EXERCISE FOR CHEST DEVELOPMENT. 525 



Exercises of strength lead rapidly to an increase in the size of 

 the thorax. It is the same with exercises of speed when they need 

 very energetic movements. No exercise develops the chest as rap- 

 idly as does running, unless it be wrestling. 



Mountaineers all have large chests, and the Indians who live 

 on the high plateaus of the Cordillera in the Andes have been 

 noted for the extraordinary size of their chests. This great de- 

 velopment in mountaineers is due to two causes which act in the 

 same direction : frequent ascent of steep inclines, and constant 

 residence at great heights at which the air is rarefied. The climb- 

 ing of these slopes needs a great quantity of work, which causes 

 increase of the respiratory need ; respiration in a rarefied atmos- 

 phere obliges a man to take deeper breaths in order to supple- 

 ment, by the quantity of air breathed, the insufficiency of its vivi- 

 fying properties. 



Singers, with no other exercise but singing, acquire great re- 

 spiratory power and a remarkable increase in the dimensions of 

 their chests. 



Numerous observations prove that it is enough voluntarily to 

 take a certain number of deep breaths every day, to produce, in a 

 short time, an increase in the circumference of the chest which 

 may amount to two or three centimetres. 



If we wish to gain the same result from muscular exercise, we 

 must choose a form of work which will increase the intensity of 

 the respiratory effort that is, an exercise which brings powerful 

 muscular masses into action. We shall thus perform a great 

 quantity of work in a short time without producing fatigue. 

 Now the legs, which possess three times as much muscle as the 

 arms, can perform thrice the quantity of work before being 

 fatigued. The lower limbs are, then, more capable than the arms 

 of awakening the respiratory need, which is proportional to the 

 expenditure of force. 



Thus it is an error to demand from gymnastic exercises prac- 

 ticed with appliances, exercises of suspension or support, any 

 development of the chest. The trapeze, the rings, the parallel 

 bars, quicken respiration much less than running. These exer- 

 cises cause an increase in the size of the muscles, and even of 

 the bones of the regions which work, but they cause very little 

 increase in the dimensions of the thorax. 



Men who do much work with their arms have often a confor- 

 mation which is very imposing at the first glance. They have 

 sometimes broad shoulders ; but if the arms have done the work 

 alone, without the assistance of the muscles of the trunk, we easily 

 see that the apparently large size of the thorax is due to an excess- 

 ive development of the muscles about the shoulder- joint, and not 

 to raising of the ribs. 



