
 the assailant be the stronger, she should be 
 careful, at all times, to employ just enough 
 strength to overcome the victim's resistance. 
 This matter cannot be emphasised too strongly, 
 for the resistance of one muscle to another is 
 the whole essence of the science of physical 
 training as it has been thought out by the 
 strong little men and women of Japan. 
 
 In the exercise, for instance, that has been 
 
Advanced Work 47 
 
 described in this chapter, where one student 
 lets the other over backward, and then raises 
 her, most depends upon the victim's hanging 
 her full weight upon the other contestant, but 
 much depends upon both tensing their muscles 
 at the abdomen and waist. In the neck work 
 the utmost resistance that does not exhaust 
 must be employed. 
 
 It is natural for the student to wish to try 
 tests of strength. I shall describe some that 
 will be convincing, and they may be taken at 
 any time, provided only that they are not 
 carried to excess. Lie prostrate on the floor 
 on the right side of the body, with the right 
 arm extended in a line with the body. Now, 
 resting on the palm and ankle, and bringing 
 the hand gradually in closer to the body, at- 
 tempt to rise in such manner that head, torso, 
 and legs are free of the floor, all of the weight 
 resting on the right hand and the right ankle. 
 See how long you can remain in this position. 
 It is well to have some friend keep the time 
 with a watch. Few American women can 
 raise themselves at all in this fashion. I have 
 known Japanese women to do it, and to remain 
 
48 Physical Training for Women 
 
 resting on palm and ankle for ninety seconds. 
 I am quite prepared to believe that there are 
 Japanese women who could carry the strain of 
 such a position for a period considerably ex- 
 ceeding two minutes. 
 
 At another time, try the same exercise on 
 the left side. There is a tendency among 
 Americans to develop the strength of the right 
 side at the expense of the left, and for this 
 reason the raising of the body on the left will 
 be found much more difficult. A well-trained 
 Japanese woman can raise herself as easily on 
 the left side as on the right, and this is because, 
 in the jiu-jitsu schools, one side of the body is 
 trained as thoroughly as is the other. 
 
 There is another test of strength that will be 
 found rather severe, but it shows the student 
 how she is progressing in muscular develop- 
 ment. Lie upon the floor, flat on the back, 
 with feet somewhat spread, and with hands flat 
 on the floor a little back of the shoulders. 
 Next, try to rise, resting the weight of the 
 body on the palms and on the heels. Note 
 how high it is possible to raise the body, arch- 
 ing the abdomen up as far as is possible. Note 
 
Advanced Work 49 
 
 also the length of time that it is possible to 
 maintain this position. The longer the student 
 can hold this position the better, she may be 
 assured, is her physical development. 
 
 It is possible, by the means of these exer- 
 cises, for a woman to understand just how 
 much she is progressing by the use of Japanese 
 training methods. But this work, like all of 
 the other Japanese work, must not be carried 
 to extremes. The essential point is to ascer- 
 tain just how long any one of these poses can 
 be maintained without exhaustion. 
 
 An interesting variation of the last exercise 
 test, and one that carries with it much 
 strengthening of muscle, if the work be not 
 indulged in too severely, is found in raising 
 on the hands and heels, and twisting the body 
 from side to side always with resistant pres- 
 sure in the other direction. 
 
 Another test of strength but an exercise 
 that should not be employed too often is 
 found in throwing the arms backward over the 
 shoulders and clutching at something like a 
 stationary pole. Then, standing as far as is 
 possible from the pole, the student should bend 
 
50 Physical Training for Women 
 
 over backward, noting the amount of time 
 that this difficult pose can be held. 
 
 Another test of strength is found when the 
 student bends forward to the right, with the 
 right palm resting on the floor and the right 
 foot also, while the left hand and foot are kept 
 clear of the floor, and as far from it as pos- 
 sible. The left foot should be as far back as is 
 possible, with the left hand as far forward as it 
 may be. This exercise can be varied by rest- 
 ing the left hand and foot on the floor and ex- 
 tending the right foot backward and the right 
 hand forward. The time in which this pose 
 can be kept should be noted from week to 
 week, and the increase in the number of 
 seconds will give the student a very fair idea 
 of the gain in muscular strength. 
 
 Do not attempt to hurry results. 
 
 Do not forget, after the performance of each 
 feat, to breathe deeply at the open window 
 before passing on to other work. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 ESPECIAL EXERCISES FOR THE WAIST-LINE 
 AND FOR THE ORGANS 
 
 No one who has seen the average, normal 
 Japanese woman can fail to be impressed by 
 the beauty of her waist-line, nor, in fact, by 
 the grace that is shown in every line of her 
 torso. An anatomical examination will prove 
 that most Japanese women satisfy the artist's 
 ideal, as well as the surgeon's, of what a woman 
 should be in this important part of the body. 
 
 Of course there are torsos that do not meet 
 the best requirements, but these are to be 
 found only among the women who have not 
 made a conscientious study of jiu-jitsu. The 
 writer of this volume is neither an artist nor a 
 surgeon, but he has made anatomical studies 
 of the Japanese women in the company of both 
 artists and surgeons, and his opinion is in- 
 dorsed by theirs that Japanese women show 
 
52 Physical Training for Women 
 
 not only the most strength, but the utmost 
 grace of contour. And this is true especially 
 of the torsos of the Japanese women. 
 
 Nearly all of the work that has been de- 
 scribed in the three foregoing chapters is 
 directed at splendid and graceful development 
 of the torso, with accompanying benefit to the 
 other portions of the body. The exercises 
 that are to be described now are those that 
 jiu-jitsu instructors insist upon as being of 
 especial value at the waist-line and for the 
 whole torso. 
 
 None of these exercises should be taken in 
 every succeeding practice bout, but should be 
 employed from time to time as the student 
 decides for herself. At first it will be best, 
 undoubtedly, to employ one of the three, in 
 alternation, in the practice bouts of succeeding 
 days. All three of these exercises should be 
 taken in moderation, at first, and by very 
 gradual degrees the strain of the work should 
 be increased until both students reach the acme 
 of strain. As the muscles develop in strength 
 the possibility of danger from strain is obvi- 
 ated. But each student should watch care- 
 
Especial Exercises 53 
 
 fully that the normally increasing strength is 
 not abused. It is not sufficient to be strong 
 enough to be able to perform a given feat. 
 The student must be able to perform the 
 especial feat without the least feeling of strain ; 
 and, when there is a feeling of strain it is a 
 sure indication that the work is being carried 
 on with more zeal than discretion. 
 
 I have had more or less experience with 
 American women who have undertaken the 
 whole system with a view to mastering it 
 within a week or two. They have gone into 
 the work too earnestly. Jiu-jitsu exercises 
 sent the blood tingling through their bodies ; 
 they felt as exhilarated as if they had taken 
 stimulants, and they wanted to keep on at the 
 work indefinitely. At the first sign of exhaus- 
 tion it has been necessary for me to give a 
 peremptory command : ' ' Stop ! ' ' And, some- 
 times, this is hard to do, for the woman who 
 is full of bounding health feels that she can 
 endure easily another half-hour of work. The 
 exercises are so strengthening and stimulating 
 that it is hard to know when to stop. The in- 
 telligent student will know when to cease work 
 
54 Physical Training for Women 
 
 by the feeling of the first indication of fatigue. 
 If she lies upon her back, with feet spread and 
 arms extended, taking deep breaths all the 
 while, she may be able to return safely to 
 work in the same practice bout. After a good 
 deal of persistent practice at jiu-jitsu these 
 symptoms of fatigue will be felt but seldom. 
 
 In photograph number seventeen is shown a 
 form of exercise that may be used to the 
 utmost advantage, always provided that it is 
 not overdone. Let the two students stand at 
 the left of each other. The left side of one 
 should be opposed directly to the left side of 
 the other, each stepping far enough forward to 
 bring this about. Now, let each one grasp 
 the other by the shoulders, as is shown in the 
 illustration, with the left waist-line of one 
 pressing firmly against the left waist-line of the 
 other. Hands and arms should be made 
 firmly tense, and so should the muscles of the 
 torso, principally at the waist -line, and in a 
 less degree above. 
 
 When this position has been well secured 
 the student who is to act as the assailant 
 should walk around to the right, while the 
 

 No 17. EMPLOYED AT LEFT SIDE OF EACH CONTESTANT. 
 
Especial Exercises 55 
 
 victim, resisting all the while, pivots upon her 
 heels. While this position is not always an 
 easy one to keep until the muscles have been 
 trained thoroughly, it will be well if the assail- 
 ant forces the victim around three or four 
 times before the exercise is discontinued. All 
 depends upon the amount of resistance that 
 the victim employs always bearing in mind 
 that, if the assailant be the weaker, the resist- 
 ance should be just enough to make the victor 
 work for the victory. 
 
 When this has been accomplished, assailant 
 and victim should change relations as soon as 
 a little deep breathing has been practised. 
 Not more than two of these exercises should 
 be attempted in a single bout until the time 
 comes when both contestants find that the 
 work can be undertaken without undue strain. 
 But it should be remembered that advanced 
 students ought to take up this exercise with 
 determined purpose at least every third day. 
 
 As a variation of the exercise the assailant, 
 when the same initial position has been taken, 
 may force the victim over slowly to the latter's 
 right. The victim is supposed to resist all the 
 
56 Physical Training for Women 
 
 while. When the victim has been forced as 
 far over to the right as she can go, she forces 
 the late assailant over to the side in the other 
 direction, encountering as much resistance as 
 can be offered her without preventing victory. 
 This movement should be taken very slowly ; 
 the greatest benefit comes from the tensing 
 and straining of the muscles at the waist-line. 
 The arms and the shoulders, as well, must be 
 used with considerable strength. With the in- 
 variable proviso that there is no panting or 
 undue palpitation of the heart the student will 
 know that she is not injuring herself. 
 
 After such an exercise it will not be un- 
 natural for the average American woman whose 
 muscles have not been hardened to feel sore 
 around the waist-line the next day. Such 
 soreness is a sure indication that she has taken 
 the exercise too severely. In that case, during 
 the next few trials of the feat, it will be well 
 for the assailant to employ less pressure and 
 for the victim to offer less resistance. But the 
 student who has followed faithfully the course 
 outlined in the preceding chapters, and who 
 has not made too much haste to reach this 
 
No. 18 RESISTANT BACK WORK WITH SLIGHT BENDING BY BOTH 
 CONTESTANTS. 
 
Especial Exercises 57 
 
 exercise, will find her muscles in such hardened 
 condition that this work will have no power to 
 make her feel lame in the waist region. 
 
 Even the student who has been at the work 
 but a few days should not feel lame afterwards, 
 if the injunction as to moderateness has been 
 followed. If, however, too much zeal has 
 been shown, and the back is lame, the exer- 
 cise depicted in photograph number eighteen 
 may be employed mildly. Here the two op- 
 ponents face each other, clasping hands over 
 their heads. The clasp must be a firm one, 
 with all of the muscles of the arms tense. The 
 assailant forces the arms of her victim over 
 backward, making the latter bend her body 
 slightly. Then the victim turns assailant and 
 forces her companion over backward in turn. 
 The victim always resists the pressure over 
 backward, while the assailant employs just 
 enough more strength to gain a victory. In 
 case of lameness at the back, or in the sides, it 
 will be understood that neither assailant nor 
 victim is to use too much strength until the 
 lameness has disappeared. 
 
 In this, as in all other exercises, there is a 
 
58 Physical Training for Women 
 
 useful variation. When the two students 
 stand with each other's hands clasped over- 
 head, as directed in the last exercise, let the as- 
 sailant twist slowly over to the right, the 
 victim all the while resisting to the left. The 
 victim should be twisted well over; and, when 
 the last point of bending has been attained, 
 the victim should turn assailant and bend over 
 to the other side, the hands being carried well 
 over the heads of the contestants in so doing. 
 
 There is still another form in which this 
 work is employed when the students stand 
 with each other's hands clasped overhead. 
 That is, for each to back away a little from the 
 other. The assailant now bends forward as 
 much as need be, and forces the victim to 
 bend forward, the latter resisting. The latter 
 must not bend her knees in bending forward, 
 but the nearer her hands are brought to her 
 feet the more perfectly is the work performed. 
 A counter movement upward is not valuable 
 in this exercise. 
 
 There are many other exercises that ingeni- 
 ous students can plan for themselves when 
 starting at the position of hands clasped over- 
 

 No. 19. RESISTANT NECK WORK. 
 
Especial Exercises 59 
 
 head. There are many sway ings and bendings 
 that may be practised with benefit from this 
 starting pose. Any exercise of this nature, 
 that can be begun at the starting pose and 
 carried on with resistance on the part of the 
 victim, and with endurable strain at the waist- 
 line for both would meet with the approval of 
 a jiu-jitsu instructor. 
 
 Another form of exercise that is simpler of 
 execution, yet which affords perhaps more 
 muscular strain when carried out with zeal, is 
 that shown in photograph number nineteen. 
 Here each contestant stands well to the left of 
 the other. The left hand of each is pressed 
 against the left side of the other's face. The 
 feet are kept as rigid as is possible. In this 
 position the assailant presses the victim's head 
 over, the latter all the while resisting by press- 
 ure in the opposite direction. As soon as the 
 victim's head has been pushed as far over to 
 the right as may be done, the victim returns, 
 forcing her late assailant's head over as far to 
 the right as is possible. When this exercise 
 has been carried to its fullest development it is 
 possible for the two students to make the exer- 
 
60 Physical Training for Women 
 
 cise one of alternative swaying, the movement 
 becoming more brisk, and resulting in great 
 benefit to the wrists, arms, necks, and torsos. 
 
 When the work has been carried out thor- 
 oughly on the left side it should be taken up 
 at the right side. Another variation is found 
 when the students employ their left hands in 
 getting a good grip at each other's chins, each 
 forcing the other's body over backward in turn. 
 Then the right hands may be used. In this 
 form of backward bending the assailant should 
 stand well at the side of the victim whom she 
 is forcing. 
 
 Doubtless it will seem difficult to plan varia- 
 tions of the work just described. It is in this 
 matter that the ingenuity of the student comes 
 in. Here is a sample variation that would not 
 occur readily to the new student of jiu-jitsu : 
 Let the victim bend forward, without bending 
 her knees, so that her hands touch her feet, or 
 nearly so. Now, let the assailant place her 
 hand either one on the back of the victim's 
 head. The victim, employing all of her mus- 
 cles that she can, raises her head slowly against 
 the assailant's pressure. Of course the latter 
 
Especial Exercises 61 
 
 does not employ too much strength, yet 
 enough to make the victim's effort as difficult 
 as the latter's strength will permit. 
 
 Then there is still another form that may be 
 suggested. Let the victim bend her head for- 
 ward until it is on a level with her abdomen. 
 She may rest her hands in any position that 
 is comfortable, although preferably upon her 
 hips. The assailant presses her left hand 
 against the left side of the victim's face, and 
 tries to press the head around. The victim 
 resists. Then the attack is made with the 
 right hand against the right side of the victim's 
 face, with the same resistant work. After this 
 victim and assailant change places. At first it 
 may prove difficult for the victim to maintain 
 her equilibrium, but the ability to do so in- 
 creases with each repetition of the drill. 
 
 A movement that brings much relief when 
 there is danger of straining the muscles by too 
 vigorous exercises for the back is found when 
 two students stand erect and back to back. 
 Heads and trunks should touch. Then the 
 assailant, using the back of her head, with 
 some assistance from her back, presses her 
 
62 Physical Training for Women 
 
 victim's head forward as far as possible. When 
 this is accomplished, the victim turns assailant 
 and presses her companion's head back in the 
 opposite direction. In this exercise hands are 
 held on the hips, and each resists the other's 
 attempt to press the head forward. Care must 
 be taken not to carry this work to the point of 
 fatigue. It should be taken, rather, as a relief 
 from sore muscles ; and it is especially valuable 
 when used mildly on the day following too 
 muscular strain. 
 
 By way of change, the student who has 
 made the mistake of carrying exercise to the 
 point of causing lameness should attach a rope 
 to a hook or ring in the wall. At the hand- 
 end of the rope should be a loop. Thrust the 
 hand through the loop, take firm hold, and 
 bend slowly backward, resisting the bend as 
 much as may be done. Then rise to erect 
 position, resisting the upward movement by 
 throwing the weight of the body against it. 
 
 At no time should the importance of possess- 
 ing strong wrists be overlooked. I have met 
 frequently women who possessed arms that 
 showed surprising development of muscle ex- 
 
Especial Exercises 63 
 
 cept at the wrists. These could be turned 
 backward and forward with the utmost ease on 
 the part of the experimenter. The various 
 forms of resistant work for the wrist already 
 described should constitute the first part of 
 the exercise in each practice bout. Where 
 there are two students there should be wrist- 
 to-wrist work first of all. And, in her own 
 room, the student should follow the directions 
 given for individual practice along these lines. 
 
 Another exercise whose value cannot be 
 emphasized too much at this stage of the work 
 is the "travel." Most women suffer from too 
 weak ankles. While the "travel" is intended, 
 in the first place, for the development of nearly 
 every part of the body except the ankles, this 
 latter may be had when the student who holds 
 the other's feet twists the ankle from side to 
 side, the victim all the while resisting. And 
 this should be done every time that the 
 "travel" is attempted. In a woman, espe- 
 cially, weak ankles afford a very sure indication 
 of general weakness. 
 
 By way of increasing the strength of the 
 ankles the Japanese student of jiu-jitsu is 
 
64 Physical Training for Women 
 
 taught to seat herself, and, raising one foot, 
 to take the ankle-bones between the two hands 
 with a firm grip, twisting the foot from one 
 side to the other, always resisting the move- 
 ment in one direction by a pressure of the foot 
 in the other. This very simple exercise is 
 equally valuable in increasing the strength of 
 the wrists. When one ankle has been exer- 
 cised thus the other is taken up in turn, and 
 this is work that can be carried on at any time 
 without the aid of a fellow-student. Yet it is 
 of decided advantage when companions twist 
 each other's ankles, always with resistance on 
 the part of the victim. 
 
 It must be insisted once more that no exer- 
 cise is as important to health and strength as 
 is the practice of deep breathing. No exercise 
 should be repeated or be followed by another 
 until several breaths have been taken at an 
 open window or in the open air. And every 
 practice bout should be followed by a bath, 
 which will remove all the impurities of the 
 body that the work has brought to the skin. 
 To exercise seriously and vigorously, and then 
 not to follow with a bath would be looked 
 
1 Exercises 65 
 
 upon as a venial sin by any Japanese physical 
 instructor. 
 
 Nor would the same instructor permit the 
 eating of food directly after the taking of jiu- 
 jitsu work. Some little time from an hour 
 to an hour and a half should elapse between 
 bath and food. Even when the proper interval 
 has been observed, it is advised with great 
 emphasis, that the meal be a light one. 
 
 But the importance of drinking pure water 
 cannot be overestimated. It may be consumed 
 during the exercise period, if this seem neces- 
 sary, but a drink of water should always begin 
 the bout, and a considerably larger quantity 
 should be used very soon after the bout has 
 finished. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 FRESH AIR THE VITALISER IN WOMANHOOD 
 SOME OTHER SUGGESTIONS 
 
 THE Japanese woman who has reached the 
 stage of development that has been provided 
 for in the description of jiu-jitsu that has been 
 given already is taught to think for herself to 
 a great extent. It is at this point that the 
 student is made to think for herself. 
 
 First of all, the Japanese woman has been 
 taught that life is impossible without a suffi- 
 cient supply of fresh air. The purer the air, 
 and the more of it, the happier and healthier 
 will life be. In Japan there is found but 
 seldom such a thing as window-glass. In the 
 native houses the panes are of oiled paper. 
 These are not sufficient to shut out the air. 
 During the coldest nights of winter these oiled- 
 paper panes will not do this. But the Japanese 
 sleep rarely with these paper windows closed. 
 
 66 
 
Fresh Air the Vitaliser 67 
 
 Fresh air and a great abundance of it is 
 the Japanese rule. The woman who lies down 
 for her night's rest has the paper-paned win- 
 dow thrown open a trifle. The air sweeps into 
 the room and passes over her as she lies upon 
 the floor. If she is cold, she adds more bed- 
 clothing but she does not close the window. 
 
 In the morning one of the first tasks is to 
 go out-of-doors. There the Japanese woman 
 takes in great breaths of air. This internal 
 cleansing with air is treated as being of more 
 importance than the morning bath that follows 
 soon after. The kitchen and the other rooms 
 of the house show closed windows only on the 
 coldest days of winter. There is no air-starva- 
 tion. And the Japanese woman is a deep 
 breather, as is shown in the strong, firm muscles 
 that stand out at the abdomen. 
 
 Consumption is a rare disease in Japan. 
 Even in winter coughs are of rare occurrence, 
 and this despite the fact that the real Japanese 
 do not heat their rooms with anything more 
 than an hibachi a tiny charcoal stove that does 
 not send the temperature of the room up to 
 any appreciable degree, but serves mainly for 
 
68 Physical Training for Women 
 
 heating tea, for warming the hands, or for sup- 
 plying the fire for a cigarette or pipe for the 
 men of the household. When Japanese women 
 wish to feel warmer they add clothing, just as 
 they would do when going out into the street. 
 
 It should be kept in mind constantly by all 
 students of this art that the Japanese look 
 upon full, deep breathing as being the most 
 vital function in life. Food is not as import- 
 ant, although it is necessary. The best of 
 exercises are of little value when the breathing 
 that accompanies them is not done properly. 
 
 Whether in winter or in summer, go to an 
 open window or, better still, out-of-doors. 
 Place the hands on the hips, and try to breathe 
 in as deeply as possible. Try to acquire the 
 trick of sending the fresh air down so far that 
 the lowest portion of the abdomen is distended 
 by the work. In this work the shoulders 
 should not be raised, but, in time, it should be 
 possible to breathe so as to swell out the sides 
 like bellows. And then the trick of breathing 
 properly has been acquired ; it will never leave 
 the student. Add to this, at all times, a plen- 
 tiful supply of fresh air, with the windows of a 
 
Fresh Air the Vitaliser 69 
 
 room open at all times during the twenty-four 
 hours, and the greatest principle of healthy life 
 has been gained. 
 
 In Anglo-Saxon countries the corset has 
 come into such vogue that it is almost madness 
 to attack it. But the corset, no matter how 
 loosely it is worn, restricts breathing, and for 
 that reason it strikes the first deadly blow at 
 the life of woman. Deep and full breathing is 
 impossible with the corset. In Japan corsets 
 are worn only by a very few "progressive" 
 women who ape Western customs. The Jap- 
 anese woman who has never seen a corset will 
 be able, generally, to show a torso that will 
 delight the artist or the sculptor. It is not 
 necessary to say more about the corset, except 
 that the writer would not undertake to train a 
 woman who did not agree at the outset to 
 avoid corsets in the future. 
 
 In any of the exercises that have been de- 
 scribed in preceding chapters, or those that are 
 to be outlined in following ones, the practice 
 of the deepest breathing must be observed. 
 Every one who has watched a day-labourer 
 swinging the pick has noted the "ugh" with 
 
70 Physical Training for Women 
 
 which he lets his implement strike the earth. 
 This is due to his instinctive knowledge of the 
 necessity for breath. Japanese athletes, when 
 exercising, give vent to the same grunts, which 
 might be called gasps. It is by this method 
 that fresh air is carried deeply into the body. 
 It is through this kind of exercise that the 
 vital forces of the body are kept at their 
 best pitch through the employment of deep 
 breathing. 
 
 No matter what portion of the work a Japan- 
 ese woman is taking up, she is taught, between 
 each exercise, to go to the window and to in- 
 hale a few deep breaths. It is folly to take up 
 a new exercise until the organs have been re- 
 freshed by the introduction of several copious 
 breaths of air. 
 
 The woman who expects to become a mother 
 will find that deep, full breathing of pure air 
 will have an inestimable effect upon her child. 
 The child will start in life with lungs vastly 
 bettered ; the heart action will be more regular, 
 and which is of considerable importance 
 the mother herself will discover that her own 
 lungs and heart are vastly benefited. 
 
Fresh Air the Vitaliser 71 
 
 A very simple exercise that can be taken 
 with great advantage at any time of the day 
 will be found when the student stands erect, 
 with her hands upon her hips. She should 
 swing slowly from side to side. It is necessary 
 to resist the movement to one side by a press- 
 ure in the opposite direction. Thus, while she 
 is swinging to the right she should resist this 
 movement by a counter-pressure to the left. 
 And all the while, she should take in great 
 gulps of fresh air. 
 
 A useful variation of this work may be 
 found by standing in the same attitude, with 
 the hands on the hips. Bend forward, resist- 
 ing backward. Then bend backward, resisting 
 by a forward pressure. In like manner sway 
 from side to side, always resisting along the 
 lines described. And never forget to breathe 
 deeply all the while that this work is being 
 done! 
 
 Many an American woman is troubled with 
 a weak heart. This is so rare an affliction in 
 Japan that none of the systems of jiu-jitsu 
 offer any help for the trouble. Yet, from a 
 general study of the principles ol jiu-jitsu, it is 
 
72 Physical Training for Women 
 
 not difficult to suggest an excellent exercise 
 for those who are afflicted with heart trouble 
 in any of its forms. Stand erect with the 
 arms held out horizontally at the sides. Clos- 
 ing the fists and tensing the arms as much as 
 possible, swing from side to side, always resist- 
 ing a turn to the right by pressure to the left, 
 and reversing this when the swing is made to 
 the left. With the arms held in the same 
 position, bend forward, resisting by a back- 
 ward pressure, and then reverse by bending 
 backward and exerting a forward pressure. 
 When this work is done very slowly and easily 
 the muscles of the heart are strengthened, but 
 at first the student should go at it very easily. 
 The strain of the work may be increased 
 gradually as the student finds the muscles of 
 the heart "becoming stronger. The slightest 
 sign of distress in the heart must be taken 
 always as the danger-signal, and then the work 
 is to be made lighter, or abandoned for a day 
 or two. 
 
 At any time when any fatigue has been in- 
 curred that rest and deep breathing will remedy 
 the Japanese method calls for the student to 
 
Fresh Air the Vitaliser 73 
 
 lie on the floor on the flat of the back. The 
 arms are placed out sideways, while the feet 
 are spread as much as is possible. Then the 
 student breathes deeply until relief comes. 
 
 In the next chapter it is the writer's purpose 
 to describe feats that make for the strengthen- 
 ing of the back. As nearly all of this work is 
 dependent upon the strength of the hands 
 and wrists, it will be necessary, first of all, to 
 strengthen these important parts of the body. 
 
 In the first exercise the two students stand 
 facing each other, with right arms reaching out 
 toward each other. The victim's hand is held 
 so that the palm is downward. Now, the as- 
 sailant takes hold of the victim's thumb with 
 her whole hand, clasping the thumb tightly, 
 and pushing it up and over to the right side. 
 All the while the victim resists as much as is 
 possible, until her body has been bent over to 
 the right side. 
 
 When this has been accomplished, it is time 
 for victim and assailant to change places, going 
 through the same work. Then the left arm 
 of each is extended, and the victim's thumb, 
 from the same starting position, is forced up 
 
74 Physical Training for Women 
 
 and over to the left side. In the same manner 
 the forefingers of right and left hands are 
 treated, and, after that, the second, third, and 
 fourth fingers. The wrists share as much in 
 the benefit of this work as do the thumbs or 
 fingers. 
 
 , But care must be exercised, at first, that not 
 too much vim is put into the work. The as- 
 sailant has it all her own way. It is possible, 
 in the beginning, for the assailant to press over 
 her victim's thumb or finger to an extent that 
 will cause considerable pain. When the work 
 has been kept up for weeks there will be no 
 pain. At first, however, it is possible for the 
 assailant and victim to have very sore and, 
 sometimes, swollen thumbs and fingers. 
 This exercise is especially severe upon some of 
 the muscles in the front of the wrist. 
 
 When, with care, this form of exercise has 
 been mastered, and there is no longer danger 
 of soreness in the muscles employed, another 
 form of the work can be taken up with advan- 
 tage. In this form the victim stands with arm 
 outstretched before her, her palm open and 
 thumb up. The assailant seizes the right 
 
Fresh Air the Vitaliser 75 
 
 thumb with the right hand, and presses the 
 victim's thumb up over her head and as far 
 back as may be. Then left hand is opposed 
 similarly to left thumb, and the work is carried 
 out with all of the fingers, assailant's and 
 victim's right hands or left hands being always 
 opposed to each other. 
 
 By the time that this form of exercise can 
 be employed without danger of causing undue 
 soreness it is well for the victim to stand with 
 her right arm extended horizontally sideways, 
 thumb up. The assailant seizes this thumb 
 and slowly but firmly forces her opponent 
 around to the right, the work ceasing when the 
 victim, pivoting upon her heels, has been made 
 to turn once around. Then assailant and vic- 
 tim change places, and the work is repeated. 
 In like manner all of the fingers of each hand 
 are employed by each of the students. 
 
 This work will give the greatest strength and 
 suppleness to the thumbs and fingers of a 
 student but the benefit to the wrist is even 
 greater. Great care should be taken, however, 
 to make sure that the right hand and wrist are 
 not trained at the expense of the left. And 
 
76 Physical Training for Women 
 
 resistance by the victim must be employed at 
 all times ; unless this is done there can be no 
 benefit. 
 
 Another form of wrist work is found when 
 the contestants kneel on the floor, facing each 
 other. Each seizes the other's hands, with 
 fingers interlaced. Then begins a battle royal, 
 each student endeavouring, in this exercise, to 
 pull the other forward. The one who has 
 been agreed upon in advance as the assailant 
 wins the victory at last, but the contest should 
 be a stubborn one. The contestant turns her 
 right knee to the right, and her left knee to the 
 left, in the wriggling struggle to drag her 
 opponent, but the strain upon the wrists and 
 fingers should be severe at all times. 
 
 By the time that the two contesting students 
 have mastered the preliminary training for the 
 fingers and wrists, there is another exercise 
 that may be taken up but this cannot be 
 done satisfactorily until the contestants, 
 through much of the first work, have put 
 themselves in trim. Now the opponents stand 
 back to back, extend the hands backward, just 
 below the waist-line, and clasp fingers in inter- 
 
Fresh Air the Vitaliser 77 
 
 lacing fashion. Each tries to drag the other 
 forward, the agreed-upon assailant winning the 
 victory at last. Then, after a few deep breaths 
 the victim turns assailant and drags her com- 
 panion. It will be found, however, that this 
 work cannot be done well until the preliminary 
 work of toughening thumbs, fingers, and wrists 
 has been practised most patiently. 
 
 Last of all, there is a feat in the present 
 stage of jiu-jitsu work that is most difficult in 
 the way of good results. The two contestants 
 lie on the floor, face downward, each raising 
 herself a little on her left hand. It is neces- 
 sary to depend a little upon the knees, but this 
 should not be done more than is really neces- 
 sary. Now, the contestants clasp right hands 
 with ringers interlaced, and each tries to drag 
 the other along. This may be varied by twist- 
 ing the victim to right or to left with the hand 
 engaged in the clasp. 
 
 Then comes the change. Each contestant 
 raises herself on her right hand, employing the 
 left for the clasp, and too much cannot be said in 
 favour of giving to the left arm all the work that 
 the right receives. The twist from side to side, 
 
78 Physical Training for Women 
 
 while in this position, will be found difficult at 
 first, but it can be mastered, and with splendid 
 results in the strength of the fingers and wrists. 
 
 An exercise that the student may perform 
 by herself, and as often as may be, is this: 
 Stand with the right arm slightly extended in 
 front. The thumb should be up and the fist 
 clenched. With the left hand encircle the 
 right wrist. Now, attempt to force the right 
 hand over to the right side, making the right 
 hand resist the pressure all the time by a press- 
 ure to the left side. Then treat the left hand 
 in the same manner, forcing it over to the left 
 while employing, all the while, a resistant 
 pressure to the right. 
 
 As a change of work, in some practice bouts, 
 the two students are required to stand facing 
 each other. They extend hands, palms down- 
 ward and just below the waist-line, and inter- 
 lace fingers with each other. Now, the 
 agreed-upon assailant raises her victim's hands 
 slowly up and over her head, bending her 
 backward slightly. Then the late victim, 
 turned assailant now, forces her companion's 
 hands back to starting-point. 
 
Fresh Air the Vitaliser 79 
 
 She who has mastered fully the exercises 
 given in this chapter she who has devoted to 
 it much of the time spent in the practice bouts 
 during two weeks will be able to pass on to 
 the work for the back that will be described in 
 the next chapter. But the wrist work cannot 
 be slighted if the best results are to be achieved. 
 In a system of physical training where so much 
 depends upon the strength of the hands and 
 wrists the work just described must be taken 
 up with a firm purpose of mastery. 
 
 Just one last caution about the wrists: Do 
 not take each of the exercises prescribed in 
 every practice bout. Vary the work as much 
 as is possible. When tired with the other 
 work stand erect with hands clasped overhead. 
 Twist the right wrist slowly over to the right, 
 and then the left wrist to the left, always re- 
 sisting the pressure. This work is done in 
 similar fashion when the two contesting stu- 
 dents face each other and interlace fingers over 
 each other's heads. First one student em- 
 ploys her right hand in twisting her opponent's 
 left hand over to the victim's left side. Then 
 the victim should twist back to the original 
 
8o Physical Training for Women 
 
 position. Then the other hand of each student 
 is employed in the same manner. It is pos- 
 sible to employ considerable strain in this 
 work, and the danger-signals of panting and 
 palpitation should be looked out for. 
 
 With the amount of work described in this 
 chapter the student should be contented for a 
 while, and, in the meantime, should pay more 
 attention to the very simple but highly essen- 
 tial exercises described in the earlier chapters. 
 No set of exercises should be done for two 
 days in succession. A sufficient number of 
 exercises have been suggested now so that no 
 student needs to duplicate one day's work with 
 the next. There should be, at all times, as 
 much variety as is possible. Nor is it safe to 
 pick out all of the hard work for any one prac- 
 tice bout. Take the heavy work with the 
 light with much more of the light work than 
 of the heavy. 
 
 Above all, do not forget to breathe properly 
 during every practice bout and between exercises. 
 The purer and colder the air that is breathed 
 the better ! 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 EXERCISES FOR THE BACK, ESPECIALLY FOR 
 THE SMALL OF THE BACK 
 
 THERE is no portion of the body, unless it 
 be the wrist, where the average Anglo-Saxon 
 woman is likely to be as weak as in the back. 
 In the construction of a perfect physical body 
 this proves a serious defect. Especially is this 
 true of what is commonly known as the "small 
 of the back." It is vital that a woman should 
 have strength in every portion of her back. It 
 is a common thing to hear a woman and 
 especially one who wears corsets complain 
 that she has no strength in her back. 
 
 The first thing to do is to throw away the 
 corsets to put them in the ash-barrel, where 
 they belong. It is a common fallacy among 
 Anglo-Saxon women that the corset gives 
 strength to the back. It never has done, nor 
 will it ever do this. All that can be said of 
 
 81 
 
82 Physical Training for Women 
 
 the corset is that it mars the feminine figure 
 in its perfection, and that it causes weakness 
 not strength in the back. 
 
 While the author has never taken pupils in 
 jiu-jitsu for a fee, he has had the pleasure of 
 instructing several women who were willing to 
 follow his directions. Invariably the first re- 
 quirement has been that the pupil discard cor- 
 sets for all time to come. In the case of the 
 author's own wife, who is inclined to more 
 flesh than she desires, especially at the abdo- 
 men, the discovery made was that, at the end 
 of a three-weeks' relief from corsets, the ab- 
 domen had come down an inch and a quarter 
 in measurement. 
 
 It is very likely, of course, that the exercises 
 that went with the abstinence from corsets had 
 something to do with this result. Yet it will 
 be plain to any woman reader who thinks that 
 the corset, no matter how "loose" it be, con- 
 stricts the upper portion of the body, and that 
 any tendency to fleshiness must find its oppor- 
 tunity along the lines of least resistance. This 
 opportunity is found at the abdomen, and so 
 the so-called "straight-front corset" becomes 
 
Exercises for the Back 83 
 
 a necessity. In the small of the back, where 
 there is no tendency to accumulate flesh, and 
 where there is little support to be had from 
 the corset, the muscles become weak, flabby 
 oftentimes almost useless. 
 
 A short study of the bodies of the models 
 who have posed for the illustrations in this 
 book will make the reader understand just 
 what is intended to be conveyed. The shorter 
 model had the good fortune to have a mother 
 who never attempted to put corsets on her 
 child. This model is sought eagerly by artists 
 for posings, for the reason that a life without 
 corsets, and the frequent employment of exer- 
 cise, have given her a torso that makes her a 
 necessity to artists who wish to paint the per- 
 fect body. 
 
 On the other hand, the taller model, as per- 
 fectly developed as she is, betrays in the trunk 
 of her body the fact that she wore corsets as a 
 girl. Some years ago she gave them up, and 
 her torso is returning gradually to the normal 
 figure of the perfectly developed woman. She 
 attests the fact that her back is much stronger 
 now than it was at any time in her young 
 
84 Physical Training for Women 
 
 girlhood. In these days she could not be 
 hired to wear corsets unless she became utterly 
 regardless of her health and figure. 
 
 To many an American and English woman 
 the foregoing will not prove to be agreeable 
 reading, but the truth should be sought. The 
 women of ancient Greece knew nothing of 
 corsets, but their figures gave the inspirations 
 that are to be found to-day in the art galleries 
 of all the civilised world. The average Japan- 
 ese woman of to-day shows a figure as per- 
 fectly moulded, and as true in proportions, as 
 the women of ancient Greece were able to dis- 
 play. Yet the perusal of a Japanese paper 
 would not show a single advertisement of a 
 corset. The very few women of the Empire 
 who ape our customs enough to wear corsets 
 are compelled to order these things through 
 some American or European house that trades 
 in the Far East. 
 
 Once the former victim of corsets has dis- 
 carded them for good and for all she will 
 find the benefit that comes from the exercises 
 that are described in this chapter. There will 
 be little or no benefit so long as corsets are 
 
No. 20. THE REAR CLUTCH FOR STRENGTHENING THE THROAT. 
 
Exercises for the Back 85 
 
 worn, even though they be discarded in prac- 
 tice bouts. 
 
 Photograph number twenty shows the prin- 
 ciple of an exercise that may be followed to 
 great advantage if it be taken up often enough. 
 Of course, it must be understood, as in pre- 
 ceding exercises, that victim and assailant 
 must resist each other sufficiently. The assail- 
 ant stands at the rear, clasping her hands 
 around the throat of her victim, the clenched 
 hands being just under the chin. At first the 
 victim is allowed to bend her head as far for- 
 ward as is possible. When this position has 
 been taken the assailant bends her victim's 
 head as far back as she can, the victim all the 
 while resisting. As soon as the victim has 
 gone back as far as she can she brings her 
 head back, by degrees, to the starting posi- 
 tion, the assailant being the one who now re- 
 sists in the return. Then assailant and victim 
 change places, and the work is done over 
 again. This work is of gradual benefit, but 
 its results are sure. 
 
 Another form of this exercise is depicted in 
 photograph number twenty-one. In this the 
 
86 Physical Training for Women 
 
 victim stands with her arms extended laterally. 
 Behind her is the assailant, who clasps hands 
 with her, the fingers being interlaced. As be- 
 fore, the victim is allowed to bend forward 
 as far as she can. Then the assailant places 
 one of her knees generally, but not always, 
 her left in the small of her victim's back. In 
 this position the assailant draws the victim 
 over backward, the latter resisting all the while 
 by as much pressure forward as can be used. 
 As soon as the victim has gone as far back as 
 she can, she bends forward again, the assailant 
 now resisting. But the assailant's knee is 
 not taken away in the return. It follows, of 
 course, that, after some deep breathing, assail- 
 ant and victim change places and repeat the 
 exercise. 
 
 The value of this work cannot be overstated. 
 It should be taken up, by the student who has 
 reached this stage through faithful exercise, in 
 at least every second practice bout. It is not 
 necessary not, in fact, advisable for more of 
 this work to be undertaken than will be had 
 when each has bent the other backward. 
 
 Much has been said already of the need 
 
No 21. THE SMALL OF THE BACK BEND. 
 
Exercises for the Back 87 
 
 for thinking students to devise for themselves 
 variations of all of the exercises described. 
 The writer will offer one hint, and then will 
 leave the rest of this branch of the work to be 
 thought out by the reader. Take the clasp, as 
 shown in photograph number twenty, and 
 place the knee in the small of the back, as 
 is depicted in photograph number twenty-one. 
 Now, let the assailant pull back, while the 
 victim resists. Then the victim must pull her- 
 self back to starting position, and all the while 
 against the assailant's resistance. 
 
 The next exercise that is taken up for the 
 back is one so simple that it does not call for 
 pictorial depiction. The two contestants stand 
 facing each other. The victim bends her head 
 slightly forward. The assailant, standing at 
 the right of her victim, throws her own right 
 arm just over the victim's neck not the back 
 and places her right shoulder under the vic- 
 tim's left shoulder. In somewhat similar man- 
 ner the assailant places her left shoulder under 
 the victim's right shoulder. Now, the assail- 
 ant clasps her hands, as near as may be, before 
 the victim's waist. The victim is allowed to 
 
88 Physical Training for Women 
 
 take hold of her assailant's hands or wrists in 
 any way that may be most convenient. 
 
 When this position has been secured, the 
 assailant should use her right arm as a leverage 
 over the victim's neck to press the latter down 
 toward the floor. All the while the victim 
 should resist this attack by a pressure upward. 
 Of course, all of the advantage lies with the 
 assailant, but the latter should exert just 
 enough pressure to compel the victim to bend 
 gradually forward. The assailant goes down 
 slowly until her right knee touches the floor. 
 
 Now, the victim, held in the same clinch, is 
 required to rise to nearly an erect position, the 
 assailant all the time exerting enough down- 
 ward pressure to make the victim's rising all 
 but impossible. The assailant will be dragged 
 by degrees from her position on her right knee 
 to an erect position, and then she lets go of 
 her victim. 
 
 As soon as this has been done both students 
 should rest and take deep breaths. Then the 
 work may be taken up again, with the rdles 
 of assailant and victim reversed. When this 
 work is taken up, at first, it is advised that 
 
No. 22. A STRONG RESISTANT EXERCISE FOR THE BACK. 
 
Exercises for the Back 89 
 
 one trial for each be all that is employed. 
 The work will not strain either student 
 severely, and, in time, it will be possible to 
 devote safely the greater part of a practice 
 bout to this one feat. A very little study of 
 the muscles employed will show wherein the 
 benefit is to be found. The exercise is valu- 
 able, especially, to the muscles of the rump, 
 to which no attention is paid in the American 
 or English systems of physical training. And 
 the small of the back will receive its full share 
 of the benefit, as will the neck. 
 
 Photograph number twenty-two shows the 
 victim with her back to the assailant. The 
 latter clenches her companion's hands, held as 
 nearly laterally as may be. It makes no differ- 
 ence whether the hands be held on a level with 
 the waist-line, or on a level with the shoulders. 
 Or the hands may be held at any point be- 
 tween these two portions of the body. The 
 victim is allowed to bend as far as she can. 
 Now, the assailant pulls her companion back- 
 ward, the latter resisting and yielding but very 
 slowly. Once the victim has gone as far over 
 backward as she can do the work, she returns, 
 
90 Physical Training for Woren 
 
 the assailant now applying the restance. 
 The victim must return to her origin; posi- 
 tion of bending forward. With thchands 
 held at any level from the waist-lined o the 
 shoulders, there are enough variations:* f this 
 work to be had. 
 
 And, in this connection, the cautionshould 
 be repeated, with added emphasis, the there 
 is no benefit to be had from ovtdoing. 
 Moderation is the Japanese rule. Palliation 
 of the heart or shortness of breath is an ifallible 
 indication that the work is being dne too 
 severely. Unless both students are abe to go 
 through this exercise without distress jt is an 
 indication that the work has been huied be- 
 yond the limits of the preliminary wor of the 
 course, and that results are being atimpted 
 more rapidly than it is possible to hoe they 
 can be achieved. 
 
 Moderation! There is no sense in kste, and 
 only ultimate harm can result in work J* which 
 the body has not been fitted by degrees. No one 
 can hope to become strong in a week! 
 
 By way of variation, a much easier jxercise 
 is shown in photograph number twenr-three. 
 
I- 
 
Exercises for the Back 91 
 
 In this work the two contestants stand facing 
 each other. One student clasps the other's 
 left hand with her own left hand. Then one 
 pushes the other's hand over backward slowly, 
 while the other resists. As soon as the one 
 bending backward has gone over as far as she 
 can, her companion pulls her back again to a 
 position of bending forward. In this exercise 
 both students should be careful to employ 
 sufficient resistance. Otherwise the work will 
 be of little value. Unless some strain is felt 
 in the small of the back of each contestant in 
 turn, it will be necessary to use more vim. 
 
 It should go without saying that the fore- 
 going exercise should be used also with the 
 right hands of the contestants clasped, but, as 
 the tendency is to develop the right side of the 
 body at the expense of the left, this work 
 should be done rather more with the left hands 
 than with the right 
 
 As an indication of what the student may 
 think out for herself, let her lie flat upon her 
 back. Let her lie with her hands on the floor 
 slightly back of her shoulder-blades. Now, 
 let her attempt to raise her body from the 
 
92 Physical Training for Women 
 
 floor, resting all of the weight on her hands 
 and heels. She will not be able to lift her 
 body far from the floor, but the ability to 
 raise it at all, with only the heels and hands 
 for support, should be a gratifying test of 
 strength. 
 
 While lying on the floor, flat on the back, 
 try to spring to an erect position without 
 using the hands in the movement. This is an 
 exercise not unknown to American and Eng- 
 lish instructors in physical training. While 
 the work, if done successfully, shows very ex- 
 cellent development of all the muscles of the 
 body, it proves, also, that the back muscles 
 need training only at intervals after this feat 
 can be accomplished. Exercises for the back 
 need be undertaken only once or twice a week 
 when this can be done but the test may be 
 employed as often as the student wishes after 
 the muscles have been hardened sufficiently 
 for the performance. A new student in jiu- 
 jitsu will find, almost always, that the trick is 
 impossible to her. 
 
 A very simple form of work for the back is 
 found when the student lies on the floor on her 
 
Exercises for the Back 93 
 
 back, with her elbows slightly apart from the 
 body, and her hands up, or with hands rest- 
 ing on the hips. In this position she should 
 wriggle across the floor from one end of the 
 room to the other, moving as sinuously as she 
 can, and never allowing either hand to touch 
 the floor in order to aid her movements. 
 While, at first, this exercise will be difficult of 
 accomplishment, it becomes easy by stages. 
 In time, this form of movement becomes as 
 easy as walking, and then the student knows 
 that she is developing very fair strength in the 
 back. 
 
 There is another form of back work that is 
 much easier, and this exercise may be per- 
 formed several times in a single practice bout 
 without fatigue. The student throws herself 
 forward upon her knees, with the flats of her 
 hands resting on the floor in front of her 
 body. Then, with the aid of her hands, she 
 rises quickly to a standing position. The 
 movement should be a spring, and only very 
 little study is needed to show how much the 
 muscles of the small of the back are benefited. 
 
 This should suggest another form of work 
 
94 Physical Training for Women 
 
 for the back that may be attempted, even be- 
 fore the student has really reached the stage 
 of development that is called for in most of 
 the exercises described in this chapter. She 
 should lie on the floor, on her right side, and 
 raise herself on her right hand and heel, hold- 
 ing the rest of the body clear of the floor. 
 Her left hand is held up, as she turns gradu- 
 ally over, and it is lowered to the floor only 
 when she finds that member necessary to sup- 
 port her in a complete turn over to the left 
 side. As she comes down at the left side 
 only left arm and heel should touch the floor 
 until the student has held herself for a few 
 seconds. 
 
 At the outset this work will be difficult of 
 achievement, but in time it can be performed 
 by any woman who pays sufficient attention to 
 the resistant principles of jiu-jitsu. As soon 
 as the ability to turn the body over in this 
 fashion has been acquired, then the student 
 should manage by degrees to apply a resistant 
 pressure of the left side of the body while 
 turning over to the left. In like manner, when 
 turning the body from the left to the right, re- 
 
Exercises for the Back 95 
 
 sistant pressure of the right side toward the 
 left should be employed. 
 
 There is no excuse for aching backs, except 
 in cases of severe illness, or where the back 
 has been abused. Japanese women suffer no 
 more in their backs than they do in other por- 
 tions of their splendidly built bodies. If fol- 
 lowed intelligently and patiently, the exercises 
 described in this chapter will make American 
 and English women forget that they have 
 backs that can ache. 
 
 When the late General Lawton was informed 
 by an American surgeon that he showed 
 serious indications of liver trouble, he replied : 
 
 "Really, you astound me. I have never felt 
 any discomfort there. In fact, I am not at all 
 sure that I know in just what part of my body 
 my liver is situated." 
 
 The Anglo-Saxon woman who follows faith- 
 fully all of the Japanese rules for the training 
 of the back will become, in time, equally ignor- 
 ant of the fact that she has a back at least, 
 one that can ache ! 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE PERFECT CHEST THE BEST DEVELOP- 
 MENT FOR THE HOLLOW OF THE BACK, 
 AND FOR GIVING STRENGTH AND PROPER 
 PROPORTIONS TO ARMS AND LEGS 
 
 MANY Anglo-Saxon women hesitate to take 
 up any form of patient and serious exercise 
 through the dread that it will spoil the con- 
 tour, and supply them, instead, with bulging 
 muscles that show "knots" and "bumps." 
 With the Japanese work the reverse is the 
 case. The figure of the Japanese woman who 
 has taken her course in jiu-jitsu is a thing of 
 beauty. 
 
 A woman whom the author has had the 
 pleasure of instructing in the work was told 
 that she would not do as a cloak model because 
 she had an unfortunate hollow in her back be- 
 tween the shoulder-blades. It was suggested 
 that this might be overcome through the em- 
 96 
 
No. 24. RESISTANT SWAYING FROM SIDE TO SIDE. 
 N6 movement backward or forward. 
 
The Perfect Chest 97 
 
 ployment of pads at that point ; still, on ac- 
 count of this defect, the young woman was 
 not in much demand. When she went to 
 work at the exercises described in this volume, 
 and especially in this chapter, it needed but 
 three weeks to show her a gratifying filling out 
 of the hollow. The chest improved in the 
 same ratio, and there was a gradual filling out 
 of all the undeveloped parts of the body. 
 
 There can be no loss of contour through 
 exercise of the proper kind. Every exercise 
 that is taken so that one muscle is resisted by 
 another will benefit the body, fill out the flesh, 
 and make for the perfection of contour. 
 
 In photograph number twenty-four is shown 
 an exercise that is beneficial just in proportion 
 to the amount of intelligence with which it is 
 used. In this the two contestants do not fall 
 forward more than is necessary. The hands 
 are held sideways, and as nearly as may be on 
 a level with the shoulder. Then a clasp is 
 taken by the opposing hands, with an inter- 
 lacing of the fingers. Now, the one who is to 
 act as the assailant must try to walk around 
 the victim, either to the right or to the left, 
 
98 Physical Training for Women 
 
 the victim all the while resisting in the opposite 
 direction. 
 
 The assailant walks, but the victim must not. 
 All she does is to pivot upon her heels. The 
 victim must apply enough resistance, but the 
 assailant must gain the victory. When this 
 has been done, and the victim has been 
 pivoted completely around, then she must 
 become assailant in turn, and force her com- 
 panion once around. Then deep breathing is 
 employed before the contestants make a trial 
 at the other side. 
 
 In fact, all through this exercise deep breath- 
 ing should be much in evidence. The student 
 who has reached this advanced stage should 
 put a great deal of resistance into the work. 
 There should be no half-way use of strength. 
 Even when the victim is much stronger than 
 the assailant, the former should make the vic- 
 tory possible only by the use of a great deal of 
 strength. It is not necessary for either con- 
 testant to be ashamed to pant provided this 
 is done, not as a sign of weakness, but for the 
 purpose of obtaining deep breaths while the 
 exercise is in progress. 
 
The Perfect Chest 99 
 
 While at this work, a useful variation may 
 be found in another exercise that is described 
 very simply. Taking the same position as be- 
 fore, let the assailant force one of her victim's 
 arms downward and the other upward. On 
 both sides there should be much resistance on 
 the part of the victim. Then the victim turns 
 assailant, and forces one of her companion's 
 arms upward and the other downward, the lat- 
 ter now resisting. 
 
 Then there is still another form of the work. 
 First of all, the two contestants take the same 
 position as has been described. The assailant, 
 bending backward slightly as the work de- 
 mands it, brings her victim's arms forward, the 
 latter resisting as much as is necessary. While 
 the arms of the victim will have to come for- 
 ward somewhat, they should be kept horizon- 
 tal, and as nearly sideways and as much on a 
 level with the shoulders as is possible. When 
 the assailant has gone as far over backward as 
 is possible, then the recent victim should drag 
 her back as far in the opposite direction. 
 
 There is yet another form of the work that 
 may be employed once in a while with 
 
ioo Physical Training for Women 
 
 advantage. When position has been taken, with 
 the arms stretched out laterally, and the hands 
 clasped, the assailant may twist her victim's 
 hands inward, the victim resisting. When 
 the latter's hands have been twisted inward as 
 far as may be done, she should retaliate upon 
 her assailant by returning to starting position, 
 or a little past it. 
 
 It is well, in the development of the body, 
 to alternate a severe exercise with an easy one 
 that does not require much strength. Here is 
 one: After the last work, take a few deep 
 breaths. Then stand perfectly erect and clasp 
 hands over the middle of the top of the head. 
 The elbows will be about on a line with the 
 temples. Move them slowly forward, with, all 
 the while, a resistance backward. When the 
 elbows have gone forward until they touch, 
 move them backward as far as they will go, 
 and always with resistant pressure in the other 
 direction. The illustration afforded by photo- 
 graph number twenty-five will give the es- 
 sentials of this simple feat. But it must be 
 remembered that there can be no benefit to be 
 had from the work unless the idea of resisting 
 

 
 No. 25. 
 
 AN EXERCISE FOR DEVELOPING THE CHEST AND THE HOLLOW 
 BETWEEN THE SHOULDER-BLADES. 
 
The Perfect Chest 101 
 
 always in the opposite direction is kept in 
 mind. 
 
 Next in order comes the pole work, of which 
 too much cannot be said in praise. The pole 
 is about the only bit of apparatus that is to be 
 found in a jiu-jitsu school. It is of bamboo, 
 but a curtain-pole or a broom-stick will do 
 every bit as well. In the first exercise, as 
 shown in photograph number twenty-six, the 
 two students stand facing each other, each 
 having both hands on the pole. The pole 
 should be of a length of about five feet. It is 
 raised over the heads of the two contestants. 
 The positions of the hands should be studied 
 with care. The assailant has her right hand 
 outside of the victim's left hand, her left hand 
 inside of the victim's right. Each seizes the 
 pole with an over-hold. 
 
 Now, with the pole held as far as may be 
 over the heads of the two contestants, the 
 assailant endeavours to press the pole over 
 sideways, each student bending to that side as 
 much as is needed, but the victim resisting. 
 As soon as, in this fashion, the victim has 
 been twisted over as far as she can go, and the 
 
102 Physical Training for Women 
 
 pole is nearly horizontal with the floor, the 
 victim should twist the pole up again to start- 
 ing position and over to the other side. 
 Whichever student is resisting should do so 
 with all the strength that can be employed 
 without preventing the other's victory. It is 
 necessary always to remember that, in bring- 
 ing the pole up again, it should be carried, at 
 its greatest height, as far as is possible over 
 the students' heads. Then it may be forced 
 down on the other side. 
 
 There are so many variations of this exercise 
 that it is necessary to explain only a few. The 
 first of these hints is that the students stand 
 at each other's left sides facing in opposite 
 directions. The victim takes hold of the pole 
 with her right hand at one end, and with the 
 back of that hand upward. The assailant 
 grasps the other end of the pole with the back 
 of her left hand downward and the back of her 
 right hand upward. 
 
 This position should be studied with care. 
 Neither one should take hold near the middle 
 of the pole. The victim's right hand is ex- 
 pected to be at a distance of from six to eight 
 
No. 26. THE RESISTANT POLE WORK. 
 One of the best possible exercises for the entire body. 
 
The Perfect Chest 103 
 
 inches from her end of the pole. The assail- 
 ant's left hand should be at about the same 
 distance from her own end of the pole, and 
 her right hand a little more than a foot farther 
 toward the middle. When it is certain that 
 this position has been secured the assailant be- 
 gins to force the victim's hand up over her 
 head. The victim's hand must be forced up 
 and over backward, the victim being made 
 to bend her torso backward. Then a twist 
 is given that swings the victim completely 
 around, and the pole is taken away from her. 
 Now the same work is taken up at the victim's 
 left side. The assailant must stand at the 
 right side, and now she clutches the pole with 
 the left hand back downward and the right 
 hand upward. All of the value that is to be 
 found in this work comes from the resistance 
 that the victim offers always provided, of 
 course, that the victim does not offer resist- 
 ance enough to defeat the assailant. 
 
 This pole work may be changed, and with 
 advantage, if the two students stand grasping 
 the pole with the hands placed as is shown in 
 photograph number twenty-six, but with the 
 
104 Physical Training for Women 
 
 pole held just below the waist-line. Now, the 
 assailant twists slowly around to the right, 
 walking as much as is necessary. The victim 
 resists, using her heels as pivots only. Next, 
 the assailant twists her companion to the left. 
 Then, as a matter of course, assailant and 
 victim change places. 
 
 It is both amusing and profitable to try the 
 "tug-of-war" with the pole. Each contestant 
 seizes the pole with one hand near the end and 
 the other hand much nearer the middle. At 
 the start the feet are wide apart, but, as the 
 struggle goes on, the feet are brought more 
 closely together. The victim, if indoors, 
 stands close to the wall, and the assailant drags 
 her over to the other end of the room. Both 
 students should be as stubborn in the struggle 
 as it is possible to be. As soon as enough 
 breath has been taken, assailant and victim 
 should change places and the "tug" should 
 be tried again. Four of these "tugs" are 
 considered enough for an advanced student; 
 at first, two will do. 
 
 One advantage of the pole work is that much 
 of it may be performed by one woman when 
 
The Perfect Chest 105 
 
 there is not another present with whom to 
 practise. It is possible for the student to raise 
 the pole over her head and to bend to either 
 side; but she should remember always to use 
 resistant pressure toward the other side. In 
 the same way, she can hold the pole just below 
 her waist-line, turning as far as she can from 
 side to side provided she remembers the 
 principle of resisting in the opposite direction. 
 
 Photograph number twenty-seven gives the 
 key-note to a style of exercise that may be 
 used in a great many ways. Three will be de- 
 scribed, and it will be left to the student to 
 devise others. 
 
 First, let the contestants stand facing each 
 other. The assailant takes the victim's right 
 hand in her own and nearly at arm's length. 
 The backs of the hands are upward, somewhat 
 on a level with the shoulder, and the fingers 
 are interlaced. Now, the assailant twists her 
 companion's hand up and over backward, forc- 
 ing the latter to bend over. A complete twist 
 of the victim's hand may be made before the 
 clasp is broken. Then left hands may be 
 clasped and used in the same manner. Once 
 
io6 Physical Training for Women 
 
 in a while it is well for the assailant to clasp 
 the victim's left hand with her own right, and 
 then to reverse the assault. 
 
 Second, let the contestants stand at arm's 
 length, with fingers clasped and palms down- 
 ward. While holding the engaged hands 
 nearly on a level with the chest, one student 
 is expected to turn the other's hand upward, 
 over, and out until the victim is compelled to 
 bend over almost to the floor. Both hands of 
 each student must be exercised in this work. 
 The arms should be kept as straight as is 
 possible. 
 
 Third, let the students stand facing each 
 other with right hands clasped in the same 
 way. The assailant uses her right hand to 
 swing her opponent's right hand up, over, and 
 around the former's head. The victim's hand 
 is carried over the assailant's head to the lat- 
 ter's left, and victory has not been achieved 
 until the victim has been swung completely 
 around. Then the change should be made 
 with left hands opposed, and, after that, with 
 the right hand of one contestant opposed to 
 the left hand of the other. But when a left 
 
The Perfect Chest 107 
 
 hand is opposed to a right hand the swing 
 should be made in exactly the opposite man- 
 ner to that already described. 
 
 All three of these exercises are to be done in 
 a way, and with a vim, that will make not only 
 for the development of the wrists and arms, 
 but for the benefit of the entire torso as well. 
 The student should study the strain of all the 
 muscles that can be brought into play, and 
 should note that each is being strengthened. 
 As an instance, the small of the back should 
 be improved in strength ; the forearm and the 
 upper arm should show a tugging at the mus- 
 cles; if there is weakness in the abdominal 
 muscles, these should be made to feel the 
 strain; if the chest is flat, the muscles there 
 should be brought into play by one of the 
 three foregoing exercises ; and, if the student 
 cannot accomplish this, she should study out 
 a parallel form of exercise that will make the 
 muscles of the chest feel some strain. The 
 thighs, the upper legs, and the calves are to be 
 made stronger in the work that has just been 
 described, and the intelligent student will find 
 out how to do it. 
 
io8 Physical Training for Women 
 
 When the muscles at any one part of the 
 body are found to be strong enough, pay no 
 more attention to them for the present, but 
 trust to the general system of work to bring 
 about the desired improvement in them. First 
 of all it is necessary to get after the weaker 
 muscles or portions of the body. Then the 
 stronger ones can be treated in their turn. 
 
 While strengthening the back, there is work 
 that can be taken up with advantage in this 
 region, and also with benefit to the legs. The 
 victim lies on the floor, face downward. She 
 raises herself on one foot, at the toes, and 
 upon both hands, lifting her body wholly from 
 the floor. The disengaged foot is raised clear 
 of the floor, and is held as nearly parallel with 
 the floor as is possible. The assailant takes 
 hold of the raised foot at the ankle and twists 
 the leg first to one side and then to the other 
 always employing the twist to the utmost 
 extent that the victim can endure. Then the 
 other leg is treated in like fashion. 
 
 There is to this, as in every other exercise in 
 jiu-jitsu, a variation. The victim lies on her 
 back, raising herself on both hands and on one 
 

The Perfect Chest 109 
 
 heel, with the other leg held up. The assail- 
 ant takes the same kind of a hold as before, 
 and twists the leg over to the outside, and then 
 back again, the victim resisting, always, the 
 pressure in either direction. 
 
 In photograph number twenty-eight the 
 method of this style of attack is shown very 
 clearly. There will be no difficulty in any 
 student's devising other methods of this work; 
 but, first of all, the essential principle must 
 be studied carefully. The pressure in twisting 
 the leg, and the counter-pressure used in re- 
 sisting, should be severe. 
 
 And now, in closing this chapter, I will offer 
 just one hint for a variation of the work that 
 might not occur to the average student. Let 
 each stand facing the other, with arms ex- 
 tended laterally. The hands should be clasped, 
 and on a line with the shoulder. Each student 
 should stand on her left foot, the inside of the 
 ankle bone of her right foot placed against that 
 of the other, and both right feet raised slightly 
 from the floor. In this position the assailant 
 hops around her victim, turning the latter to 
 the left. The victim pivots on her left heel, 
 
io Physical Training for Women 
 
 resisting as much as she is able. One complete 
 turn is enough. 
 
 At the outset this work will be found to be 
 difficult, but it can be mastered ; and when it 
 is felt that the muscles of the leg and of the 
 back are being brought into play, the student 
 will know that the exercise is being carried on 
 in the right manner. 
 

 No. 29. RESISTANT WORK FOR BOTH SHOULDERS AND ARMS. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 STRENGTH IN THE NECK, UPPER AND LOWER 
 ARMS, AND WRISTS, THE THIGHS, UPPER 
 AND LOWER LEGS, AND ANKLES 
 
 WHILE nearly all of the exercises described 
 so far are intended for the general benefit of 
 all portions of the body, those that are to be 
 given now are intended more for service to the 
 especial portions of the body that are named 
 in the title of this chapter. It is for the student 
 to discover, with the aid of such hints as will 
 be given, the muscles that are brought into re- 
 sistant play and which are thereby strength- 
 ened. 
 
 In photograph number twenty-nine a pupil 
 is shown standing with her hands on her hips, 
 elbows outward, in the well-known position of 
 "arms akimbo." Keeping her hands on her 
 hips, she moves her shoulders forward and 
 in 
 
1 1 2 Physical Training for Women 
 
 backward. The elbows are not moved more 
 than is needed for the free movement. In 
 doing this work it is much better to move the 
 shoulders up and over until the shoulders have 
 gone back as far as they will. Then the 
 shoulders should be moved forward again by 
 an exactly reverse motion. With these move- 
 ments only the slightest bending backward and 
 forward should be employed. The aim should 
 be to remain as nearly erect as is consistent 
 with the proper performance of the feat. 
 
 It should not be necessary to tell the ad- 
 vanced student just what muscles are benefited 
 in this way. The student who has gone thus 
 far in the course should be able to decide such 
 points for herself. But a hint may be given. 
 The muscles at the side of the neck, and espe- 
 cially in the back of the neck, are brought into 
 play, and the muscles on the shoulder-blades 
 receive full exercise. The pupil can discover 
 for herself what other muscles are used. But 
 this exercise will fail in its very excellent 
 purpose unless the backward bending of the 
 shoulders is resisted by considerable muscular 
 pressure forward. In the same manner the re- 
 
Strength 113 
 
 turn movement forward should be resisted by 
 pressure backward. 
 
 Next the student may lie face downward on 
 the floor. Rise on the hands and the toes, 
 with no other portions of the body touching 
 the floor. Twist the shoulders backward and 
 forward in the same manner always resis- 
 tantly. This is not an easy feat for the 
 beginner, but it should be quite possible of 
 accomplishment, with the needed patience, to 
 the student who has progressed so far. A still 
 more difficult manner of performing this feat 
 is found when the student lies on her back, 
 then raises herself on her heels and hands, the 
 latter, with palms down, on the floor behind 
 her. At first it will be found difficult to avoid 
 falling. 
 
 Clasping each other on the backs of opposing 
 shoulder-blades, let the students cross necks, 
 left side opposed to left side. It is not suffi- 
 cient to press the sides of the faces together. 
 That is the wrong attitude. The left ears of 
 the contestants must not touch, but each must 
 have her ear well forward over the back of the 
 other's shoulder. The necks must cross in the 
 
ii4 Physical Training for Women 
 
 form of the letter "x." Each of the combat- 
 ants must lean slightly forward. 
 
 Now, for starting position, the one who has 
 been chosen as victim bends easily over as far 
 as she can go to her left side. Then the assail- 
 ant slowly forces her victim's head over to the 
 latter's right side, the victim giving proper 
 resistance. When the position has been 
 reached the victim forces her assailant's head 
 back to starting-point. When this work is 
 practised with proper vim and with all reason- 
 able straining of the muscles, it will be found 
 that not many repetitions are advisable in any 
 one bout. But, after a few days, the work will 
 be found to be of immense benefit to the neck. 
 
 There is a simple bit of work that is tried in 
 occasional bouts as a substitute. The direc- 
 tion is so simple that no illustration is needed. 
 The contestants stand facing each other. The 
 assailant throws her right arm around the vic- 
 tim 's waist as far as she can. With this hold 
 she presses the edge of her left forearm against 
 the victim's throat. Then slowly, but surely, 
 the assailant presses her companion's head over 
 backward as far as may be done without caus- 
 
Strength 115 
 
 ing a fall. Of course the victim uses her back 
 and neck to resist all the while. As soon as 
 the head has gone back as far as may be done 
 the victim forces herself, against the assailant's 
 continued pressure, back to an erect position. 
 Then the attack is tried from the opposite side 
 that is to say, with the assailant's left hand 
 around the victim's waist and the edge of the 
 right forearm employed in the pressure against 
 the throat. 
 
 An exercise that is of especial value to the 
 whole arm, including the wrist, is when the 
 two contestants face each other, clasping right 
 hands or left hands, but each should use the 
 hand of the same side of her body, two right 
 hands or two left hands clasped. Now the 
 assailant steps a little to the side of her victim, 
 brings the latter's hand up over the victim's 
 head, and twists her over as far to the floor as 
 is possible, the victim bending over sideways in 
 the defeat. As the victim comes back to erect 
 position the assailant resists the return. Then 
 the work is tried with the right hand and left 
 hand of the respective combatants opposed. 
 The forcing over of the victim should be 
 
n6 Physical Training for Women 
 
 carried to the farthest point that is consistent 
 with the victim's comfort. After a little prac- 
 tice it will be found possible almost to lay her 
 on the floor on the side of her face, but the 
 feat should not be carried thus far until both 
 pupils are sure of their strength. A very good 
 idea of the work in this exercise is given by the 
 pose in photograph number thirty. 
 
 Another form of arm training that will be 
 found excellent in its turn, as a substitute, is 
 when the two contestants face each other, both 
 bending forward. The hands are clasped, 
 backs downward and the fingers interlaced. 
 Now, each throws herself as far backward as 
 she can, and the assailant drags her victim 
 across the floor, the latter resisting. Then the 
 same work is attempted with left hands clasped 
 in the same fashion. When the work is done 
 with either the right or the left hand the vic- 
 tim, when she has been defeated, should drag 
 her assailant back to starting-point. 
 
 Then the hands may be clasped in similar 
 fashion, but with the palms downward. The 
 same dragging follows, and, at the completion 
 of victory, the assailant wrenches her victim's 
 
No. 30. WORK FOR THE UPPER ARM AND FOREARM. 
 
Strength 117 
 
 arm up and over her head, the victim being 
 prepared, at the utterance ofa signal-word, to 
 resist the upward strain. 
 
 There are so many variations of this work 
 that it is not possible to suggest them all, and 
 the student can figure them out for herself if 
 she is making an intelligent analysis of the 
 muscles that are brought into use. For in- 
 stance, let the contestants stand facing each 
 other, but each a little to the left of the other. 
 The aggressor, with her right hand, seizes the 
 other's right hand. The clasp with fingers 
 interlaced is the best one, although others may 
 be used. Now the assailant raises her victim's 
 hand slowly up over the latter's head, then 
 down and over backward, and swings the vic- 
 tim around to the latter's left and then, con- 
 tinuing, to the original position. Next, the 
 left hands are employed in the reverse direction 
 as to the swing. When the victim's hand is 
 back of her head the forearm should be in a 
 position almost horizontal. Then, as the twist 
 is made that forces the victim to turn around 
 and to come back to starting-point, the fore- 
 arm is lowered considerably. 
 
n8 Physical Training for Women 
 
 It will be understood that the exercise just 
 given is very similar to the one in which the 
 victim, with one hand on the pole, has that 
 hand carried up, over, and back, of her head, 
 and then is made to swing around to starting 
 position. But this exercise without the pole 
 is excellent; and, in some respects, it is su- 
 perior to the pole work. The advanced 
 student will be expected to watch the play 
 of her muscles and to discover the difference 
 between the two exercises. 
 
 Photograph number thirty-one shows a form 
 of training that is intended principally for the 
 exercising of the ankles and the calves, but 
 this work carries with it benefit to all the 
 muscles of the leg. The victim is required 
 to lie on her back. She raises the right foot 
 some inches from the floor, and the assailant 
 seizes it at the ankle always at the ankle, and 
 never higher up. Now, the assailant twists 
 the captured leg from side to side, and as 
 vigorously as she can. At the same time the 
 victim tries to twist her captured leg as far as 
 is possible in the other direction. With this 
 movement there should be a slight twisting of 
 
Strength 119 
 
 the lower portion of the trunk, and of course 
 the victim should resist with her trunk as well 
 as with her leg. 
 
 Then the left leg is twisted in the same man- 
 ner, after which aggressor and victim change 
 places. The work, however, will prove to be 
 of little or no value unless both students use 
 all the pressure that is possible. It is worth- 
 less if the victim allows her leg to be twisted 
 from side to side without any effort in the 
 opposite direction. If the resistance be suffi- 
 cient the assailant will have as hard work as 
 she gives to her companion. This is an exer- 
 cise that should be employed frequently by the 
 advanced student. 
 
 The pupil who has been urged sufficiently 
 to analyse movements for herself, and to make 
 practical evolutions of them, should not need 
 much time to discover that a variation of the 
 foregoing work may be had when the victim 
 lies face downward, raises one foot, and gives 
 the assailant a chance to twist it in the same 
 way. Still another form of the work is to be 
 enjoyed when the student lies on either side 
 and allows the uppermost leg to be twisted 
 
120 Physical Training for Women 
 
 upward. In all three of the positions it is 
 well worth while if, occasionally, the aggressor 
 raises the captured leg as high as it can be 
 made to go. And this is true even if, in time, 
 the aggressor is able to raise the leg so high 
 that the victim is all but compelled to stand 
 on her head. But this achievement must come 
 with gradual practice, and, at every stage of 
 the work, the victim must resist with all the 
 force that she can employ. When raising the 
 victim's leg high in the air the assailant will 
 find it useful to hold one hand just under the 
 ankle, and the other hand, palm downward, 
 just beyond the first hand. In this way better 
 leverage is secured for the raising of the vic- 
 tim's body. 
 
 In jiu-jitsu work the very acme of muscular 
 development has been reached when the stu- 
 dents can perform the work, in all its entirety, 
 that is depicted in photograph number thirty- 
 two. The exercise and its variations are not 
 learned easily. A great deal of time and study 
 must be given to them. There must be 
 thorough analysis of the use of the muscles, 
 nor should any of the feats in this category be 
 
No. 32 THE ACME OF A VALUABLE " JIU-JITSU TRAINING TRICK. 
 
 ' 
 
Strength 
 
 121 
 
 attempted until both students are satisfied that 
 the muscles have been hardened properly by 
 means of the preliminary work. 
 
 The victim stands back of the assailant. 
 The latter raises her right hand backward 
 over her head, clasping the victim's right hand 
 with fingers interlaced. Now the assailant 
 bends forward, carrying her victim as far over 
 as she can, the victim all the while resisting. 
 Then the victim goes over backward, carrying 
 her assailant as far as is possible. Next the 
 left hands are employed. After that one con- 
 testant uses her right hand against the other's 
 left. Where there is, as is usual among Cauca- 
 sian women, inferiority of the left arm, that 
 limb should be given rather the more exercise. 
 
 This exercise may be repeated or substituted 
 when the two students stand back to back, 
 with right hands or left hands clasped. Of 
 course, in this position the palms will be 
 downward. Then both hands of each con- 
 testant may be clasped. The work should be 
 done, by advanced students of nearly equal 
 capacity, with all possible resistance. 
 
 It will occur to the thinking reader that the 
 
122 Physical Training for Women 
 
 same work may be employed in a struggle over 
 the length of the room. This may be done 
 with one or both hands clasped, and whether 
 the victim is facing her assailant, or whether 
 the pair are back to back. The various forms 
 are to be taken up in turn in succeeding bouts, 
 the same form never to be employed out of its 
 turn. Whenever the victim is dragged across 
 the floor, in any form of this work, she is ex- 
 pected to take her assailant back to starting 
 place only provided that easy breathing per- 
 mits! 
 
 It is to be remembered that with two con- 
 testants of nearly equal strength the advantage 
 is all with the victim. She must allow her as- 
 sailant to drag her forward, although not with 
 too little resistance. In like manner, the assail- 
 ant should exert all the strength that she can 
 use without strain. With advanced students 
 the work is to be done in such manner that the 
 aggressor is obliged to use the fullest amount 
 of her muscular strength. 
 
 Too much attention cannot be paid to the 
 development of the strength of the ankles. 
 Usually this is one of the weak points of the 
 

 Strength 123 
 
 American or the English woman. She is 
 likely to complain that it hurts her to be too 
 much on her feet. Some exercises for the 
 ankle have been described already, but here is 
 one that is very simple, and it should be tried 
 in at least every alternate practice bout. Stand 
 in an erect position, with the heels touching 
 and with the front of the feet at an angle 
 of about forty-five degrees. Now, while still 
 keeping the heels in touch, move the feet out- 
 ward and then inward, repeating this several 
 times. The number of times that this is re- 
 peated should increase with each practice bout. 
 When this feat has been mastered thoroughly 
 there is an interesting variation that may be 
 used. Employ the same movement, but man- 
 age to move backward and then forward. Now 
 it will be found impossible to keep the heels to- 
 gether. It is a sort of wriggling with the feet, 
 and, in order to secure purchase enough to 
 move either forward or backward, it will be 
 found necessary to keep one heel in touch with 
 the ankle bone of the other foot. After a few 
 attempts at this exercise, however, it will be 
 found possible to move in either direction with 
 
124 Physical Training for Women 
 
 not a little celerity and the ankles will be the 
 gainers. 
 
 Or, place the arms "akimbo." Stand on 
 one foot, with the other held off the floor, 
 backward. Do not move the foot on which 
 you are standing, but twist the body, resis- 
 tantly, from one side to the other, and do this 
 as long as it is possible to keep the balance on 
 the foot on which you are standing. Then, 
 after deep breathing, attempt the same move- 
 ment while standing only on the other foot. It 
 is well to stand as erectly as may be done. 
 
 But, of course, the best exercise of all for 
 ankles is given by constant walking. A phleg- 
 matic woman is almost certain to have weak 
 ankles, especially if she be stout, and little 
 given to exercise. On the other hand, a 
 woman of nervous temperament, who walks 
 briskly, and who turns quickly when moving 
 around, is certain to have strong ankles if she 
 exercises them enough. Strength of the ankle 
 comes most quickly from any form of exertion 
 that calls for quick turning upon the heels. 
 
 It is an easy matter for any woman to dis- 
 cover when her ankles are sufficiently strong. 
 
Strength 125 
 
 Let her twist either foot outward as far as it 
 will go. She should hold her foot as rigidly as 
 is possible, and then should feel the muscles of 
 the ankle. While in the same position she 
 may feel the muscles in the calf of her leg. 
 Then, standing up, she may make the muscles 
 of the upper leg tense and feel them. It will 
 be interesting for the student to compare her 
 own muscles, from the thigh down, with the 
 muscles of any other woman whom she knows 
 to be a strong, well-developed specimen of her 
 sex. 
 
 The writer has made a critical study of 
 the muscular strength of not a few specimens. 
 Some have been weakest in the upper leg, some 
 in the calf, and many in the ankle. Whichever 
 part of the leg is weakest is the part that 
 should receive the first attention. Yet no part 
 of the body should be neglected. Wherever 
 a weak part is discovered it should be made 
 stronger. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 OBESITY AND LEANNESS, AND THE REMEDIES 
 
 WHEN a woman is dissatisfied with her figure 
 this is due, generally, to one of two causes. 
 Either she is too lean, or she is over-stout. 
 The slender woman wishes to have more flesh 
 and roundness of form. The stout woman 
 wishes to become a trifle more slender. The 
 perfect figure in womanhood does not call 
 either for slenderness or for stoutness. There 
 should be a happy compromise between the 
 two extremes, and it is in this direction that 
 most women wish to go in physical develop- 
 ment. The perfect figure will have sufficient 
 symmetry and size, but there will be neither 
 exaggeration nor short-coming. 
 
 In jiu-jitsu the over-stout woman has some- 
 what the advantage in training to the proper 
 figure. She can convert the surplus flesh into 
 muscle, and this, if done properly, without los- 
 126 
 
Obesity and Leanness, Remedies 127 
 
 ing any valuable line of contour. The slender 
 woman must make herself more stout through 
 diet. Then she can take the stout woman's 
 cue, and reduce the surplus flesh to muscle. 
 
 The diet for the slender woman should be an 
 oily one, although it need not be one where 
 food is used in excessive quantities. The 
 principal articles of the diet should be nuts, 
 milk, cream, butter, and oil. The latter may 
 be either olive or cotton-seed oil, and this is 
 used in the form of a dressing for salads, with 
 lemon juice added in the place of vinegar. 
 The bread that is used should be of rye or 
 graham. White bread gives practically no 
 nutriment, and should not be used. Most of 
 the Japanese do not eat potatoes. If these are 
 used at all, they should be very well baked. 
 Rice, boiled in water that starts at a cold tem- 
 perature and is allowed to come very slowly to 
 the boiling point, and without much stirring of 
 the rice, makes a most satisfactory substitute 
 for bread and potatoes. In the place of meat, 
 a fish, like the cod, which is easily obtainable 
 in this country, furnishes much oily nutri- 
 ment. Eggs, if they are hard-boiled, will help 
 
128 Physical Training for Women 
 
 somewhat to fatten. Cheese is an excellent 
 fattener. While the author does not wish to 
 advise the use of alcohol in any form, he can- 
 not deny that claret, not too sour, will aid in 
 the accumulation of flesh. Ale will accomplish 
 a similar result. The student is not advised to 
 add either of these alcoholic aids to the diet. 
 Even if it is attempted, these forms of alcohol 
 should be avoided as soon as the proper amount 
 of flesh has been secured. 
 
 Parenthetically, it may be remarked that the 
 Japanese are by no means total abstainers. 
 Yet very few of them are hard drinkers. Most 
 of those who do abuse the use of alcohol are 
 men who have come into contact with Cau- 
 casians and who, very mistakenly, desire to be 
 "progressive." If my several instructors in 
 jiu-jitsu told me the truth as I am certain 
 that they did not one of them believed in the 
 necessity of building up the system by the use 
 of alcohol, unless, first, the need had been 
 created by indulgence. All advised the build- 
 ing up of flesh through the use of the oily 
 foods. 
 
 When the too-slender woman has reached 
 
Obesity and Leanness, Remedies 129 
 
 the point of over-stoutness, she may take the 
 same work that is advised for her obese sister. 
 Each should strive to convert fat into muscle. 
 If the student desires a severe diet, the break- 
 fast should consist of boiled rice, with no other 
 seasoning than salt. Luncheon, if possible, 
 should be omitted. The supper should be of 
 coarse barley, well boiled. If a luncheon is 
 found to be necessary, it should consist of a 
 pint of milk, sipped slowly. The Japanese do 
 not use much milk, as cattle are rare in their 
 country. And it is much better to omit any 
 form of luncheon. 
 
 The amount of sleep taken has much to 
 do with leanness and obesity. The slender 
 woman who wishes to take on flesh is advised 
 to take nine or ten hours of rest. If she can- 
 not sleep, she can, at least, lie on her back and 
 relax. The obese woman should content her- 
 self with no more than six hours of sleep in 
 the twenty-four. In this matter each student 
 should observe her requirements, and should 
 be a law unto herself. There is no hard-and- 
 fast law. For the too-slender woman the 
 maximum amount of rest should be ascertained 
 
130 Physical Training for Women 
 
 by experience ; for the obese woman the mini- 
 mum amount of sleep must be learned. 
 
 No slender woman can object with reason to 
 the diet suggested for her, nor is she likely to 
 dislike the idea of taking more sleep. But the 
 obese woman is very likely to protest against 
 the notion of less sleep, she is almost as certain 
 to object to taking a diet of rice and barley. 
 This is the most severe diet, but the most 
 beneficial. If the obese woman can content 
 herself with slower reduction she will be able 
 to vary one of the meals by taking a raw egg 
 beaten up in milk and without sugar. With 
 the rice she can eat either stewed or fresh fruit 
 preferably the latter and with the barley, if 
 the student is unable to do without meat, she 
 can eat very lean flesh that has been well 
 cooked. Beans may be used to advantage, 
 either by the slender or the stout woman. 
 
 The exercises that are used for the reduction 
 of obesity are based on tricks of combat. But, 
 when the movements are done slowly, and with 
 a good deal of resistance on the part of the vic- 
 tim, gradual reduction of stoutness will result. 
 In combat work the feats are performed with 
 
Obesity and Leanness, Remedies 131 
 
 the rapidity that may be likened to the stroke 
 of lightning. It is not to be advised, however, 
 that the student attempt serious attack, but 
 that the work be taken slowly and resistantly. 
 
 Let the two pupils stand facing each other, 
 each slightly at the other's left. The assailant 
 places her left arm against the front of the vic- 
 tim's legs, just below the crotch. The right 
 arm of the assailant, on the left side of the vic- 
 tim, is placed against the back of the latter's 
 neck, the middle of the forearm touching. 
 With this position taken, the assailant bends 
 her companion forward, the latter resisting. 
 When the victim has been taken as far forward 
 as is possible she rises gradually to erect posi- 
 tion, the assailant now resisting the return. 
 
 Easier of accomplishment is the next exer- 
 cise, which is merely the reverse of the other. 
 As before, the contestants stand at each other's 
 left side. Now, the assailant places her left 
 arm, at the victim's left, just under the thighs, 
 and around both legs. At the same time she 
 places her right forearm against the front of 
 her companion's neck. The victim is twisted, 
 or forced, over backward, all the time resisting. 
 
i3 2 Physical Training for Women 
 
 Then the return is made to erect position, the 
 assailant now giving the resistance. 
 
 Next, let the students stand at the left of 
 each other, and the amount of distance between 
 them will be indicated by the requirements 
 of the position. The assailant places her left 
 hand on the outside of the right thigh of her 
 victim, and her right hand against the left side 
 of her victim's neck. 
 
 When this position has been secured the vic- 
 tim is forced over as far as she can go to her 
 right side. Then the return is made, the as- 
 sailant now resisting. 
 
 There is an amusing form of attack that may 
 be made, but the description that will be 
 offered now is intended, instead, as a resistant 
 exercise. The students confront each other, 
 and the one who makes the attack lets her 
 hands fly out suddenly and clasps them behind 
 the back of the victim's head. Then the ag- 
 gressor pulls her companion forward on to the 
 latter's knees, or even goes so far as to throw 
 her flat, face downward. When the fall is car- 
 ried only as far as to throw the victim upon her 
 knees, the latter should try to rise, the assail- 
 
Obesity and Leanness, Remedies 133 
 
 ant resisting. When this work is attempted 
 merely for the purpose of training muscle it 
 should be done slowly, and with rather stub- 
 born resistance on the part of each contestant. 
 There is a hint to be given that this work, 
 when it has to be used in the way of combat, 
 can be employed very profitably against a 
 burglar, or other intruder, by throwing him 
 upon his face, flat, and then falling so as to 
 plant the knee in the small of the victim's 
 back, and employing the throat-grip that has 
 been described in the previous volume. If this 
 be done, and if the throat-grip be applied with 
 sufficient severity, the intruder will be glad of 
 the arrival of the police. 
 
 If any of the feats just described are used as 
 tricks of combat it is necessary that a mattress 
 or pad be used, and care must be taken that 
 none of the ligaments of the legs are injured. 
 There is always a possibility of injury when the 
 students are not advanced sufficiently in their 
 work. But, when the work is done slowly and 
 in the resistant way, there is a gradual remedy 
 for obesity, and without danger to limb. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 OUR OUTDOOR SPORTS FOR WOMEN, AS SEEN 
 FROM THE JAPANESE VIEW-POINT 
 
 IT must be accepted as an axiom that there 
 can be no such thing as perfect health unless 
 enough outdoor exercise is taken. The Japan- 
 ese have many sports in the open air that are 
 unknown in this country, and a description of 
 them is unnecessary. We have our own games 
 for use in fresh air, and many of them will 
 serve any purpose that is to be aimed at. In 
 this chapter the author will discuss American 
 and English games from the view-point of the 
 jiu-jitsu instructor. 
 
 Of course the commonest form of exercise 
 is walking. Its importance cannot be over- 
 estimated. Many women complain that they 
 cannot walk very far without having tired 
 ankles; others complain of aching feet, and 
 still others of pain in the back. A woman who 
 134 
 
Our Outdoor Sports for Women 135 
 
 cannot walk five miles without fatigue may be 
 very certain that she is not a healthy woman, 
 and she should make it her first duty to become 
 one. A ten-mile walk should be an easy per- 
 formance for a healthy woman, and the strong 
 woman is capable of walking fifteen or twenty 
 miles in a day. 
 
 In walking much depends upon the shoe. 
 In the first place, it should give an easy fit, be- 
 ing neither too tight nor too loose. Any wo- 
 man of ordinary intelligence can tell whether 
 or not a shoe fits her. If she buys a shoe that 
 does not fit it is her own fault that she cannot 
 walk with pleasure. 
 
 High heels do much to interfere with the 
 pleasure and the health of walking. Such 
 heels are supposed to give a more stylish form 
 of carriage, but they tilt the body forward to 
 such an extent that their use induces severe 
 trouble in some of the internal organs. It is 
 true that the Japanese woman uses high heels 
 on her shoes, but she uses, at the same time, 
 toe-pieces of equal height. The Japanese shoe 
 has a block of wood at the heel and another at 
 the toes, and thus the foot is left flat, with no 
 
i3 6 Physical Training for Women 
 
 tilting forward. It must be admitted that the 
 Japanese woman, when in the street, shuffles 
 noisily along. In the house, where she does 
 not wear her shoes under any circumstances, 
 she is the personification of grace. She moves 
 about nimbly and prettily, and shows that her 
 seemingly odd form of foot-gear has not really 
 marred her action in walking. 
 
 It is not the author's purpose to persuade 
 American and English women to adopt the 
 Japanese shoe, but the best form of shoe for 
 use is that which neither pinches nor is too 
 loose, with broad enough fronts and with very 
 low heels. The fashionable shoe is to be con- 
 demned for many reasons. It makes much 
 walking difficult, and it spoils the beauty of the 
 foot. Japanese women are able to exhibit very 
 pretty feet. 
 
 Next in importance, in our outdoor recrea- 
 tions, comes rowing. As we practise it, this 
 is a sport unknown in Japan except to men of 
 the navy and to some who serve on merchant 
 steamers. The Japanese harbour and river 
 boat is the sampan, which is propelled by a 
 paddle whose shaft is shaped very much like a 
 
Our Outdoor Sports for Women 137 
 
 scythe. The "oarsman" seizes a pair of 
 handles and propels his boat something as a 
 mower would use the scythe. But rowing 
 should be followed faithfully by all American 
 and English women. After a moment's 
 thought it will be understood how thoroughly 
 this work satisfies the requirements of jiu-jitsu. 
 According to the Japanese plan every muscle 
 must be resisted by a pressure in the opposite 
 direction. A very little practice will show how 
 much resistance the pull gives to the arm. 
 
 Yet the earnest seeker after strength must be 
 cautioned not to attempt to row with a single 
 oar. Each puller should use two oars, and care 
 must be taken that the left arm is compelled to 
 perform fully as much work as does the right. 
 The best plan is for two persons to row to- 
 gether, each using a pair of oars. Boating 
 work should be kept up assiduously all through 
 the season. The best plan is to row for an 
 hour in the morning before breakfast. The 
 woman who lives near a stream or a lake, and 
 who does not row, has much for which to blame 
 herself. 
 
 Golf is one of the best exercises that can be 
 
138 Physical Training for Women 
 
 taken on land. First of all, it makes one walk. 
 In the next place, it requires bendings of the 
 body and demands much arm work. But there 
 is one suggestion to be offered that will make 
 much for strength, and which, at the same 
 time, will increase the striking force. In 
 too many cases a blow is used where the 
 shoulder is thrown back and the hand is not 
 thrown back over the shoulder. In every case 
 where it is practicable it is advisable to make 
 the arm perform a complete revolution. The 
 idea can be caught when the student stands 
 with one hand at the side. Throw it forward, 
 up and over the head, back of the body, and 
 around to starting position. The movement 
 should be a complete swing of the arm around 
 over the head, and the student who follows this 
 will find that many of the strokes employed in 
 golf are delivered more effectively. Both for 
 strength and for expertness it will be found of 
 value to follow out this suggestion. 
 
 Tennis, also, is a sport that should be fol- 
 lowed. It has fallen into undeserved unpopu- 
 larity, for the reason that some physicians have 
 contended that the springing and jumping 
 
Our Outdoor Sports for Women 139 
 
 necessary work harm to some of the internal 
 organs. The only answer to this contention is 
 that, when a woman finds herself unable to 
 play tennis without injury, then it is a certain 
 sign that she has not attended sufficiently 
 to her physical development. The normally 
 healthy woman should be able to endure an 
 hour's practice at tennis at any time. If she 
 is unable to do this, then she should employ 
 all of the exercises described in the foregoing 
 chapters, and should take them up in very 
 gradual succession, doing them moderately 
 and devoting many months to the training. 
 
 Work with the "skipping rope" will do 
 much to help very young girls, as well as 
 women who have grown to adult age. I am 
 aware that many physicians object to this form 
 of exercise, and they are right in making such 
 objection. The trouble is that the girl has 
 been allowed to grow without any especial at- 
 tention being paid to her bodily structure. 
 The boy goes out and engages in wrestling, 
 foot - ball, base - ball, running, rowing, and 
 everything else. The girl is taught to stay at 
 home and to be graceful. One of the greatest 
 
140 Physical Training for Women 
 
 crimes that parents can commit is to persuade 
 a daughter to follow any course that will make 
 her less healthy than her brother. The daugh- 
 ter who is trained properly in physical work 
 will be much more likely to live to old age, 
 and through doing so, and through having the 
 possession of sheer good health, she will double 
 her parents' pleasure in possessing her. 
 
 It is a chivalrous thing for a man to insist 
 that his wife or daughter shall not bring up a 
 scuttle of coal from the cellar, and for him to 
 perform all that work himself. But it is a 
 splendid thing for the "head of the family" to 
 persuade his wife and daughter to reach that 
 stage of physical development where they will 
 not mind bringing up two scuttles at any time 
 when it is necessary so to do. The woman has 
 cause for shame who is forced to admit that any 
 man of her own size is her physical superior. 
 
 Two closing suggestions will be offered on 
 the subject of outdoor sports. When the 
 weather is too inclement either of them may 
 be practised indoors, but in each case the pre- 
 ference is to be given to outdoor work. A 
 Japanese instructor would pronounce basket- 
 
Our Outdoor Sports for Women 141 
 
 ball to be an exercise of great value, especially 
 if it be carried on in the open air. The value 
 of wrestling can be hardly overestimated, but 
 in this exercise there is some danger of over- 
 zealousness. It is highly advisable to take up 
 wrestling, but one should make sure of having 
 a fully competent instructor. Wrestling gives 
 too much opportunity to break bones or to in- 
 jure muscles, if the pupil be ignorant of the art 
 and of the principles of anatomy. The new 
 system of wrestling devised by Mr. Bernarr 
 Macfadden, editor of Physical Culture, is best 
 suited to the needs of American girls and 
 women who are obliged to take up wrestling as 
 a means of exercise. Many of the feats de- 
 scribed in this volume will furnish ideas in the 
 way of safe wrestling. 
 
 The girl or woman who wishes to develop 
 her body to its utmost should not fail to take 
 up wrestling, first making sure that she is not 
 doing any work that can injure herself or her 
 antagonist. The Japanese woman who has 
 followed a jiu-jitsu course to its end is an ex- 
 pert wrestler, and possesses all the agility, 
 grace, and strength that any woman can desire. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 SLEEP AND ITS VALUE 
 
 THERE cannot be too much emphasis laid on 
 the importance of sleep at the proper hours. 
 And the Japanese insist upon all the regularity 
 that is possible in the way of retiring and rising 
 hours. 
 
 It must be a matter of individual experience 
 as to what hours are best for sleep. A broad- 
 side statement may be made that the average 
 Japanese, man or woman, retires at about nine 
 in the evening, and rises at five, or shortly 
 after, in the morning. This would signify that 
 the average amount of rest should be some- 
 thing like eight hours in the twenty-four. If 
 the rest must be had in the daytime the stay 
 in bed should occupy more time, but few 
 women are under the necessity of employment 
 through the night. 
 
 If there be insomnia which is rare in Japan 
 142 
 
Sleep and Its Value 143 
 
 \hzjiu-jitsu student is advised to sit up until 
 an hour later than formerly indicating the hour 
 of retiring. In other words, the student must 
 sit up until she is thoroughly tired. Then she 
 may go to bed, and, if necessary, may sleep 
 later in the morning. As a rule, it is much 
 better for insomniacs to arise when it is realised 
 that the tour of rest is finished. 
 
 It is difficult to prescribe rules as to rest. In 
 this matter the student must use her own in- 
 telligence to a great degree. "Tired nature's 
 sweet restorer, balmy sleep," is a matter that 
 cannot be gauged by a standard. Some wo- 
 men are able to get along comfortably with six 
 hours of rest. Others require anywhere from 
 seven to ten. The thin and nervous woman 
 requires anywhere from eight to ten hours in 
 bed. As a rule she does not get this amount 
 of repose, and suffers as a consequence. Often 
 the stout and phlegmatic woman can do with 
 six hours of rest. She will not content herself 
 with this, and therefore becomes more stout. 
 Food, too, has much to do with stoutness or 
 slimness, as has been explained in a preceding 
 chapter. 
 
144 Physical Training for Women 
 
 From this view-point it will follow that the 
 over-stout woman should not over-indulge her- 
 self either in the way of sleep or of diet. The 
 thin and nervous woman should take more 
 sleep, and should keep to an oily diet. For 
 those who cannot sleep when sleep is needed it 
 should be suggested that lying in bed, prefer- 
 ably on the back, brings rest in itself. But the 
 hour of rising should be observed with a very 
 close approach to the idea of regularity. A 
 hint as to the hour for going to bed may be had 
 from the Japanese notion that one should not 
 eat until he is hungry. There is little sense in 
 one's retiring until he is sleepy, although, in 
 cases of exhaustion, it is well to lie down and 
 rest, even though unable to sleep. 
 
 The best indications of the proper habits of 
 sleep are to be found in instances of healthy 
 childhood. The child is put to bed soon after 
 dark, and is aroused only when the breakfast 
 hour comes. The child is a healthy sleeper. 
 Cases of insomnia in childhood are rare any- 
 where. This is because the child is sent to bed 
 at an early hour. Older persons, who have 
 worries and cares, do not sleep as well. While 
 
Sleep and Its Value 145 
 
 insomniacs may have to remain up late in order 
 to get final sleep, the habit of retiring early 
 should be cultivated. 
 
 For women who are able to sleep at any hour 
 that they retire it cannot be questioned that 
 the best hours for sleep are between nine in the 
 evening and six in the morning. They go to 
 bed tired, and wake up refreshed. An hour's 
 nap in the daytime is often of great benefit. 
 
 There is another cause of peaceful sleep that 
 is of great value in the life of the Japanese 
 woman. She never neglects her ordinary social 
 duties, and the necessity for recreation is kept 
 always in mind. Even the poorest woman, 
 who has spent her day at toil in company with 
 her husband and children, goes to the bath at 
 night. She cleanses herself, dresses for the 
 evening, and, after supper, goes out to meet 
 her friends. Whenever he can do so the hus- 
 band goes with her. In the warmer months of 
 the year meetings between friends often take 
 place in the streets, where, under the dainty 
 glow of the paper lanterns, the scene makes 
 the foreign visitor think of the tales he has 
 read of fairy-land. When two Japanese 
 
146 Physical Training for Women 
 
 women meet compliments are exchanged, and 
 each bows in turn in acknowledgment. In it- 
 self, this deep bowing is not a bad form of 
 physical training. As an average meeting with 
 a friend calls for anywhere from twelve to 
 twenty bowings, and as any Japanese woman 
 who goes out for an evening's walk is certain 
 to meet several friends, it can be understood 
 how much exercise the national habit of paying 
 compliments, and of bowing in acknowledg- 
 ment of each one, has to do with the Japanese 
 physique. 
 
 As soon as she has had her short evening of 
 recreation the Japanese woman who does not 
 belong to the official social class goes home 
 and retires, well-prepared for rest. In Tokio, 
 at ten o'clock in the evening women are not 
 seen on the streets in great numbers, and at 
 eleven o'clock they are passed but rarely by 
 the tourist who takes a stroll along the length 
 of several blocks. At this hour the Japanese 
 woman almost invariably is at home and in 
 bed, sleeping as sweetly and healthfully as 
 does her child. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 THE AGE AT WHICH GIRLS SHOULD BEGIN 
 THE STUDY OF JIU-JITSU 
 
 THE question suggested by the heading of 
 this chapter is a vital one for the consideration 
 of a mother who has a daughter. The answer 
 to the question is simple enough : The training 
 in jiu-jitsu should begin just as soon as the 
 little girl is old enough to receive instruction 
 intelligently. Where it is possible it is highly 
 essential that she have an opponent of nearly 
 her own size. 
 
 Physical training should begin at birth. In 
 Japan it does, when the parents are wise. The 
 tiny baby may be started in at once with mas- 
 sage after the morning bath. As the child be- 
 comes older the massage should be increased 
 somewhat in seventy. At, or before, the age 
 of one year, it should be possible to swing the 
 child by one ankle, and to lift by a grip under 
 
148 Physical Training for Women 
 
 either shoulder. The mother who is at all anx- 
 ious on this subject will be surprised at find- 
 ing out how much the healthy child enjoys the 
 exertion. 
 
 When a sufficiently strong grip is employed 
 on the ankle bone the leg may be twisted over, 
 gently, first outward and then inward. Of 
 course a year-old child will not know enough 
 to resist, but the resistance will develop after a 
 little. Much depends upon the amount of 
 pressure exerted on this twist of the leg, but a 
 careful mother, who remembers the rule of 
 "moderation," will make no mistake. The 
 arms may be treated in the same manner. 
 
 The sickly babe must be handled with more 
 carefulness and gentleness than is necessary 
 with the healthy one ; but the very fact that a 
 child is sickly shows the necessity for the em- 
 ployment of physical training. There should 
 never be any hesitation about the use of physi- 
 cal training for a sickly child. The very con- 
 dition of weakliness indicates the vital need of 
 exercise, increasing very gradually in severity 
 as gain in strength and in general condition is 
 noted. 
 
Age to Begin Study 149 
 
 Whether sickly or healthy, in clement 
 weather, the child should be out-of-doors as 
 much as is possible. The matter of clothing 
 depends upon the constitution of the child. It 
 may be warm or light, according to the child 
 and to the weather; but, even when the 
 weather is cold and the clothing somewhat 
 heavy, care should be taken that the garments 
 are so made and put on that there is always 
 free circulation of air over the body. Thick 
 "bundling" is even more injurious to the 
 bodily condition of a child than it is to the 
 reasonably healthy adult. 
 
 Many mothers attempt to curb the frequent 
 desire of a child for a drink of water. It is 
 hard to imagine how a greater crime against 
 health can be committed. The healthy body 
 craves water. A strong child, with a natural 
 stomach, will know just when she wants water, 
 and she should have it always when she calls 
 for it, and in any quantity in which she needs 
 it. It is not necessary or even best that a 
 child should have iced water, merely because 
 she prefers it in that form, but it should 
 be always cool. In summer a simple way of 
 
150 Physical Training for Women 
 
 keeping the water just cool enough is to bottle 
 some and put it away in the ice-box. The bot- 
 tles do not need to come into exact contact 
 with the ice, and thus the water will be cool 
 without being ice-cold. 
 
 At what age should girls take up the jiu-jitsu 
 exercises described in this book? My sugges- 
 tion would be that some girls begin at the age 
 of four, and others at the age of five. In other 
 words, much depends upon the constitution of 
 the child, and upon her ability to comprehend 
 the instruction. Very seldom is a little girl 
 without a chum of her own age and size. The 
 mothers should act as instructors, and the 
 fathers should sit by as good-natured referees. 
 It is worth the while of both parents to devote 
 the time that is needed for the building up of 
 the bodily strength of their child. 
 
 At the beginning of the training of a baby 
 girl it is better that not more than ten minutes 
 be spent in a single bout, but there should be 
 two of these bouts each day. All of the exer- 
 cises described in these chapters should be 
 taken up in order, one at a time, and with no 
 attempt at haste. With a child of four or five 
 
Age to Begin Study 151 
 
 the first six exercises will be found enough for 
 use during the first six months of the training. 
 The practice bout may be extended in length, 
 very gradually, until the girl of twelve who be- 
 gan her study of jiu-jitsu at the age of five 
 should be the physical superior of any girl of 
 sixteen who has never attempted the work. It 
 would be a matter of ease to find twelve-year- 
 old Japanese girls who would be capable of 
 throwing a sixteen-year-old American girl over 
 the head. 
 
 Any form of outdoor play that does not in- 
 volve serious danger of accident should be en- 
 couraged. The child who is kept indoors in 
 clement weather will never grow up with the 
 fullest amount of strength. If the child is in- 
 clined to mope within walls she should be 
 driven out-of-doors. For a child there is no 
 way in which health may be gained as quickly 
 as by romping out-of-doors in the fresh air. 
 
 In closing, this suggestion will be offered : A 
 child of fourteen should be the physical su- 
 perior, after jiu-jitsu training from the age of 
 five, of her adult sister as we see her to-day. 
 A girl of sixteen, after eleven years of training, 
 
152 Physical Training for Women 
 
 should be capable of taking creditable part in 
 any revival of the Olympian games. 
 
 Until, however, one is strong enough to 
 stand great exertion one should pay strict at- 
 tention to the final warning : 
 
 GREAT MODERATION IN ALL EXERCISES ! 
 
 THE END 
 
Physical Training 
 for Women 
 
 according to 
 
 Japanese Methods 
 
 By H. IRVING HANCOCK. 
 
 AutKor of "Japanese PHysical Training." etc. 
 
 i2mo. With 32 illustrations. Net, $1.25 
 (By mail, $1.35) 
 
 One of the phrases that should be stricken from 
 the English language is " the weaker sex." In 
 Japan the women are no weaker than men, and in 
 this country they have no right to be. 
 
 This is due to the fact that the Japanese women 
 exercise in substantially the same way as the men, 
 and devote fully as much time to the endeavor of 
 gaining and maintaining strength. 
 
 From remote antiquity, there has existed in 
 Japan a system of training for the body, known 
 as jiu-jitsu. Ultimately jiu-jitsu is a highly 
 scientific system of rapid and convincing 
 attack and defense. Before the stage of 
 combat is reached, however, much work 
 must be devoted to acquiring a knowledge 
 of the nerves and muscles, such as comes 
 from well-sustained preliminary practice. 
 
 Send for Illustrated Circular, 
 
 G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 
 
 NEW YORK. LONDON 
 
JIU-JITSU 
 
 Ji\I-JitS\l is the Japanese method of Physical 
 
 Training. 
 Jiu-JitSU has been practised by the Japanese 
 
 for 2500 years. 
 Ji\l-Jits\l means "muscle breaking." 
 
 Jiu-JitSU is easily learnt. 
 
 Ji\l-JitS\l helps the weak to master the strong. 
 
 For further information see H. IRVING HANCOCK'S 
 timely book, 
 
 Japanese PKysical 
 Training 
 
 (Jiu.Jitsu) 
 
 i2mo, with 19 full-page illustrations, net $1.25 
 (postage ice.) 
 
 The Pall Mall Gazette makes these points in its review of 
 this most opportune book : 
 
 1. "A work that every one should make a point of 
 
 reading. 
 
 2. " A text-book possessing much of the fascination 
 
 of a good novel. 
 
 3. " No one is likely to read the first chapter with- 
 
 out becoming fired with a consuming desire 
 to go right through the book." 
 
 Send for Illustrated Circular, 
 
 G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 
 
 NEW YORK. LONDON 
 
THIS BOOK T 
 
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