Exercises for gentlemen - Alfred B. Olsen

The School of Health is a forgotten classic of the early 1900s that contains at its heart a 'practical course in physical culture' designed to keep a chap in tip-top condition without even requiring him to pop his shorts on. Exercises for Gentlemen offers up excerpts from this physical fitness course along with the original illustrations. What results is both an evocative glimpse of times gone by, and an exercise regime ideally suited to the modern gent with neither time nor inclination to disrobe when he steps from the busy office. There is detailed guidance on everything from knee bends and arm bends, to correct standing. The author also addresses such notions as hydrotherapy and enemas, though you may be relieved (or not) to hear that with the latter he considers the use of four or more quarts of water to be a "reprehensible practice." A daily regime of a mere 15 minutes of besuited exercise is guaranteed to: "Reduce undue fullness at the waist, square the shoulders, round out the arms, improve leg development, and, in short, make a more graceful, strong, and symmetrical man."