A Program For Physical Fitness

4.   Exercise regularly

"The human body," says Professor Thomas K. Cure-ton, Director of the Physical Fitness Research Laboratory at the University of Illinois, "is the only machine that breaks down when not used. Moreover, it's also the only mechanism that functions better - and more healthily - the more it is put to use."

Dr. Cureton has tested and analyzed the physical condition of thousands of men and women and has put hundreds of middle-aged men through his conditioning program. From this study Dr. Cureton is convinced that, although a man may grow older in years, "the major physical ailments of aging - chronic fatigue, headaches, shortness of breath, digestive upset, overweight, some forms of heart and circulatory trouble, in short, middle-age sag - can be avoided completely or postponed for as much as 15 years by a daily program of body conditioning and active recreation."

"It's never too late to begin getting into shape," Dr. Cureton says, "but it does take daily, sometimes painful, perseverance. After all, you can't expect in a week's time to make over a body that took years to wreck."

Dr. W. Henry Sebrell, Jr., Professor of Public Health Nutrition at Columbia University, and internationally famed authority on diet - whom I have quoted previously - counsels: 

"Exercise is valuable in toning up the muscles and making you feel good and stimulating the circulation and in helping to reduce your weight, but you must take your exercise regularly, and not just a golf game on a weekend or something of this kind. You shouldn't increase your food intake above normal along with the exercise. You must remember that, in order to use up one pound of body fat, you have to walk about 35 miles, so, if you go out and ride one of the buggies around the golf course and get off and hit the ball once in a while and then come back and have a highball and a sandwich, you may have gained more than you lost."

There isn't a normal person on earth who doesn't want physical health and well-being. And most of us can have physical fitness if we will pay the modest price of regular exercise - the very simple variety called home calisthenics ; or one of the body-building programs available at your local YMCA, YWCA, or Health Club - to fit your particular needs.

It is amazing how many famous people - men and women - have been devotees of home calisthenics. I read recently that Mrs. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in her seventies, starts each day with setting-up exercises.

Theodore Francis Green, former Senator from Rhode Island, when over ninety years of age and the oldest man ever to serve in the U. S. Senate was, despite his years, briskly active both physically and mentally. Over the years the Senator made it a point to keep physically fit.

Most mornings, except in the worst weather, until his retirement as a Senator, he walked nearly three miles to his office on Capitol Hill, he swam regularly, and was one of the few Senators who made systematic use of the Senate gymnasium. His weight held steady at around 150 pounds for decades.

The late "ageless," beloved and highly respected James Garfield Stewart, Judge of the Ohio Supreme Court, exercised for 30 minutes every morning and walked three miles every day, seven days a week. "It's very monotonous to exercise every day," he said, "but it's something every person should do. It should be as much a daily habit as eating, sleeping and taking a bath."

Dr. Paul Dudley White, the eminent Boston heart specialist and former President Eisenhower's doctor, says the main causes of heart attacks are lack of exercise and over-rich diets.

A few minutes of setting-up exercises before the morning bath, has been a vital part of the success program of countless men and women of outstanding achievement. They have recognized the importance of physical fitness in the struggle for success, and have paid the price of steadfast adherence to a daily program of physical exercise in order to enjoy the great benefits of a strong and healthy body.
 
Shortly after graduation from college I established, as previously stated, the habit of regular periodic health examinations, and on such occasions, without fail, I have discussed my exercise program with my doctor for his approval.

The following exercises are, and have been, my daily routine for almost fifty years. They are as necessary to my physical well-being as food and rest. I recommend them to you for your consideration, and for your doctor's approval.

This is a simple program which requires neither a gymnasium nor apparatus - it can be practiced either in your bathroom or bedroom with no annoyance to any member of your family.

After shaving and before my morning bath, I follow through briskly on the following exercises:

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