Natural Method of Physical Training by Edwin Checkley, (01) The Bugbear of Training

Post date: Dec 19, 2016 5:42:31 PM

Natural Method of Physical Training

Revised Edition, 1895.

Chapter 1. The Checkley System - The Bugbear of Training - Both physicians and lawmakers alike during ancient grecian times realized the importance of athletic exercise. Training was superb as it related to tasks required to compete in the panhellenic games. Physical vigor was fashionable and was popular among the rising generations. To achieve some semblance of ideal physical nature, study the compromise of necessities between the lifestyle of the ideal physical human specimen (ancient grecian athletes immortalized in statue) and our modern day lifestyle. Properly made, this compromise represents a new and sufficient ideal. If we are to take any special lesson from animals, it must be that the best strength is that which is produced under natural habits. Training will not ‘stay put’ if it is not sustainable. Being beholden to a certain type of diet or apparatus allows for days off when we are away from them. Additionally, this type of training will eventually be abandoned due to boredom. Training of this type is incomplete. The individual trained in such a fashion has no ‘self-reliance.’ Dieting usually means avoiding the very thing we most enjoy. We sacrifice to lose a couple of pounds with no apparent change in form or condition. And as soon as we get off the diet there is a complete relapse in flesh.

• • There can be no proper training that does not educate the whole system of the human. The body is one complex system. All parts are intimately related. Strengthening only the biceps and the chest with special apparatus does not increase permanent strength or health. Become proficient at carrying the whole body. Hard training that resembles a chore or punishment is unsustainable and will quickly be abandoned due to injury or fatigue.

  • We invent fine railroads, but we are forgetting how to walk. We are forgetting how to stand and above all -- fatal error! -- we are forgetting how to breathe properly. In even the simplest of physical training, we mustn’t ignore first principles: We must breathe properly or forfeit any chance of ever becoming strong. We must stand properly if we wish to give the body and its muscles a chance to become what we wish it to become. Never overlook the simple elements of general strength. Training only certain parts sometimes proves more than just a harmless mistake.

  • Understand the general principles of the muscle machinery and how to develop that machinery into comfortable and healthful perfection.