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MICHAEL C. MURPHY. 
 
ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 BY 
 
 MICHAEL C. MURPHY r'Jl'^ 
 
 ..UJ 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 EDWARD R. BUSHNELL , F / 
 
 If" 
 
 WITH AN INTRODITCTION BY 
 
 R. TAIT McKENZIE 
 
 PROFESSOB OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION, UNIVERSITY 
 OF PENNSYLVANIA 
 
 ILLUSTRATED 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 
 
 1914 
 
& 
 
 ^3 
 
 4\ 
 
 ,t^« 
 
 Copyright, 1914, bt 
 CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 
 
 Published February. 1914 
 
0-- 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 The following pages constitute the legacy 
 which Michael C. Murphy has left to the 
 boys and young men of America, and, indeed, 
 to the whole athletic world. They contain 
 the results of thirty years spent in the develop- 
 ment of track and field athletics as a science. 
 Because of his wonderful success in turning out 
 intercollegiate, Olympic, and world's cham- 
 pions, he was always recognized, even by his 
 rival coaches, as the dean^of his profession. 
 He entered the profession at a time when the 
 training of athletes was not recognized as a 
 science, but he devoted to it a keen under- 
 standing of human nature and a rare genius 
 for discovering new and improving old meth- 
 ods of promoting athletic eflficiency. At the 
 time of his death, on June 5, 1913, he was 
 rightfully credited, both in this country and 
 in Europe, with having made the most im- 
 portant contribution to a science which has 
 
 V 
 
 282205 
 
vi PREFACE 
 
 produced a cleaner, sturdier, and more intel- 
 ligent manhood wherever amateur athletics 
 have been fostered. 
 
 Mr. Murphy began the preparation of this 
 text shortly after his return from the London 
 Olympiad in 1908. He wanted this to be 
 the most comprehensive book for the guid- 
 ance of athletes, and to include all the 
 information he had obtained in the course 
 of his career as an athlete, coach, and ob- 
 server. He wanted it to be of lasting benefit 
 to the boys and young men of his native 
 land, and to that end he worked as indus- 
 triously on the manuscript as his failing 
 health would permit, rewriting and revising 
 it from time to time. The manuscript was 
 finally completed in the early spring of 1913, 
 during his last illness. Fearing that he might 
 never live to see the book published, he fin- 
 ished the dictation from his sick-bed, and the 
 editor has completed the revision of the text 
 in accordance with his suggestions made from 
 time to time during the last four years. 
 
 Mr. Murphy drifted into athletics before 
 he was twenty years of age. He was a 
 sprinter, and a good one, but in athletic 
 
PREFACE vii 
 
 the development of this country was then in its 
 infancy. Mr. Murphy diverted his attention 
 from his own athletics to the study of how to 
 make champion athletes of his fellows, and to 
 them he imparted the results of his own ex- 
 periments and observations. He once de- 
 scribed this to the writer in the following 
 words: 
 
 "When I was a sprinter every fellow trained 
 himself. Being of an observant disposition, 
 I tried to learn all I could from watching 
 others. I tried to avoid their mistakes and 
 to profit by the good features of their train- 
 ing. Then I began to make an independent 
 study of all forms of track and field athletics. 
 I wanted to know what kind of food was best 
 for the athlete, how much work he should do 
 to get the maximum speed if he were a runner, 
 and how to add a few inches to his jumps or 
 weight throwing. As a result of these experi- 
 ments, which I made upon myself and the 
 athletes I trained, I found what I considered 
 the best diet for an athlete, the principles of 
 massaging the muscles, bathing, and, in fact, 
 the whole scheme of fitting a man for a par- 
 ticular competition. After twenty-five years' 
 
viii PREFACE 
 
 experience as coach a man is bound to have 
 handled a great many athletes. My present 
 system of training boys and young men is 
 the result of what I learned in this way dur- 
 ing my lifetime/' 
 
 The foregoing statement admirably ex- 
 plains Mr. Murphy's method of work. He 
 made the most exhaustive study of every 
 event on the track and field programme. 
 Being gifted with a rare understanding of 
 human nature, he had a wonderful influence 
 over every boy he trained. He was constantly 
 on the outlook to discover some new method 
 or device which would add to the skill of the 
 human body. 
 
 This relentless search for knowledge led 
 him to take a two-years course in medicine 
 and surgery at the University of Pennsyl- 
 vania when he trained the athletes of that 
 institution. IVJore than Mne physician has 
 testified to the fact that Mr. Murphy knew-^ 
 the human body, its possibilities and needs, 
 as well as they themselves. Although his 
 knowledge ranged from track athletics to all 
 kinds of sports, including football and base- 
 ball, his best efforts were shown in the de- 
 
PBEFACE k 
 
 velopment of sprinters, hurdlers, and jumpers. 
 In all of these events hi^Jd^a^j^ere ye^^^^ 
 ahead of his rivals, and they put America 
 correspondingly ahead of other nations. That 
 he was particularly skilful with sprinters 
 was best illustrated by his discovery of the 
 crouching start, which was only one example 
 of his inventiveness. He had experimented 
 with it on himself several years before he 
 taught it to Sherrill, of Yale, who first used 
 it in an intercollegiate meet. This discovery 
 was due to Mr. Murphy's persistent search 
 for some method to reduce, by even the frac- 
 tion of a second, a sprinter's time for 100 
 yards. This persistent search for new meth- 
 ods was largely responsible also for the de- 
 velopment of John Owen, the first man who 
 ever ran 100 yards in 9| seconds ; Henry Jewett, 
 of Detroit; B. J. Wefers, of the New York 
 Athletic Club, the first man to run 220 yards 
 in 21i seconds; and, finally, of Donald F. 
 Lippincott, who at Stockholm, in 1912, es- 
 tablished the present world's record of lOf 
 seconds for 100 metres. 
 
 What he did with the sprints he duplicated 
 in nearly every event on the athletic pro- 
 
X PREFACE 
 
 gramme, and he was responsible for the devel- 
 opment of more world's champions than all 
 other American trainers combined. It was the 
 reputation Mr. Murphy made locally by put- 
 ting his new ideas into practice that led 
 Yale to engage him as track and field coach 
 in 1887. He instantly made Yale athletes 
 famous, although for the next six years he 
 divided his time between that university and 
 the Detroit Athletic Club. In Detroit he 
 developed the wonderful Jewett and Owen. 
 His best work, however, was done as the 
 coach of college teams. Of the twenty-one 
 teams coached by him at Yale and Pennsyl- 
 vania since 1893, his men won the intercol- 
 legiate championship fifteen times. Seven of 
 these victories were with Yale and eight with 
 Pennsylvania. Of the six times that his 
 teams failed to win they were second four 
 times, third once, and fourth once. 
 
 His career in the field of international ath- 
 letics was even more remarkable. In 1895, 
 when the first international meet between the 
 New York Athletic Club and the London 
 Athletic Club was held in this country. Mur- 
 phy was selected as trainer. This meet brought 
 
PREFACE xi 
 
 out such wonderful champions as M. F. Swee- 
 ney, who made his world's record of 6 feet 
 5| inches at this meet; C. J. Kilpatrick, who 
 made a record of 1.53f for the half-mile; and 
 T. P. Conneff, who, under Murphy's training, 
 later made a world's record of 4.15f for the 
 mile, which stood until 1911, when J. P. Jones, 
 of Cornell, reduced it by one-fifth of a second. 
 
 During his connection with the New York 
 Athletic Club, where he coached in the sum- 
 mer months, he developed such world's cham- 
 pion sprinters as B. J. Wefers, the first col- 
 lege man who ever ran 100 yards in 9f seconds, 
 and the first to make the present world's rec- 
 ord of 21^ seconds for 220 yards. He also 
 trained M. W. Long, who still holds the world's 
 record of 47 seconds for 440 yards. Indeed, 
 there is hardly an event on the athletic pro- 
 gramme in which Murphy did not develop 
 champions. In 1900 he took the University 
 of Pennsylvania and the New York Athletic 
 Club teams to the Olympic games at Paris. 
 In these games, in which America completely 
 outscored the field, the athletes trained by 
 Murphy carried off nearly all the honors. 
 
 It was not until 1908 that the United States 
 
xii PREFACE 
 
 was represented at the Olympic games by a 
 single team which could be accepted as the 
 pick of this country. That year, for the first 
 time, the American Olympic Committee held 
 a series of try-outs in three sections of the 
 country, and with these performances as a 
 guide selected a team of more than one hun- 
 dred athletes. All the men thus selected were 
 taken to London under the direction of the 
 American committee; but the selection of 
 the team was only part of their task. There 
 still remained the bigger job of conditioning 
 all these men, a task the difficulty of which 
 was greatly increased by the sea voyage and 
 the change to another climate. For this the 
 American committee unanimously selected 
 Mr. Murphy. What they thought of him 
 was illustrated by the remark of James E. 
 Sullivan, the American commissioner, when, 
 at the conclusion of the conference, he was 
 asked who nominated Murphy and if any one 
 else had been considered. 
 
 "When we came to select the coach,'' said 
 Mr. Sullivan, ''Murphy's name was on every 
 one's tongue. We didn't even think of any 
 one else." 
 
PREFACE xiii 
 
 Murphy was selected for this position for a 
 number of reasons, but primarily because he 
 was the faremost ajiikQri on all. 
 
 kinds of athletic training. In addition to this 
 skill he had a most unusual knowledge of hu- 
 man nature. Every one knows that in a team 
 of one hundred champion athletes there are 
 more curious dispositions collected than could 
 be found in any body of men of equal size. 
 To command the respect of so many athletes, 
 many of whom had worked with other train- 
 ers, to keep them all in good humor, and 
 to have the maximum number on edge for 
 their particular events required a genius. 
 Murphy was equal to the task. What he 
 accomplished at London in 1908 is now his- 
 tory, but in every particular he more than 
 made good. 
 
 When the American Olympic Committee 
 set about the selection of a coach for the 1912 
 team Mr. Murphy was a sick man, but the 
 committee unanimously chose him for the 
 position again. Had it not been for the pres- 
 sure brought to bear upon him and the hope 
 that the trip would benefit his health, he 
 would have declined the position. He under- 
 
xiv PREFACE 
 
 took his work suffering from ill health, but 
 stuck to it doggedly to the end, and his genius 
 for conditioning men, and for communicating 
 to them his own indomitable spirit, resulted 
 in a record even better than that made in 1908. 
 When the Olympic Committee met in 1913 to 
 plan for the 1916 Olympiad it sent a tele- 
 gram to the veteran trainer, then in his last 
 illness, acquainting him with their action in 
 unanimously appointing him to coach the 
 1916 team. 
 
 He will do no more coaching in person; but 
 this book, which contains the fundamental 
 principles of correct training for every ath- 
 letic event, and for the building up of strong 
 bodies, will help thousands of boys and young 
 men who never came in touch with his mag- 
 netic personality. 
 
 The editor wishes to acknowledge his in- 
 debtedness to Dr. R. Tait McKenzie, head of 
 the Department of Physical Education at the 
 University of Pennsylvania, and to Mr. M. F. 
 Sweeney, Director of Athletics at The Hill 
 School, for their assistance in the final read- 
 ing of the proof for the elimination of any 
 technical errors which might have crept into 
 
PREFACE XV 
 
 the text, due to the inability of Mr. Murphy 
 to personally read the text after it had been 
 set up in type. 
 
 Edward R. Bushnell. 
 
 November, 1913. 
 
AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTION 
 
 For thirty years I have been intimately 
 associated with the development of track and 
 field athletics in the United States. Most of 
 that time has been devoted to training ath- 
 letes at Yale and the University of Pennsyl- 
 vania, varied with a few years and several 
 summer seasons spent in occupying similar 
 positions with athletic clubs. During my 
 connection with athletics, first as a sprinter 
 and then as a coach, tremendous changes 
 have taken place in these sports. The system 
 I have taught has been developed by the 
 experiments I have made upon myself, the 
 experiences of the athletes I have trained, 
 my observation of athletics in various Eu- 
 ropean countries, and the results achieved 
 by my associates in this country. It was 
 in the hope that the science of athletics, 
 which has grown up during my lifetime, 
 might be of some help to the youth of this 
 
 xvii 
 
xviii AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTION 
 
 and other countries that I began, four years 
 ago, the preparation of this text. No man 
 knows all there is to know about any given 
 subject, and I freely acknowledge my indebt- 
 edness to many of the athletes whom I have 
 trained and to my associates in this work 
 both here and abroad. 
 
 I believe with all my soul in the great value 
 of athletics in the life of the individual and 
 the nation. I believe that every boy and 
 every girl have a right to a good constitution. 
 If they have not been blessed with such by 
 birth, then I contend that it is the duty of 
 the state, as a part of its educational system, 
 to give these children facilities for acquiring 
 strong bodies. This is a doctrine I have 
 preached incessantly for years, and I rejoice to 
 see that our colleges and our public and pri- 
 vate schools are furnishing just these facilities. 
 I never did believe in athletics except as they 
 promoted good health and physical eflSciency. 
 This is the one truth I have always empha- 
 sized — that all the athletic glory ever won is 
 not worth a month's ill health. 
 
 I could write a volume on the value of 
 athletics to the individual — the moral and 
 
AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTION xix 
 
 physical good it does — ^but these are lessons 
 which the American people have already- 
 learned . My purpose in writing this book is 
 to supply a text-book for the guidance of the 
 boys and young men of this country who 
 wish to achieve health and success in ath- 
 letics. 
 
 This book was written primarily for the 
 benefit of those who have not the advantage 
 of professional coaches. Not many schools and 
 small colleges are able to employ competent 
 coaches, while the vast majority of the boys 
 and young men who compose the member- 
 ship of the hundreds of athletic clubs which are 
 being formed everywhere are totally without 
 the right kind of instruction. In this book I 
 have devoted proportionate attention to all 
 the events which are on the Olympic, colle- 
 giate, and club programmes. They have been 
 so arranged that any boy or young man who 
 makes a careful study of the event in which 
 he wishes to excel can master it without the 
 aid of a coach. No two boys are alike, and 
 so my readers must use common sense in ap- 
 plying these lessons. 
 
 It will be noticed that in discussing nearly 
 
XX AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTION 
 
 every event I am assuming that the athlete will 
 have from eight to ten weeks in which to train. 
 For instance, if the athlete be a schoolboy he 
 will find it possible to prepare for any given 
 event in this time. Severe training for a 
 longer time than this is likely to result in 
 failure. No person should train severely for 
 a longer period than this. It will frequently 
 happen that an athlete desires to keep in 
 training for various meets during the greater 
 part of a year. While I should strongly cau- 
 tion him to be careful not to overdo_it, he 
 will find that after he has once gotten into 
 good physical condition he will be able to 
 enjoy periods of rest from training and com- 
 petition, and then be able to get himself back 
 into good physical condition in half the time 
 usually required. 
 
 The average boy likes to be athletic. He 
 wants to have a strong, well-developed body, 
 and to excel in some particular sport, whether 
 it be baseball, football, or track athletics. 
 But on account of the great interest in ath- 
 letics throughout this country, and the wide 
 publicity which is given to all kinds of ath- 
 letic performances, there is always the dan- 
 
AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTION xxi 
 
 ger that young boys especially will have a 
 tendency to overdo things, to overtax their 
 strength. I have continually been asked by 
 parents and teachers in the lower grades just 
 how much and how severe athletic competi- 
 tion they should allow a growing boy. This 
 is not an easy question to answer. The ideal 
 way for boys under sixteen years of age is 
 to ''play at athletics/' and I have never en- 
 couraged boys under this age to train for any 
 athletic competition as one generally under- 
 stands training. I do not mean that a boy 
 under sixteen years of age should not compete 
 in track and field events. Such competition 
 will do him no harm, if he is careful not to 
 run too great a distance or engage in other 
 competition of a severe nature. A boy twelve 
 years old or less should not be allowed to 
 run more than 220 yards, and that not very 
 often. A boy fourteen or fifteen years of age 
 may run a quarter of a mile on a cinder track, 
 or he may run twice this distance on turf. I 
 say this, not to discourage boys from being 
 athletic, but that their parents and teachers 
 may be sensible in controlling their athletics 
 so that they will run no risks of injuring 
 
xxii AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTION 
 
 themselves. After a boy is sixteen years old 
 he will know what he is capable of doing, 
 though even here one must be always on 
 guard against the tendency to train too hard. 
 Not only will such a policy insure better 
 health, but it will insure a greater measure of 
 success in competitive athletics. It has been 
 my experience that of the men I have trained 
 the great majority of those who became inter- 
 collegiate, Olympic, and world's champions 
 were those who began their serious train- 
 ing for athletic competition at about the 
 eighteenth year.. Practically all the men who 
 suffer breakdowns have only their early_ath- 
 letic excesses to blame. Therefore, while I 
 strongly favor all kinds of athletic sports for 
 boys from ten to sixteen years of age, I want 
 to caution them that this is the most impor- 
 tant period in their attainment of physical 
 strength and that health and a good physique 
 are essential to their later athletic successes. 
 The exercise of care and common sense during 
 this period of their life will bring its own re- 
 ward in after life. 
 
 M. C. Murphy. 
 
 May, 1913. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 The editor's request for a word of intro- 
 duction to this book gives me an occasion of 
 which I gladly avail myself to put in words 
 my appreciation of the wide influence for 
 good of one the crowning years of whose 
 career I have had unusual opportunities of 
 observing. 
 
 I have frequently been asked to account 
 for the great success of the American teams 
 in the world-wide competition of the modern 
 revival of the Olympic games. After speak- 
 ing of the great public-school athletic leagues, 
 with their thousands of schoolboy athletes, 
 the supervised playgrounds dotted over every 
 large city, and the schools and colleges, each 
 with its department of physical education ap- 
 plying more or less closely to the entire student 
 body, I must finally conclude that that suc- 
 cess is due to the appreciation and the study 
 of running, jumping, and throwing weights as 
 
 sadii 
 
xxiv mXRODUCTION 
 
 arts — arts of which the author of this book 
 was a close student and a past master. No 
 school or college in the United States of Amer- 
 ica is now considered complete without its 
 gymnasium, playgrounds, and instruction in 
 physical exercise. Practical knowledge of 
 track and field athletics is within the reach of 
 all, and the very publicity of the great ath- 
 letic games draws to physical exercise the at- 
 tention of those who would otherwise be too 
 dull or too preoccupied to see its value. 
 
 Athletic sports have a peculiar value to 
 the young. They are what remain of the 
 natural and instinctive movements of self- 
 preservation by fighting or flight that have 
 been made part of our nature by constant 
 practice from prehistoric times. The sur- 
 vival of the cave man was determined by his 
 ability to run fast, to leap far, and to throw 
 straight, and we are apt to forget the value 
 in modern life of the quick eye, the steady 
 nerve, and the firm hand. By them the other- 
 wise inevitable collision is avoided. Every 
 man of forty can recall hundreds of experi- 
 ences of his own in which a sprain, a fracture, 
 or even death itself has been averted by pres- 
 
INTRODUCTION xxv 
 
 ence of mind and a quick, accurate move- 
 ment. 
 
 Athletics are the best possible training for 
 these qualities, valuable to-day as they ever 
 were. Their practice on the outdoor track 
 and field give them an overwhelming advan- 
 tage over exercise taken indoors, and the 
 rules and ethics of competition present a con- 
 stant opportunity to fill the receptive mind 
 of the boy with consideration for a fallen op- 
 ponent, to impress him with the disgrace of 
 whining under defeat, to give him that frank 
 and modest acceptance of victory or defeat 
 characteristic of the true sportsman who loves 
 the game above the prize and the generous 
 rivalry of the contest rather than victory 
 alone. 
 
 The athletic field has been a great training- 
 ground for youthful manners and morals be- 
 cause their sports so vitally interest the boys 
 who haunt it. The athletic trainer is one of 
 the few teachers to whom the instinct for 
 hero-worship turns, and his influence for 
 either good or evil can scarcely be exagger- 
 ated. He is the man who sets the standard 
 and gives to boys their ideals of fair play and 
 
xxvi INTRODUCTION 
 
 sportsmanlike conduct that will be carried 
 later into business, professional, and political 
 life. His responsibilities are great and his 
 personality should be above reproach, and 
 the parents and educationalists should keep 
 this in mind when they select those in whose 
 care their boys are placed. 
 
 The national conscience is but the sum of 
 that of its citizens, and from the value of ath- 
 letics to a nation it is but a step to their 
 international importance. The place of the 
 great Greek athletic festivals in promoting 
 peace throughout the ancient world has been 
 the text on which the modern Olympic idea 
 has been preached, and in their short history 
 organized track and field athletics have been 
 introduced and have become general in lands 
 which have until recently treated them with 
 absolute neglect and contempt. Each Olym- 
 piad shows a better understanding of the 
 principles of sportsmanship by more nations, 
 and the pioneer work of Baron de Coubertin 
 and his associates on the Olympic Committee 
 is increasingly evident in the more intelligent 
 interest in sport all over the world. 
 
 We are fortunate in having the technic 
 
INTRODUCTION xxvii 
 
 of track and field athletics so clearly described 
 in this book by one whose name is connected 
 with the rise and growth of athletic compe- 
 tition in America during the thirty years 
 spanned by his active life. He saw the 
 foundation of the great American athletic 
 clubs. He taught track athletics and foot- 
 ball at Yale and at the University of Penn- 
 sylvania, and from the crude beginnings of 
 thirty years ago he collected the traditions 
 as they passed from athlete to athlete, 
 and devised new and valuable methods 
 which he tested and proved in his daily 
 work. 
 
 Michael C. Murphy, or, as his friends affec- 
 tionately called him, "Mike," was a man of 
 unusual personality. Hundreds of amateur 
 athletes, from last year's college graduate to 
 the man whose hair is silvered, can recall 
 stories of things he said or did. Anecdotes of 
 men like Jewett, Owen, Kraenzlein, Orton, 
 Sherrill, Shevlin, and Tewkesbury he con- 
 tinually used, to illustrate some point he 
 wished to make to his pupil. He was quick 
 to recognize athletic ability in a beginner, and 
 had the connoisseur's admiration and apprecia- 
 
xxviii INTRODUCTION 
 
 tion of muscular intelligence, and especially 
 of that inherent vitality and ruggedness 
 which he so sadly missed in his own person. 
 With one possessing these qualities he would 
 take infinite pains, counselling and advising, 
 jollying, bullying, or ridiculing him, as the 
 temperament of the athlete seemed to require, 
 for with him the merely ''good" was ever the 
 enemy of the "best." No one could read 
 character so well or apply prescription so 
 well. He knew the value of sympathy. 
 The hand laid on the shoulder of the discour- 
 aged loser, and the voice choked with real 
 feeling, went far to bind to him every man 
 who had been his pupil in victory or defeat. 
 
 Small and slight in body, his courage was 
 gigantic. Nothing daunted him. His posi- 
 tive manner and assumption of infallibility 
 were the chief sources of power to him. He 
 could impart to others that invincible cour- 
 age and dogged determination that he him- 
 self used in his struggle against a delicate 
 constitution and increasing infirmities. 
 
 He had a confident belief in the value to 
 health of athletic exercises, and if he was oc- 
 cupied with the training and preparation of 
 
INTRODUCTION xxix 
 
 those more gifted ones who bore the colors of 
 their clubs, colleges, or native land in athletic 
 competition, he still realized the value of less 
 strenuous forms of exercise to those whose 
 physiques were cast in less heroic mould. 
 At Pennsylvania he adapted himself to the 
 scholarship standard required of athletes and 
 was most strenuous in requiring students un- 
 der his care to live up to it. During the last 
 ten years, when his health was beginning to 
 fail, his reputation as a trainer at Yale and 
 Pennsylvania and for the last two American 
 Olympic teams reached its height. When 
 the question of a trainer for the 1916 Olym- 
 pic team was raised, the committee with one 
 voice appointed him, although his health was 
 visibly broken, a compliment which he under- 
 stood and keenly appreciated. 
 
 The following pages were written either by 
 his own hand or dictated by him substan- 
 tially as they stand, and many of his former 
 pupils and friends will recognize in them the 
 terse, epigrammatic style of the man. One 
 cannot give too much credit to Mr. Bushnell 
 for practically forcing him to put down his 
 ideas from time to time and also for arranging 
 
XXX INTRODUCTION 
 
 and editing the entire book. It is but one 
 more example of the affection which his mag- 
 netic personaKty inspired. 
 
 R. Tait McKenzie, M.D., 
 
 Professor of Physical Education, Director of the 
 Department of Physical Education^ Uni- 
 versity of Pennsylvania, 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. Physical Condition 3 
 
 II. Diet 13 
 
 III. Preparing for Athletic Contests . 21 
 
 IV. Sprinting 30 
 
 (1) The Start 32 
 
 (2) Getting into the Stride ... 36 
 
 (3) The Final Burst 39 
 
 V. Middle-Distance Running 45 
 
 VI. The Half-Mile Run . 52 
 
 VII. The One-Mile and Two-Mile Runs 60 
 
 VIII. Cross-Country Running 69 
 
 IX. The Marathon Run 77 
 
 X. Hurdling 84 
 
 The High Hurdles 87 
 
 The Low Hurdles 91 
 
 XI. Running Broad Jump 95 
 
 xxxi 
 
xxxii CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTEB PAGB 
 
 XII. Running High Jump 101 
 
 XIII. The Pole-Vault 108 
 
 XIV. The Shot Put 117 
 
 XV. The Hammer Throw 125 
 
 XVI. The Discus Throw 134 
 
 XVII. The Javelin Throw 138 
 
 XVIII. Relay Racing 143 
 
 XIX. The Athletic Heart 149 
 
 XX. Injuries — ^Their Prevention and 
 
 Treatment 160 
 
 XXI. Football Injuries 165 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Michael C. Murphy Frontispiece 
 
 TACING PAGE 
 
 Training by dancing 8 
 
 A quartet of great distance runners 18 
 
 A quartet of great sprinters 26 
 
 The crouching start 32 
 
 A perfect start 34 
 
 Getting into the stride 38 
 
 Driving finish of a sprint 42 
 
 Finish 400-metres run at Olympic Games, 1912 .. . 46 
 
 Under full speed and perfect control 54 
 
 Start and finish of a mile race 62 
 
 At the ends of the intermediate quarters of World's 
 
 Championship mile 66 
 
 Cross-country runners climbing a hill 74 
 
 Start of a sensational Marathon 80 
 
 A high hurdle race 84 
 
 Perfect form for high hurdles 88 
 
 xxxiii 
 
xxxiv ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 TACIMO PAGE 
 
 Clearing the low hurdles 92 
 
 Getting power and height into the broad jump ... 96 
 
 Finished form for the broad jump 98 
 
 Getting the hip out of the way 102 
 
 Two champion high jumpers 106 
 
 The slide in the pole-vault 108 
 
 The arch in the pole-vault • . 114 
 
 Starting the shot put 118 
 
 Finish of shot put 122 
 
 Starting the hammer throw 128 
 
 The final spin . 132 
 
 Hurling the discus 136 
 
 Holding the javelin 140 
 
 Relay runners touching off 146 
 
 Three world's and one Olympic champion ..... 154 
 
 A quartet of champion hurdlers • 166 
 
ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
CHAPTER I 
 PHYSICAL CONDITION 
 
 Good physical condition is something which 
 every person, whether an athlete or not, 
 should seek, and if the directions given in 
 this chapter and throughout the book are 
 followed they will greatly improve the con- 
 dition and increase the vitality of every one 
 who observes them. By physical condition^ 
 I mean the building up of a state of bodily 
 strength in which every organ is healthy and 
 subject to the control and direction of the 
 mind and will. This is a condition which j 
 results from the gradual development, through, 
 exercise, of the entire body. y 
 
 When one first begins systematic training 
 and exercise everything he does seems like so 
 much hard work, but persistence will be re- 
 warded first with a glow of increased strength 
 and vitality, and then with a consciousness 
 
4 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 of increased cleverness and ability in the par- 
 ticular event for which one is training. Fi- 
 nally, the athlete will obtain what I call 'Irer 
 flex physical action/' This is nothing more 
 nor less than doing in^ the most efficient man- 
 ner the thing for which the athlete has been 
 training — securing the maximum result with 
 the minimum expenditure of effort. It means 
 a co-ordination of the eye, the mind, and the 
 body. A clever boxer in action illustrates 
 what I mean. Every motion of his body, 
 every step he takes, and every blow he aims 
 are executed with the minimum expenditure 
 of energy, yet it is all done ijnconsciously. 
 Some persons are by nature clever physically, 
 but exercise and training will give cleverness 
 to the awkward man and make the clever one 
 more skilful. 
 
 What I have said in the foregoing para- 
 graphs may sound a little scientific or psy- 
 chological, but it will bear close study, and 
 after the athlete has followed a course of 
 training in any of the events described in 
 this book he will profit if he returns to this 
 chapter and studies once more what I have 
 said about physical condition. 
 
PHYSICAL CONDITION 6 
 
 In addition to the technical training, which 
 I shall describe at length in the various 
 chapters, there are certain requisites of good 
 physical condition common to every person 
 who aspires to become athletic. Of prime 
 importance, I should name cleanliness. A 
 clean, healthy body is the first essential to 
 becoming a good athlete. I am, therefore, a 
 firm believer in the health-giving properties 
 of the e^irly morning bath, followed by a vig- 
 orous rub-down, deep breathing, and a few 
 simple calls thenic exercises. The best morn- 
 ing bath is a shower, but the majority of my 
 readers will not have facilities for it. A tub 
 bath is virtually as good, and if that is not 
 possible either then practically the same re- 
 sults can be obtained by a sponge bath with a 
 bowl. 
 
 If the athlete can take a cold bath, so much 
 the better, but if that has a bad reaction upon 
 his system the chill should first be taken off 
 the water. The bather can tell for himself 
 which is better. If after the cold bath he 
 experiences a warm glow he need have no 
 fear of its ill effects, but if he is inclined to be 
 anaemic and the bath leaves him uncomfort- 
 
6 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 ably chilled he will do well to use warmer 
 water. A few experiments will show him 
 what temperature is best. A cold bath is 
 well in cold weather, but in the summer it 
 should be taken a little warmer or its after 
 effects will be heating instead of cooling. One 
 should be careful not to remain under a 
 shower or in a tub too long. Two minutes 
 under a shower is long enough for any one, 
 and less time is better. One should never 
 lie too long in a bathtub of warm water 
 unless the temperature of the room is right, 
 for there is nothing more weakening to the 
 system. 
 
 The bath should be followed by a vigorous 
 rub-down. Many persons have the idea that 
 they cannot rub themselves, but this is a 
 mistake, for one can really do this better than 
 another can do it for him. After the body 
 has been dried thoroughly the massage should 
 begin with the feet, and every part of the body 
 should be vigorously rubbed, at least five 
 minutes being taken for the operation. The 
 massage movement is very simple and con- 
 sists merely of rubbing the hands vigorously 
 over the skin with a circular motion. The 
 
PHYSICAL CONDITION 7 
 
 back can be rubbed as well as the legs and arms 
 by using a rough towel and drawing it back 
 and forth vigorously. This sort of a rub- 
 down will be a splendid tonic for the skin, and 
 at its conclusion the body will glow from the 
 blood flowing to every part as nature intended 
 it should. 
 
 After this performance the physical condi- 
 tion will be greatly benefited by a few min- 
 utes spent in deep-breathing exercises. The 
 breath should be inhaled slowly until the 
 lungs are completely filled. Then the breath 
 should be released in the same gradual man- 
 ner. This may be repeated for two or three 
 minutes, after which it may be followed to 
 advantage by some simple calisthenic exer- 
 cises for the arms, the back, and the abdo- 
 men. These exercises are invaluable, but to 
 get their fullest advantage they should be 
 taken in a room thoroughly aired or near an 
 open window. 
 
 All the exercises I have explained, includ- 
 ing the bath, rub-down, deep breathing, and 
 simple calisthenics, can be finished without 
 hurrying in fifteen minutes. If they are 
 started early enough in life and pursued per- 
 
8 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 sistently they will give one the most perfect 
 protection that can be devised against colds 
 and illnesses of all kinds. Any person ought 
 to be ashamed to advance the plea that he 
 has not enough time to take these exercises. 
 If he is pressed for time let him get up fifteen 
 minutes ahead of his usual schedule. That 
 quarter of an hour, employed as I have sug- 
 gested, will be worth several hours employed 
 in any other manner, to say nothing of the 
 money it will save in doctor's bills. 
 
 On the subject of calisthenic exercises, ath- 
 letes who are training for any of the track 
 events will do well to practise an exercise 
 made popular by W. G. George, holder of 
 the world's professional record of 4.12% for 
 the mile run. The exercise is very simple 
 and can be practised in the bedroom. It 
 consists in the athlete's dancing up and down 
 on the toes in such a manner as to bring into 
 play the same muscles that are used in run- 
 ning. To learn the exercise the athlete should 
 alternate in raising each leg so that the knee 
 will come to about the same level as the hips, 
 no higher. The left hand should swing for- 
 ward in harmony with the raising of the right 
 
PHYSICAL CONDITION 9 
 
 leg, just as in walking. Unless one has got 
 into pretty good physical condition by con- 
 siderable track work, this exercise should be 
 taken easily at first because it is practical- 
 ly the same as running. After having mas- 
 tered it the athlete can practise it rapidly and 
 get the same exercise, in accordance with the 
 length of time he practises it, as he would by 
 an actual run on the track. This is an exer- 
 cise which I have used with great success for 
 my track athletes during the winter months 
 when it was impossible to run out-of-doors. 
 I also used it continually during both trips 
 of the American Olympic teams to Europe in 
 1908 and 1912. Care must be exercised not 
 to practise it on too hard a floor. It is par- 
 ticularly valuable for boys and young men 
 who, on account of the nature of their work 
 or their distance from training quarters, de- 
 sire a substitute for actual track work. I 
 have known a good many athletes who got 
 themselves into splendid physical condition 
 and thoroughly hardened the muscles of their 
 legs and increased their wind by these exer- 
 cises. From three to five minutes of this kind 
 of work in the morning as a substitute for the 
 
10 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 calisthenic work suggested will accomplish 
 wonderful results. 
 
 In the chapter on diet I have explained the 
 need of caring for the teeth. 
 
 One more essential to bodily health is 
 plenty of skep. I have seen a great many 
 races lost through failure to observe the rule 
 that every person needs at least eight hours' 
 sleep. Some need more, particularly growing 
 boys. If a person finds that he needs eight 
 or nine hours of sleep to maintain good phys- 
 ical condition he should insist upon getting 
 it. Violation of this law of common sense, 
 through lopping off one or two hours several 
 nights a week which should be devoted to 
 sleep, will bring about its own punishment. 
 Sleep is the great restorer of strength and the 
 tonic for nerves, and the body should be given 
 all it requires. 
 
 Before a boy begins his athletic career he 
 must provide himself with the necessary ath- 
 letic outfit. The candidate for track and 
 field honors should have a uniform composed 
 of a sleeveless or quarter-sleeved jersey and 
 a pair of running trousers. An ordinary sus- 
 pensory and a pair of running shoes complete 
 
PHYSICAL CONDITION 11 
 
 the outfit. The kind of shoes worn will de- 
 pend upon the event for which the boy is 
 training. 
 
 For all the runs, from the short sprints to 
 the two miles, the athlete should wear a shoe 
 with six spikes in the sole, none in the heel. 
 Spiked shoes are not absolutely essential for 
 one who is taking up athletics purely for rec- 
 reation, but if he wishes to make record time 
 or is competing against other athletes so 
 equipped he should have the spiked shoes. 
 For cross-country running, road work, and 
 Marathon running he should have a shoe 
 with shorter spikes in the sole and a low 
 heel. The heel may or may not have short 
 spikes. The jumper and hurdler uses a shoe 
 the sole of which is slightly stiffened, in ad- 
 dition to which there are two spikes in the 
 heel. 
 
 If the athlete trains in cool weather he will 
 find it best to have, in addition to the outfit 
 I have explained, a long-sleeved jersey or 
 sweater with a neck which can be used to 
 protect the face and to keep him from breath- 
 ing air too cold. He should also wear a pair 
 of long drawers to protect the legs. He can 
 
12 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 be as economical as he desires in preparing 
 his outfit, for practically everything with the 
 exception of the suspensory and the shoes may 
 be home-made. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 DIET 
 
 Most persons have an entirely wrong con- 
 ception of what diet means. To most people 
 it conveys the idea that it is some special 
 preparation of foods to be partaken of only 
 by athletes in training or by sick people. I 
 have always claimed, and my experience has 
 borne it out, that the kind of dieting I recom- 
 mend is the best food not only to keep 
 athletes in good condition, but to keep the 
 average man and woman healthy. It is sim- 
 ply the application of common sense to the 
 food that we eat, the regulation of food for 
 the stomach. 
 
 And I wish to say at the beginning of this 
 discussion that a healthy stomach is not only 
 the surest guarantee of health that one can 
 have, but it is indispensable to success in 
 athletics. And in the same proportion that 
 a healthy stomach is necessary to success in 
 
 13 
 
14 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 athletics so is it also indispensable to the best 
 work in the intellectual and business world. 
 It will increase the physical and mental effi- 
 ciency of any man, woman, or child one hun- 
 dred per cent. 
 
 It is a mistake to imagine that the sort of 
 diet I recommend here is expensive or re- 
 quires preparation by a high-priced chef. 
 The beauty of it is that any competent 
 housekeeper can prepare it. In addition I 
 will guarantee that it will not only put the 
 candidate for athletic honors in good phys- 
 ical condition, but it will benefit in a surpris- 
 ing manner every member of the household. 
 
 The best training table diet that I know of 
 consists of the following: 
 
 BREAKFAST 
 
 One chop or eight ounces of beef. 
 
 One or two soft-boiled eggs. 
 
 One baked potato. 
 
 Toast or bread. 
 
 Milk or mild tea. 
 
 Prunes or apple sauce (no cream or sugar added). 
 
 DINNER 
 
 Light soup. 
 
 Roast beef, lamb, mutton, or fowl. 
 
DIET 16 
 
 Boiled or mashed potato. 
 Vegetables and fruits in season. 
 Boiled rice and milk or cornmeal mush. 
 A light pudding. 
 Milk or tea. 
 Toast or bread. 
 
 SUPPER 
 
 Cold meat (roast beef), lamb, mutton, or fowl, or 
 
 one small steak. (Only one kind of meat.) 
 One potato. 
 
 Toast or fresh graham bread. 
 Prunes, apple sauce, or baked apple. 
 Milk or mild tea. 
 
 It will be noticed that in the foregoing I 
 have included several kinds of meat from 
 which one may make a selection. It should 
 be understood that this diet is merely a sug- 
 gestion and may be varied to suit one's taste. 
 JFoiit-is always good, but should be taken only 
 in its proper season. 
 
 I always caution athletes to abstain from 
 fish and rich meats such as duck. Milk is 
 usually good for most athletes, though it 
 should be remembered that, particularly for 
 distance runners, it is likely to cut the wind 
 and should be taken sparingly or not at all 
 in the height of the training season. There 
 
16 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 is nothing better to keep the bowels in good 
 shape than prunes, and they may be eaten at 
 any meal. 
 
 It will be observed that I have eliminated 
 from this bill of fare all fish and oysters. 
 These are foods which do not agree with all 
 men, but appetites differ, and an athlete may 
 use certain kinds of fish sparingly if he has a 
 liking for it and it agrees with him. Every 
 one knows that no two persons are consti- 
 tuted alike, and foods that agree with one 
 may not agree with another. This bill of 
 fare is the result of twenty-five years of ex- 
 perimentation on my part with thousands of 
 athletes. With but few exceptions it is the 
 same I used when I was a professional runner. 
 It was evolved after a most careful test to 
 learn what foods kept the stomach in the best 
 condition and made one most efficient ath- 
 letically and physically. 
 
 The trouble with a majority of athletes, 
 and other persons as well, is that they eat 
 too much. It is always best to get up from 
 the table feeling a little hungry rather than 
 to leave with an overloaded stomach. The 
 worst foe of the athlete is indigestion, which. 
 
DIET 17 
 
 in nine cases out of ten, is due to a greedy 
 appetite, eating too fast, or partaking of foods 
 and drinks not suitable to the stomach. -^ 
 
 In my athletic days a man never thought 
 of drinking ice-water with his meals or con- 
 cluding them with ice-cream. My experience 
 is that ice-water taken freely with the meals 
 is responsible for more indigestion than any 
 other combination of causes. Water may be 
 cooled a little, but it ought not to be taken ice- 
 cold, especially with meals. I have always 
 advised the drinking of as little water as pos- 
 sible during meals, for the reason that it 
 impedes digestion. 
 
 Another cause of bad stomachs among ath- 
 letes is the tendency to mix various fruits 
 such as oranges and grapefruit with cereal 
 covered with sugar and flooded with [cream 
 at breakfast. This combination is enough to 
 sour the strongest stomach and ought to be 
 avoided. 
 
 I wish to emphasize the fact that these 
 rules of dieting are not hard-and-fast regula- 
 tions. Every person should study his own 
 physical condition and govern what he eats 
 and drinks accordingly. I recall two men 
 
18 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 who in college rowed on the crew in the 
 spring and played football in the fall. They 
 had voracious appetites and would eat noth- 
 ing but steaks and drink nothing but water 
 at every meal. If there was no steak they 
 would not eat. At the same table was an- 
 other man who never touched meat, but he 
 could do just as much work as the two men 
 who devoured steak. And while I am not a 
 vegetarian, I am inclined to think that of the 
 two diets the vegetarian was by far the bet- 
 ter, especially in its after effects. 
 
 The principal end to be sought by the 
 young athlete is to keep the stomach and 
 bowels in good condition. These two things 
 are as important as the actual training itself. 
 The average person does not pay nearly as 
 much attention to his food, his stomach, and 
 bowels as he ought, and if what I have said 
 induces him to pay more attention to these 
 things, and form correct habits concerning 
 them, it will be of lasting benefit to him. 
 
 Any boy or young man who takes up ath- 
 letics of any kind without acquiring habits of 
 personal cleanliness misses one of the princi- 
 pal lessons which athletics ought to teach. 
 
p 
 
 5 
 
 O 
 
 O 
 
DIET 19 
 
 The more attention paid to such matters, 
 the better athlete one will be, and the better 
 man he will develop into. 
 
 In the article on diet I made particular 
 mention of the care of the stomach. The 
 stomach is affected by the condition of other 
 parts of the body, and particularly by the 
 teeth. Every boy and young man should 
 have his teeth examined by a competent den- 
 tist, and if there is anything the matter with 
 them they should be attended to promptly. 
 Next, the athlete should make it a point to 
 care for them properly and with regularity. 
 It will be found that good teeth will contrib- 
 ute much toward a good stomach, and a good 
 stomach is one of the essentials to success in 
 athletics. Too much importance cannot be 
 laid upon proper bathing. The body should 
 always be kept clean and the skin in a healthy 
 condition. After taking athletic exercise, the 
 athlete should have a shower-bath if possi- 
 ble. If this is not possible, the body should 
 be thoroughly cleansed with a sponge. Not 
 many boys or young men, unless they are 
 connected with the larger schools and colleges 
 or some of the best clubs, will have the facili- 
 
20 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 ties for a rub-down. A good rub-down by 
 an experienced rubber not only keeps the 
 skin in good condition, but it removes lame- 
 ness and often cures muscle bruises. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 PREPARING FOR ATHLETIC 
 CQNTESTS 
 
 After the athlete has gotten into condi- 
 tion and has trained faithfully for his event 
 he is ready for competition. But to know 
 how to run a race properly or to do the best 
 work in a field event requires a knowledge 
 that cannot be obtained entirely from faith- 
 ful training. I have seen hundreds of races 
 lost through inexperience, nervousness, and 
 ignorance of racing knowledge in general; 
 also field events in which the better man did 
 not always win, for the same reasons. Con- 
 sequently I shall give a few words of instruc- 
 tion about the final preparation for a race or 
 other athletic contest. 
 
 First of all, the athlete should aim to have 
 himself in perfect control. He should not 
 worry about his coming competition. The 
 
 21 
 
22 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 moment he violates this rule he reduces his 
 chances of victory. Of course, some athletes 
 are of such a nervous temperament that they 
 find it hard to obey this rule. The best way 
 to insure going into a competition in the proper 
 frame of mind is to keep busy until the day 
 of the contest. 
 
 I always recommend that the athlete do 
 absolutely no work for at least two days pre- 
 ceding his contest. And if he has had a long 
 enough period of training, say from two 
 months to ten weeks, it will probably be 
 found that it will not be necessary to do very 
 much work the last week. This is the rule 
 I have always adhered to, and in training my 
 teams for the Intercollegiate Championships 
 none of the athletes, except under unusual con- 
 ditions, did any hard work for five days before 
 the meet, and then only a little jog or very 
 light work. It has been my experience that 
 more athletes suffer in actual competition 
 from too much work than from too little. 
 This applies particularly to those who have 
 been troubled with sore shins or muscles. 
 
 Considerable attention should be paid to the 
 diet during the twenty -four hours before the 
 
PREPARING FOR ATHLETIC CONTESTS 23 
 
 race. The athlete should not eat anything 
 hard to digest. On the night before the race 
 he need have no fear about eating his usual 
 hearty meal, provided everything on the table 
 is easily digestible. Assuming that the race 
 is to be run in the afternoon, the athlete 
 should eat a moderately good breakfast, toast, 
 a medium-cooked egg, cereal, potatoes. As- 
 suming, furthermore, that the race in the after- 
 noon is to be run at 3 o'clock, the athlete 
 should take his midday lunch not later than 
 11.30. This should be a hght meal, the best 
 diet being toast, one or two soit-boiled eggs, 
 possibly a little light tea, but no dessert of any 
 kind. 
 
 The main object of all this care about diet 
 is to have the stomach and bowels in good 
 condition. Constipation is the cause of nearly 
 all the illness and general ''out-of -sorts" feel- 
 ings not only among athletes, but among other 
 persons as well. Particular care should be 
 taken to have these organs in good condition 
 before a race or any other athletic contest. 
 
 When the athlete arrives at the field he 
 should still try not to worry about the com- 
 ing contest, and particularly not to worry 
 
24 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 about his competitors. It is the practice of 
 a good many athletes, especially if they have 
 had several years of competition, to attempt 
 to rattle their younger opponents by boast- 
 ful talking. Beginners should not Usten to 
 any such conversation, and particularly should 
 remember that a race is won by the legs and 
 brain and not with the mouth. Finally, I 
 would caution the beginner not to worry about 
 the remarks of his competitors when they go 
 to the mark. 
 
 One of the things essential to a successful 
 race is what is called ''warming up.'' This 
 is something which it will pay sprinters, mid- 
 dle and long distance runners, and hurdlers 
 as well, to observe. From a half-hour to an 
 hour before the race the athlete should go on 
 the track, or if that is not available to some 
 place within the field, and warm up easily. The 
 sprinters should take a few starts and then run 
 through two or three short dashes at about 
 three-quarters speed. The hurdlers should do 
 the same, and also try one or two hurdles to 
 make sure of getting the stride properly. In the 
 case of the hurdlers it will probably be found 
 impossible to try a hurdle until the race is ready 
 
PREPARING FOR ATHLETIC CONTESTS 25 
 
 to start, because the hurdles are not usually put 
 in place until then. But all starters and other 
 officials will not object to a little warming- 
 up practice jBrst. The distance runners, if 
 their event be half a mile or more, should 
 dance about enough to get the muscles of the 
 leg flexible, and then run from 300 to 600 
 yards, according to their events, at about three- 
 quarters of their speed in order to fill the lungs 
 with oxygen. After this warming-up practice, 
 the athletes should return to their dressing- 
 rooms and be particular to keep off their feet. 
 In case the weather is at all cool, the ath- 
 letes should either keep on their drawers, or, 
 when they are not actually running, wear long 
 trousers. This precaution is to keep the mus- 
 cles from stiffening. Under no circumstances 
 should athletes, waiting for an event or after 
 its conclusion, sit on the damp ground. A 
 blanket should always be carried to protect 
 the legs and arms when it is necessary to wait 
 for an event. 
 
 I can give only general directions in regard 
 to the running events. Sprinters, hurdlers, 
 and quarter-milers should take the greatest 
 precautions to insure that the starting-holes 
 
26 ATHLETIC TRAESTING 
 
 are properly made and firm. To be sure of 
 this, they should try them two or three times 
 before the race actually starts. 
 
 It is seldom that the starters in a longer 
 race use the crouch. In the shorter distances 
 great care should be taken to get a good start. 
 The athlete should be sure that he is well- 
 balanced on his hands and feet. The usual 
 form of starting a race is for the starter to give 
 three signals. First, ''On your mark.'' Then 
 the athlete gets quickly into position with the 
 feet in the proper starting-holes, at the same 
 time resting the weight of the body on the 
 knee of the rear leg. Next, the starter will 
 say, "Get set." Then the athlete steadies 
 himself for the crouching start explained in 
 the chapter on Sprinting. When it appears 
 to the starter that all the runners are properly 
 poised and ready, he fires the pistol. With 
 the report of the pistol the race is on. Most 
 sprint races are run in lanes, but the athlete 
 should remember that a straight line is the 
 shortest distance between two given points, 
 and that the quickest way to reach the tape 
 is to run straight. Other things being equal, 
 the man who wabbles is sure to be beaten. 
 
; t/?f 
 
PREPARING FOR ATHLETIC CONTESTS 27 
 
 In all races of a quarter of a mile or more 
 there are certain rules which must be observed 
 by the competitors. One is that of passing 
 a runner. This should never be done on the 
 inside, because it is contrary to the rules, and 
 because it is dangerous. The man who does 
 so is not only likely to be disqualified but 
 may be spiked as well. The rule of passing 
 is that a man must be two clean strides 
 ahead of a competitor before he can cut in 
 and take the pole. As a rule, referees do 
 not insist upon the strict observance of this 
 rule. If a man can pass another without 
 shortening his opponent's stride or making 
 him slow up the referee will not usually in- 
 terfere. 
 
 A further precaution which all runners 
 should take is against jostling. Don't jostle, 
 because the athlete usually does himself more 
 harm than his competitor. 
 
 In a long-distance race the thing to be most 
 carefully avoided is that of being boxed. A 
 runner is boxed when he is hemmed in by 
 other runners on three sides so that he can- 
 not get out without fouling some of his op- 
 ponents or dropping back and then passing 
 
28 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 on the outside. Boxing a runner is illegal 
 and is never resorted to by fair competitors. 
 If the referee decides that a man has been 
 deliberately boxed by the representatives of 
 a club or institution, he may bar all the run- 
 ners of the offending team. All races should 
 be run absolutely upon merit and every man 
 for himself. 
 
 The reader will understand that more at- 
 tention must be paid to instruction to run- 
 ners than to competitors in field events. 
 Broad jumpers, high jumpers, and pole vault- 
 ers can take a few short runs in warming up 
 for their events, though they need not do it 
 before they come out for the actual competi- 
 tion. In the case of broad jumpers, they 
 should first make sure of the take-off and 
 then try a few jumps, none of them hard. 
 The high jumpers should likewise make sure 
 of the take-off and then try a few jumps at 
 a moderate height. The same instructions 
 apply to the pole vaulters. 
 
 The hammer throwers and weight putters 
 should do just enough work to make sure 
 that they have not lost their form and to get 
 their muscles in good condition. All candi- 
 
PREPARING FOR ATHLETIC CONTESTS 29 
 
 dates for field honors should exercise the same 
 precaution as the runners in keeping the body 
 warm on chilly days. It is best to do all the 
 warming-up practice clad in sweaters. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 SPRINTING 
 
 One often hears it said nowadays that 
 "" sprinters, Hke poets, are born, not made/' 
 In a measure this is a true statement, be- 
 cause it is just as natural for some men to 
 outstrip their fellows in a foot-race as it is 
 for others to pass their mates in any mental 
 or physical task. It would be a hopeless un- 
 dertaking to develop a cart-horse into a trot- 
 ter, because they are built for totally differ- 
 ent purposes. So it is almost as hard to make 
 sprinters out of some athletes. It requires a 
 peculiar combination of strength, agility, and 
 nervous energy to make one a successful 
 sprinter, and if nature has not blessed the 
 athlete with these attributes no amount of 
 hard work or coaching can make him a world 
 champion. 
 
 At the same time, any man, no matter how 
 
 30 
 
SPRINTING 31 
 
 slow he may be, can improve his speed even- 
 tually by constant practice and without harm 
 to himself. Every one ought to know how to 
 run well, because in learning to run one ac- 
 quires the faculty of thinking quickly and 
 handling himself easily. 
 
 Before taking up the technical requirements 
 of the sprinter I want to correct a popular fal- 
 lacy: that, to be a successful sprinter, some 
 particular build is necessary. This is a big 
 mistake, for in the thirty years that I have 
 been training athletes I have seen and trained 
 champions of almost every conceivable build. 
 Some were short of stature and inclined to 
 be too heavy; some were very tall and thin, 
 while others have had what is considered 
 an ideal physique. Consequently a man's 
 shortness of stature is not proof that he can- 
 not sprint, nor should he be dismayed if his 
 physical dimensions run to the other extreme. 
 If there is any advantage to either type of 
 man, I should say that it lies with the one 
 who is tall and strong. 
 
 But what he should consider above all these 
 things is whether he has the nervous energy 
 and ascilitv that will enable him to leave his 
 
32 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 mark and get away without the loss of a 
 fraction of a second, and the strength to carry 
 him through to the tape without a falter. In 
 sprinting, as in other athletic events, success 
 depends upon the ability to get the maximum 
 return from every ounce of energy without 
 the loss of any of it. To do this is an art 
 that requires intelligent, determined, and con- 
 scientious training. There are three points 
 of which the sprinter must make a scientific 
 study if he expects to be a champion. These 
 are: (1) The start. (2) Getting into the 
 stride. (3) The finish. 
 
 (1) The Start 
 
 Every successful sprinter nowadays uses 
 the "crouching" start. The standing start 
 used for long-distance races is impractical for 
 the sprinter who needs to get away from his 
 mark at top speed. 
 
 The crouching start was first introduced by 
 me. This was in 1887, at Yale, and Charles 
 H. Sherrill was the athlete who first demon- 
 strated its superiority. When he used it in 
 his first race he was laughed at, and the 
 starter, thinking that Sherrill did not under- 
 
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SPRINTING 88 
 
 stand how to start, held up the race to give 
 him instructions. Finally, he was made to 
 understand that Sherrill was using a new 
 start. Sherrill immediately demonstrated 
 how superior it was to the old standing start, 
 which it displaced, and now the crouching 
 start is used the world over for sprinters, 
 hurdlers, and even quarter and half milers. 
 
 The importance of a good start cannot be 
 overestimated, for a poor or slow start always 
 means defeat if the runners are otherwise 
 evenly matched. The athlete who has mas- 
 tered the start can usually gain from a yard 
 to two yards at the very beginning of the 
 race on the man who has not yet mastered it. 
 
 The object of a good start is to get oflf the 
 mark and into the natural stride without the 
 waste of strength or time. The first thing 
 the runner should do is to dig the holes for 
 starting. As no portion of the body can 
 touch the ground in front of the starting-line, 
 the holes should be dug so that the runner 
 can get as close to the starting-line as possi- 
 ble and yet be in a position to get away nat- 
 urally and quickly. 
 
 To determine where to dig the holes, the 
 
34 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 runner should first assume the correct crouch- 
 ing position. First, get down on one knee. 
 The knee of the back leg should be about 
 even with the inner ankle of the forward foot. 
 This is the proper position for the runner, 
 with the back knee only on the ground, when 
 the starter gives the first of his three signals: 
 *'Get on your marks." With the next signal, 
 which is, "'Get set,'' the runner rises on his 
 hands and feet, leaning forward as far as pos- 
 sible without in the slightest losing his bal- 
 ance. In this position he should wait for the 
 report of the pistol, at which he springs for- 
 ward. Every effort should be to keep the 
 mind concentrated on the gun. If the run- 
 ner is thinking of anything else he is sure to 
 lose an instant before he realizes that the race 
 is on. 
 
 As soon as the sprinter has found an easy, 
 natural position for the crouch he should dig 
 small holes, which can be easily done with the 
 spiked shoes, one hole for each foot. Care 
 should be taken to see that these holes are 
 deep and strong enough to give a firm grip. 
 In preparing the holes they should be so 
 placed that the hands, which are on the start- 
 
SPRINTING 35 
 
 ing-line, are not more than six inches in front 
 of the forward foot. As the hands cannot be 
 ahead of the starting-mark, the runner will 
 give away distance by having his feet further 
 back than I have indicated. Some runners 
 with very long legs and arms do give away 
 more distance than this, but the positions I 
 have indicated are best for the normal man. 
 Above all, the sprinter should see that he is 
 well balanced and can get off the mark with- 
 out a tendency to wabble. 
 
 The most important part of the start is 
 that of holding the body and mind in perfect 
 control after being told by the starter to 
 "'Get set" and while waiting for the pistol. 
 Let the weight of the body rest on the front 
 leg, a little forward so that the first drive of 
 the leg will send the body forward and up- 
 ward. It will be found that the fingers will 
 be of great aid in keeping the body properly 
 balanced and directing the first forward spring 
 when the pistol is fired. At the same time, 
 care should be taken to see that there is 
 enough weight on the back foot to keep it 
 firmly in the hole which has been dug for it. 
 The spring should be off both feet. It will 
 
36 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 take some time for the sprinter to acquire 
 that perfect control of the body that will en- 
 able him to wait for the pistol. He should 
 not get into the habit of swinging back and 
 forth. This habit will either make him go 
 off the mark ahead of the pistol, and then 
 subject him to a penalty, or he will find him- 
 self left at the mark. He should also avoid 
 the trick of some runners who aim to gradu- 
 ally move the body forward after getting set, 
 on the assumption that they can time them- 
 selves to reach the point farthest forward just 
 as the pistol sounds. This practice loses more 
 races than it wins. They are sure to be set 
 back for ''beating the gun." 
 
 (2) Getting into the Stride 
 
 The same careful attention to details must 
 be observed after the start. Getting into the 
 stride without loss of energy and without 
 wabbling are just as important as the cor- 
 rect start. As the runner rises from the mark 
 he should spring forward with the impetus 
 which the crouch gives. Then he should 
 make it a point to run straight and true, al- 
 ways remembering that the straightest course 
 
SPRINTING 37 
 
 is also the shortest. Many runners make the 
 mistake of taking too long or too short a 
 stride at the first spring. Make it a point 
 to take these first few strides naturally and 
 easily. The runner will be rising gradually 
 and will have covered 20 or 25 yards be- 
 fore he is running erect. He should be care- 
 ful not to try to reach an erect position too 
 quickly or he will lose speed in consequence. 
 In order to take his strides properly and pre- 
 serve the equilibrium of the body as he is ris- 
 ing he should take the first few strides as 
 smoothly and as quickly as possible. Care- 
 ful observation of these points will enable 
 him to be running easily when he gets erect, 
 and he will then be able to put every ounce 
 of strength into his work. 
 
 For the first few weeks of his training the 
 sprinter will find that he has plenty to do to 
 master the start and get into his stride. The 
 third course of training, the final burst over 
 the last quarter of the course, must be de- 
 layed until he has attained sufiicient strength 
 and mastered the two elements mentioned be- 
 fore. No sprinter, whether his distance be 
 100 yards or 220 yards, should attempt to run 
 
38 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 through the full distance at anything like his 
 best speed during the first three weeks of his 
 training. This time should be devoted to 
 practising starts, learning to get into the 
 stride quickly and naturally, with one or two 
 jogs a day through the full distance, but not 
 at his best speed or a speed that will tire him 
 too much. 
 
 It will require a great deal of careful prac- 
 tice to master the start. The runner should 
 try it about half a dozen or more times a day, 
 working at good speed for about 20 yards 
 and then slowing down gradually. After a 
 rest he may conclude the day's work with a 
 jog of 120 or 150 yards, though at about four- 
 fifths speed., A few weeks of this kind of 
 training will enable the runner gradually to 
 master the start, after which he will have no 
 trouble in maintaining his speed and equilib- 
 rium as he runs in an erect position, which 
 he should be doing by the time he has gone 
 20 or 25 yards. 
 
 The sprinter should make good use of his 
 arms, because they can be made to help the 
 legs in their drive by swinging them forward 
 and upward or by a good, hard cross-motion. 
 
GETTING INTO THE STRIDE. 
 
 James Rector, University of Virginia, illustrating proper method 
 of sprinter running into erect position. 
 
SPRINTING 89 
 
 The sprinter should take particular care never 
 to let the hand drag behind the hip. Every 
 movement should be forward. 
 
 (3) The Final Burst 
 
 The candidate is now ready for some real 
 speed work, which brings me to the third por- 
 tion of the training. First of all, I would cau- 
 tion young sprinters not to overstride, even 
 after having gotten well into their running. 
 To do so will certainly cause the body to be 
 overbalanced at a sacrifice of speed. After 
 the sprinter has learned the art of being nat- 
 ural in his stride its length will adjust itself. 
 His aim should be to run naturally and to 
 use every ounce of his strength. Above all, 
 he should keep his mind strictly on his own 
 work and not allow himself to be pulled out 
 of his stride by an opponent. 
 
 It is assumed that by this time the sprinter 
 has been training for at least three weeks and 
 is now ready for some speed work. During 
 the third week the sprinter, who is training 
 for the 100-yard dash, should try himself out 
 with a trial of 100 yards against the watch. 
 This will give him an idea of what he is doing 
 
40 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 and at the same time show him whether or 
 not he has enough strength to go the full dis- 
 tance. Probably he will experience a tight- 
 ening of the muscles, or what athletes term 
 ''tie-up/' in the last 25 or more yards of the 
 run. Under such conditions the runner wab- 
 bles over his last quarter, and has difficulty 
 in finishing. To correct this and enable him 
 to go through the entire distance without 
 slackening his speed, and above all to have a 
 final burst of speed as he approaches the tape, 
 is the climax of his training. Nothing but 
 conscientious work will enable him to over- 
 come this weakening. But practice will bring 
 about the desired result, and soon the legs will 
 be strong enough to carry the runner through 
 the full distance without a let-up in his speed. 
 xVfter the sprinter has been training for 
 three weeks, and has started to run trials at 
 the end of three or four weeks, care should be 
 exercised to keep these trials down to not more 
 than two a week. If it is possible to run 
 them in a set of games, so much the better. 
 I usually advise sprinters to limit their trials 
 to four-fifths the distance of the race they 
 expect to run. The man who is training 
 
SPRINTING 41 
 
 for the 100-yard dash should confine most 
 of his trials to 80 yards, going the full dis- 
 tance about once a week. By working out 
 at his best speed for 80 yards he will depend 
 upon the excitement of the contest to carry 
 him the remaining distance without a let-up 
 in his speed, a theory that seldom fails. Be- 
 cause it takes more strength to run 100 yards 
 properly than most people imagine, I should 
 advise all sprinters not to overestimate their 
 strength, but to train faithfully. In no other 
 way can any one expect to be a 10-second 
 sprinter. 
 
 Most athletes who run the 100-yard dash 
 also try the 220-yard event. But they are not 
 always successful, for the furlong race re- 
 quires more strength and a sustained sprint. 
 The reason that many 100-yard sprinters fail 
 at the longer distance is that they lack the 
 ability so to adjust their speed that they can 
 swing through at an easy gait without tying 
 up. 
 
 The method of training for the two sprints 
 is much the same. Like the 100-yard man, 
 the 220-yard runner must be a good starter 
 and, of course, he must have lots of speed. 
 
42 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 To run the 220 yards in 22 seconds means a 
 10-second gait for the entire distance. The 
 principal difference is that the 220-yard man 
 must develop a long, easy stride. Also he 
 must have an accurate knowledge of the pace 
 he can maintain. I have seen a great many 
 races at this distance lost because a man ran 
 himself off his feet during the first half of 
 the race, and then tied up completely in the 
 last half. I cannot lay too much emphasis 
 upon the necessity of learning to swing through 
 this race at almost one's best speed for the 
 first 180 yards. The runner can learn to main- 
 tain a stride that will carry him over the 
 ground just as fast as though he tried all the 
 time. The last 50 yards will require the run- 
 ner to try his hardest. After the athlete has 
 run a few hard races at this distance he will 
 understand better what I mean by advising 
 him to swing through his races without ac- 
 tually trying every step of the way as in the 
 100-yard dash. This will come to him in- 
 stinctively. 
 
 As a rule, the best 220-yard men are those 
 who can run a greater distance than this, the 
 best of them being able to go at the same 
 
SPRmXING 43 
 
 rate for 300 yards. This has been true of 
 such men as Wef ers, Craig, Lippincott, Tewks- 
 bury, and others. 
 
 Since this race requires considerable en- 
 durance the candidate for it should practise 
 swinging through from 300 to 350 yards. If 
 he is also training for the 100 yards he will 
 get enough sprinting practice in working for 
 that event, but he should vary his training, 
 taking two or three runs through for 300 
 yards at about four-fifths speed. 
 
 There are not very many 220-yard straight- 
 away courses in this country, so that every 
 man who runs this distance, particularly in 
 indoor meets, must accustom himself to run- 
 ning it around a curve. The only way to 
 learn running around the curve is to practise 
 on a curved track. The novice at sprinting 
 on a curved track instinctively slows up, while 
 the experienced man is able to take the turn 
 without any let-up in his speed. The idea is 
 to take the curve without chopping the stride. 
 In doing this the runner should learn the 
 knack of turning the outward foot in slightly 
 and going at full speed around the curve. 
 Likewise he should be careful never to run 
 
44 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 on the heel, for to do so will surely make him 
 fall. I would not advise many trials for this 
 race, because it takes one's strength. It is 
 far better to run the trials in an actual race. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 MIDDLE-DISTANCE RUNNING 
 
 There are two events which properly be- 
 long to this classification, the quarter and 
 half mile runs. They combine both the 
 sprints and the longer distances, in that they 
 necessitate certain of their requirements for 
 success in each. To be a good quarter-mile 
 or half-mile runner the candidate must pos- 
 sess some of the sprinter's speed and the dis- 
 tance man's endurance. Of the two a good 
 sprint is perhaps the more valuable to the 
 quarter-miler, whose event is more like one 
 sustained sprint every yard of the way. 
 
 Because of the great popularity of relay 
 racing, nearly every athlete with any running 
 ability at all takes a "fling" at the quarter- 
 mile at some time in his career. The fact 
 that four men get a chance on the relay team 
 makes it possible to try out many more can- 
 
 45 
 
46 ATHLETIC TRAINmG 
 
 didates for this event than would otherwise 
 be possible. And it is because so many boys 
 and young men try this event that great 
 care should be exercised. I say this because 
 I consider it the hardest event on the athletic 
 programme, not excepting the half-mile and 
 mile runs, which ar^ often pointed to as events 
 which require more lajerve and strength than 
 the quarter. To run this distance in record 
 or even fast time requires more speed and 
 endurance than most runners suppose. There- 
 fore I would particularly advise all young 
 athletes never to run this distance unless 
 they are in good condition as the result of 
 conscientious training. Disregard of this in- 
 junction is likely to result in permanent injury. 
 There are two types of men who make good 
 quarter-milers. One is the sprinter who has 
 enough endurance to carry him through the 
 full 440 yards, the other is a half-miler with 
 a good turn of speed who can go through 
 the distance at a uniformly fast clip. M. 
 W. Long, the former Columbia University 
 man and holder of the world record of 47 
 seconds for the straightaway track, was a 
 man of the first type. Long could sprint 
 
MIDDLE-DISTANCE RUNNING 47 
 
 both the 100 and 220 yards in even time, 
 and yet had enough strength for the double 
 furlong. Another such runner was C. D. 
 Reidpath, of Syracuse University, holder of 
 the intercollegiate record of 48 seconds, and 
 of the Olympic record for 400 metres. Rep- 
 resenting the second might be mentioned J. 
 E. Meredith, of the University of Pennsyl- 
 vania, and winner of the 800 metres run at 
 the Olympic garhes. Meredith's best dis- 
 tance was somewhere between the quarter 
 and half mile runs, but he was able to run 
 the 440 yards in close to 48 seconds. The 
 quarter-miler whose chief dependence is his 
 sprinting ability will do his best work in the 
 first part of the race, while the other type 
 of man will maintain a more even gait for 
 the entire distance. Of the two types, the 
 sprinter, provided he has the endurance, is 
 the more likely to be the record-breaker. 
 
 Probably it is because many schoolboys 
 turn their attention to quarter-mile running 
 that it is so frequently overdone. It has been 
 my experience with college athletes that many 
 of them injure or unfit themselves for first- 
 class work as college men by too much quarter- 
 
48 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 mile running while in preparatory school. 
 The blame for this condition of affairs should 
 be put squarely up to young and inexperi- 
 enced physical directors. Too often prepara- 
 tory schools employ men as athletic trainers 
 who have little or no practical experience in 
 running the distances for which they are 
 training young boys. Not only do they at- 
 tempt to make quarter-milers out of boys 
 who are unfitted for the distance, but, in 
 their anxiety to make a wonderful showing 
 in the various meets in which their teams are 
 entered, they make them run too many events 
 in one day. Fortunately, we are not having 
 so many breakdowns among athletes as we 
 once did, and credit for this is due to a more 
 sensible system of training. 
 
 Every quarter-miler should master the 
 principle of the crouching start and learn how 
 to get into his stride quickly and naturally, 
 following the instructions I have given on 
 sprinting. The ability to start quickly in the 
 quarter-mile is fully as important as in the 
 sprints. As most quarter-mile races are run 
 on a circular track, the quickest starter stands 
 the best chance to get the pole at the first 
 
MIDDLE-DISTANCE RUNNING 49 
 
 corner, a consideration which is not to be 
 overlooked. 
 
 During the preKminary training for this 
 event the runner should do considerable jog- 
 ging at distances greater than a quarter-mile. 
 Usually a jog of half a mile or 600 yards will 
 be found sufficient, but if the runner also has 
 the half-mile in mind he will find it best to 
 jog along three-quarters of a mile or more. 
 The object of this sort of training is merely 
 to acquire the necessary sort of endurance, 
 and the amount of jogging one should do will 
 depend upon what he can do without the 
 stiffening of the muscles. 
 
 After getting the legs and wind in fairly 
 good shape the runner should begin a little 
 speed work, training with the sprinters pref- 
 erably. This work should consist of practis- 
 ing starts, taking a few short sprints, with a 
 moderately fast run of 200 yards. As the 
 athlete gets stronger he can increase the length 
 of his sprints to 300 yards, which he should 
 do without tiring. Assuming that his train- 
 ing is to cover a period of from six to eight 
 weeks he should be at this stage by half the 
 time. For the remaining portion of his train- 
 
50 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 ing he can reduce somewhat the length and 
 frequency of the jogs if he feels he has 
 gained enough endurance. From this time 
 on he should work for speed, which will be 
 the deciding factor in his races. His training 
 calls for careful attention to quick starting 
 and a well-sustained sprint for most of the 
 distance, though care should be taken not to 
 run himself off his feet in the first 300 yards. 
 He should be particular to get a long, swinging 
 stride which will carry him over the ground 
 without tiring him too much for the final 
 sprint. Unless running a trial, the athlete 
 should not go more than four-fifths of the 
 distance at top speed. As a rule, it is not 
 wise to run more than one trial a week, and 
 if possible this should be done in a race. As 
 I remarked in the case of sprinting, it will be 
 found that if the runner accustoms himself to 
 covering four-fifths of the distance at his best 
 speed he will be able to maintain this gait; 
 and the excitement of the contest will enable 
 him to finish the last fifth of the journey 
 without distress. 
 
 It is a race which requires splendid judg- 
 ment. The greatest mistake the quarter-miler 
 
MIDDLE-DISTANCE RUNNING 51 
 
 is likely to make is that of running himself 
 off his feet during the first 300 yards, partic- 
 ularly if it be in a relay race. Every man 
 should know his own pace and run his own 
 race. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE HALF-MILE RUN 
 
 Every athlete who runs the half-mile, which 
 is the shortest of the distance runs, will get 
 his first taste of distance running in training 
 for it. Because there are certain principles 
 which every distance runner must observe I 
 will discuss them here, and they may be borne 
 in mind as the longer distances are treated of 
 later. It is hardly necessary to remind the 
 sprinter or even the quarter-miler that he 
 must run on his toes. He acquires that habit 
 naturally in an effort to make speed, but 
 men who are running longer distances may 
 frequently be seen running flat-footed and 
 breathing through the nose, two mistakes 
 which must be eradicated before one can 
 hope for success in these events. By running 
 on the toes I do not mean to keep on the toes 
 in the extreme manner that sprinters do. 
 
 62 
 
THE HALF-MILE RUN 53 
 
 The athlete should aim rather to run on the 
 ball of the foot. When he becomes tired he 
 will naturally fall into the habit of running 
 flat-footed. Unless he runs this way all the 
 time, the runner does himself no harm by oc- 
 casionally running flat-footed, especially when 
 he is jogging long distances to strengthen his 
 endurance. The object of running on the 
 ball of the foot is to get more spring into the 
 stride and to lessen the shock to the nerves 
 and muscles of the feet and legs. In this con- 
 nection let me warn runners against "pound- 
 ing'' or striking the track unnecessarily hard. 
 To do this will bring on an afl3iction of sore 
 shins extremely difficult to cure and which 
 may bring one's running career to an end. 
 The object of distance running is to develop 
 a free, easy stride and not to try to run on 
 the toes too quickly. 
 
 The distance runner must be careful about 
 the way he holds his arms. The beginner 
 seldom realizes that he runs quite as much 
 with his arms as with his legs. I seldom in- 
 struct a runner to carry his arms in any par- 
 ticular manner if he carries them easily and 
 naturally so that they do not tend to retard 
 
54 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 his momentum. At the same time the run- 
 ner should make sure that he is holding his 
 head well up, just as in walking, for this will 
 enable him to breathe freely. 
 
 It is especially important that distance run- 
 ners should breathe properly. Practically ev- 
 ery distance runner breathes through both the 
 nose and mouth. The "wind" is one of the 
 most essential things to success in distance 
 running, consequently the athlete should be 
 extremely careful not to waste his strength by 
 incorrect breathing. Most distance runners 
 get what is called ''the second wind" for most 
 distances from a mile up. In the case of a 
 mile run this reaction comes usually during 
 the third quarter and is a distinct relief to the 
 runner. One need not feel worried if he fails 
 to get his second wind, for I have known mile 
 runners to fail to get it and still others who 
 did not realize it when it did come. 
 
 All distance runners should take scrupu- 
 lous care of their feet and under no circum- 
 stances permit the toes to become raw and 
 sore. All kinds of trouble arise from sore 
 feet. The distance runner should wear com- 
 fortable shoes with chamois pads to protect 
 
Copyright, 1912, by Edward R. Bushnell. 
 
 UNDER FULL SPEED AND PERFECT CONTROL. 
 
 J. E. Meredith, world's half-mile champion, making American interscholastic 
 record for quarter-mile run, 48 4-5 seconds. 
 
THE HALF-MILE RUN 55 
 
 the toes, or a clean stocking will answer the 
 same purpose. If the feet and toes become 
 chafed they should be protected by a piece 
 of surgeon's plaster. If this cannot be ob- 
 tained a little absorbent cotton or even a piece 
 of clean cloth wound around the chafed spot 
 will help. If it is found that the skin is tender 
 and easily broken it is well to frequently soak 
 the feet in a solution of warm water and salt 
 to harden the skin. Unclean stockings or 
 pushers are responsible for many cases of sore 
 feet. These should be kept absolutely clean 
 even if the athlete has to wash them himself. 
 The first problem which confronts the half- 
 mile runner is that of getting his legs in such 
 condition that he can train without getting 
 pains which come from sore muscles. To 
 accomplish this it is necessary to do a great 
 deal of moderate jogging before any effort 
 is made to acquire speed, consequently the 
 runner should take things easy at the start. 
 If he becomes too ambitious he will find that 
 he is making haste slowly. For the first few 
 days he should swing along at a free gait and 
 stop as soon as he feels tired. For the begin- 
 ner it is not a bad idea to use tennis shoes. 
 
56 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 After he has begun to feel a bit tired it is 
 well to walk a short distance until rested and 
 then to try two or three more easy runs. The 
 calves of the legs are sure to become sore at 
 the beginning and it will hurt one to walk. 
 But if the advice to work easily is observed at 
 the start the soreness will gradually disappear 
 and the muscles will become sufficiently hard- 
 ened to do more severe work. 
 
 As soon as the legs are in pretty fair shape 
 the runner can begin to work out for 440 
 and 660 yards at about the speed he thinks he 
 can hold for a half-mile: the quarter in 60 
 seconds and the 660 in about 1.35. This ex- 
 ercise will serve very well until the runner is 
 in moderately good shape. After that he can 
 vary it by going a little farther but always 
 trying to maintain about the same rate of 
 speed. The first-class man, by which I mean 
 one able to run the half-mile in 2 minutes or 
 better, will run through the 660 yards in 1.26, 
 which he should do once or twice a week. A 
 man who can run the half in 2.10 should be 
 satisfied with 1.34 for the 660. The beginner, 
 of course, will run the distance considerably 
 more slowly. 
 
THE HALF-MILE RUN 57 
 
 If the sort of training I have outlined here 
 is followed for a period of four weeks the 
 runner will be in condition for hard work. 
 During the last half of his training his work 
 should be much the same as I have outlined. 
 He will now be in condition for an occasional 
 trial over the full distance to see how fast he 
 is moving. Ordinarily, I do not advise these 
 trials more than once a week. If it is pos- 
 sible to take the trial in an actual meet, so 
 much the better, because it will give one the 
 training he needs and racing experience that 
 can be obtained in no other way. By compar- 
 ing the times of the various trials the runner 
 will know whether or not he is getting enough 
 work. If he feels the need of longer jogs he 
 should not hesitate to take them. He needs 
 strength to run this distance, and there are 
 bound to be periods in his training when he 
 can make greater progress by devoting more 
 time to jogs of from three-quarters of a mile 
 to a mile than by speed work. But, generally 
 speaking, a good week's training will consist 
 of two jogs at about four-fifths speed for 1,000 
 yards or three-quarters of a mile, with two 
 fast 660-yard runs at the best speed on al- 
 
58 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 ternate days and a trial or race on the fifth 
 day. If the athlete desires to compete in a 
 race at the end of the week he will wish to 
 hold the day before the contest open for very 
 light work, or none at all, according to his 
 condition. 
 
 Before the half-miler has finished his train- 
 ing he will realize that this event is a hard 
 one because it requires almost the same com- 
 bination of speed and endurance that the 
 quarter-mile does. Speed is one of the essen- 
 tials, and if a man can do a fast quarter he 
 will find it of incalculable value for the half- 
 mile. In fact practically all of the champion 
 half-mile and mile runners have been able 
 to run the quarter-mile almost equally well. 
 Meredith, who holds the world's record of 
 1.52^ for the half-mile run, was able to run the 
 quarter in nearly 48 seconds, while Kilpat- 
 rick and Sheppard, with records of 1.53| and 
 1.53f respectively, could run the quarter-mile 
 in close to 49 seconds. It is an interesting fact 
 that in the 800-metre run in Stockholm in 
 1912, Meredith, the winner; Sheppard, who 
 was second; Davenport, who was third; and 
 Braun, of Germany, were all wonderfully fast 
 
THE HALF-MILE RUN 69 
 
 quarter-milers, and the first lap of that race 
 was undoubtedly the fastest first quarter of 
 a half-mile that was ever run. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE ONE-MILE AND TWO-MILE RUNS 
 
 If tTiere is any event on the athletic pro- 
 gramme which challenges the quarter mile in 
 demanding unusual powers of endurance it is 
 the mile run. There was a time when it was 
 thought that to be a competent mile runner 
 required only the ability to "'loaf" through 
 the first three-quarters and then to sprint the 
 last. A history of the mile run at the In- 
 tercollegiate Championships shows the great 
 change which has been wrought in this event. 
 In 1876, the first year of the championships, 
 the mile was won in 4.58 J, time which would 
 shame a schoolboy of the present day. Three 
 years later 5.24f was fast enough to win. In 
 1880 it was run under 4.40 for the first time, 
 but not until 1889 was it run under 4.30. It 
 hovered around this mark until 1895, when 
 
 the record was reduced to 4.23f. This rec- 
 
 ao 
 
ONE-MILE AND TWO-MILE RUNS 61 
 
 ord stood until 1907, when it was reduced to 
 4.20f. It went below 4.20 for the iBrst time 
 in 1909, when W. C. Paull, of the University 
 of Pennsylvania, set it at 4.17f. Two years 
 later J. P. Jones, of Cornell, lowered PaulFs 
 figures 2| seconds, making a new world's rec- 
 ord of 4.15f, a record which he lowered by 
 a full second in 1913. 
 
 This gradual reduction in time has been 
 the result, partly of keener competition, but 
 more of the scientific study of the event, 
 the knowledge of how to run the various 
 quarters to finish in the quickest time. It is 
 impossible to tell a mile runner just how he 
 should run each quarter, but as a rule the 
 best time is made by making the first quar- 
 ^yjter the fastest, letting down a little for the 
 •Second half, working hard on the third lap, 
 and finishing the final lap as best one is 
 able. In 1909, when W. C. Paull made his 
 intercollegiate record of 4.17|, he ran his 
 first quarter in 57 seconds, the half in 2.03, 
 and the three-quarters in 3.10|. The third 
 quarter was run only If seconds slower than 
 the second. 
 
 [That the foregoing remarks are not always 
 
 / 
 
62 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 true is proven by the wonderful run of J. P. 
 Jones, of Cornell, in 1913. In fact, the time 
 for the various quarters of this race stamped 
 Jones as almost superhuman. He ran the first 
 quarter in 61 1 seconds. He finished the 
 half in 2.09f and the three-quarters in 3.16i. 
 Then he ran the last quarter in 58i seconds. 
 This was sufiicient to enable Jones to win, 
 but if he could have been paced to run the 
 first half in about 2.03 he would have done 
 4.10 or better for the distance. — Editor.] 
 
 The best kind of training for the mile run is 
 cross-country running taken in the fall and 
 winter. Endurance is of great importance in 
 this race, and there is nothing like this kind 
 of work to make any youngster strong. Fur- 
 thermore, it is a sort of training that will do 
 almost any boy or young man more good than 
 he imagines. In proof of this contention I 
 would mention an instance when I had three 
 hundred men at one time doing this sort of 
 work into the middle of January and keeping 
 it up until well in March. So beneficial was 
 it that the smallest gain in weight for any of 
 the boys was 8 pounds, while one man gained 
 19 pounds. 
 
Copyright by I. 
 
 permission. 
 
 START AND FINISH OF A MILE RACE. 
 
 Above, the start of I C. A. A. A. A. race, 1913, in which J. P Jones, of Cornell, 
 made a world's record of 4.14 2-5. Below, the finish of the same race. 
 
ONE-MILE AND TWO-MILE RUNS 63 
 
 These boys ran on the streets in all kinds 
 of weather, though the younger ones were 
 always under the care of an older runner. 
 The running outfit consisted of an old pair of 
 street shoes, a long pair of woollen stockings, 
 a pair of old trousers cut off below the knees, 
 an undershirt, sweater, and cap. From the 
 start I permitted the men to run only a short 
 distance, which was gradually increased to 
 three miles or more. Upon their return to 
 training quarters the boys removed their run- 
 ning clothes and took a few simple body-build- 
 ing exercises, followed by a shower-bath. In 
 order that the run should not injure any of the 
 men or retard the others, the weaker ones were 
 worked into a class by themselves and placed 
 in charge of an experienced man. 
 
 To any one who contemplates taking up 
 middle-distance running, I do not know of 
 any preliminary course that could be recom- 
 mended superior to the one I have given here. 
 It is work which can be taken up either in 
 the fall or the early spring. However, in 
 pursuing such a course of training I would 
 particularly caution the athletes who do their 
 running in cold weather to keep the neck of 
 
64 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 the sweater well up over the mouth to pro- 
 tect the lungs from the cold air which they are 
 breathing. At the same time the runners 
 should avoid pounding the pavements or 
 track, for this will produce sore shins, the 
 bane of every distance runner. There are, of 
 course, many who cannot spare the time for 
 a preliminary training of this length. I should 
 advise them to begin their training by taking 
 an easy run after the manner prescribed for 
 the half-mile, only longer. The beginner 
 should swing along until he begins to feel 
 tired. After a short walk about the j&eld he 
 should be able to take another run, not too 
 hard. This sort of training should be suf- 
 ficient for the first two weeks, during which 
 time the runner will gradually work out the 
 soreness from his muscles and increase his 
 endurance. At the end of two weeks he will 
 be able to stand a little faster pace. If so 
 he should try a haK-mile at about a 2.20 
 gait. If he finds that this pace does not tire 
 him he may keep on at the same speed until 
 he begins to tire. 
 
 At about the third or fourth week of his 
 training he should do some longer work, run- 
 
ONE-MILE AND TWO-MILE RUNS 65 
 
 ning as much as two miles or more twice a 
 week. He will need this to give him the nec- 
 essary endurance and confidence in his ability 
 to run the full mile. This work should be 
 varied with a few quarter-mile runs at his 
 best speed and perhaps one run a week against 
 time over the full mile. 
 
 A good mile runner must be a sure judge 
 of pace. One of the most common tricks of 
 experienced mile runners who can sprint is 
 to set out at a good speed, then slow down 
 the pace gradually and wait for the finish. 
 In this way a poor runner with a sprint at 
 the finish can frequently defeat a man who, 
 if he had followed his own pace throughout, 
 would have been an easy winner. This not 
 only emphasizes the need of judging pace 
 properly but also of acquiring ability to sprint 
 at the finish. 
 
 Preparation for the two-mile run is much 
 the same as for the one-mile. The two-miler 
 naturally requires more endurance, but this 
 will be secured by lengthening the distance of 
 the jogs referred to earlier in this chapter. 
 Thus, instead of working out for three-quarters 
 of a mile, the two-mile candidates go a mile 
 
66 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 or a mile and a quarter, later increasing this 
 distance to a mile and a half. Cross-country 
 running is ideal preliminary training for this 
 event, and any man who is a good cross- 
 country runner ought to be a good two-miler. 
 
 I will assume that the boy or young man 
 who is training for this event has from eight 
 to ten weeks in which to get into condition. 
 For the first week his work should be limited 
 to about three easy jogs of from one to two 
 miles, substituting for one of these runs a 
 cross-country jog. If he feels able and his 
 legs are not too sore he might try a few 
 shorter runs, but the main thing is to develop 
 endurance without acquiring sore shins and 
 muscles. 
 
 The beginner at this distance should be able 
 to run it, after he has gotten the necessary 
 strength, in from 11 minutes to 11 minutes 30 
 seconds. This time will be steadily reduced. 
 To run the distance in 11 minutes the first 
 mile should be run in about 5.30, the aim 
 being to run the second mile fully as fast as 
 the first. To do this successfully the runner 
 must know ' 'j pace and not run himself off 
 his feet or allow his competitors to do it for 
 
Copyright by Edward R. Bushnell. 
 
 AT THE ENDS OF THE INTERMEDIATE QUARTERS OF WORLD'S 
 CHAMPIONSHIP MILE. 
 
 The start and finish of this race are shown in the preceding illustrations. 
 
ONE-MILE AND TWO-MILE RUNS 67 
 
 him. His object should be to run the dis- 
 tance without an undue strain and to have 
 enough reserve strength left for the final 
 sprint. He need have no fear of danger to 
 his heart, because there is less likelihood of 
 it in this event than in the quarter- or half- 
 mile runs. 
 
 I cannot lay down an exact schedule of 
 training for this event. The amount of work 
 a two-miler does must depend upon the time 
 he has for training and how he feels. I have 
 always been a great believer in plenty of work 
 for distance runners. If a man is able to 
 run cross-country in the fall he will find it 
 an easy matter to get in shape for the two- 
 mile run in the spring. In general he will 
 find that the directions I have given for the 
 one mile, if applied to the longer distance, 
 and practically doubling the amount of work, 
 will get him in shape. 
 
 The two-miler must not forget the impor- 
 tance of speed work. Other things being equal, 
 nine out of ten two-mile races are won by the 
 man who has the sprint. I have always made 
 it a point to train all my distance runners in 
 speed work, independently of training them 
 
68 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 to develop endurance. Sprinting brings into 
 play a different set of muscles, and when one 
 is tired at the end of seven laps with the long 
 stride of the two miles, if he is any sprinter 
 at all he will be surprised at the easy manner 
 in which he can sprint for a good part of the 
 last lap. The man who can sprint at the 
 finish can afford to let his rivals set the pace, 
 but he should not make the mistake of de- 
 laying his sprint too long. The best two-mile 
 runners I have ever seen were able to sprint 
 from 200 to 300 yards. This is an event 
 which calls for plenty of courage and clear- 
 headed judgment of pace. Before the two- 
 miler goes into a race he should have timed 
 himself so that he will know his own pace 
 and not be run off his feet. 
 
 if one has endurance for two-mile running 
 he will find that this is the most beneficial 
 event and if properly indulged in will build 
 him up and increase his weight without in- 
 juring him in any particular. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 CROSS-COUNTRY RUNNING 
 
 The development of cross-country running 
 in our preparatory schools, colleges, and clubs 
 has been the most important factor in raising 
 the standard of distance runners in this coun- 
 try. Prior to the Olympic games in 1908 
 the United States was distinctly inferior to 
 England at all events from the half-mile up. 
 Nearly all of our original ideas on training 
 came from England. Upon this as a foun- 
 dation the United States has made great im- 
 provement and has developed many ideas 
 which England is now copying from us. 
 
 England's superiority at all the distances 
 
 was due to the fact that Englishmen were 
 
 taught to run distances from their youth up. 
 
 Such games as the paper-chase and hare and 
 
 hounds were almost a part of the English 
 
 boy's education. With this as a foundation 
 
 69 
 
70 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 it was easy and natural for England to pro- 
 duce good distance runners. 
 
 It was not until the United States began to 
 foster cross-country running that we began 
 to develop good distance runners. The Inter- 
 Collegiate Cross^Country Association con- 
 ducted its first run over the Morris Park 
 course, New York, in 1899, and since that 
 time the popularity of this sport has grown 
 by leaps and bounds. Not only has it spread 
 remarkably in the colleges, but it has taken 
 hold in our high schools, preparatory schools, 
 and academies, not to mention the athletic 
 clubs which have followed suit. The fruits 
 of this policy were shown in striking manner 
 at the 1908 Olympic games, when the United 
 States won the 800 and 1,500 metre runs, 
 as well as the Marathon, and performed cred- 
 itably in the team and steeplechase events. 
 At Stockholm, in 1912, we did even better, 
 not only winning the 800-metre race and 
 the 3,000-metre team race, but having ten 
 of our representatives to finish in the first 
 eighteen in the Marathon. In this respect 
 we quite outstripped England, our original 
 teacher. 
 
CROSS-COUNTRY RUNNING 71 
 
 Cross-country running, if properly indulged 
 in, is one of the most healthful recreations I 
 know of, even if one does not follow it in the 
 hope of becoming a champion distance run- 
 ner. If indulged in moderately it strengthens 
 every part of the body, and I have seen many 
 a boy who was almost made over by the sport. 
 Some persons have the idea that cross-coun- 
 try running necessarily reduces the weight. 
 If indulged in properly it will put on weight 
 besides toning up the entire body. Not only 
 is it good for distance runners, but in a mod- 
 ified form is invaluable for football players, 
 oarsmen, and those who merely want some 
 good conditioning exercise. 
 
 The best results from cross-country running 
 are obtained in the fall, winter, and early 
 spring. Cross-country running should never 
 be done in extremely cold weather, and al- 
 ways in cool weather the athlete should be 
 properly dressed. He should always wear a 
 long-sleeved jersey with a neck. Under- 
 neath his running trousers he should wear a 
 pair of long drawers and, in addition to com- 
 fortable shoes, a pair of socks. If running 
 against the wind in very cold weather it is 
 
72 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 best to protect the chest with a piece of news- 
 paper or brown wrapping paper. 
 
 Cross-country running in this country is 
 usually done over a course of from 5 to 7 
 miles, 6 miles being the length of the inter- 
 collegiate course. A cross-country course 
 should be over a country road or turf, never 
 on asphalt or similarly hard pavements. I 
 do not encourage running on the pavement, 
 because it injures the legs. A little effort will 
 find a suitable course in the country or a park. 
 Different methods of training are required for 
 the man or boy who takes up cross-country 
 running for health and the one who pursues 
 it to become a champion runner. The one 
 whose object is merely health and the build- 
 ing up of the body will not train as hard or 
 consistently as the one who wishes to become 
 a champion. What I shall say on the sub- 
 ject of training for this event applies more 
 particularly to the boy who trains for the race. 
 The boy who merely wants a good exercise 
 can follow any part of this training that he 
 so desires or finds suitable. 
 
 At the start let us assume that the boy is 
 training for a race of 5 or 6 miles. If he 
 
CROSS-COUNTRY RUNNING 73 
 
 has not been training for some months it will 
 require at least eight weeks in which to get 
 in condition for a race of this length. At the 
 outset it should be remembered that the cross- 
 country stride is different from that of the mile 
 runner in that it is much more loose and usu- 
 ally shorter. A boy of nineteen or twenty years 
 of age ought to be able, in condition, to cover 
 the course at the rate of a mile in 6 minutes. 
 Nearly any person with ordinary endurance 
 can learn to jog a mile in 6 minutes. Dur- 
 ing the first week the runner should be care- 
 ful not to overtax his endurance or put an 
 undue strain upon the legs. Sore shins or 
 muscles are not easily cured, and one will 
 make better time by taking care of them at 
 the start. The first week's work should be 
 a combination of easy jogs and walking. A 
 three-mile jog should be the limit for the 
 first week, though it may be supplemented 
 by continuing at a walk over the remainder 
 of the course. I would caution runners not 
 to train more than four or five times a 
 week, and one of these days may be devoted 
 to a cross-country walk of from 4 to 8 
 miles, according to the way the athlete feels. 
 
74 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 This course of training may be gradually in- 
 creased in hardship, lengthening the distance 
 run and increasing the speed. By the end 
 of the fifth week the athlete should be able 
 to go the entire distance at a pretty good 
 pace, though I would not advise an attempt 
 to make good time more than once a week, 
 nor would I advise running the full distance 
 in a trial more than once a week. Before a 
 cross-country race, the runner should not 
 have trained within two days, and he need 
 not be worried if he has been unable to run a 
 trial over the full course, for if he is in moder- 
 ately good condition he will find that the ex- 
 citement of the race will carry him through. 
 
 I have often been asked if cross-country 
 running slows up a man for the half-mile and 
 mile runs. I invariably answer no. As a rule, 
 it will be found that cross-country running 
 improves a miler and does not reduce his 
 speed, which seems to be the thing most feared. 
 The history of the Inter-Collegiate A. A. A. A. 
 and cross-country championsiiips will show 
 that the best cross-country runners have nearly 
 always been the best half-mile and mile 
 runners. Conspicuous examples of this truth 
 
CROSS-COUNTRY RUNNING 75 
 
 were George Orton, Alexander Grant, and 
 W. C. Paull, of Pennsylvania; John Cregan, 
 of Princeton; and J. P. Jones, of Cornell, 
 nearly all of these men being just as fast at 
 the half-mile and mile as they were over the 
 cross-country course. 
 
 Schoolboys, especially those under eighteen 
 years of age, should do cross-country work 
 sparingly. Such sports as hare-and-hound 
 racing, in which boys have a chance to slow 
 down, does them good, but I would not advise 
 boys to run cross-country races of more than 
 3 miles in length. And boys under sixteen, 
 particularly if they have not attained their 
 growth, should confine their cross-country ex- 
 ercise to walks and easy jogs. They will find 
 that moderation at their age will be best for 
 their health, and that when eighteen years old 
 and over they will be able to do something 
 worth while. I have known cases in which 
 boys were rendered unfit for further athletic 
 competition by doing too much strenuous 
 cross-country running at too early an age. 
 
 The best way for a college, club, or school 
 to develop interest in cross-country running 
 is for a group to train together. The most 
 
76 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 experienced runner of the group should act 
 as the pace-maker, but he should understand 
 the art of pace-making so that he will not let 
 the others run themselves off their feet or 
 engage in racing practice when they should 
 be merely jogging. Training alone makes 
 cross-country work irksome. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 THE MARATHON RUN 
 
 The revival of the Olympic games is re- 
 sponsible for the great interest taken through- 
 out this country in Marathon running on the 
 part of amateurs. In the early days of our 
 athletic history, professionals indulged in 
 these long runs, frequently competing in dis- 
 tances greater than the Marathon. But the 
 amateurs have taken it up only since it was 
 made such a feature of the Olympic games 
 revived at Athens in 1896. Marathon run- 
 ning became a craze in this country in the 
 fall of 1908, after Johnny Hayes had won the 
 Marathon run at the Olympic games held in 
 London that summer. That race was one of 
 the most remarkable and sensational contests 
 in the world's history, and being won by an 
 American naturally aroused great interest in 
 this sort of long-distance work. 
 
 When I saw to what extent the Marathon 
 
 77 
 
78 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 craze was being pursued by boys and imma- 
 ture young men, not properly trained, I 
 sounded a warning against it, and I have 
 been trying ever since to persuade boys and 
 young men not fitted for a race which re- 
 quires so much endurance to leave it alone. 
 In particular, no boy under eighteen years 
 should run this distance. Twenty years is 
 young enough for so great an effort. 
 
 Before an athlete decides to take up Mara- 
 thon running he should be very sure of him- 
 self on several points. First of all, he should 
 know that he has the endurance for a long 
 run, the Marathon distance being approxi- 
 mately 25 miles. The fact that a young man 
 can run 5 miles is not good evidence that he 
 can run 25 miles. I have always gone on this 
 theory, that if one can run 5 miles comfortably, 
 he can also run 10 miles without injury. And 
 if one finds that 10 or 12 miles can be covered 
 without great distress the chances are that 
 with the proper training he can go the 
 Marathon distance. In other words, one 
 should never take up Marathon running un- 
 less he has demonstrated to himself that he 
 has the strength to do it. 
 
THE MARATHON RUN 79 
 
 Another point a Marathon runner should 
 bear in mind is this: any race or competi- 
 tion that results in such physical exhaustion 
 as must follow a Marathon contest demands 
 that the athlete have plenty of time to rest. 
 The number of men who are fitted by nature 
 or by their occupations to run the Marathon 
 distance is very few. Clerks who sit down 
 most of the time can stand more work than 
 a man who is constantly on his feet. But 
 unless a man is so situated that he can get 
 all the sleep and rest he needs he should not 
 take up Marathon running. 
 
 In order to get in condition for so hard a 
 race a man should be able to run frequently 
 for more than an hour. Often he needs to 
 run two hours or more. Few young men 
 who are students or who work in shops or 
 oflSces have the time to devote to this sort 
 of training. But even if they had the time 
 they would be unable to devote a correspond- 
 ing amount of time to the rest which such 
 training makes absolutely necessary. This is 
 the feature of training for Marathons which 
 most ambitious youngsters overlook. It is 
 also a principle of good health. Long periods 
 
80 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 of hard work call for a corresponding period 
 of rest. This applies likewise to our daily life, 
 though many people do not seem to real- 
 ize it. I hold that no man, under any cir- 
 cumstances, should force himself until he is 
 dragged out. 
 
 In telling Marathon runners how to train 
 I shall assume from the start that the candi- 
 date for honors has either been a cross- 
 country runner or has demonstrated to his 
 own satisfaction that he can run from 5 to 
 10 miles. Whether he can run the full dis- 
 tance he must demonstrate for himself with 
 a trial, but this trial should not be attempted 
 until the runner is in perfect condition as a 
 result of a system of rigorous training. The 
 best kind of preliminary work is a combina- 
 tion of cross-country running, walking, and 
 jogging. A cross-country walk combined with 
 a slow jog which will take a man a mile in 
 about 7 or 8 minutes is the best way to get 
 the legs and the wind in condition. This can 
 be done two or three times a week, gradually 
 increasing the distance from 5 to 10 or 15 
 miles according to the athlete's condition. 
 It may also be varied with a run of 5 or 10 
 

THE MARATHON RUN 81 
 
 miles. The amount of work done will depend 
 upon how the athlete feels and the amount 
 of time he has to give to it. 
 
 A man should not expect to get in condi- 
 tion for a Marathon run with less than eight 
 or ten weeks of training. The first month 
 should be devoted to strengthening the legs 
 by the cross-country runs and walks I have 
 explained. The last half of the training should 
 be devoted to faster and longer work, though 
 the cross-country walks and jogs should not 
 be discontinued. If the athlete is obliged to 
 work for a living, but can arrange to do noth- 
 ing but train for the last three weeks, it will 
 be to his advantage. In 1908 and 1912 the 
 candidates for the American Olympic team 
 had not had enough work before leaving New 
 York. On shipboard they trained an average 
 of about one hour a day, Sunday excepted. 
 For two weeks prior to each race I gave them 
 all the work they could stand. In prepara- 
 tion for the London Marathon, after the men 
 reached Brighton I increased the distance 
 from 12 to 30 miles. The boys had nothing 
 else to do, and as they were gaining in weight 
 I knew they could stand the work. What I 
 
82 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 aimed to teach them was to run along easily, 
 with just as little effort as would be called 
 for in a good walk. In this way it did not 
 take anything more out of them to jog along 
 8 or 9 miles in an hour than to walk half as 
 fast in the same time. Several times during 
 the last two weeks of their training, both at 
 London and at Stockholm, the men went the 
 full Marathon distance and did some pretty 
 stiff training every day. The thing I would 
 emphasize more than anything else is for the 
 Marathon runner to acquire the art of run- 
 ning easily. The amount of work he should 
 do will vary according to his occupation and 
 the way he feels. 
 
 The essentials are plenty of work, though 
 not an excess of it, a good diet, plenty of sleep 
 and rest, and no alcohol or tobacco. It is not 
 necessary to be over-particular of what one 
 eats providing it is good, nourishing food. 
 Cakes, pastry, and other food hard to digest 
 should be avoided. 
 
 A great many Marathon races are lost be- 
 cause of a runner's desire to keep up with 
 too fast a pace at the start. The success of 
 Johnny Hayes and all the American compet- 
 
THE MARATHON RUN 83 
 
 itors at London in 1908 was due to the fact 
 that they had been trained to run at a cer- 
 tain speed. They had gone over the distance 
 often enough to know just how fast they 
 could run. In other words, they knew their 
 own pace. At the start of that run several 
 of the English entrants ran themselves off 
 their feet, the result being that the first Eng- 
 lishman to finish was No. 12. Four Amer- 
 icans who used their heads finished in front 
 of him. 
 
 What I have said about the protection of 
 the body in the chapter on cross-country 
 running applies even more to the Marathon 
 distance. The throat and chest should be 
 especially well protected. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 HURDLING 
 
 To discover and develop a good hurdler 
 from a squad of track athletes is one of the 
 most difficult tasks that confronts the coach. 
 For the same reason the man who selects 
 this event needs, besides some aptitude for it, 
 a goodly amount of courage and determina- 
 tion. When success finally crowns the hur- 
 dler's efforts he has mastered one of the spec- 
 tacular events on the track programme. 
 
 Any discussion on the art of hurdling should 
 be preceded by the explanation that there 
 are two kinds of hurdle-racing, the high and 
 the low, and that each requires a special style. 
 In the high hurdles there are ten hurdles, 
 each 3 feet 6 inches in height, placed 10 yards 
 apart over a course of 120 yards. This allows 
 15 yards to the first hurdle and 15 yards be- 
 tween the last hurdle and the tape. For the 
 
 84 
 
HURDLING 85 
 
 low hurdles there are the same number of 
 obstacles, but each is only 2 feet 6 inches in 
 height and the distance of the race is 220 
 yards. In this race the hurdles are placed 20 
 yards apart with 20 yards to the first hurdle 
 and 20 yards from the last hurdle to the tape. 
 It is nearly always the case that a hurdler 
 is equally good for the two events just as one 
 sprinter can master both the 100 and the 220 
 yard dashes. This rule is more likely to be 
 borne out if the men are of good size. It is 
 very rare to find a short man who can hold 
 his stride in the low hurdles. 
 
 Unlike the sprinter, the hurdler should have 
 a particular build if he expects to be a real 
 champion. This peculiarity is that he must 
 be above the average in height. It is true 
 that some short men have made creditable 
 records in the hurdles, but a study of the 
 champions will show that almost without 
 exception they are men whose height is five 
 feet ten inches or more. Stephen Chase, of 
 Dartmouth, one of the first hurdlers to run 
 the distance in 15^ seconds, was six feet two 
 inches in height. A. C. Kraenzlein, who still 
 holds the world's record for the low hurdles. 
 
86 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 is six feet in height. Smithson, who estab- 
 Hshed the world's record of 15 seconds for the 
 110-metre hurdles at London in 1908, was 
 close to six feet, and so was Fred Kelly, of the 
 University of Southern California, who won 
 the event in Stockholm in 1912. 
 
 The height of the hurdles and the distances 
 between them makes it necessary for the 
 hurdler to have fairly long legs. 
 
 With good height and well-proportioned 
 limbs there should be combined good sprint- 
 ing ability. A. C. Kraenzlein could always 
 sprint 100 yards in 10 seconds, while Forrest 
 Smithson was almost as fast. In fact, no man 
 that cannot sprint 100 yards in better than 11 
 seconds can hope to equal 15f seconds for 
 the high hurdles. In view of the importance 
 of speed, the candidate for hurdling honors 
 should devote some time to practising start- 
 ing and sprinting. The more proficient he is 
 in these the better will be his chances for 
 success. 
 
 In view of the different styles demanded 
 for the high and low hurdles, T shall discuss 
 them separately. 
 
HURDLING 87 
 
 The High Hurdles 
 
 Primarily, the athlete should learn the 
 proper method to clear or jump the hurdles. 
 To accomplish this he should practise with 
 one hurdle until it is fairly well mastered. 
 As the first hurdle in the 120-yard event is 
 15 yards from the start, it should be placed 
 at this distance for practice in order to ac- 
 custom oneself to getting the correct stride. 
 The hurdles should be taken at moderate 
 speed. As the athlete rises to go over it the 
 front foot should be pointed well up. As 
 soon as this foot is over the back leg should 
 be brought along, though not too hard. This 
 leg should have a lateral motion, that is, grad- 
 ually turning outward, so that when the ath- 
 lete is on top of the hurdle the leg will be 
 almost at right angles to the body. To do 
 this properly the back leg should be brought 
 forward and outward the moment it leaves 
 the ground so that it will bring the knee clear 
 of the hurdle without compelling one to jump 
 too high. 
 
 If the hurdler is just learning the knack of 
 clearing the hurdle he will find that his great- 
 
88 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 est fault is that of jumping too high. That 
 the shortest distance between two points is 
 also the quickest is just as true in hurdling 
 as in running. For this reason the aim of the 
 finished hurdler is to skim the hurdle with as 
 narrow a margin as possible. At the same time 
 he should bear in mind that it is equally dan- 
 gerous to him for fast time to strike the hur- 
 dles. And if the hurdles are of the immovable 
 sort he will be sure to get some nasty falls, 
 thus making his defeat in a race certain. 
 By diligent practice he will be able to over- 
 come this tendency to jump too high, and 
 when he has become expert he will be able to 
 clear a flight of ten hurdles with less than an 
 inch to spare over each and perhaps without 
 touching a single one. 
 
 Just as soon as he has learned how to 
 jump the hurdles in a rough sort of way he 
 should practise with three hurdles. He should 
 be very careful not to get into the habit of 
 ''bucking'' the hurdle, which is caused by"" 
 running too fast at the first hurdle and mak- 
 ing him halt just as he is ready to jump. It 
 will interfere with his speed to a certain ex- 
 tent and he will have trouble in getting up 
 
From a photograph by H. W. Leeds. 
 
 PERFECT FORM FOR HIGH HURDLES. 
 
 Edwards, University of Pennsylvania, showing correct manner of 
 clearing high hurdles. Note how the right foot is pointed. 
 
HURDLING 89 
 
 to the second hurdle. It is one of the most 
 common faults which youngsters have to over- 
 come. 
 
 Inasmuch as the distance to the first hurdle 
 is 15 yards, the hurdler should be careful to 
 get his stride right so that his jumping foot 
 will come the proper distance from the first 
 hurdle which should be about 2 yards. In 
 order to do this properly he should try a few 
 experiments. First he should start from the 
 left foot, and if this does not bring him to 
 the hurdle right he should change and start 
 from the other foot. One or the other will 
 land him there in the proper manner. After 
 this has been mastered he should aim to get 
 over the first hurdle and get the foot down 
 as quickly as possible. This jump is usually 
 about 12 feet, but, as the hurdler's purpose 
 is to get the foot down without loss of time, 
 constant practice will shorten the length of 
 this jump. 
 
 After learning to clear the hurdles properly 
 the athlete should turn his attention to get- 
 ting the stride right between hurdles. The 
 normal man should clear the distance between 
 two hurdles in three strides. He is certain 
 
90 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 to have trouble in doing this at the start, and 
 only constant practice will enable him to take 
 the correct number of strides and reach each 
 hurdle at the proper point and with enough 
 momentum to carry him over. 
 
 Having explained the principles of high 
 hurdling, let me give some instructions about 
 getting into proper condition. Primarily, I 
 would warn the beginner not to overdo his 
 jumping. A sure result of this is sore shins, 
 which are caused by a jar to the lower end of 
 the shin-bone when landing and which noth- 
 ing but rest will cure. Consequently he should 
 be careful not to overdo this part of his train- 
 ing. The beginner should try not more than 
 three hurdles about five or six times a day, 
 and if possible he should practise on the grass 
 where he will not jar his legs so much by the 
 jumps or be cut up in case of a fall. As soon 
 as [the hurdler finds that he is progressing fa- 
 vorably he might add two more hurdles at 
 the end of a couple of weeks and practise 
 them moderately until he can clear them with- 
 out losing his stride. This he should be able 
 to do within three or four weeks. After hav- 
 ing mastered hurdling to this extent the ath- 
 
HURDLING 91 
 
 lete is ready for a try-out in a race, and if he 
 can keep his stride for eight hurdles in prac- 
 tice he can do the full ten in a race, provided 
 always he attends strictly to his own race. 
 
 Every hurdler is bound to suffer frequently 
 from sore legs during the early part of his 
 practice. When the legs get so that it pains 
 severely to jump they should be given a rest, 
 and in case of sore shins or weak ankles an 
 elastic bandage should be worn for a time. 
 It will probably be found better to vary the 
 training with some practice at sprinting and 
 starting, and with an occasional jog of 150 
 yards or more. Most hurdlers will find it to 
 their advantage to practise the hurdles no more 
 than four times a week, devoting the remain- 
 ing time to sprinting or resting. 
 
 The Low Hurdles 
 
 The main difference between training for 
 the high and the low hurdles is in the manner 
 of clearing the hurdles. Added to this is the 
 requirement for more endurance. The prin- 
 cipal essential to success in the low hurdles 
 is learning to take the hurdle "in your stride.'' 
 As the low hurdles are only 2 feet 6 inches 
 
92 Al^HLETIC TRAINING 
 
 in height this is possible with them but im- 
 possible with the high sticks. The manner 
 of approaching the hurdle is much the same, 
 the front foot being pointed up, but the 
 lateral stride of the back foot is missing. 
 The stride for the low hurdles is what might 
 be termed an *' elongated" stride. Very few 
 hurdlers are able to fully attain this. Nat- 
 urally, it can be best acquired by a tall man 
 with long legs. A. C. Kraenzlein, the holder 
 of the world's record for this distance, had it 
 mastered better than any man I ever saw. 
 Kraenzlein could probably sprint 220 yards on 
 the flat in 22 seconds. His world's record is 
 23f seconds for ten hurdles over this distance, 
 consequently the clearing of these obstacles 
 could have added only If seconds to his 
 time. This sort of speed requires perfection 
 in the art of clearing the hurdles. In fact, 
 Kraenzlein cleared them so easily that, except 
 for a momentary rise and halting as he went 
 over the hurdle, one might have thought that 
 he were running a 220-yard sprint race. 
 
 For the same reason that the athlete should 
 take only three strides between the hurdles in 
 the 120-yard event he should take seven be- 
 
HURDLING 93 
 
 tween the hurdles in the 220-yard event. As 
 a beginner he should not try more than three 
 of these hurdles, going over them no more 
 than five or six times in a single day. In 
 other respects he should adapt the instruc- 
 tions I have given for the high hurdles to the 
 low hurdles. After he has mastered the form 
 for eight hurdles he will be ready for a race. 
 He will need the same exercises for harden- 
 ing the muscles, developing his speed, etc., as 
 for the high hurdles. If he is training for 
 both hurdle-races he should master the high 
 hurdle first, varying his training for it with 
 working over the low hurdles. 
 
 I would particularly emphasize the advan- 
 tage of taking seven strides between hurdles 
 in the 220-yard event. Some short men who 
 try the hurdles take nine strides between hur- 
 dles, but to do this they are obliged to cut 
 their stride. Seven is the number which all 
 the champions take, and it calls for a good, 
 long-striding man with plenty of endurance 
 to finish the last three hurdles. I have seen 
 a great many races between men who took 
 seven strides and men who took nine strides 
 between the hurdles, and I have never seen 
 
94 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 a nine-stride man beat one who took but 
 seven strides, other things being equal. I 
 have seen but one good man who took but 
 eight strides, and although he was very clever 
 and fast he could not beat a good seven- 
 stride man in a race. 
 
 On account of the greater distance between 
 the hurdles in this event, there are usually 
 more falls in the low than in the high hur- 
 dles. This is because the men run faster 
 and cannot judge the distance between the 
 hurdles nor the position of the hurdles until 
 they are upon them. In order to take each 
 hurdle in the proper stride the athlete must 
 clear 13 feet in his jump and then cover 
 47 feet in seven strides. It is usually easy 
 enough to do this for the first six hurdles, 
 but then a man grows tired and it takes a 
 great deal of strength to finish the race with- 
 out a fall. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 RUNNING BROAD JUMP 
 
 There is no particular build required of 
 the boy or man who would make a good 
 broad jumper. I have seen champions who 
 were heavy and tall and I have seen just 
 as good ones light and short. Frank Irons, 
 who won the Olympic championship in 1908, 
 weighed less than one hundred and forty 
 pounds and stood less than five feet seven 
 inches in height. A. B. Gutterson, who won 
 the championship in Stockholm in 1912, is a 
 six-footer and weighs nearly one hundred and 
 seventy pounds. In spite of the fact that good 
 broad jumping requires plenty of speed, the 
 holder of the world's record of 24 feet llf 
 inches, Peter O'Conner, was a very poor 
 sprinter; but, in spite of these differences in 
 build and in ability to sprint, it still remains 
 true that the majority of our champion broad 
 
 95 
 
96 ATHLETIC TRAmiNG 
 
 jumpers are big men with a good turn of 
 speed. A. C. Kraenzlein, holder of the inter- 
 collegiate record of 24 feet 4i inches, an- 
 swered this description perfectly. He stood 
 six feet in height, weighed one hundred and 
 seventy pounds, and could run 100 yards in 
 10 seconds. 
 
 The equipment for the running broad jump 
 is simple enough. A joist, preferably eight 
 inches wide, is set firmly in the ground, its 
 top being level with the top of the ground. 
 The earth should then be dug up in front of 
 this joist to a depth of from six inches to a 
 foot, and for a distance of from twenty to 
 thirty feet, according to the age and ability 
 of the jumpers. The joist is called the ^'take- 
 off,'' and in competition the jumper is not 
 allowed to have any part of his foot over this 
 board. Each competitor is allowed three 
 trials, and then the best three or four men, 
 according to the number allowed in the finals, 
 iare permitted three more trials each. Each 
 competitor is credited with the best of his 
 jumps. The measurement of a jump is made 
 from the outer edge of the joist to the nearest 
 break of the ground made by any part of the 
 
From a photograph by H. W Leeds. 
 
 GETTING POWER AND HEIGHT INTO THE BROAD JUMP. 
 
 E. L. Mercer, Universitj' of Pennsylvania, winning I. C. A. A. A. A championship, 
 1912. Note his perfect control, how he gets up into the air, and the scissors 
 kick with which he is preparing to end his jump. 
 
RUNNING BROAD JUMP 97 
 
 person. Usually a line is drawn six feet in 
 front of the take-off board, and stepping over 
 such line in an attempt counts as a balk. 
 Three such balks count as a try. For three 
 fouls the jumper is disqualified. 
 
 The beginner must be very careful not to 
 develop lame muscles. For this reason his 
 first work should be a combination of running 
 and jumping, with not enough of either to 
 make the muscles sore. The first day's prac- 
 tice should consist of not more than five or 
 six jumps, none of them hard. Then the 
 athlete should rest a day or two, perhaps 
 practising a little sprinting, but not doing 
 any more jumping until the first soreness has 
 worn off. The first essential the broad jumper 
 must master is the art of hitting the ''take- 
 off" properly. By this is meant striking 
 the plank set into the ground squarely and 
 without fouling. Until the athlete learns 
 how to do this accurately he should forget all 
 about distance, contenting himself merely with 
 learning how to get his run-down so as to 
 strike the take-off without being obliged to 
 overreach, to shorten the stride, or to slow 
 down the speed. 
 
98 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 To master this, the athlete must find the 
 exact distance he covers in his last six strides. 
 He will find that if he walks back 12 paces 
 from the take-off board, which will be between 
 35 and 40 feet, somewhere between these dis- 
 tances he will find the right mark from which 
 point six strides will bring him squarely to the 
 take-off. After getting this point approxi- 
 mately by practice he should mark it wath a 
 piece of paper or some other object, and then 
 go back at least the same distance, though 
 a little more is better for the start of his run. 
 This will enable him to reach the take-off at 
 full speed, and without being obliged to get 
 up his speed too quickly. The athlete should 
 be going at full speed by the time this point 
 is reached and should be able to strike it so 
 that in six more strides the jumping foot will 
 hit the take-off board squarely. This is some- 
 thing which should be thoroughly mastered, 
 because if a mistake is made the athlete's 
 stride will be too long or too short, and this 
 will require either that he overrun the board 
 and commit a foul or it will slow down his 
 speed and seriously shorten the length of his 
 leap. 
 
RUNNING BROAD JUMP 99 
 
 The greatest care should be taken to learn 
 what is the proper speed for the athlete to 
 get the right elevation. If the jumper runs 
 too hard he cannot get up into the air and se- 
 cure the maximum distance to his jump. 
 Running too slow is quite as bad. The ath- 
 lete should remember that he must be going 
 at his top speed just as he strikes the take-off, 
 but not too fast to enable him to spring well 
 up into the air. I have frequently found that 
 beginners may force themselves to get the 
 proper height by practising with a low hur- 
 dle or some other object placed at a short 
 distance in front of the take-off. Great care 
 should be taken, however, that this object is 
 not something which will injure the jumper. 
 Getting up into the air is something which 
 will come only with practice. He should 
 learn to strike the take-off squarely, so that 
 he will spring high into the air on the rebound. 
 
 After the athlete has learned how to leave 
 the take-off and spring into the air he should 
 devote his attention to getting the greatest 
 possible distance to his jump. Since the jump 
 is measured from the inside of the take-off 
 to the first break in the ground, great care 
 
100 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 should be taken to light properly on the 
 feet, so that neither the hands nor any other 
 part of the body falls back of where the heel 
 strikes, or the chances are that 2 or 3 feet 
 will be taken off the jump. 
 
 In order to get the greatest possible dis- 
 tance to the jump the feet should be worked 
 forward with the hands outstretched to keep 
 the body properly balanced. Some jumpers 
 work their feet ''scissors" style. This gives 
 them the impression of taking a step in the 
 air. Myer Prinstein, of Syracuse, was able 
 to get almost an additional foot to his jump 
 in this way. Roy Mercer, of Pennsylvania, 
 also jumps in this style. Kraenzlein, how- 
 ever, did not use this extra kick and got his 
 distance by his natural spring and speed. 
 The same was true of Gutterson. 
 
 The beginner must be careful not to bruise 
 the bone in the heel, which he will do if he 
 strikes the take-off board too hard without 
 the proper kind of shoes. Regulation jump- 
 ing shoes, with short spikes in the heel, are 
 best for this event. Ordinary running shoes 
 may be used if the spikes are not too long, 
 and a strip of felt is sewed beneath the heel. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 RUNNING HIGH JUMP 
 
 The running high jump is an event which 
 calls for a good supply of natural spring and 
 strength, though the high jumper need not 
 necessarily be a large man. In spite of the 
 fact that two of the best high jumpers who 
 ever lived, M. F. Sweeney and W. Byrd Page, 
 were small men, it is a rule that the tall man 
 has a decided advantage in this event. Until 
 1912 Sweeney held the world's record of 6 
 feet 5f inches, while Page held the collegiate 
 record for nearly thirty years. Sweeney was 
 only 5 feet 8i inches in height, yet he could 
 jump 9 inches higher than his own head. 
 Page was 2 inches shorter than Sweeney, 
 in addition to which he suffered many years 
 with a slight deformity in one leg. But in 
 spite of these two exceptions the best of our 
 high jumpers have been tall men, the majority 
 being from 6 feet to 6 feet 3 inches in height. 
 
 101 
 
102 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 The equipment for the high jump is very 
 simple. Two uprights, movable ones being 
 the best, are placed about 6 feet apart. Holes, 
 beginning at a point about 3 feet from the 
 bottom, are bored in them 1 inch apart. 
 Into these holes pegs are inserted to hold the 
 cross-stick over which the athlete jumps. In 
 competition each jumper is allowed three 
 trials at each height, each competitor making 
 his attempt in the order of his name on the 
 programme. Then those who have failed 
 have a second trial in regular order, and those 
 failing in this trial a third and final trial. 
 Each competitor is credited with the best of 
 all his jumps. A line is drawn 3 feet in 
 front of the bar and parallel to it, known as 
 the balk line, and stepping over it in an at- 
 tempt counts as a balk, three such balks count- 
 ing as a trial. Displacing the bar also counts 
 as a try. 
 
 I should start my instructions about high 
 jumping with a word of caution. The begin- 
 ner should not try to clear the bar with what 
 is known as the ''scissors jump." By the 
 scissors jump I mean this: suppose a man 
 takes off from his left foot. He kicks his 
 
RUNNING HIGH JUMP 103 
 
 right leg out in front and high over the bar, 
 following with the left leg in the same man- 
 ner, and lighting on the right leg. To pre- 
 vent this, he should make it a rule always to 
 light on the same leg from which he jumps. 
 This will make it impossible to use the scis- 
 sors jump. At first the athlete will be able to 
 clear a greater height with the scissors jump, 
 but he can never be a champion with this 
 form, for I have never seen an athlete using 
 the scissors jump able to clear more than 5 
 feet 10 inches. 
 
 The ground in front of the bar should be 
 dug up so that there will be a soft place in 
 which to light. This pit should be filled with 
 sawdust, but if that is not available, soft 
 earth, kept dug up continually, will do. 
 
 In high jumping the object is to throw the 
 entire body up to and above the normal level 
 of the head, and then to get the body across 
 the bar without touching it. To do this will 
 require long practice, and the beginner should 
 not try for height at the start, but devote 
 his attention to acquiring the proper form. 
 Height will come fast enough then. 
 
 Although there are certain principles which 
 
104 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 all high jumpers observe, there are any num- 
 ber of styles, or ''lay-outs,'' as the jumpers 
 term them. Style is pretty much a matter 
 of individual taste, and I have always found 
 it best to vary my methods of coaching to 
 suit the individual. M. F. Sweeney had per- 
 haps the most perfect form for a high jumper. 
 George Horine, of Leland Stanford Univer- 
 sity, who is now credited with the world's 
 record, 6 feet 7 inches, had a style peculiarly 
 his own, but it was not one which I would 
 advise the average boy to imitate. Horine 
 himself had no success with it in the severe 
 competition at the Olympic games. Alma 
 Richards, who won the high jump at Stock- 
 holm, had an equally peculiar style, and, like 
 that of Horine, not suited to the average boy. 
 Richards almost rolls himself into a ball as 
 he clears the bar. He possesses the most ab- 
 normal spring I have ever seen in a human 
 body, and it was this which enabled him to 
 clear so great a height with his peculiar style. 
 In this book I propose to outline the form 
 best suited to the average man. We shall 
 assume that the candidate jumps from the 
 left foot. In this case he should run toward 
 
RUNNING HIGH JUMP 105 
 
 the bar from the right, and it is usually best 
 to make a slight curve as the bar is approached. 
 The jump for the bar should be made at a 
 point from 3 to 6 feet away to suit the build 
 and style of the individual athlete. The right 
 leg is kicked high in the air, and at the same 
 time the spring is made from the left foot. 
 As the athlete rises into the air he turns the 
 body to the left, at the same time jerking the 
 left leg and hips high and out so that he will 
 clear the bar at the greatest possible height. 
 There is certain to be more or less varia- 
 tion in the way the turn is made. This de- 
 pends upon the individual, and I should 
 strongly advise all beginners to study closely 
 the form of champions at every opportunity. 
 Seeing how another man does it will often 
 be of more help than printed directions. In 
 particular the athlete should devote a great 
 deal of attention to acquiring form, learning 
 how to get the left leg and hips out of the 
 way before trying for height. The fault most 
 common with high jumpers is that of hitting 
 the bar with the buttock. This can be 
 greatly overcome if the jumper will be con- 
 scious of the eflfort of trying to lift the but- 
 
106 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 tock high in the air. Learning this will add 
 6 inches to the height of one's jump. 
 
 There are some high jumpers who have a 
 tendency to dive over the bar. The rules 
 provide that the head and shoulders must not 
 be over the bar before one foot is across. It 
 should be remembered that the instructions 
 I have given deal with the man who jumps 
 with the left foot. If it is more natural for one 
 to jump from the right foot he should reverse 
 the instructions I have given on this point. 
 
 The take-off should be given almost as 
 much attention as the style in clearing the 
 bar. This is particularly true if one expects 
 to get into the championship class. The take- 
 off for the high jump is practically the same 
 as for the broad jump. The most popular 
 take-off is a point eight full strides, or from 
 24 to 30 feet, from the bar. This should be 
 a point such that, if the athlete jumps from 
 the left foot, starting from this mark an even 
 run to the bar will bring his left foot to the 
 correct point from which he springs. After 
 this take-off has been determined he should 
 go back double this distance so that his run 
 will bring him with the proper foot to the first 
 
RUNNING HIGH JUMP 107 
 
 mark, from which point he will increase his 
 speed to the maximum just before he reaches 
 the bar. He should be careful, however, not 
 to run at the bar too hard. It will be found 
 best to take long strides as the bar is ap- 
 proached and reach it with just the speed 
 that will give him the greatest spring. It 
 will take a great deal of practice to get this 
 right, but it is very important and will repay 
 the jumper in the end. 
 
 The athlete must use his own judgment 
 about the amount of work he should do at the 
 start. Above all, he should be careful not to 
 overdo it. It is always best to stop when 
 he feels able to do some more jumping rather 
 than run the risk of injury or straining the 
 muscles. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 THE POLE-VAULT 
 
 There is no event on the track and field 
 programme that results in a better all-around 
 development of the body than the pole-vault. 
 It builds up the arms, shoulders, and back, 
 and although the upper part of the body is 
 brought most into play the legs are not neg- 
 lected. However, it is an event which re- 
 quires patient study and practice if one wishes 
 to become proficient in it. 
 
 The first thing the pole-vaulter should con- 
 sider is his equipment. This consists of a 
 pole with which to vault, two uprights, the 
 cross-bar, and a plank to be sunk in the 
 ground. For the beginner an ash pole is best 
 because it is strongest and less likely to break. 
 If it does break it first gives warning by sev- 
 eral cracks. The beginner should be content 
 with a pole 14 feet in length. If it is made 
 
 108 
 
TWO CHAMPION HIGH JUMPERS. 
 
 Above, A. Richards, U. S. A., winner at Olympic Games, Stockholm, 1902. Below, 
 G. F. Horine, Leiand Stanford University, holder of world's record of 6 ft. 
 7 in. made in 1912. 
 
THE SLIDE IN THE POLE-VAULT. 
 
 L. Mercer, University of Pennsylvania, illustrating the correct 
 method of sliding the lower hand against the upper just before 
 clearing the bar. 
 
THE POLE-VAULT 109 
 
 of ash another piece 2 feet in length can be 
 spHced in at the upper end. However, this 
 extra length will not be necessary for the be- 
 ginner. 
 
 The uprights are made much after the style 
 of those used in the high jump, with holes 
 bored 1 inch apart into which pegs may be 
 inserted for the gradual elevation of the cross- 
 bar. The plank in the ground should be at 
 least 6 feet in length. It is sunk 12 inches 
 in the ground leaving an edge of about 2 
 inches above the ground. In front of the 
 plank is dug a small hole so that the force 
 of the pole as it strikes the ground will be 
 against this plank. The hole may be from 4 
 to 6 inches in depth. Care should be taken 
 to strike it properly so as not to give the 
 body an undue strain. Careful attention 
 must be paid to the landing-pit, which should 
 be filled with sawdust and kept loose. If 
 sawdust cannot be obtained care should be 
 taken to have the dirt loose and dug up 
 frequently. Failure to attend to this detail 
 is sure to result in sprained ankles or some- 
 thing worse. 
 
 The beginner should use the same care in 
 
110 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 mastering the correct form for the vault as 
 in the broad jump, high jump, and other 
 field events. Before any attempt is made at 
 height he should learn the proper form to 
 clear the bar. After he has mastered this the 
 height can be increased, but not before. For 
 the beginner I would suggest that the bar be 
 placed at 6 feet or at some height which can 
 be cleared easily. The beginner should first 
 practise an easy riln to the bar to learn how 
 to strike the pole properly into the hole. I 
 assume that the vaulter is right-handed and 
 that he is strongest in his right arm. The 
 pole should be held with the strongest arm 
 above, the hands about 2 feet apart and the 
 thumbs firmly grasping the pole, the little 
 finger being lowest on both hands. With the 
 bar at 6 feet it will be found that the top 
 hand should grasp the pole 8 feet from the 
 bottom. 
 
 The vaulter is now ready for his first at- 
 tempt to clear the bar. He should take an 
 easy run of about 30 feet, keeping the eye 
 on the hole into which the pole is to be 
 inserted. Under no circumstances should he 
 watch the bar. 
 
THE POLE-VAULT 111 
 
 As the pole strikes, the vaulter swings into 
 the air, holding the pole with a firm grip. 
 Then he should let the pole swing him over 
 the bar just as a man would jump a fence by 
 placing his hands on the top rail. He should 
 make it a point to turn easily in the air from 
 the right to the left, never hurrying the turn. 
 Right here the vaulter should be cautioned 
 not to lose his nerve in going up, and under 
 no circumstances to let go of the pole. To 
 do so will give him a bad fall. The vaulter 
 is always safe as long as he holds onto the 
 pole. As soon as the athlete has made sure 
 of striking the hole properly and making the 
 turn in the air he can put the bar up a few 
 inches and try for a greater height. 
 
 Care should be taken to learn the proper 
 method of landing in the pit. The vaulter 
 should make it a point to light on his feet, 
 and if all the details I have given are care- 
 fully observed, and the athlete learns to light 
 on his feet at the start, he will have no fur- 
 ther trouble; If he falls on the back or side 
 he is liable to serious injury. 
 
 One of the most difficult things to learn in 
 the pole-vault is what is called the *' slide/' 
 
112 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 By this is meant the art of slipping the left 
 hand up against the right just before the pole 
 strikes. To learn this the athlete should 
 practise slipping the hand a little at a time 
 with the bar at a low height. Each time the 
 hand is slipped it must again grip the pole 
 firmly, hold on, and not be allowed to slip 
 back as the body goes over the bar. The left 
 or lower hand should be made to do as much 
 work as the upper, but it will take lots of 
 practise to master this. Some vaulters slip 
 the lower hand close against the upper hand; 
 others leave a margin of 2 or 3 inches. Ac- 
 quiring this knack is worth everything in pole- 
 vaulting, for without it it is absolutely impos- 
 sible to clear the bar at a respectable height. 
 When the vaulter has learned how to make 
 the turn as he clears the bar and also how to 
 slide the lower hand against the upper, he 
 should devote his attention to the take-off, 
 which is just as important as in broad jump- 
 ing. He should walk back about 12 ordi- 
 nary paces from the plank. Here he should 
 make a mark and see if a run from this point 
 will not bring him so that he will strike the 
 take-off properly. If not, a point a little 
 
THE POLE-VAULT 113 
 
 nearer or farther will make it right. Then he 
 should go back 12 more paces and come up 
 to this mark at an easy run. Care should 
 be taken to see that the jumping foot strikes 
 this mark. If it does the vaulter is ready 
 for work. 
 
 The height at which the pole is held de- 
 pends upon the height of the bar it is desired 
 to clear; therefore the higher the pole is 
 held the farther back from the take-off must 
 be the point to be struck by the jumping foot 
 in running to the bar. When the pole is in- 
 serted in the hole, and the vaulter' s arms ex- 
 tended, a triangle is made by the pole, the 
 athlete's body, and the ground. Just before 
 the jump is made the vaulter will be standing 
 for an instant on his toes with his arms ex- 
 tended. The angle made by his body and the 
 ground should be nearly a right angle. The 
 vaulter should exercise care not to jump from 
 a point too far away from the pole or he will 
 swing in against it, and if he gets too close to 
 the pole he will receive a jolt backward. The 
 object is to get a full swing upward and for- 
 ward without any undue jolt from the pole 
 as it strikes the ground. This will require 
 
114 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 lots of practice, and the higher the vault 
 the more difficult it is to get it right. If the 
 athlete is having trouble with this it is caused 
 by one of two things: either the slide of the 
 hand is not made quickly enough or the dis- 
 tance from the point where the foot strikes 
 the ground has not been properly determined. 
 
 The point where the slide is made varies. 
 Some vaulters begin quicker than others. 
 As a rule, it will be found, assuming that the 
 jumper takes off from the left foot, that the 
 time to make the slide is just as the pole is 
 raised and the right foot is striking the ground 
 for the last time. Then the hand is lifted 
 upward quickly, gripping the pole as hard as 
 possible to overcome the jolt caused by the 
 pole striking the ground. The take-off foot 
 should be nearly in line with the point where 
 the pole strikes. This is something which the 
 beginner should take great pains to master. 
 
 The beginner should be cautioned not to 
 get the legs over the bar too quickly. The 
 legs cannot be gotten over the bar until the 
 pole reaches it; therefore the vaulter should 
 not pull in too much of a hurry or he will 
 stop the pole on the way up. Care should 
 
From a photograph by H. W. Leeds. 
 
 THE ARCH IN 
 
 Nelson 
 
 THE POLE-VAULT. 
 
 Yale, winning an intercollegiate championship and illustrating the 
 method by which the body forms an arch in clearing the bar. 
 
THE POLE-VAULT 115 
 
 also be taken not to let go of the pole. The 
 vaulter must use his eyes all the time and 
 get as high on his hands and arms as pos- 
 sible. When the body and legs are over the 
 bar the hands should be thrown up and back 
 from the bar. As the hands are released from 
 the pole it is given a little push and will fall 
 back naturally. 
 
 The pole-vaulter must know the rules of 
 competition and what constitutes a foul. In 
 the intercollegiate rules a line is drawn 15 
 feet in front of the bar and parallel therewith. 
 Stepping over this line, which is known as 
 the balk-line, in any attempt counts as a 
 balk, and two such balks constitute a try. 
 Displacing the bar or leaving the ground in 
 an attempt also counts as a try. A vaulter 
 should know that during his vault he cannot 
 raise the hand which was uppermost when he 
 left the ground to a higher point on the pole, 
 nor can he raise the hand which was under- 
 most to any point on the pole above the other 
 hand. This constitutes climbing the pole and 
 is illegal. Each competitor is allowed three 
 trials at each height, and if finals are held 
 those who won places are allowed three more 
 
116 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 trials at each height. Each competitor is 
 credited with the best of all his vaults. 
 
 To be a good vaulter requires strong arms 
 and a strong back. There is nothing better 
 for developing this than work in a gymnasium 
 on the parallel bars. Care should be taken 
 not to do too much at the start and always to 
 take plenty of rest when the muscles become 
 lame. In vaulting the heel especially should 
 be protected either with a little soft felt or 
 rubber. Too much work is sure to injure the 
 shins and legs. 
 
 The climax of the vaulter's efforts is a violent 
 pull of the arms and the raising of the body 
 into the form of an arch. It is an event which 
 calls for lots of training and scientific study; 
 but it is one of the most fascinating of field 
 events, and perseverance in it will be well 
 rewarded. 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 THE SHOT PUT 
 
 For a boy or young man who wishes to 
 develop the upper part of his body, putting 
 the shot is an ideal exercise. There are many 
 boys fond of track and field athletics who do 
 not have the physical build or that quickness 
 of action to enable them to become expert at 
 the track events or skilful at the jumps or 
 pole-vault. Possessing a good, strong frame, 
 they are likely to find the weight events more 
 suited to them. 
 
 Every boy who takes up either of the weight 
 events with the idea of becoming a champion 
 should bear in mind that very rarely does one 
 become a champion both at putting the shot 
 and throwing the hammer. While both are 
 weight events, they call for radically differ- 
 ent styles of training. Proficiency in one is 
 obtained at the expense of proficiency in the 
 
 other, and more often training for both of 
 
 117 
 
118 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 them prevents the athlete from excelKng in 
 either. In putting the shot one develops the 
 ^'pushing" muscles, while throwing the ham- 
 mer is a ^ ' pulling ' ' exercise. Therefore, which- 
 ever event is selected the athlete should prac- 
 tise it to the exclusion of the other. 
 
 Shots are made in three weights, 8 pounds, 
 12 pounds, and 16 pounds. The 8-pound shot 
 is intended for young boys and should be 
 used by all boys fifteen years of age and 
 under. Boys of sixteen and seventeen years 
 should limit themselves to the 12-pound shot 
 and should not try the 16-pound shot before 
 reaching the age of eighteen years. This 
 caution should be carefully observed because 
 success in this event cannot be obtained by 
 a boy who puts an undue strain upon his arm 
 before attaining his growth. 
 
 The shot is put from a 7-foot circle. 
 Four feet of the circumference of this circle 
 has a toe board 4 inches in height from 
 which the shot is put. The rules of shot put- 
 ting provide that each competitor shall be al- 
 lowed three puts, and in case of finals the 
 best three or four men are allowed three 
 more puts. Each competitor is credited with 
 
STARTING THE SHOT PI r. 
 
 W. F. Krueger, Swarthmore College, former I. C. A. A. A. A. record-holder, 
 illustrating correct method of holding the shot and balancing the body before 
 moving across the ring. 
 
THE SHOT PUT 11& 
 
 the best of all his puts. The put is measured 
 from the nearest edge of the first mark made 
 by the shot to the point of the circumference 
 of the circle nearest such mark. Foul puts, 
 which, of course, are not measured, can be 
 made in three ways: 
 
 (1) Letting go of the shot in an attempt. 
 
 (2) Touching the ground outside the circle 
 with any portion of the body while the shot 
 is in the hands. 
 
 (3) Touching the ground^ forward of the 
 front half of the circle with any portion of 
 the body before the put is measured. 
 
 In learning to put the shot the beginner 
 should proceed slowly. First of all, he should 
 learn how to hold the shot. It should be set- 
 tled firmly in the palm of the hand close 
 to the root of the fingers. At the very be- 
 ginning the athlete should be careful to avoid 
 the fault most common to beginners, that of 
 "'throwing" the shot. Every shot putter is 
 bound to contract this fault and he should 
 be on guard against it from the very start. 
 Throwing the shot as opposed to putting it 
 constitutes a foul, in addition to which it is 
 a very severe strain on the arm. Throwing 
 
120 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 the shot leads one to depend too much upon 
 the arm and not enough on the leg and body 
 drive. When the shot is thrown instead of 
 put it is impossible to get the weight of the 
 body behind it. I can best explain the dif- 
 ference between the throw and the put in this 
 way. When the shot is thrown the tendency 
 of the athlete is to bend the head forward 
 and throw the shot around the ear, as it were. 
 This mistake should be carefully avoided and 
 the shot should be put from a point under 
 the ear and with the head up. If this posi- 
 tion of the head and the arms is carefully 
 borne in mind at all times the danger of throw- 
 ing the shot will be greatly minimized. 
 
 The hardest thing to master in putting 
 the shot is the final effort. In it when the 
 shot is released every ounce of strength from 
 the fingers to the foot is concentrated in 
 one powerful drive. To co-ordinate all these 
 things so that the correct elevation and direc- 
 tion are attained with all one's strength and 
 weight behind the put is acquired only after 
 long practice and infinite pains. 
 
 The quickest way to acquire the proper form 
 is to master this final effort. If the beginner 
 
THE SHOT PUT 121 
 
 can practise from a slightly elevated stand 
 he will succeed in accomplishing this more 
 quickly. Because this part of the exercise is 
 the most important, I am explaining this effort 
 before telling the shot putter how to move 
 across the ring. After he has learned how to 
 properly release the shot the preliminary ef- 
 forts can be learned readily enough. 
 
 I am assuming that the athlete is right- 
 handed, in which case the shot is put with 
 the right hand. If he is not practising with 
 a toe-board it is from a ring. The left foot 
 is placed either against this toe-board or close 
 to the circumference of the circle. Then the 
 shot is settled firmly in the palm of the right 
 hand. The right leg should be slightly bent 
 at the knee and the arm so held that it feels 
 strongest with the shot resting on the for- 
 ward part of the shoulder close to the neck. 
 The position here referred to will vary as 
 progress is made. One's instinct will tell him 
 whether or not he is holding the shot cor- 
 rectly. The left arm and hand should be 
 extended at about the elevation, but not nec- 
 essarily in the direction, the shot is to be put. 
 
 The athlete is now to learn what is known 
 
122 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 as the "reverse," in which the final effort is 
 made. The shot is put with an upward and 
 outward heave or push. The body is quickly 
 turned with the beginning of the motion so 
 that the right leg will reach the point where 
 the left leg was when the final effort was 
 started. In this the left leg and left arm 
 trail. In this action there is almost complete 
 reversal of the legs and arms. This final 
 drive is of great importance and should be 
 practised faithfully until it is mastered. I 
 should advise beginners to practise both with 
 and without the shot, and more often without 
 the shot. 
 
 Great care should be taken to keep the 
 weight in front, because if it is put from a 
 point too far to the side it places the strain 
 unequally on the elbow and shoulder. When 
 the athlete feels this strain he will know that 
 he is putting the shot incorrectly, that he 
 is half -throwing it and getting no assistance 
 from the legs and body. After the athlete 
 masters the correct way to hold the shot, 
 how to balance the weight and reverse pre- 
 paratory to make the final heave, he is ready 
 to train for competition. 
 
From a photograph by W. G. Stuart. 
 
 FINISH OF SHOT PUT. 
 
 Final effort of W. F. Krueger in putting the shot. Note how he has remained in 
 the ring and is using arms and hips but still is following shot with full force 
 of his body. 
 
THE SHOT PUT 123 
 
 The next part of the shot putter's instruc- 
 tion is to learn how to begin the movements 
 and especially how to move across the seven- 
 foot circle preparatory to making the final 
 heave. Still assuming that the shot putter 
 is right-handed, he takes his position just in- 
 side the circle and directly opposite the cen- 
 tre of the toe board or the point from which 
 the shot is to be put. The effort starts with 
 the right foot. The left leg may be slightly 
 bent at the knee to suit the individual and 
 at such an angle that the athlete feels strong 
 and well balanced. Then the left leg may 
 be permitted to swing upward and downward 
 until the body has all the momentum it can 
 carry. Some shot putters swing the left leg 
 once around and outside the right leg for the 
 same purpose. 
 
 At the correct moment the athlete jumps 
 quickly forward across the ring with what 
 resembles a falling motion. This movement 
 should be made so that the left foot will strike 
 close to the board, the right foot striking 
 close to the middle of the ring. This will 
 cause the shot putter to land in almost the 
 exact position in which he started, only on 
 
124 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 the opposite side of the ring. Immediately 
 after the right foot strikes the ground the leg 
 should be straightened, reversing the position 
 of the arms, feet, and body, as already ex- 
 plained. 
 
 Care should be taken that when the final 
 effort is made the weight of the body, par- 
 ticularly in the region of the hips, is well for- 
 ward even if it almost causes the body to 
 fall from the ring. Getting the hips up well 
 enables one to get the full drive of the body 
 and the legs behind the final heave. At first 
 this may cause the athlete to foul, but it is 
 something which can be readily corrected. 
 
 Beginners should be cautioned to try for a 
 good height so that the right leg and body 
 will be behind the heave. There will natu- 
 rally be reason for discouragement at the start, 
 but if perseverance is practised, and all the 
 details I have mentioned carefully observed, 
 the athlete will get surprising results. I would 
 especially urge all beginners to carefully watch 
 champions or experienced shot putters. In 
 this way they will see how to correct many 
 of their own faults and will discover errors 
 in form which they did not know existed. 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 THE HAMMER THROW 
 
 We are indebted to the Irish and the Scotch 
 for this event. It was developed there and 
 then transported to this country, where it has 
 been brought to its highest state of perfection. 
 Its popularity in the United States has been 
 far greater than in England. Making it a 
 standard event at the Olympic games helped 
 to popularize it everywhere. 
 
 The hammer used in competition varies in 
 weight like the shot. It may be 8 pounds, 
 12 pounds, or 16 pounds, according to the 
 age and strength of the athlete. I should 
 not advise throwing the hammer, even if the 
 weight be only 8 pounds, for boys under fif- 
 teen years of age, and even boys under eigh- 
 teen years of age should practise it sparingly 
 and never attempt to use the hammer of more 
 than 12 pounds in weight. A very strong 
 
 125 
 
126 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 young man or a mature athlete may throw 
 the 16-pound hammer without danger. For 
 big men hammer throwing is an ideal exer- 
 cise, because no matter how long they work 
 they cannot injure themselves. In this re- 
 spect it is different from any other event on 
 the athletic programme, for the longer the 
 athlete clings to it and practises with intelli- 
 gence the more proficient he becomes. I have 
 frequently known men to be champions at 
 this event at forty years of age after practis- 
 ing more than twenty years. 
 
 The hammer is thrown from a 7-foot 
 circle and the rules of competition are very 
 simple. Each competitor is allowed three 
 throws, and, as a rule, if finals are held, the 
 best four men are allowed three more throws, 
 each competitor being credited with the best 
 of all his throws. The throw is measured 
 from the nearest edge of the mark made by 
 the head of the hammer where it strikes the 
 ground to the point of the circumference of 
 the circle nearest such mark. There are three 
 methods of fouling, as follows: 
 
 (1) Letting go of the hammer in an attempt. 
 
 (2) Touching the ground outside of the cir- 
 
THE HAMMER THROW 127 
 
 cle with any portion of the body while the 
 hammer is in the hands. 
 
 (3) Touching the ground forward of the 
 front half of the circle with any portion of 
 the body before the throw is measured. 
 
 There is one serious drawback to hammer 
 throwing: it requires a big field for practice, 
 and unless the athlete uses a wire cage there 
 is always more or less danger to spectators 
 and other athletes who may be using the 
 same field. Various associations have con- 
 sidered the elimination of the event from time 
 to time because of the danger which attends 
 it, but it is so good an exercise that I should 
 hate to see it eliminated. To my mind the 
 Swedish Olympic committee came as near 
 eradicating danger from the event as can be 
 done when it compelled athletes to throw 
 from a wire cage and as a further precau- 
 tion ruled as fouls all throws not made within 
 a specific angle. This rule made the event 
 an interesting one and reduced its dangers 
 seventy-five per cent. Every hammer thrower 
 can reduce the danger of accidents by mak- 
 ing sure that the handle is made of the very 
 strongest kind of wire. The handle is 4 feet 
 
128 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 in length over all, the wire handle having 
 a double loop on the end, made of larger 
 and stronger wire, with a swivel in the head 
 of the missile to prevent the breaking of the 
 handle. 
 
 I should advise the beginner to do the same 
 sort of preliminary work as the shot putter. 
 Just as the shot putter must learn how to hold 
 the shot and to get his weight behind it, so 
 must the hammer thrower learn to swing the 
 missile around his head and get the proper 
 elevation to it. To learn this he should first 
 practise swinging the hammer about the head 
 without making any throw. For this exer- 
 cise he should let the hammer swing gently 
 around the head, making it reach its highest 
 elevation just over the left shoulder, and the 
 lowest as it is passing the right hip. Con- 
 tinued practice will enable the beginner to 
 get the right elevation unconsciously as the 
 hammer swings about the head. Although 
 the finished hammer thrower uses two turns 
 before making the throw, the beginner, after 
 he has acquired the proper method of whirl- 
 ing the hammer about the head, should first 
 master throwing it with the single turn. 
 
THE HAMMER THROW 129 
 
 When he can do this properly there will be 
 time enough to master the double turn. As 
 proficiency in making the turn within a small 
 circle is acquired it is possible to use three 
 turns, but this should never be attempted 
 until one has thoroughly mastered the single 
 and double turns. 
 
 After the athlete has learned how to swing 
 the hammer he should practise releasing it 
 without making any turn. To do this he 
 should let the hammer whirl around the head 
 three times and then still without making 
 any turn release it over the left shoulder. He 
 cannot begin too early to master accuracy in 
 direction. It may take two or three weeks 
 to learn how to swing the hammer and release 
 it properly without making a turn, but the 
 mastery of this is essential and should be 
 learned faithfully. 
 
 Next, the athlete is ready to practise the 
 single turn. Since form is an absolute neces- 
 sity, it is not necessary to practise this within 
 the 7-foot ring. The feet should be placed 
 about 24 inches apart, the left foot thrown 
 back about 6 inches in a parallel line, with 
 the right foot gripping the ground firmly and 
 
ISO ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 the knees bent slightly. Then the hammer 
 should be swung three times around the head, 
 the athlete pivoting on the left foot, care be- 
 ing taken to keep it firmly on the ground until 
 the right foot is well around. Then the left 
 foot leaves the ground for an instant making 
 a small part of the turn. At the same instant 
 the right foot grips the ground and the heave 
 is given the hammer, which is thrown as high 
 as possible over the left shoulder. In actual 
 competition the athlete is throwing from a 
 ring and the beginning of his throw is made 
 with the body facing opposite to the direction 
 of the throw. Thus, after having made the 
 single turn the athlete will find himself in vir- 
 tually the same position as that from which 
 he started. 
 
 The turn should be made quickly so that 
 the body will be ahead of the hammer. If 
 the turn is made slowly and the hammer 
 completes its circuit too quickly it will be im- 
 possible to get the full strength of the body 
 into the throw. Great care should be taken 
 to make sure that the weight is held straight 
 out over the right hip when making the turn 
 and not to forget to pivot on the left foot. 
 
THE HAMMER THROW 131 
 
 After the athlete has learned to throw 
 fairly well with one turn he should try the 
 double turn, that is, to spin around twice be- 
 fore letting go of the hammer. Two turns 
 are made exactly like the single turn, the pur- 
 pose being to increase the momentum of the 
 body. The athlete's greatest difficulty in 
 mastering the double or single turn, as the 
 case may be, will be to stay within the 7- 
 foot circle. Unconsciously, he will find him- 
 self taking more room for his turns than he 
 needs. In his practice he will find it a great 
 help if he can keep in his mind the picture 
 of himself spinning around on some small ob- 
 ject. I have seen hammer throwers who mas- 
 tered the double turn by trying to spin around 
 on a penny, and have seen some who could 
 execute the double turn while using hardly 
 more than half the circle. This is something 
 which will come only with practice: 
 
 The following general directions will be 
 valuable to the beginner: 
 
 (1) The leg which does the throwing is the 
 right leg. 
 
 (2) It is the right leg which goes around 
 the left, not the left which goes around the 
 
132 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 right. The left is the pivoting foot, and the 
 further it is from the right before starting 
 the turn, or at any time during the turn, the 
 longer it takes to make this turn properly. 
 
 (3) The athlete should not make too big 
 a turn or he will find himself pulled off to the 
 left. If he is pulled off to the left it is be- 
 cause his turn is too big or because he does 
 not come around far enough on the first turn. 
 In this case he should draw the left foot back 
 a little before the start. This will let the 
 hammer come around the required distance. 
 The left foot must be drawn back before the 
 hammer leaves the ground and never after 
 the hammer has begun to swing around the 
 head. This is a mistake which some begin- 
 ners make. 
 
 (4) The athlete should grip the ground as 
 firmly as possible with the left foot at the end 
 of the first turn. This foot should remain on 
 the ground as much as possible because it 
 holds the body in the ring. 
 
 (5) The throw should be made over and 
 not under the left shoulder, bearing in mind 
 that the higher the throw without pulling 
 the body out of the ring and forward the 
 
THE FINAL SPIN. 
 
 John Flanagan, former world and Olympic champion, illustrating the correct 
 method of spinning on the left foot, getting the hammer fully extended and 
 yet keeping the body under absolute control just before releasing the hammer 
 over the shoulder. 
 
THE HAMMER THROW 188 
 
 greater will be the distance gained and the 
 less the danger of fouling. 
 
 (6) In starting the throw the hammer should 
 swing around the head three times, its mo- 
 mentum being increased with each throw. 
 
 The hammer throw is an event which I 
 would strongly recommend to all large men, 
 because it makes them active and quick on 
 their feet, besides being a splendid body de- 
 veloper. In addition to following closely the 
 instructions I have given here, the beginner 
 will receive much assistance by observing the 
 form of experienced hammer throwers, because 
 a study of their methods will frequently en- 
 able one to overcome faults of style uncon- 
 sciously acquired. 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 THE DISCUS THROW 
 
 Throwing the discus is an event which has 
 become popular in this country only since the 
 revival of the Olympic games. It is an addi- 
 tion to the weight-throwing events on our ath- 
 letic programme. Like the hammer throw, it 
 has not gained a very strong hold in schools 
 and colleges because of the difficulty in find- 
 ing a field large enough to practise it faith- 
 fully. At this writing the Inter-Collegiate 
 Association of Amateur Athletes of America 
 has not yet put it on its championship pro- 
 gramme, although it is one of the events on 
 the programmes of the Western Inter-Collegi- 
 ate Conference Association, the New England 
 Inter-Collegiate Association, and some minor 
 college associations. 
 
 Before one takes up discus throwing he 
 should acquaint himself with the regulation 
 
 134 
 
THE DISCUS THROW 135 
 
 discus which, according to the I. C. A. A. 
 A. A., must weigh not less than 4 pounds 6t\ 
 ounces. Its largest dimension is a circle of 
 a diameter of not less than 8| inches, and not 
 more than 9 inches. It must be symmetrical 
 in shape, each side being a counterpart of the 
 other side. Likewise it must be smoothly fin- 
 ished, the surface and circumference having 
 no projecting points, indentations, or sharp 
 edges. The discus thrower should make it a 
 point, therefore, to secure the regulation dis- 
 cus, because I have seen many records disal- 
 lowed because the rules regarding the exact 
 weight and shape of the discus were not ex- 
 actly conformed to. The discus is thrown 
 from a 7-foot circle, and the same rules as to 
 fouhng are observed as in hammer throwing 
 and shot putting. One of the best requisites 
 of a good discus thrower is to have a big hand 
 with strong fingers. To hold it properly the 
 hand should cover as much of the outer sur- 
 face of the discus as possible, with the fingers 
 firmly gripping the lower edge so that when 
 it leaves the hand it will skim along through 
 the air with a twisting motion. Particular 
 care should be taken to get the proper ele- 
 
136 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 vation. If it is too high the discus will turn 
 broadside against the wind and will tumble 
 over and over without getting much distance. 
 Ability to get the correct elevation and to 
 start the discus at the right angle from the 
 hips is of prime importance. 
 
 To prepare for the throw the athlete should 
 stand with the feet well apart, balancing the 
 body nicely on the legs and with the arms 
 extended wide over the hips. The discus 
 should be held nearly level. After making 
 sure that it is firmly gripped it should be 
 swung a few times from left to right so 
 that it will have sufficient momentum before 
 its release. Then the athlete should pivot 
 quickly on the left foot. The instant the 
 right foot touches the ground the heave is 
 made, the left foot swinging around and strik- 
 ing the ground so as to keep the body from 
 going out of the ring. On this turn the hand 
 holding the discus is held well out over the 
 hips, and the instant before it leaves the hand 
 it must be pointed at just the right angle to 
 make it sail through the air. 
 
 The athlete should go through a great deal 
 of preliminary training in this event, first 
 

 e 
 
 >^ W^S0^ 
 
 HURLING THE DISCUS. 
 
 John Garrells, University of Michigan, former world's champion in this event, 
 taken with every muscle under control and concentrated for the final eflFort. 
 
THE DISCUS THROW 137 
 
 learning the proper way to hold the discus 
 and then to get elevation and distance without 
 making a turn. 
 
 It should be remembered that the new rules 
 require fair throws to be made within a given 
 angle. This means that direction is very im- 
 portant. After these points have been mas- 
 tered it will be time enough to practise the 
 turn which will greatly increase the distance 
 of the throw. Such men as Martin Sheridan 
 and James Duncan, the two Americans, and 
 Taipale, of Finland, the Olympic champion, 
 were champions because they first mastered 
 the seemingly small points of discus throw- 
 ing. After the form has been properly ac- 
 quired the distance will take care of itself. 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 THE JAVELIN THROW 
 
 The javelin throw is an event for which 
 we are indebted to the Greeks, who made it 
 a feature of the Olympic games. It is far 
 more popular in the European countries than 
 in the United States; but within the last 
 few years some of our colleges and athletic 
 clubs have introduced it, so that it promises 
 to become quite popular, provided the Olympic 
 Council keeps it on the programme. 
 
 The javelin is made of wood, usually of ash 
 or hickory, the latter wood giving the best 
 service. The official javelin is 8 feet 6 inches 
 in length, and weighs 1.6 pounds. It has a 
 metal point, and about the centre of gravity 
 a grip is formed by binding whip -cord with- 
 out knots. At the grip the javelin is about 
 one inch in diameter, and tapers down to 
 about one-half inch at the rear end. 
 
 138 
 
THE JAVELIN THROW 139 
 
 Unlike other weight events the javeHn does 
 not require a ring. It is thrown at the con- 
 clusion of a free run, which is taken just as 
 in the running broad jump. This run is 
 usually from 15 to 20 yards. A line is drawn 
 back of which the javelin must be thrown. 
 The length of run allowed the competitor is 
 any distance he desires. 
 
 The final effort in throwing the javelin is 
 very much like that of putting the shot. In 
 this final effort the body and feet are reversed 
 exactly as in the shot put, the right foot strik- 
 ing the ground after the javelin is released. 
 Reginners in throwing the javelin should 
 practise the same preliminary exercises I have 
 explained for putting the shot. The first es- 
 sential is to master the form without a run, 
 and after that is acquired the athlete can 
 work for distance and take as long a run as 
 he desires. 
 
 I am assuming that the athlete is right- 
 handed. The javelin, therefore, should be 
 caught at the grip, the thumb and Httle fin- 
 ger being under, and the three middle fingers 
 on top. This is the firmest way to hold the 
 javelin and make sure of the aim and direction. 
 
140 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 Before he learns the scientific way to throw 
 the javehn, the athlete should master a simple 
 throw without either a run or the reverse of 
 the body. As a prelimary the javelin should 
 be gripped in the manner explained. Then 
 the left foot should be raised just as in put- 
 ting the shot, care being taken to see that the 
 body is properly balanced. The javelin is 
 then pointed upward, at an angle of about 
 30 degrees, the right arm holding the javelin 
 so that the arm is almost parallel with it. 
 Before the throw begins the right hand hold- 
 ing it should be extended as far back as pos- 
 sible, so that the full strength of the right 
 arm and shoulder can be behind it. Beginners 
 make the mistake of discharging the javelin 
 without bringing the right arm all the way 
 back. In this way they necessarily reduce the 
 distance of the throw. 
 
 After the athlete has learned the proper way 
 to hold the javelin, he should practise the re- 
 verse. This is the same exercise that is ex- 
 plained in the chapter on shot putting. The 
 body is turned quickly so that at the end of 
 the run the left and right feet change places, 
 and the javelin is discharged with the right 
 
THE JAVELIN THROW 141 
 
 arm and foot forward. The beginner should 
 practise this until he has completely mastered 
 it, after which he is ready to practise the run. 
 Getting this run down correctly requires the 
 same sort of preliminary practise as in the 
 case of the running broad jump and pole- 
 vault. The athlete should run from 15 to 20 
 yards, the object being to get the maximum 
 amount of speed, but not so much that he 
 loses control of himself when the final effort 
 is made. A little practice will show the ath- 
 lete the point from which he should start 
 his run, and if this is carefully marked, he 
 will be in no danger of overrunning the mark 
 from which the throw is made. 
 
 I would caution beginners about doing too 
 much at the start. Throwing the javelin 
 does not tire the arm as quickly as putting 
 the shot, and the beginner may, therefore, 
 be inclined to overdo his work at the start. 
 The first place to feel the strain is in the small 
 of the back, though the shoulder muscles are 
 also affected. The javelin is thrown over the 
 shoulder almost as one would throw a base- 
 ball. The thrower should never use a side- 
 arm motion, because he will not be able to 
 
142 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 control the direction, in addition to which he 
 will shorten the throw. 
 
 The javelin throw has unlimited health- 
 giving possibilities to whoever practises it 
 faithfully. It builds up the shoulders and 
 back, while the arms become well developed 
 without becoming bulky. If properly in- 
 dulged in it brings into play more muscles of 
 the body than any other exercise I know. It 
 furnishes a splendid exercise for those who do 
 not have quite enough strength and weight 
 for throwing the hammer or putting the shot, 
 or who are not properly adapted for track 
 events. 
 
 If used with moderation, I should say that 
 it is likewise a good exercise for girls and 
 young women. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 RELAY RACING 
 
 I KNOW of no better agency in developing 
 track athletes than relay racing, a sport made 
 famous in this country by the University of 
 Pennsylvania's annual relay carnival. Its 
 value is greatly enhanced because it is pri- 
 marily a splendid exercise, it furnishes com- 
 petition for a great many runners, and is at- 
 tractive to spectators. 
 
 A relay team is composed of four runners, 
 each of whom runs the same distance, except 
 in a medley contest in which, by common 
 consent, each relay may be a different distance. 
 The relay distance most popular in this coun- 
 try is the 1-mile, in which each man runs 
 440 yards. To further vary the sport relay 
 races are frequently arranged for 2 and 4 
 miles. In the 2-mile relay each runner goes 
 half a mile, and in the 4-mile events each 
 runner a mile. 
 
 143 
 
144 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 The original idea of a relay race was the 
 carrying of a message, each runner passing it 
 on to his successor. In this way mails were 
 once carried in the far West, and messages have 
 been similarly relayed in times of war. The 
 Swedish Olympic Committee made an im- 
 provement in the relay races at the Olympic 
 games held at Stockholm in 1912. The Ameri- 
 can college method had always been for each 
 runner to touch hands with the man who fol- 
 lowed. This touch-off is made within a 20- 
 foot zone in front of the starting line. The 
 Swedes improved upon this by substituting 
 for the touch-off the passing of a baton, a 
 piece of wood about a foot in length which 
 each runner had to hand to his successor 
 within the prescribed zone. This change did 
 away with the problem, often difficult, of de- 
 termining whether or not a runner was ac- 
 tually "touched off" by his predecessor. It 
 likewise revised the original idea of carrying 
 a message. The American athletes at Stock- 
 holm were unfamiliar with this sort of relay 
 racing, and the 400-metre team was disquali- 
 fied in the trials for failure to pass the baton 
 within the prescribed zone. With a little 
 
RELAY RACING 145 
 
 practice the 1,600-metre team developed suf- 
 ficient skill to transfer the baton properly, and 
 won easily. The substitution of the baton 
 for the touch-off has been adopted by the 
 Inter-Collegiate Association of Amateur Ath- 
 letes of America and looks like a permanent 
 change and a good one. 
 
 Since I have already explained in the fore- 
 going chapters how to train for the quarter- 
 mile, the half-mile, and mile runs, which form 
 the basis for most relay racing, I need not 
 refer to this phase of training here. The bet- 
 ter one can run these distances the more val- 
 uable will he be to his relay team. 
 
 Relay races are frequently won or lost by 
 a poor arrangement of the runners or poor 
 work in touching off or passing the baton. 
 There is no set rule to be followed in arrang- 
 ing runners according to their speed. On 
 more than one occasion I have rearranged the 
 order of a team during the progress of the 
 race; but as a general rule it is best to re- 
 serve the fastest man for the last relay, using 
 the next fastest for the first and sandwiching 
 the slower men in on the second and third 
 relays. This arrangement is based on the 
 
146 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 theory that it is best to start the race with 
 a man who can hand over a lead to a sHghtly 
 slower runner. If the slower man gets the 
 start he will not be bothered with having to 
 fight his way through a number of runners, 
 and the chances are that he and his successor, 
 who is likely to be a man of about the same 
 speed, can give their last runner at least an 
 even start. It frequently happens that it is 
 a good thing to put the fastest man on the 
 third relay to run his opponents off their feet 
 and give the last man a substantial lead. 
 
 One of the most common mistakes relay 
 runners make is that of starting off with too 
 great speed, particularly if an opponent has 
 been given a slight start. A relay runner, 
 above all others, should be a good judge of 
 pace. In particular, he should avoid running 
 himself off his feet in the first 200 yards. The 
 excitement of the race will probably carry 
 him a little faster than he has been accus- 
 tomed to run, but he should take care that it 
 be not at a 100-yard pace, and he should re- 
 member that it is not necessary to overtake 
 his man within the first 150 yards. I have 
 seen a great many races lost because one of 
 
RELAY RACING 147 
 
 the intermediate runners ran himself off his 
 feet in the first part of his race and then lost 
 so much distance in the last 100 yards that 
 his team was hopelessly beaten. This advice 
 about the arrangement of runners applies also 
 to the 2 and 4 mile relays, though not with 
 as much force as for the 1-mile event. 
 
 All relay runners should take particular 
 care to master the art of touching off or of 
 passing the baton, whichever is used. For 
 the purpose of transferring the baton a 20- 
 foot zone is marked off in front of the start- 
 ing line, and the transfer may be made at any 
 point within this zone. Under no circum- 
 stances is the runner allowed to run back to 
 meet his team-mate; but he should be in 
 motion forward when his team-mate finishes 
 so that he will lose no time in getting away. 
 
 All the rules of track racing which I have 
 already mentioned apply to the relay. A 
 good start is worth everything, particularly 
 in a mile relay. To get the pole means a 
 great deal, but the runner should not risk 
 having his team disqualified by committing 
 a foul at the start. At the same time, he 
 should be wide-awake and not permit him- 
 
148 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 self to be crowded to the rear on the first turn. 
 I have seen more than one relay team beaten 
 because of this lack of aggressiveness on the 
 part of the first runner. 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 THE ATHLETIC HEART 
 
 Although we hear less about it now than 
 we once did, nearly every athlete will be 
 told at one time or another that participa- 
 tion in athletics is likely to shorten his life— 
 that it will give him the "athletic heart/' 
 By this is meant that such exercises as run- 
 ning, jumping, and rowing will increase the 
 size of the heart to such an extent that it 
 will be a menace to the health in after life. 
 This is a belief held by a good many well- 
 meaning persons, and I wish to discuss it in 
 an unprejudiced manner. 
 
 Of course there are some boys and young 
 men with physical defects who ought never 
 to take part in vigorous athletics. The ad- 
 vice of a competent physician should always 
 be secured in such cases. But if a boy is 
 physically sound he has nothing to fear, but 
 
 149 
 
150 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 everything to gain, from athletic competition. 
 Indeed, I have seen so many cases in which 
 weak and undeveloped boys and young men 
 have become strong and well through ath- 
 letics that I know the dangers of the so-called 
 athletic heart have been terribly exaggerated. 
 
 What convinces me more than ever of the 
 soundness of my contention is that I have 
 never known a single athlete whom I have 
 trained or with whom I have worked, either 
 in professional or amateur athletics, who died 
 from what some physicians term the athletic 
 heart. In my younger days I trained many 
 of the best long-distance walkers and runners, 
 men who ran or walked from sixty to seventy 
 miles a day in preparation for their athletic 
 contests. If the declaration of those who be- 
 lieve in the dangers of the athletic heart were 
 to be accepted, most of these men should have 
 dropped dead on the street long ago. But the 
 fact is that many of them are now between 
 sixty and seventy years of age and in perfect 
 health. I have not been able to trace one 
 death to the athletic heart. 
 
 The heart is an automatic organ, and as 
 such it more readily adjusts itself to the strain 
 
THE ATHLETIC HEART 151 
 
 put upon it than any other part of the body. 
 Naturally, constant exercise, such as running 
 and rowing, will enlarge the heart, but it is an 
 enlargement which takes place gradually and 
 in the same proportion that the other organs 
 of the body are enlarged. The larger and 
 stronger the heart the slower will be its beats. 
 In other words, a heart with a pulse-beat of 
 60 to the minute will do the same amount of 
 work as another heart with a pulse-beat of 72. 
 But why should one be concerned if his heart, 
 beating 60 times to the minute, sends the same 
 amount of blood through his arteries as his 
 comrade's heart, beating 72 to the minute.? 
 
 In proof of my theory let me quote the 
 results of some experiments which I made 
 with one of the most famous heart and lung 
 specialists in the United States. Our pur- 
 pose was to determine the immediate effects 
 of vigorous competition upon two classes of 
 men, the trained athlete and the untrained 
 student. First, we took a trained champion 
 mile walker. The physician drew a diagram 
 of the man's heart on his chest, then this 
 man walked a mile in 7 minutes. His heart 
 was examined immediately afterward. The 
 
152 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 examination showed that the heart had ex- 
 panded three-eighths of an inch. Next we 
 took a student who had had no athletic train- 
 ing, and we walked him half a mile in 6 
 minutes, hardly half the speed of his prede- 
 cessor. His heart was similarly examined, and 
 at the conclusion of his half-mile walk we 
 found that his heart had expanded 1^ inches 
 — ^more than double the expansion noticed in 
 the heart of the trained athlete. We per- 
 formed a similar experiment with a trained 
 mile runner who ran a mile in five minutes 
 and an untrained student who ran half a mile 
 in three minutes. The results were virtually 
 the same. 
 
 Next we took a short-distance man who 
 had been in training for two seasons. A fast 
 run of 150 yards hardly affected his heart at 
 all, while a run of the same distance at no 
 more than three-fourths of this speed com- 
 pletely exhausted a man who had done no 
 athletic training. During our investigations' 
 we noted the effects upon the men who were 
 addicted to the use of cigarettes, and we found 
 that the effects of brief but vigorous exercise 
 upon the untrained athlete who smoked, and 
 
THE ATHLETIC HEART 153 
 
 the one who did not were far more distressing 
 to the former. 
 
 I have made a very careful study of this 
 question from the standpoint of medicine and 
 appHed athletics. Not only have I kept a 
 careful record of the effects which athletic 
 competition has upon the average boy, but I 
 have obtained the testimony of athletes who 
 were also physicians. The consensus of their 
 testimony is that the athlete who takes good 
 care of himself and does not acquire the habits 
 of drinking and cigarette smoking has abso- 
 lutely no reason to fear any evil after effects 
 from the so-called athletic heart. On the 
 contrary, a system of sane athletic work is 
 sure to strengthen the heart and make it 
 less liable to injuries from sudden strain put 
 upon it or from excitement. 
 
 I have had occasion to examine a good 
 many former athletes from ten to twenty 
 years after their active participation had 
 ceased. I have always examined these men 
 with some eagerness in order to learn what 
 effects their withdrawal from athletics had 
 had upon their hearts and constitutions gen- 
 erally. And I have yet to find a single case 
 
154 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 in which an athlete who had a good heart 
 when he was actively competing, and who 
 lived a clean and sensible life after giving 
 up his athletics, had the slightest complaint 
 to make of trouble with his heart. But I 
 have met scores and scores of athletes who 
 said that they owed the healthy condition 
 of their bodies to the athletic life they lived 
 in school, college, or club, and the lessons 
 they learned from it. 
 
 The principal danger an athlete must avoid 
 is that of giving up his athletics too suddenly, 
 living an indoor and sedentary life without 
 taking the proper amount of exercise. Every 
 man, whether he has been an athlete or not, 
 ought to take a reasonable amount of exercise. 
 I have always advised my athletes not to give 
 up their athletics immediately, but to indulge 
 moderately in the same or a similar kind of 
 exercise to which they have been accustomed. 
 
 This brings me to a discussion of the per- 
 sonal habits which athletes should have. In 
 order to win success on the athletic field and 
 to lay a foundation for a good constitution, 
 there are two important rules which should 
 be observed: 
 
THE ATHLETIC HEART 155 
 
 (1) Do not smoke. If one has acquired the 
 habit of smoking let it be confined to a cigar 
 or a pipe, but neither of these should be in- 
 dulged in during the training period, and one 
 will be far better off never to cultivate the 
 habit, and if it has been started to break it 
 if possible. I hate cigarettes, for I have seen 
 many boys and young men ruined by them. 
 There is not a single good thing which can 
 be said in their behalf. Shun them as you 
 would a deadly poison. I could relate a good 
 many incidents in which boys and young men 
 seriously injured their lives through cigar- 
 ettes. An athlete is the last person in the 
 world who should smoke cigarettes, either in 
 training or out of training. 
 
 I know that some athletes indulge in cig- 
 arettes during their training, and some are 
 foolhardy enough to insist that they are not 
 injured thereby. It is true that some ath- 
 letes do smoke and continue to win, but in 
 such cases they win in spite of the injury 
 smoking does to the constitution. Such per- 
 sons should consider how much better they 
 would be if they refrained from smoking. 
 Since the revival of the Olympic games I knew 
 
156 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 one American boy who was a champion here, 
 but who was beaten in an important Olympic 
 final simply because he had contracted the 
 habit of smoking cigarettes and was so vain 
 of his ability as to believe that he could win 
 in spite of it. He was warned often enough, 
 but it required Nature herself to show him 
 what a fool he had been. 
 
 (2) Do not use any kind of alcoholic drink. 
 No man needs it, and no athlete who hopes 
 to be a champion can aflford to indulge in it 
 in any form. Alcohol is a poison. It makes 
 all the muscles of the body flabby and coun- 
 teracts the good of physical exercise. An 
 athlete who uses alcohol is simply tearing 
 down with one hand what he builds up with 
 the other through his exericse. It is a habit 
 which grows stronger and stronger with use 
 and, unless it is broken up immediately, it 
 will eventually ruin the constitution of the 
 strongest man. I always say to the man who 
 cannot give up his habits of drink and to- 
 bacco that the athletic field is no place for 
 him. 
 
 In my career I have encountered many men 
 who were supposed to have heart trouble, 
 
THE ATHLETIC HEART 157 
 
 but who through a system of sane athletics 
 entirely overcame it. Some years ago while 
 at Yale I had among the candidates for the 
 track team a youngster whose doctor had 
 told him his heart was in bad condition and 
 that if he took any kind of athletic exercise 
 he was likely to drop dead. He had a mind 
 of his own and a theory that some kind of 
 exercise would benefit him. He wanted to 
 try for the half-mile run, but I feared this 
 exercise would be too violent for him in his 
 present condition. I persuaded him to try 
 for the mile walk, which would give him plenty 
 of exercise but which he could drop at any time. 
 He did not have very much success with this 
 event but later began to train for the high 
 jump. With this event he made phenomenal 
 progress, and at one of the intercollegiate 
 championships he did 6 feet 2 inches. He kept 
 up his work after college, and when the war 
 with Spain broke out joined the Rough Riders 
 and was one of the first men over the breast- 
 works at San Juan. The point I make about 
 this incident is that this boy, instead of being 
 killed by athletics, was completely made over 
 by them. Possibly his heart was in poor con- 
 
158 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 dition when he reported to me, but so was 
 every other organ in his body. What he 
 needed was some exercise to tone him up. 
 And this is about all the treatment a great 
 many other persons need who imagine that 
 any kind of athletic competition will be fatal 
 to them. 
 
 Several years before this I had another case. 
 I was training a couple of men in whom a 
 friend of mine was interested. This friend 
 frequented the training-grounds a great deal 
 and continually complained of a pain in his 
 left side. He had been told that he had 
 heart trouble and that, in consequence, he 
 must not take any violent exercise. His 
 father and brother had dropped dead from 
 heart-disease, and he expected the same fate. 
 I induced him to begin an easy course of ex- 
 ercise. At first it was confined to short walks. 
 Next I persuaded him to limit his smoking 
 to two cigars a day and to live the simple life, 
 eating only such food as could be had at our 
 training-table. The change in his condition 
 was remarkable. After a few weeks of this 
 life he had no pain in his side, and he could 
 walk as far as any of us without feeling any 
 
THE ATHLETIC HEART 159 
 
 distress. What he did was to get rid of a 
 case of chronic indigestion, which was the 
 source of all his trouble. For years afterward 
 he enjoyed the best of health. 
 
 I am not quoting these instances to make 
 light of real heart trouble, but I do contend 
 that a great many persons who imagine they 
 are suffering from heart trouble are in real- 
 ity suffering only from indigestion, too much 
 eating and drinking, and not enough exercise. 
 If every person could be induced to live a 
 normal, healthy, athletic life half the doctors 
 and hospitals in the country would go out of 
 existence. 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 
 INJURIES— THEIR PREVENTION 
 AND TREATMENT 
 
 Throughout this book I have constantly 
 cautioned against overindulgence in athlet- 
 ics, too severe a course of work at the be- 
 ginning of one's training, and competition 
 when not in good physical condition. The 
 object of these warnings is to prevent unnec- 
 essary injuries. It has been my experience 
 that the majority of strains and injuries re- 
 ceived in athletics are the result of careless- 
 ness or overwork. If an athlete thoroughly 
 understood his event in advance, knew his 
 own physical weaknesses, and trained with 
 common sense, he might engage in athletics 
 for years without suffering any serious injury, 
 But because athletes will not do this they are 
 frequently bothered with sore muscles, strains, 
 and other injuries which, while not necessa- 
 
 160 
 
INJURIES 161 
 
 rily serious, are annoying and interfere with 
 training. 
 
 The most common injury from which run- 
 ners and hurdlers suffer is sore shins. When 
 the novice begins his athletic training his tend- 
 ency is to overwork, and if he is a runner, 
 particularly a distance man, the calves of his 
 legs will become very sore during the first 
 few weeks. This is something which cannot 
 be prevented in the case of a beginner, but 
 if he works easily at the start, and when the 
 muscles become sore rests a day or two, he 
 will gradually work out this soreness. The 
 man who has had several years of running 
 experience will likewise be troubled with sore 
 leg muscles during his preliminary training, 
 but it will not be so severe as in the case of 
 the beginner. 
 
 If the runner has the services of a trainer 
 and rubber he will be properly cared for; but 
 the boy who has no trainer can look after 
 himself quite as well if he uses common sense. 
 He should observe carefully what I have said 
 about cleanliness and bathing after every 
 work-out, and he can work the soreness out 
 of his muscles to a great extent if, after his 
 
162 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 training and bath, he will briskly massage the 
 muscles of the legs, not neglecting the thighs. 
 The purpose of this is to keep the muscles 
 loose and pliable. In case they are very sore 
 it would be well to massage them a little be- 
 fore going on the track. The principal thing 
 to be borne in mind in addition to the treat- 
 ment I have prescribed is to give the muscles 
 their necessary rest. The athlete will make 
 haste slowly if he endeavors to keep on train- 
 ing when it pains him much to use his legs. 
 
 Sore shins are the bane of all good distance 
 runners and of most hurdlers. They are 
 caused by an inflammation 'of the muscles 
 attached to the shin-bone. In the case o^ 
 distance runners they are usually caused by 
 pounding too hard on the track or running on 
 hard pavements. The beginner will escape 
 such injuries if he can run on the turf at the 
 beginning of his training, or, better yet, begins 
 work in tennis shoes. Likewise, he should 
 heed the warning that pain in these parts gives 
 him. The best cure for sore shins is rest, and 
 if this is taken at the beginning of practice the 
 soreness will gradually disappear. But if the 
 athlete attempts to force things at the start 
 
INJUBIES 163 
 
 he will develop a case of inflamed shin-bones 
 which may compel him to give up all running. 
 When this soreness begins to appear it will be 
 greatly relieved by the application of hot- 
 water bandages put on as hot as they can 
 be borne. In severe cases a rubber bandage 
 will help, and in the absence of the trainer it 
 will be well to consult a physician. 
 
 The worst injury which a sprinter can sus- 
 tain is a pulled tendon, by which is meant a 
 strain between the two heads of the biceps 
 muscles in the back of the leg. A sprinter 
 will know quickly enough if he pulls a ten- 
 don, for if it comes in the course of a race it 
 will throw him. In any event he will not be 
 able to walk on this leg, and he should rest 
 it immediately, using a crutch if it is neces- 
 sary to get about. Of course he will have 
 to give up all training until it is thoroughly 
 cured, and it is very seldom that such an in- 
 jury can be permanently cured without a rest 
 of six months or more. In the event of such 
 an injury the athlete should consult a phy- 
 sician. 
 
 Although I have had a number of such 
 breakdowns, I have always contended that a 
 
164 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 pulled tendon is avoidable. Usually it is the 
 penalty which an athlete pays for entering a 
 race either without proper training or too early 
 in the season. The man who attempts to race 
 during the cold or damp weather, or who sits 
 down on the ground before a race, is usually 
 the one who has to pay the penalty of a 
 breakdown. Nine-tenths of such injuries are 
 the result of the carelessness I have referred to. 
 It frequently happens that the athlete re- 
 ceives warning of the impending breakdown 
 by a severe pain in these muscles, as though 
 they were being unduly stretched. He should 
 heed this warning immediately. Supporting 
 the muscles with adhesive tape, supplemented 
 by a rest, will frequently bring the leg around 
 all right in a few days. Applications of hot 
 water before retiring are very good for this 
 pain. It is best for the athlete to sit in a 
 tub of water as hot as he can endure for a 
 few minutes at night, which will probably 
 greatly reduce the pain. 
 
CHAPTER XXI 
 FOOTBALL INJURIES 
 
 If American college football were of a 
 more stable quality, and not subject to radical 
 changes in the rules every year, it would be 
 possible for me to devote some portion of this 
 book to the methods of preparation for this 
 game, because at Pennsylvania and Yale I 
 was constantly associated with the football 
 coaching. But I have had so many requests 
 of late years for information as to my methods 
 of treating football injuries that I shall de- 
 vote a portion of this chapter to the latter 
 subject. 
 
 I have very little sympathy with those who 
 attack football as a brutal and dangerous 
 game. It is true that at one time the game 
 was more productive of injuries than it is 
 now, but by far the great majority of those 
 injuries were due to carelessness and other 
 
 165 
 
166 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 preventable causes. Football is a strenuous 
 game, I know, but under the new rules, and 
 when men are properly trained, the possibil- 
 ity of injuries is reduced to a minimum. I 
 have always contended that with the super- 
 vision football receives at the big universi- 
 ties it can be played with virtually no serious 
 risk. In proof of this let me point to the fact 
 that there has never been a fatal injury among 
 the thousands of men who have played the 
 game at Harvard, Yale, Pennsylvania, Prince- 
 ton, and Cornell. The few fatal accidents, as 
 well as nearly all the serious injuries which 
 can be traced to football, are due to negli- 
 gence on the part of players and coaches. 
 The most prolific cause of injuries is that 
 players will participate in games without suf- 
 ficient training or when in an injured condi- 
 tion. I have always avoided accidents by 
 refusing to let a boy or young man play un- 
 less he was thoroughly trained and free from 
 minor injuries. Another frequent cause of in- 
 juries is the practice of letting immature boys 
 play against teams out of their class. Such 
 meetings are certain to result in injuries, and 
 from my experience I know that practically 
 
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FOOTBALL INJURIES 167 
 
 all of the injuries and the few fatalities attrib- 
 uted to football could have been avoided by 
 using ordinary common sense such as I have 
 indicated. Precisely as I pointed out in dis- 
 cussing the treatment of injuries among track 
 athletes, the great majority of injuries in foot- 
 ball can also be avoided by the use of care 
 and common sense. No person should par- 
 ticipate in a football game until he has been 
 in training long enough for his muscles to be 
 properly hardened and for his endurance to 
 be well developed. Not only this, but a 
 player should be taken out of the game 
 when he is exhausted. It is at such times 
 that nine-tenths of the injuries are re- 
 ceived. 
 
 As long as football remains a game in 
 which there is so much physical contact, those 
 who play it will be subject to the usual num- 
 ber of minor injuries. If what I have said 
 about physical condition is observed and the 
 right kind of costume worn, most of these acci- 
 dents can be prevented. I am a strong be- 
 liever in plenty of padding, which should be 
 placed beneath the suits rather than sewed 
 on the outside. 
 
168 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 Among the injuries attributed to football 
 the most common, especially among young 
 boys, is the wrenched or sprained ankle. It 
 should always be attended to promptly, be- 
 cause the more the boy tries to work it off 
 the longer time it will require to heal. When 
 this injury is received the athlete should he 
 down at once, take off his shoe, and if there is 
 any one present who knows how to strap an 
 ankle with surgeon's plaster this should be 
 done immediately. The plaster should be put 
 on smoothly so that it will give the proper 
 support to the ankle and bone. It is not 
 necessary to have the plaster put on too 
 tightly, but if it is done before the ankle has 
 had a chance to swell it will heal much more 
 quickly. The athlete should be taken home 
 as quickly as possible and the foot rested by 
 placing it on a pillow, the knee and ankle 
 being slightly elevated. In case there is a 
 throbbing pain the plaster should be slit where 
 the folds are too tight. If it is impossible to 
 have the ankle strapped at once it should be 
 put in a tight supporting bandage until bed- 
 time. Then the foot should be elevated a 
 little and put on an ice-bag, or if this is not 
 
FOOTBALL INJURIES 169 
 
 available it should be wrapped in a wet cloth. 
 Lead-water and laudanum is a very good solu- 
 tion to use, while a flannel cloth dipped in a 
 solution of common Epsom salts will be found 
 beneficial. In this condition the ankle needs 
 plenty of rest, and the athlete should keep off 
 his foot until the swelling has gone down. It 
 will always be found that hot water is the best 
 preliminary treatment for any kind of a wrench 
 or sprain, and when the ankle is being bathed 
 in hot water the leg should be kept elevated 
 because it will more quickly reduce the swell- 
 ing. The foregoing is the best method of 
 treatment I know of for a sprained ankle, 
 whether it is received in athletics or other- 
 wise. 
 
 The most serious injury is the wrenched 
 knee, and in the event of such an accident 
 the athlete should lie down immediately so 
 that he may have the proper rest. It should 
 receive about the same treatment I have pre- 
 scribed for the wrenched ankle, always bear- 
 ing in mind that serious results may follow it 
 if not immediately and properly attended to. 
 Unless one has a very experienced trainer a 
 doctor should be consulted at once. In the 
 
170 ATHLETIC TBAINING 
 
 meantime the knee should be strapped tightly 
 with surgeon's plaster from two inches below 
 the joint to at least four inches above. The 
 knee should then be rested on a pillow with 
 the leg slightly elevated. The strapping 
 should begin and end at the hamstring mus- 
 cles. If for any reason the knee cannot be 
 strapped immediately, it should be bathed 
 with plenty of hot water. Sufficient time 
 should be taken for this because the more it 
 is bathed the better. The hot-water appli- 
 cation should be varied with an ice-bag put 
 on the knee, or in the absence of an ice-bag 
 a flannel cloth kept wet should be applied. 
 Every precaution must be taken not to bend 
 the knee. As soon as the swelling has gone the 
 knee should be bound up again carefully. It 
 will be very weak when first used, and at that 
 time the slightest strain will injure it again. 
 For the first few days crutches should be used, 
 or if they cannot be secured a heavy cane will 
 do. I would caution the athlete not to try 
 to walk without first having the knee well 
 bandaged. This will reduce the water upon 
 the joint and at the same time give it a firm 
 support. A rubber bandage worn for some 
 
FOOTBALL INJURIES 171 
 
 time after the injury will help the knee to re- 
 gain its strength. 
 
 If one is a half-back or an end-rush he will 
 have to guard continually against injury to the 
 thigh. This results from a blow to the front 
 side of the upper bone of the leg and becomes 
 very painful if the muscle is hit often. Hot 
 water is best for such a hurt, and at night a 
 wet towel may be wrapped around the leg 
 and tied with a bandage. One suffering from 
 such an injury should under no circumstances 
 attempt to play until the muscle is thoroughly 
 healed. It is an injury exceedingly hard to 
 treat because of the difficulty in making a 
 bandage stay in place. A bandage of lint 
 dipped in lead-water and laudanum or com- 
 mon Epsom salts is as good as anything I 
 know of for such an injury. When the player 
 returns to the game the leg should be well 
 protected with padding inside the trousers. 
 
 Another injury hard to treat and guard 
 against is that of the shoulder jumping out of 
 place. Once this has happened to an ath- 
 lete he must look for its return any time. In 
 the course of my experience I have used every 
 kind of brace or support known to prevent 
 
172 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 this injury. Sometimes I have been able to 
 carry a man through the season without its 
 return, but when I did so it was purely luck. 
 When the injury occurs a doctor should be 
 secured to put the arm back into place; any 
 other person would be likely to further in- 
 jure it. 
 
 The best treatment for the arm is to wrap 
 it in cotton lint dipped in lead-water and 
 laudanum and to put it in a sling for four 
 or five days. This will enable the arm to 
 rest easily without the continual ache. For 
 the bruised part on the top of the shoulder 
 lead-water and laudanum should be used. 
 Before this the shoulder should have been 
 bathed with hot water; then a wet cloth 
 covered with oiled paper should be applied 
 to reduce the inflammation and keep the 
 moisture in. 
 
 The arm should be given plenty of rest, 
 and when the injury has healed enough to 
 let the athlete start work again pads should 
 be worn so that the sore spot will not be eas- 
 ily hurt. This can best be done by making 
 a pad covered with leather. 
 
 In connection with what are usually known 
 
FOOTBALL INJURIES 173 
 
 as minor injuries and bruises, the athlete 
 cannot be too careful. All bruised or skinned 
 places should be cared for by cleaning them 
 immediately and covering them with a clean 
 gauze bandage. If the nose is skinned, as it 
 frequently is in a scrimmage, the bruised part 
 should be cleaned and covered with zinc oint- 
 ment. The athlete should take the addi- 
 tional precaution of wearing a nose-guard for a 
 few days. One should always beware of knock- 
 ing a scab off because it is sure to cause a 
 bad sore and leave a scar. For the same rea- 
 son all sores should be carefully washed and 
 kept free of dirt and other foreign matter. 
 Many a case of blood-poisoning is due to care- 
 lessness in these details. 
 
 What I have said before about the dangers 
 of overwork applies particularly to football. 
 Inexperienced and ambitious coaches are usu- 
 ally responsible for this. In their desire to 
 try out new plays, and worried by the fear of 
 losing games, they forget that their players 
 are human. Most football teams suffer from 
 too much rather than too little work. Fur- 
 thermore, nearly all injuries are received to- 
 ward the end of practice and in the last period 
 
174 ATHLETIC TRAINING 
 
 of football games, at a time when the play- 
 ers are physically exhausted. The coaches 
 should remember that one well man is worth 
 two cripples. 
 
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