Manual of Military Training / Second, Revised Edition

by James A. Moss

Combination of arm exercises

1. Arms to thrust, 2. RAISE, 3. THRUST ARMS FORWARD; SWING THEM SIDEWARD, FORWARD, AND BACK TO POSITION.

Four counts; repeat 8 to 10 times.

The arms are thrust forward, then relaxed and swung sideward, then forward and finally brought back to position, pressing elbows well to the rear; execute moderately fast; exhale on the first and third and inhale on the second and fourth counts.

SETTING-UP EXERCISES

[837]. As has been stated previously, the setting-up exercises form the basis upon which the entire system of physical training in the service is founded. Therefore too much importance can not be attached to them. Through the number and variety of movements they offer it is possible to develop the body harmoniously with little if any danger of injurious results. They develop the muscles and impart vigor and tone to the vital organs and assist them in their functions; they develop endurance and are important factors in the development of smartness, grace, and precision. They should be assiduously practiced. The fact that they require no apparatus of any description makes it possible to do this out of doors or even in the most restricted room, proper sanitary conditions being the only adjunct upon which their success is dependent. No physical training drill is complete without them. They should always precede the more strenuous forms of training, as they prepare the body for the greater exertion these forms demand.

At the discretion of instructors these exercises may be substituted by others of a similar character. Instructors are cautioned, however, to employ all the parts of the body in every lesson and to suit the exercise as far as practicable to the natural function of the particular part of the body which they employ.

In these lessons only the preparatory command is given here; the command of execution, which is invariably Exercise, and the commands of continuance, as well as the command to discontinue, having been explained are omitted.

Every preparatory command should convey a definite description of the exercise required; by doing so long explanations are avoided and the men will not be compelled to memorize the various movements.