Tuesday, May 24, 2011

MUSCLE BUILDING (Circa 1924 ) - Preface & Introduction - By Earle E. Liederman


Originally posted on NaturalStrength.com on 18 March 2003 *Pictures are randomly selected and are not all necessarily from the book.


Preface:

It may interest the reader to know that the manuscript of this book was carried in my pocket over 9,000 miles, which I traveled for the purpose of securing the material and photographs contained within these pages.

I have personally met and felt the muscles of nearly all the athletes whose pictures appear in this book. I have endeavored to secure photographs of men who have spent years in the world of athletics and whose physiques show the remarkable results of their different professions. I have done this solely to arouse the reader's enthusiasm.

Because of thousands of requests which I have received from all parts of the world, this book came into being. It has been written with an unprejudiced mind and I have endeavored to tell the exact truth on muscle building, gained from years of careful observation and research, coupled with experience not only on my own body, but also on the physiques of thousands upon thousands of my pupils.

Physiology has been completely left out. I have used as few anatomical terms as possible, and these only where it is necessary. I have endeavored to explain muscle building in a simplified manner so that it could be easily understood by readers in all stages of life.

If one - just one - under-developed reader obtains a strong, robust body through following he suggestions I have outlined in this book, I will feel amply repaid for my efforts.



Introduction:

There's probably a time in everyone's life when he wishes he were stronger, and had more skill and endurance. This my first make itself known in boyhood, in an argument with the school bully, or it ma not come until middle age, when a man realizes he is slipping backward. If you ask one hundred boys if they would like to double their present strength, you would probably receive one hundred answers in the affirmative, for the answer is revealed in the Bible adage, "The glory of young men is their strength."

If you propounded the same question to a group of men between the ages of twenty-five and thirty-five, you probably would not receive more than 30 per cent, or 60 per cent, affirmative replies, for the remainder would hesitate, or perhaps would not know. Ask the same question of one hundred men between the age of forty and fifty and the ones who are enthusiastic about increasing their strength are in the minority, for a man at this age is usually more desirous of increasing his vitality and preparing to preparing to lengthen his stay upon this earth.

Regardless of age, however, there are very few people who would refuse to increase their strength, improve their appearance, and experience all the joys of living a physical culture life, if they could acquire these things without too much effort. The plain truth is that most people are lazy. They will not exert a sufficient amount of energy to the care and welfare of their bodies, which if left undone, will positively cause them to slip backward rather than go forward.

If more people realized the importance of devoting even ten to fifteen minutes daily to the care and welfare of their bodies, there would be far less dyspepsia, rheumatism, under-nourishment or obesity. If people only realized what it means to possess robust health, abounding strength and feeling of satisfaction that accompanies a well-muscled body, physical culturists would be in the majority instead of in the minority.

I have often watched crowds pass on the streets and noticed most of the individuals shuffle along more dead than alive. Seventy-five per cent of them are round-shouldered and flat-chested; many are carrying twenty-five to fifty pounds of extra weight around their waists and hips. Once in a while you will see someone in the passing throng with a springy step, deep, full chest and straight broad shoulders. You can tell at once that he is a physical culturist who has devoted some time to the care and welfare of his body. Your attention is attracted to him because of his personality, which is emphasized by his athletic appearance. His complexion is clear, his eyes sparkle, he radiates vitality. Lines of dissipation are absent.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if everyone looked and felt like this? Medical doctors would soon become rare and drug stores would sell fewer drugs, and even less toilet articles than they now sell. There is really no excuse for anyone who fails to enjoy all the thrills resulting from robust health. Anyone who is too lazy to devote a little time to his physical welfare deserves absolutely no sympathy when sickness or disease gets him.

It is my pleasure and great privilege to tell you in this series of little informal talks just how much you can enjoy the delights of robust health and the feeling of security and satisfaction that comes to a man who knows that he can give a good account of himself in any emergency that may arise, and who has the courage and the red-blooded love of life to want to increase not only his happiness, but also the happiness and the comfort of those who love and respect him and wish him well.


Iron Nation
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