THE OREGON SUNDAY JOURNAL; PORTLAND. SUNDAY. . MORNING. JUNE-'28, 1914. T
FEEMCH DOCTOR EOLES HEW PHY
Dr. Francis Heckel Insists That We Should Develop
Muscle to Play Games and Not Play Games to
Develop Muscle He Embodies in His System the
Remarkable Methods Used in the French Navy
by Lieutenant Commander Hebert.
SKMlllMLTORE ;TEM
, . . - . . .. -.- . - - - - - -
" ...
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recuperation of the neuro-muscular
function and a parallel return to mor
phological and' nutritive characteris
tics." The essentially medical nature of the
Heckel system- is one of its most strik
ing features..' Every time its exponent
advises a muscular exercise, even the
simplest, he explains exactly what ac
tion this causes, what effects, direct or
indirect, it has on other portions of the
body, and what the reasons are for its
prescription to pupils or patients. '
As has been said, the Heckel system
includes three stages: Preliminary
preparation by muscular development,
natural exercises such as are pre
scribed by Lieutenant Commander He
bert in bis system, and sports.
The first step of the first stage is a
thorough examination of the pupil,
who must submit to it entirely un
clothed. To record ,the results of this
examination Dr. Heckel has drawn up
a number of charts, which, when filled
neath the akin.' According to Zr.
Heckel. too many physical educators
.and re-educators neglect this in their
work.
He declares that preliminary train
ing according to his methods will
bring about a harmonious muscular
development superior " to that pro-
duced by other systems, in which
harmony is sacrificed to development
of special portions of the body. After
going through the preliminary course
the pupil is ready for the second stage
of the system, that based on Lieu
tenant Commander Hebert's methods.
aw k.-, .. Here is an average lesson in natural
urai methods I shall tekeuponljr that seising by the Hebert system
of Lieutenant Commander Hebert.. It
is based on the following principles:
in the open air. Where this is Impos
sible, Dr. Heckel insists on the pupil's
wearing as little clothing as possible,
as the part played by sunlight and air
in muscular development is, accord
ing to him. much greater than is gen
erally known.
Pupils going through Lieut. Com
mander Hebert's course of "natural"
exercises are required to rest one
day ont of seven and never to exert
themselves so violently as to . reach
the limit of their strength.
How French Sailors Train
Man in a state of nature, and to sat
isfy, the needs of his struggle for ex
istence, is constantly forced to employ
useful . forms of exercise, such as
walking, running, swimming, climb
ing, lifting, and certain movements of
out rl a. ramnlptu riMPrinMnn at h , ueieiiao. ny means or metso
f-i;flT.t,a KHSLV Primitive man. in all parts of the
uut.iuuM, J -worm. oDtains aimost automatically
(60
38. Combined arm-and leg exercise In Heckel' 8 system. 41. Exercise
utilizing all the leg muscles. 42. "Stepper" movement, basis of German
army "goose step." 46. Lateral raising of leg, especially difficult for be
ginners 48. Variation of above, with bending of leg. 47-48;- Exercises I for
developing bending muscles of thigh. 49. Rotary leg exercise J5D-5L Leg
exercises, especially fatiguing, for developing all the leg muscles.
his health, his tendencies, etc. From
this the methods to be adopted for his
physical education are chosen, for,
above all else, the Heckel system is
one based on individual requirements
'There is no fixed Heckel system, in
face, since he ascribes to rigidity of
rules the failure of many previous
systems to produce beings perfect
physically.
After the . physical examination
comes a lone series of movements in
tended to develop the muscles. Dr.
Heckel classifies . these under Several
heads, and givks a total of more than
100, appending to each a thorough ex
planation, couched in scientific terms.
The exercises include arm exercises,
such as stretching the arms up over
the head and horizontally from the
shoulders, rotary arm movements ex
ercises, with weights, dumbbells, and
pulley exereises; leg .exercises, such
as crouching and forward and back
ward kicking, and a series of exer
cises tending to .develop the abdominal
muscles and those of the neck, back,
and other parts of the body.
This preliminary stage is . divided
into three parts. The first, called by
Heckel the period of adaptation,
should last one or two weeks, accord
ing to the adaptability of the pupil.
It consists of exercises tending to cre
ate a feeling "of fatigue, which is in
creased progressively as the pupil's ca
pability of enduring fatigue increases.
At the same time, it is a period of
complete organic development and ab
solute functional harmony. .
The morphological and aesthetid re
sults are so perfect that one may say
that natural man is the most beautiful
as well as the most vigorous of men.
Heredity perfects and fixes these re
sults. Starting from this, Hebert, on the
one hand, has his men go through edu
cational movements consisting of
walking, with legs held stiff or bent,
and of running, combined with respir
atory . movements and correct holding
of the back. This educational part is
combined with an entire series of util
itarian exercises which are progres
sively increased in Intensity, number
and duration. - v ;
These exercises are climbing trees,
walls, and obstacles of all kinds, climb
ing a rope with and without help from
the lower limbs, swimming in every
form and for all purposes, obstacle
races, lifting stones,- sacks and men,
with the end in view of helping and
bringing succor; for, like Amoros, who.
was haunted by the Idea of im
parting to gymnastic exercises moral
?.nd altruiBtic features, Hebert bears
h mind not only the egoistic side rep
resented by self-defense, but the altru
istic, represented by mutual help.
Thus the military side of this edu
cation is placed in the foreground, for
the man developed by Hebert's meth
ods is an athlete remarkable for
strength and endurance. The type
tnus obtained, of a beauty aosoiuteiy
different from that evolved by the
Swedes and akin to the Hellenic type,
seems more perfect and is infinitely
better a dsp ted to the tastes and needs
or our race.
N
OT, long ago Lieutenant Com
mander Georges Hebert of the
French navy decided that if men
reverted for a short while every
day to the natural mddes of exercise
of their savage ancestors they would
be much, better men , physically. He
worked his ideas into a practical sys
tem of physical training, Introduced
them among the men of the French
navy, and obtained such excellent re
sults that soon his ideas were adopted
also for training the soldiers of the
trench army.
And now Hebert has received even
more flattering recognition4 of the
value of his work from a high sci
entific authority, Dr. Francis Heckel.
who uses the Hebert methods in n
entirely new system of his own, called ,
by him "myotherapy," or cure by
muscular action, which, according to
hi in, not only develops the muscles, but
acts as a cure In a number of dis
eases, among them, incipient tubercu-.
losis, nervous troubles, gout, asthma,
and obesity.
Dr. Heckel, who is already known
through a work by him on how to
cure obesity, explains "myotherapy,"
in a volume entitled "Physical Culture
and Cures by Exercise," which has
just appeared in Paris. After review- .
lng many theories of physical educa-
. tion, among them those embodied in
the Swedish, German, and French
systems evolved, respectively, by Ling,
John and Amoros, he discards as use
less for his purposes all except that of
Hebert and two men, Lagrange and
Deraeny, who paved the way for him.
,: In the Heckel system the Hebert
reversion to the simple exercises of
primitive man constitutes the second
step of development. Previous to
reaching it, Heckel prescribes for the
pupil careful and thorough exercises
destined to make him acquire the de
gree of muscular development neces
sary before the second series of exer
cises 'should be attempted. The system
- of the French naval officer Is further
amplified by another stage, the thlrt
and Ust, in Dr. Heckel's series, which
consists of sports known to all of us
tennis, swimming, rowing, football, etc.
That these should be played only
after the first two stages of develop-
, ment have been gone through la in
sisted upon by the apostle of "myo
therapy." In his eyes exercise is a
means, not an end. "It cannot be re
peated too often," he says, "that one
must develop the muscles in order to
take part in sports, not take part in
sports in order to develop the mus
cles." " , Drastic methods are needed for edu
cating our young people and reeducat
ing your grownups. physically, accord
ing' to Dr. Heckel. He declares, that
since the days of antiquity, when the
Greek athletes attained a degree of
physical development which is still the
marvel of the world, there has been a
woeful degeneration in the quality of
the human race.
- He contends that the Greeks trained
their ethletes by no haphazard meth
od, but by a careful system, unfortu
nately lost to us, which must have
surpassed in efficiency anything sine
produced. Then came the Middle Ages,
when intellectual Ideals were Bet up
. as the ' highest to which men could
aspire, and all pertaining, to the body
was treated with contempt., Standards
of physical culture were allowed to
drop, until -a serious deterioration in
the human race set in, which contin
ued steadily until within the last 60
years, when a' decided reaction came.
A corollary of our physical degen
eration; Dr. Heckel points out, is in
tellectual degeneration. According to
him, the very neglect of the physical
enjoined by mediaeval pursuers ,pf
knowledge brought about th deterior
ation of those Intellectual powers
which they were seeking to cultivate.
- ' In describing his system. Dr. Heckel
lays particular stress on two things.
One is. that it is not his intention to
produce that kind of athletes In whom
certain sets of muscles are developed
to the detriment of there and to the
well being of the body In general-
"false athletes' he calls them. Too
1. WALKING EXERCISES, (DURA
TION. FIVE MINUTES.)
1. Walking at an average gait, with
the shoulders thrown back.
2. Walking on the tips of the feet.
8. Walking quickly, with legs bent.
at a speed of seven to nine, kilometers
per hour. Take long steps; bend the
body forward.
4. Quick walking with legs stiff;
minimum speed, nine kilometers per
hour. Short -and hurried steps. Keep
the trunk vertical and the legs
straight.
5. Slow walking, with deep breath
ing. 11. RUNNING EXERCISES. (FIVTB
MINUTES.)
1. Running, medium speed, legs
bent.
2. Running on tips of feet.
5. Running with ldng leaps from
one foot to the other.
- 4. Quick starts in short sprints.
6. Slow run, with deep breathing.
III. CLIMBING EXERCISES,
(EIGHT MINUTES).
1. Lifting of legs, stretched forward,
as high as possible.
2. Getting upon a straight bar by
means of the arms alone.
j3. Supporting one's self on the hands
and the tips of the feet. Falling for
ward in two movements and in one.
Bending the arms. Walking and run
ning on all fours.
4. Climbing slack rope, or the under
side of a ladder.
5. Climbing walls, trees, etc. Going
over places where vertigo Is to be
feared.
IV JUMPING EXERCISES, (TEN
MINUTES).
1. Skipping of all sorts; skipping
rope.
2. High Jump without a start. ,
I
. ' J
Exercises for abdominal development. Including bending trunk with legs
together and apart, bending trunk and touching left foot with right hand
and vice versa, bending trunk with anna in. various positions, Ac
many physical trainers seek to de
velop men of this type, he says, and
are responsible for a widespread idea'
that to . endeavor to be like euch
freaks ; is a worthy object. Tha ,
Heckel system seeks to develop all the
muscles harmoniously and make of a
man a perfect physical being.
The second point upon which partic
ular stress is laid is that the neuro
muscular apparatus is what mtust be
developed, not the muscles - alone.
; Every movement in the Heckel System
has this double object in view.
Dr. Heckel's definition of physical
culture is "a method of developmant
and of equilibrium of all organie fun
tions by the voluntary exercising of
one of them, the neuro-muscular func
tion, ' by means, first. of artificial
movements, then of- natural move-iM-tits,
and, finally, of sports and
games? It is, for this body, the equiva-
- lent of - intellectual culture for the
mind. .' H -defines "myotherapy?. thus:
' "A method for correcting the derange
ment ' of functions functional trou
bles) by progressive development ,or
cleansing the pupil's system from fat
arid other matter that has been im
pairing bis condition.
About the fourth week of the pre
liminary treatment comes its second
phase genuine physical training. This
is a difficult time, as the fatigue oc
casioned during the preceding weeks
is likely to cause discouragement. To
combat this the trainer must "buck
up" his pupil - constantly. By thla
time each lesson' should last from
. thirty to forty minutes with exercises
calculated to produce copious perspi
ration.' The muscles should become
supple at this stage.
Then comes the third subdivision of
the preliminary stage, that devoted
to developing the pupil's muscles.
Weight up to three kilograms are
now prescribed by Dr. Heckel. This
period should last from six to ten
weeks and should bring ' about a
marked increase- in muscular power.
', Trainers should devote special . care
during this time to the development ef
each muscle in its entirety, and not
. merely seek to toughen those " parts
that are visible and lie directly be
68-691 Bending exercise In which
spinal muscles actively participate.
72-73. For developing dorsal muscles.
76. Exercise beneficial to spinal mus
cles. 77. Rotary trunk movement.
?1-S2. Trunk exercises combined with
4ee breathing.
Hebert attaches small Importance to
the lifting of weights and, In a gen- '
eral way, to mechanical resistance.
His lifting, exercises are of an essen
tially utilitarian character and adapt
ed to military education.
The results obtained by him are
most remarkable, v - .. " . ';'
Like Heckel, Lieut. Commander
Hebert has worked out a number of
charts, by whicb he records minutely
the r development - of each man undr
his care. These charts, declares
Heckel, are 5 the only ones produced
up to 'how which record minutely the
development - of each individual and
make It possible to teU at a glance
his physical condition.
The average lesson given by Lieut.
Commander Hebert lasts one hour.
This applies modified, of course, by
individual requirements to the use of ;
the Hebert methods in Dr. Heckel's
system.. Both of these men lay great :
stress- on the advisability of exercis
ing without garments of any sort and
Advanced leg exercises, producing remarkable results la thigh and leg. .
A preliminary to Jumping exercise in stage IL of Heckel system. 54. Foot
developing exercise. 66. Simultaneous raising of leg from recumbent
posture. 60. "Bicycle" movement. 61-63. Rotary and spiral movements.
64. For developing muscles at back of legs. 66. Raising of bead and trunk .
for back' and sacro-lumbar muscles. 67. Kxerclsa for, thigh muscles.
. High Jump with a start. VIL DEFENSIVE EXERCISES.
4. Broad Jump without a Start. (TEN MINUTES.)
6. Broad Jump with a start. Natural defensive exercises include
-6. Jumping a barrier br the aid of boxing and wrestling. In individual
the hands. V" - work, wrestling may be replaced by
elementary exercises with a bar or any
similar object; for instance, a weighted
sack, which should be thrown about in
all directions.
VII I. -PROGRESS I VE WALKINO
AND RUNNING EXERCISES.
: (TEN MINUTES.)
Walking with legs bent:. COO to UH
meters. With legs straight: 100 to
00 meters.
Running, average gait: 100 to 1100
meters.,: .
Running, quick gait: 10 to 100 rae
: ters.
These walks and runs are to be ex
ecuted In additon to the various walk
ing and running exercises already in-
dlcated. which are made 'without re
gard to distance.
The order in which the various exer-
7. Downward jumping.
V. LIFTING EXERCISES, (FIVE
MINUTES).
1. Exercises with one .and both
hands and light weights.
- 2. Regular forms of lifting exer
cises. -
; S. Loading and carrying weighted
sacks.
5 VL THROWING EXERCISES,
(SEVEN MINUTES). .
1. Vertical raising of weight,' (7.257
kilograms.) with bending and straight
ening of tha trunk.
2. Raising same weight sideways
and passing it from one hajid to the
other while bending the trunk from
right to left and left to right. - ,
3. Throwing the same weight, each
arm alternately. .
t. Shoulder and arm developing exercises. 10-11. Exercises for devel
oping biceps and triceps. 13-11. For developing doraal and pectoral
muscles. 10-18. Respiratory exercises. 20. "Fan" movements, peculiar to
Heckel's sysem.
clses are given is not obligatory. It
should be so arranged as to make them
as continuous as possible. As a gen
eral thing, violent forms of exercise
should be made to alternate with mod
erate ones.
If for .any reason, such as lack of
time, space, material. Ac, It Is lmpos- .
sible to go through all the forms of ex
ercised prescribed, running, jumping
and cjlmbing should at all events be
done during each lesson.
The Last Stage
When the follower of Heckel's meth
ods has passed through their first
stage, that of muscular development,
and the second stage, consisting of the
natural forms of exercise prescribed by
Lieutenant Commander Hebert, he Is
ready for the third and final start
games and sports. On the subject of
these Dr. Heckel has many interesting
things to say, some of them providing
food for thought for the Anglo-Saxon
Peoples, He writes:
As a rule, the Frenchman, being
nervous, impatient, combative and
courageous. L little fitted for slow and
strategically complicated games, and
especially for those necessitating disci,
plined teamwork He l essentially an
Individualist, and It will take a long
time to adapt him gradually to the co
ordination of common effort needed in
football, rowing races, Ac.
Among all the foreign sports Intro
duced among us of late years, it seems
t0..m!Ltht tl1r re only two, tennis
and boxing, in which Frenchmen can
be sure of excelling. In tennis the
coupling of effort is limited to two
partners. Ih boxing the need of coin
bativeness. courage and initiative Is
self-evident,
French professional boxers, trained
by English and Americans, are unques
tionably better than the Kngllsh al
ready. They will master their teach
ers in this sport Just as soon as thev
have received the required preliminary
physical education.
Dr. Heckel divides the games and
sports which he recommends for use
in the third stage of his physical cul
ture system Into two classes, vis.:
1. Those which be calls "sports of
complementary education," Irrespective
of whether they are of practical use.
Among these he places bicycling, ten
nis, swimming and rowing.
2. Sports of practical value for de-w
f ense or attack. Among these he cites
boxing, wrestling. Jiu-jitsu and ath
letic games like football
He has little or no use for what be
terms "pseudo-sports," In which cate- '
gory he places yachting, automoblling.
riding as practiced in cities, hunting,
winter sports and sports whose Utility
has practically vanished, such as fenc
ing. He has little to say In favor of tennis,
which, he thinks, does not give enough
exercise to be suitable for most seek
ers after physical perfection.
The best part of the game, which is
picking up the ball, -is done, not by the
players, but by others," be disparag
ingly observes.
On the Other band, his enthusiasm
for swimming is unbounded. Rowing
he calls a good sport, but very much
inferior to swimming. Of football he
writes:
This game, imported from England,
is the first and the most complete of
all sports. It combines the advantages
of running and wrestling, and makes
those playing it quick, adroit and
strong. The pursuit of the ball neces
sitates springs, the scrimmage sua-
. tained and vigorous effort, the kicking
of the ball skill and power, falling
without getting hurt sangfroid, and the
game in general decision, judgment,
courage and discipline.
These qualities are those of athletes,
and football is par excellence an ath
letic sport. Therefore, it requires of
those playing it physical proweos of
the highest order, as well as perfect
coifdltion and training. To have a
chance of becoming a good football
player, one must begin playing the
game early. -
Dr. Heckel attaches the greatest im
portance to the kind of teachers who
should impart his system to pupils.
They should have -a thorough know l-
. edge, not only of medicine, but of phys
ical culture and sports, he dec-lares, and
. should insist that every one of the pre- .
. scribed movements be executed with -the
minutest care and exactly as set
forth. .";-..: ,