Training is indispensably necessary to those who are to engage in corporeal exertions beyond their ordinary powers. Pedestrians, therefore, who are matched either against others or against time; and pugilists, who engage to fight; must undergo the training process before they contend, as the issue of the contest, if their powers be nearly equal, will, in a great measure, depend upon their relative condition. But the advantages of the training system are not confined to pedestrians and pugilists alone. They extend to every man; and were training generally introduced, instead of medicines, as an expedient for the prevention and cure of diseases, its beneficial consequences would promote his happiness, and prolong his life.
It is well known to physiologists, that both the solids and fluids which compose the human frame are successively absorbed and deposited. Hence a perpetual renovation of the parts ensues, regulated, as they are, by the nature of our food and general habits[30]. It, therefore, follows, that our health, vigour, and activity, must depend upon regimen and exercise, or, in other words, upon the observance of those rules which constitute the theory of the training process. The effect has accordingly corresponded with the cause in all instances where training has been adopted; and, although not commonly resorted to as the means of restoring invalids to health, yet there is every reason to believe, that it would prove effectual in curing many obstinate diseases, such as the gout, rheumatism, bilious complaints, &c. &c.
“Training (says Mr. Jackson,) always appears to improve the state of the lungs. One of the most striking effects is to improve the wind; that is, it enables a man to draw a larger inspiration, and to hold his breath longer.” He farther observes,—“By training, the mental faculties are also improved. The attention is more ready, and the perception more acute, probably owing to the clearness of the stomach, and better digestion[31].”
It has been made a question whether training produces a lasting, or only a temporary effect on the constitution. It is undeniable, that if a man be brought to a better condition; if corpulency, and the impurities of his body, disappear; and if his wind and strength be improved by any process whatever, his good state of health will continue, until some derangement of his frame shall take place from accidental or natural causes. If he shall relapse into intemperance, or neglect the means of preserving his health, either by omitting to take the necessary exercise, or by indulging in debilitating propensities, he must expect such encroachments to be made on his constitution, as must soon unhinge his system. But if he shall observe a different plan, the beneficial effects of the training process will remain until the gradual decay of his natural functions shall, in mature old age, intimate the approach of his dissolution.
The ancients entertained this opinion.—“They were,” says Dr. Buchan, “by no means unacquainted with, or inattentive to, these instruments of medicine, although modern practitioners appear to have no idea of removing disease, or restoring health, but by pouring drugs into the stomach. Herodicus is said to have been the first who applied the exercises and regimen of the gymnasium to the removal of disease, or the maintenance of health. Among the Romans, Asclepiades carried this so far, that he is said by Celsus almost to have banished the use of internal remedies from his practice. He was the inventor of pensile beds, which were used to induce sleep, and of various other modes of exercise and gestation, and rose to great eminence as a physician in Rome. In his own person he afforded an excellent example of the wisdom of his rules, and the propriety of his regimen. Pliny tells us that, in early life, he made a public profession that he would agree to forfeit all pretensions to the name of a physician, should he ever suffer from sickness, or die but of old age; and, what is more extraordinary, he fulfilled his promise, for he lived upwards of a century, and at last was killed by a fall down stairs[32].”
It may therefore be admitted, that the beneficial consequences, both to the body and the mind, arising from training, are not merely temporary, but may be made permanent by proper care and attention. The simplicity of the rules is a great recommendation to those who may be desirous of trying the experiment, and the whole process may be resolved into the following principles: 1st, The evacuating, which cleanses the stomach and intestines.—2d, The sweating, which takes off the superfluities of flesh and fat.—3d, The daily course of exercise, which improves the wind, and strengthens the muscles;—and, lastly, The regimen, which nourishes and invigorates the body.
The criterion by which it may be known whether a man be in good condition, or, what is the same thing, has been properly trained, is the state of the skin, which becomes smooth, elastic, and well-coloured, or transparent.—The flesh is also firm, and the person trained, feels himself light, and full of spirits. But in the progress of the training, his condition may be ascertained by the effect of the sweats, which cease to reduce his weight; and by the manner in which he performs one mile at the top of his speed. It is as difficult to run a mile at the top of one’s speed, as to walk a hundred, and therefore, if he performs this short distance well, it may be concluded, that his condition is perfect, or that he has derived all the advantages which can possibly result from the training process.
The manner of training jockies is different from that which is applicable to pedestrians and pugilists. In regard to jockies, it is generally wasting, with the view to reduce their weight. This is produced by purgatives, emetics, sweats, and starvation. Their bodily strength is of no importance, as they have only to manage the reins of the courser, whose fleetness depends upon the weight he carries; and the muscular power of the rider is of no consequence to the race, provided it be equal to the fatigue of a three or four-mile heat.
Training for pugilism is nearly the same as for pedestrianism, the object in both being principally to obtain additional wind and strength.—But it will be best illustrated by a detail of the process observed by Crib, the champion of England, preparatory to his grand battle with Molineaux, which took place on the 29th of September 1811.
The champion arrived at Ury on the 7th of July of that year. He weighed sixteen stones; and from his mode of living in London, and the confinement of a crowded city, he had become corpulent, big-bellied, full of gross humours, and short-breathed; and it was with difficulty he could walk ten miles. He first went through a course of physic, which consisted of three dozes; but for two weeks he walked about as he pleased, and generally traversed the woods and plantations with a fowling-piece in his hand. The reports of his musquet resounded everywhere through the groves and the hollows of that delightful place, to the great terror of the magpies and wood-pigeons.