Gymnastic Kinesiology PDF Download

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1913 edition. Excerpt: ...its apparent simplicity (when well done). This, and the fact that it is capable of being performed with a certain grace or style, make it a very popular exercise with young men, at once the never ending attraction and the despair of the uninitiated. Briefly considered, it may be said to consist of the following parts: 1. Starting the swing, as previously described. 2. On the next forward swing, the chest is forcibly expanded and the back arched as the body passes the vertical. This position is held, with absolute rigidity, until the forward swing is almost completed. The mechanism of this is practically identical with that of the "active" hanging position, already described. 3. A very small fraction of time before the forward swing is completed, the legs are quickly raised by a flexion in the hip joints. The less the spine is flexed, the better. 4. The legs are immediately brought down and back by a forcible extension in the hip joints and spine, while the arms, kept straight and rigid, are simultaneously pressed down to the sides, in other words, extension in the shoulder joint, rotation downward, depression and adduction of the scapula take place. The muscles concerned are the hip extensors and erector spinae; the latissimus and teres major; the pectoralis major; the pectoralis minor and rhomboids; the lower trapezius; the triceps. It is on the proper timing, quickness and vigor of this complex muscular effort in relation to the recoil from the forward swing that the success of the exercise depends. If it is made a moment too soon or too late, if the extension at the hip is not complete, if the arching of the back is excessive, if the extension of the shoulder joint (the bearing down with the arms) is not strong enough, or if...