Below are a few excerpts from a book that is linked to at the bottom of this entry. The entire book is available online. Before glancing through the full book however, take a guess at what year this book was written, based on what you see below.

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Probably more men walk past the corner of Broadway and Fulton Street, in New York city, in the course of one year, than any other point in America – men of all nations and ages, heights and weights. Look at them carefully as they pass, and you will see that scarcely one in ten is either erect or thoroughly well-built… A thoroughly erect, well-proportioned man, easy and graceful in his movements, is far from a frequent sight. Any one accustomed to athletic work, and knowing what it can do for the body, must at times have wondered why most men allowed themselves to go along for years, perhaps through life, so carrying themselves as not only to lack the outward grace and easy they might posses, and which they occasionally see in others, but so as to directly cramp and impede one or more of the vital organs…

The advantages to men of a well-built body, kept in thorough repair, are very great. Those of every class, whose occupation is sedentary, soon come to appreciate this. Some part of the machinery gets out of order. It may be the head, or eyes, or throat; it may be the lungs or stomach, liver or kidneys. Something does not go right. There is clogging, a lack of complete action, and often positive pain. This physical clogging tells at once on the mental work, either making its accomplishment uncomfortable and an effort, or becoming so bad as to actually prevent work at all. It may make the man ill. There is very little doubt that the large majority of ailments would be removed, or, rather would never have come at all, had the lungs and also the muscles of the man had vigorous daily action to the extent that frequent trial had shown best suited to that man’s wants…

Hundreds of thousands of men and woman have hard work, mental strain, fret and anxiety, daily, and for years together, – indeed, scarcely do anything to lighten the tension in this direction. They tell you they are subject to headache or dyspepsia, or other disorder, as if it was out of the question to think of preventing it. But had the work been so arranged, as it nearly always could be – far oftener than most persons think – to secure daily an hour for vigorous muscular exercise for all the parts, this running down would, in most instances, never come. The sharp, hot work, till the muscles are healthily tired, insures the good digestion, the cleared brain, the sound sleep, the buoyant spirits…

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Everything stated above seems relevant in today’s world.   It wouldn’t be too surprising if this piece had been recently written.  But perhaps it will be a surprise to learn that this book was written in 1879.  This material is well over 100 years old!  Yet oddly enough, much of what the author described is no different from our world today.

Often times, you’ll hear that nothing is new under the sun.  Much of what we know (and do) from an exercise standpoint is everything but new.  What many do not realize however is that many of the problems that our society deals with today are also everything but new.  Yes, the world has changed, and our problems are often unique to the times, but many of the underlying causes are still very similar (ex. sedentary lifestyle, the false perception that one has no time to exercise, etc.).

When time permits, take some time to glance through the entire book (referenced above).  It is an enjoyable read. Simply refer to the link below:

How To Get Strong and How To Stay So – By William Blaikie

Enjoy,

Ross