Manual of physical training.

Date:
1914
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Manual of physical training. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    18/296 (page 8)
    of the service to which he belongs, the following requirements should be kept in view, viz. ; a soldier should be well disciplined, a good marcher, intelligent, smart, active and quick, able to suimount obstacles in the field and capable of withstanding all the strains and hardships of active service. 7. The recruit on joining is not in a fit state to undertake his work as a soldier without preparation, and the performance of purely military exercises, drill, route marching, rifle exercises, stable duties, riding, gun drill, &c., are not sufficient, however gradually they may be taken, to put him into the required state of physical fitness. Neither is it possible by means of these military exercises alone to correct the bad habits too often acquired before enlistment. 8. The soldier’s training is completed regimentally but in order to prepare the man for and to assist this training and with a view to attaining the requirements referred to above, the recruit is given a special course of physical training which should be con- ducted on the principles indicated in this Manual. 9. It must be borne in mind that the performance of the various exercises is only a means to an end and that the training is not merely for the sake of the exercises themselves but for the ultimate effects of those exercises. 10. The value of active games and sports as adjuncts to physical training cannot be over-estimated. Games and physical training should be looked upon as complementary to one another and a man’s physical education can hardly be considered as quite complete without the introduction of some form of active recreation. But however much they are encouraged, games cannot altogether take the place of physical training. They have not the same cor- rective effect, many of them are “ one-sided,” the same regular, systematic and progressive results cannot be obtained from them, and, apart from the difficulty of obtaining sufficient space for all to play, the greatest drawback to the use of games alone is, that the weaker and less expert performer (f.e., the very man who most requires training) is often discouraged by his want of proficiency and so ends by becoming a “ looker on.” SECTION II. BEINCIPLES OF THE SYSTEM EMPLOYED. 11. The following is a general outline of the principles on which the system of instruction contained in this Manual is based . (i) The exercises.—Every exercise employed has a beneficial effect on some part of the body and furthers at