SPECIAL EXERCISES 91 



The Neck 



Exercise No. 18. Place the hands behind the 

 head and slowly move the head backwards 

 against the pressure of the hands and as slowly- 

 let it come forward again. The exercise can be 

 reversed by bending the head forward against the 

 hands placed with the palms against the fore- 

 head. 



The same exercises can be done without using 

 the hands at all, by making the neck rigid dur- 

 ing the exercise, and a good variation is made by 

 making the neck rigid and then slowly bending 

 the head around in a circle. 



The Chest Muscles 



Exercise No. 19. There are two simple and 

 effective exercises for developing the main mus- 

 cles of the chest. Lie face down on the floor 

 with your hands, palms downward, pressing on 

 the floor right under your shoulders. Keeping 

 the body and legs perfectly rigid, push down with 

 your hands, lifting your body from the floor as 

 high as possible. This should occupy a slow sec- 

 ond, taking the same time to come down again. 



This exercise should not be done unless shoul- 

 der and back exercises are done also. Many 

 boys' shoulders stoop forward not so much 

 because of weakness, but because the strength of 

 their chest muscles is larger in proportion than 



