Exercise and Physical Beauty

Diet is unquestionably the first essential in restoring a physical beauty of form which has de-generated, running either to obesity or overthinness. Exercise is the great maintainer of physical beauty in woman. Proper diet and proper exercise mean health, and health is a fundamental thing in beauty. Troubles of the stomach and intestines, poor circulation and other ills, which reflect on your physique, are helped or prevented by exercise. First of all comes right breathing—which means no tight corsets—breathing from the abdomen. Deep breathing underlines all exercise.

It keeps the chest muscles up to the mark and increases expansion, which in the normal woman should be 3 inches. Every woman should take her setting-up exercises in the morning on rising.

General Exercises for Energy and Carriage.

For the simple energy exercises which should start the day: Deep breathing, with alternate extension of right and left foot, and relaxation. Ditto, with stretching of right and left thigh, and relaxation. Ditto, with stretching of right and left hand, arm and shoulder. Then, deep breathing with chest expansion, abdomen expansion and body stretching. The exercises should be carried out in one, two, three rhythm and count. Then, after a cold bath, should come the regular exercise drill of the day. These general exercises should never be neglected. Specific exercises for fat reduction, if time is lacking, may be carried out later. The "Daily Dozen" exercises of Walter Camp, (Pub. by the Reynolds Publishing Co.) invented for use in the army, are excellent for general use. They lay a muscle corset about the waist, and do wonders for shoulder, back and chest muscles. Use the "Daily Dozen" and you will be able to cut your low-neck dresses as low as you like. They take ten minutes to carry out.

Chinning Exercises—"Chinning" exercises pull up the weight of the body by the arms; by means of a simple, fixed bar within the reach of the arms, and improve the muscles of upper arm, front and back of shoulders and chest. Exercises in bending the back relieve back fatigue. Abdominal exercises (lying flat on back and rising to a sitting position, keeping legs down, with forward flex, bending body at hips) should not be forgotten. They are very important, as the muscles exercised support the vital organs. Thigh exercises (rising from squatting position, hands on hips, knees bent to make thigh form right angle with trunk, again squatting, and repeating) are mainly for energy.
But calf and leg muscles benefit materially by any rising-on-the-toes exercise. Further toe-circling, "windmill," bending exercises for suppleness and grace should also be practiced.

What These Exercises Do—These simple exercises and their variations will prevent you from becoming round-shouldered. They will give your backbone a normal curve, and prevent what used to be known as the "debutante slouch." They lend carriage, graceful action and position to the body. They correct a hanging head, relaxed chest, sagging abdomen. Carriage is next in beauty to form, in a way, because it presents form to the best advantage. Special exercises for the development of special muscles you may easily evolve yourself, by varying the general basic forms. Remember that exercise and diet must work together for physical improvement.

KEEP THE FIGURE BEAUTIFUL

Fat-Reducing Exercises—Always take medical advice before entering on a course of special fat reducing exercise. It must not be too severe. To reduce the bust stand straight, hands on hips. Move the elbows back till they meet. Then, stretching out your arms in front of you, the palms of the hands meeting, raise the arms above the head, again stretch them out, and return, slowly. There are excellent weight reduction exercises among the "Daily Dozen" (Wave, Weave, Crouch, Curl, Crawl, Grasp, etc.). Thigh, toe-circling and back-bending exercises cover hip reduction. Lying full length on the floor, legs close, arms raised above the head, and rolling over completely, ten times in succession, reversing to prevent dizziness, is one of the most "resultful" hip-reducing exercises you can take.

FAT REDUCTION IN GENERAL

In general women between twenty and thirty may reduce fat more rapidly than those past thirty. Flesh, too, is often put on greatly after childbirth, Usually because of sedentary habits. Avoid them. After forty-five fat reduction by exercise is not without danger. "Honest sweat," not "Turkish bath sweat," cuts down fat. Not the sweat produced by rubber garments, hot bathing, or electric light cabinets, makes you less obese, but that of physical activity. Where heart trouble, kidney or other strain precludes a woman's taking exercise, muscle manipulation by electricity, electrical massage, is valuable. The true, scientific means that will give the best results in most cases, is the combination of systematic exercises and regulated diet—avoiding fats and carbohydrates as far as possible.

SPORTS AS DEVELOPERS OF PHYSICAL BEAUTY

Sports, followed normally, make for womanly beauty. Swimming, perhaps, comes first. It trains and gives control of every muscle of the body, and control of all the muscles means beauty of carriage. It stimulates torpid livers and inactive kidneys, and prevents constipation. It washes out the rolls of fat from the waist, and develops neck and chest. The auto has unfortunately decreased woman's indulgence in horseback riding. A good horse-woman always carries herself well, and riding gives special training to the muscles of back and thighs.

Dancing coordinates all the body movements. It helps preserve youth as well as grace, beauty and strength.

Tennis, when not too strenuous, is a splendid form of sport and exercise combined.

Indoor golf, is of course, only a shadow of outdoor golf. It is good, but the latter is far better. Its great advantage is giving exercise in the sun and air.

Hockey, baseball, running, hurdling, jumping, are all sport forms of exercise now open to women, especially the college girl, and all have their value.

Basketball strengthens every part of the body and stimulates the circulation. Bowling is a good anti-fat exercise, and develops the muscles of the trunk and arms.

All winter sports—skating, tobogganing, skiing—make for poise and muscular coordination.

For more information on related products and services, please choose from the following menu of items:

Home Gyms
Treadmills
Exercise Bikes
Elliptical Trainers
Rowing Machines
Weight Benches
Inversion Tables
Heart Rate Monitors
Trampolines
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About The Author:

Geoff Sweeney: To Read the the rest of the Book "Physical Beauty how to Develop and Preserve It" by Florence Courtenay please goto Exercise for Physical Beauty
25-11-05