CHAPTER XXXI 



THE EXERCISE WE NEED 



Give special attention at this time to the connection 

 between your breathing and your exercise. Notice how 

 quietly you breathe before you start to run ; then go 

 with a rush around the block, or walk up four flights of 

 stairs at a brisk pace, and notice your breathing again. 

 At the end of the exercise you will find that your lungs 

 are working hard ; you may even be panting as a dog 

 does when he runs behind a carriage. 



The fact is that the harder we use certain muscles 

 of our bodies, the more air the body needs; while the 

 more it needs, the harder the lungs try to get it. 



Now it is the work of the large muscles that compels 

 the body to call for the most air. However long and 

 however hard you exercise the small muscles of your 

 hand by opening and shutting your fingers, you can 

 never get out of breath from doing it ; but by making 

 the large muscles of your legs move energetically enough 

 to race around the block, you can make your lungs draw 

 in all they can possibly hold. It is the work of the large 

 muscles, then, that forces the lungs to supply the body 



with unusual quantities of life-giving oxygen. Remember 



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