Bernarr Macfadden Self Resistance Exercises, Part 1

Bernarr Macfadden was an American who founded the very popular Physical Culture magazine in 1899, under his Macfadden Publications, which also had titles such as True Detective, True Stories, SPORT (which was brought out 8 years before Sport's Illustrated), and a gossip tabloid The New York Graphic. Macfadden himself is credited as being the man who started the health craze in America.

Macfadden was a man who lived by his own words. He was born weak and sickly and orphaned as a child. By the age of 11, he was placed with a farmer and the hard work and wholesome farm food had him in fit shape rather quickly. However, at the age of 13, he moved to St. Louis, Missouri, taking a desk job and his health reverted back to weak and sickly. He started exercising with dumbbells, walking 6 miles a day, became a strict vegetarian. He was also a huge proponent of fasting and called white bread the “staff of death”.

Maybe Macfadden was simply a man ahead of his time. His ideas on health in his time are the exact same that are being pushed today. So, maybe spending 15 minutes with the routine he published in the early 1900's is well worth pursuing.

The routine consists 15 self resistance exercises. The first 5 are found in this post. There will be two more posts, each with 5 exercises of the routine, published later this week, and early next week, so stayed tuned for those!

Bernarr Macfadden Self Resistance Routine

1. Grasp left hand with right, as per illustration. Now, resisting slightly with the left arm, bring right arm outward and downward to same position in which the left arm is illustrated. Continue until tired, then same exercise with left arm. This exercise is particularly good for developing the intercostal muscles and for expanding and developing the chest. If a full breath is inhaled and retained while three or four movements are made, it will assist greatly increasing lung capacity and power. (Note: holding one's breath can increase blood pressure. It is advised to breath out on the exertion portion of the exercise and breath in when returning to the start position).

2. Place left hand on right as per illustration. While resisting slightly with the left arm, bring right hand up as far as you can. Continue until tired; then same exercise with left arm. This exercise will be found especially good for developing the biceps, and it takes a short while to show results.

3. Interlace the fingers tightly together just behind the knees as per illustration. Now bend downward slightly, then straighten the body as much as you can with fingers interlaced as illustrated. Of course, you cannot make much of a movement of this, but the endeavors made to straighten the body vigorously exercises the muscles of the small of the back. Continue the exercises, bending forward slightly, then endeavoring to straighten up, until tired. This is a most excellent remedy for curing pains in the back, though it should not be made too vigorously until considerable strength has been gained.

4. Place Left hand on right arm as per illustration. Now while resisting the movement slightly with left arm, raise right arm outward and upward as nearly to the side as possible. Continue until tired; then same exercise with the left arm. This is especially good for filling out muscles on the side of the shoulders.

5. Interlace fingers and twist left arm as far out to the side as possible (see illustration). While resisting with the right arm, bring left arm straight across the chest until right arm is forced into the same position as the left arm is shown in the illustration. Continue until tired; then same exercise with the left arm resisting. For the twisting muscles of the upper arm and shoulder. If you desire to be proficient in the feat of “pushing the arm down,” practice this persistently and you will surprise all your friends. It is also splendid for increasing chest capacity.

Give these 5 exercises a try for a few days, before Part 2 is published,  and I think you'll start to feel the difference.  And to make things better, check out the free 1 Day Meal Plan from the Fit Father Project which can really help you get the most from these exercises.

Upper Body Work with a Towel

It's hard to believe that a cigarette company would have exercise related items, but it's true.  As early as 1875, promotional, and collectible cards were included in cigarette packaging.  These cards often were images of actresses, sport teams and celebrities, and other curiosities (as considered at the time), such as Native American Chieftains.  Most cards belonged to a series of 25 to 50 cards, but there were the occasional sets of 100.  But some cards included instructions on exercise.

Below is a set of cards from the W.D. & H.O Wills tobacco company out of Britain.  It appears that these cards were printed sometime in the late 1800's to the early 1900's.  It's an interesting set of exercises using nothing more than a towel.  It looks like it could be some pretty decent shoulder work when there is nothing else at hand.

Ex 1

(1.) Stand in position illustrated, with towel held tightly stretched on level with the shoulders. (2.) Raise arms as high as possible above head. (3.) Return to position 1, and then lower arms as illustrated, resuming position 1, from which whole exercise should be repeated 8 to 10 times.

Ex 2 

(1.) Stand in position illustrated, with towel held stretched between hands. (2.) Extend arms as high as possible above the head. (3.) Bend elbows so that towel is now stretched behind the neck. (4.) Lower hands, sliding towel through them, until arms are fully extended behind legs, when it may be stretched tightly again. (5.) Return in order to positions 3, 2, and 1 from which whole exercise should be repeated 8 to 10 times.

Ex 3 

 (1.) Stand in position illustrated, with towel stretched tightly across chest, and on level with the shoulders. (2.) Then extend arms fully above head with towel still taut. (3.) Bending forward, with towel still tightly stretched, bring it over the head and hold it horizontally, just above ground. Both arms and legs should be kept perfectly straight. (4.) Return to position 2, and then to position 1, from which the whole exercise should be repeated 8 to 10 times.

Ex 4 

(1.) Stand in position illustrated. (2.) Then raise arms above head, and lower again, so that stretched towel is again level with the shoulders, but BEHIND the head. (3.) Straighten right arm, at the same time lowering right hand so that towel (still taut) now slopes to the right. (4.) Return to Position 2, and repeat with left arm. (5.) Return again to position 2, and then to position 1, from which whole exercise should be repeated 8 to 10 times.

Ex 5 

(1.) Stand in position illustrated, with towel tightly stretched and held across chest. (2.) Extend arms as far as possible, keeping towel taut. (3.) Return to position 1, from which the whole exercise should be repeated 8 to 10 times.