But I am not going to content myself with pointing out these preliminary difficulties. I go further, and say that the whole proposal is based upon a fallacy. The method of training and development that may fit a man admirably for the purpose of weight-lifting, or of excelling his fellow-creatures in the measurement of his chest and his muscles, is utterly unsuited for a contest that requires great quickness of movement, highly developed lung-power, and general endurance spread over a period of some twenty minutes. It does not follow that because a man measures forty-two inches round the chest, and has all his muscles developed in proportion, he will therefore be better fitted for the propulsion of a racing-boat than a man who in all points of development is his inferior. If I produced Mr. C. W. Kent incognito before Mr. Sandow and asked whether it would be feasible to include this gentleman in an eight-oared crew, Mr. Sandow would probably laugh me to scorn. Mr. Sandow could doubtless hold out Mr. Kent at arm's length with the greatest possible ease. I am perfectly certain that Mr. Kent—if he will pardon me for thus making free with his name—could do nothing
of the kind to Mr. Sandow. Yet I am perfectly certain, too, that, in a severely contested race, Mr. Kent—admittedly one of the finest strokes that ever rowed—would, to put it mildly, be more useful than Mr. Sandow. All gymnasium work, and even the modified form of it patented by Mr. Sandow, must tend to make men muscle-bound, and therefore slow. Skilled rowing consists of a series of movements which have to be gone through with a peculiar quickness, precision, and neatness. To be able to go through Mr. Sandow's eight weight exercises, to lift weights, to carry horses on your chest, may indicate great muscular strength, but it has absolutely nothing to do with being able to row. If a rowing man requires some exercise subsidiary to rowing, he would, in my opinion, be far better advised if he devoted some of his spare time to boxing and to fencing, exercises which necessitate immense quickness and perfect combination between brain, hand, and eye, than if he were to spend time in building up his body with such exercises as are included in the Sandow curriculum. But, in the main, rowing must develop for itself the muscles it requires. It is an exercise which, when all is said and done, can
only be learnt effectively in a boat on the water. It is thus, and thus only, that a man can acquire the necessary movements, and perfect himself in that sense of balance and of rhythm which is as necessary to a rowing man as muscular strength. My experience leads me to the conclusion that men who, though naturally well-framed and proportioned, are not afflicted with excessive muscle, are more likely to be useful in rowing than the pet of a gymnasium or the muscle-bound prodigies made in the image of Mr. Sandow. I may cite as examples such men as Mr. R. P. P. Rowe, Mr. R. O. Kerrison, Mr. W. Burton Stewart, Mr. W. E. Crum, Mr. J. A. Ford, and Mr. C. W. Kent.[18] All these men acquired their unquestionable excellence as oarsmen by the only possible method—that is, by long practice of rowing in boats. Even an exercise so nearly resembling actual rowing as the tank work practised in the winter by American crews has very serious disadvantages. It might be supposed that it would
exercise and keep in trim the muscles required for actual rowing; but its effect is to make men slow and heavy, faults which they have to correct when they once more take to the river.
[18] The photographs reproduced in this chapter are those of active rowing men. No. 4, whose muscular development is the slightest, is one of the most brilliant oarsmen of the day. See also photographs of [Mr. Kent] and [Mr. Gold] in Chapter V.
With regard to Mr. Sandow's revolutionary proposals about diet, smoking, and hours, I have only this to say. We rowing men have shown time after time that by adhering to what I do not hesitate to call our common-sense system of rules tempered with indulgences we can bring our men to the post in the most perfect health and condition, absolutely fit, so far as their wind and powers of endurance are concerned, to take part in the severest contests. What has Mr. Sandow shown that should avail, with these results before our eyes, to make us exchange our disciplined liberty for his unfettered license? In the mean time we shall very properly hesitate to take the leap in the dark that he suggests.
I trust that the President of the C.U.B.C. will, in future, conduct the practice of his crew according to the methods that have proved their efficacy over and over again, and that he will not listen to the voice of Mr. Sandow, charm he never so unwisely. Non tali auxilio are boat-races to be won.
