Page:Athletics and Manly Sport (1890).djvu/152

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FOOD AND EXERCISE IN TRAINING.
127

eaten at night has long been consumed, and it is obviously wrong to make a violent effort while the muscular and nerve organs are in a state of inanition. But the walk and the open air will give a man an appetite for his breakfast.

Charles Westhall, the pedestrian, who gave much intelligent and experienced consideration to training, says:—

"The walk should be taken at such a pace that the skin does not become moist, but have a good, healthy glow on the surface, and the man be at once ready for his breakfast at eight o'clock."

Westhall recommends that, before this walk, an egg in a cup of tea, or something of the kind, should be taken.

The breakfast need not always consist of a broiled mutton-chop or cutlet; a broiled steak, broiled chicken, or broiled fish, or some of each, may be taken, with tea or coffee. (Dr. Harris's regimen is excellent throughout.)

After breakfast, a good rest for digestion. About half-past ten, a man training for a boxing- contest might "punch the bag" (always an air-bag) for fifteen or twenty minutes, and spar four three-minute rounds briskly with his attendant. For the last two weeks of his training, this ought to be increased to eight or ten, or even fifteen, three-minute rounds, and the time-keeper should