Do not practise just before your meal hour, nor directly after it. The best time is from an hour and a half to two hours after eating. Do not practise for over an hour a day at first; that is sufficient for any boy provided he does not waste his time. It should be remembered that gymnastic feats are not necessary for health. It is quite possible to exercise all the muscles without an indulgence in dangerous displays; but many boys have the courage, the desire, and the skill to pass from exercises to gymnastics.
We may supplement our remarks by adding some observations upon how he became a gymnast by a writer who chooses to be known as “An Ex-Little Fellow.” He says: I have no doubt at least one of the readers of this book is a little fellow. He has just as much pluck as his bigger brother, his eye is as true and his mind as quick, but he does not weigh enough to be a success at athletics. His arms are too weak to knock out home-runs; his legs are not strong enough to carry a football through a rush line; and as for his back, the muscles are not hard enough, and the other fellow always turns him over when they are wrestling on the grass.
This little fellow doubtless thinks he is made that way, and cannot help himself. No matter how much he dislikes it, he feels that he will have to go through life watching bigger and stronger fellows playing all the games and having most of the fun. Now this is all a mistake, that is, if the little fellow has as much pluck and perseverance as little fellows generally have.
The writer of this sketch was a little fellow himself not many years ago. He remembers how he used to look with complete and absolute disgust on his bony little arms and thin pipe-stem legs. He used to look at the big muscles of one or two companions with hopeless envy. In fact, it got so bad that this particular little fellow determined to get strong, if it took years to do it.
The first thing was to get a bar. I selected a nice spot in the garden, planted deep in the ground two heavy timber uprights, and fastened firmly across the top, with mortised ends, a long heavy pitchfork handle, which was purchased at a village store, at a cost, I believe, of tenpence. When the turning-pole was finished, the next thing was to learn to do something. The first thing I learned was to hang on the pole. This may not seem like a very exciting trick, but the fact is my muscles were so weak that it took all my strength to hang there.
After hanging awhile I learned to swing a little back and forth, working up higher and higher, and it was a proud day when I was able to swing my body up over the bar, and rest my stomach on the top of it. Then I had to learn to “chin myself.” This came more slowly; but daily practice at dumb-bells and constant tugging at the bar gradually hardened the biceps and back, until on one happy day my arms bent to the strain, my head went up, and my chin projected triumphantly over the bar.
By this time the other boys became interested. They began to put bars in their own yards, and the little fellow had to superintend the operation and give instructions. The uprights should be about three by three, and planted with side braces. The post-holes should be at least three feet deep, and after the posts are set, filled in with stones and earth firmly stamped down. The bar must be just a couple of inches out of one’s reach standing under it flat footed. Half a dozen private bars resulted in a gymnasium in an empty stable loft, equipped with a bar, a ladder, and two trapezes. The little fellow watched his arms and legs with great concern, and could not for the life of him see that they were getting any bigger.
“OTHER BOYS BECAME INTERESTED.”
It did not take many months for the breeze to blow over with the other boys, but the little fellow kept on. When the weather got too cold for the out-door bar, he read Blaikie’s How to get Strong, and went through the prescribed dumb-bell exercises every night before going to bed. Then two pairs of cleats were put in the door-frame, as Mr Blaikie directs, and a short bar cut to fit them. It did not improve the looks of the bedroom door, but the little fellow was determined to have muscle at any cost, and swung on the high bar, and pushed on the low one every night for the whole winter. The next spring he was happy. His chest was beginning to stand out in front of his shoulders, and his biceps were swelling a little. He and his chum purchased a boat that summer, and rowed on the river every day, until they were brown as Indians, and could beat most of the light craft on the river.