A FEW POINTERS.
Tire a muscle (not yourself) if you desire its greatest development. This, however, is not necessary to secure general contour of figure.
Only forty minutes are required to take all the exercises herein given. If you do not need all, do not take all. Of this you must be the judge. Believing, as I do, that every part of the body needs daily exercise, I take all of them daily; all (except the floor exercises) immediately after arising; all of the floor exercises before retiring.
Whatever you do, be it never so little, do it regularly and systematically.
Do not hold the breath while exercising. Contract the muscles as if you were overcoming an actual resistance. When a muscle is brought to its greatest tension, it should be held a moment, then thoroughly relaxed.
To hold your breath when exercising is to let your muscles tear down at a rapid rate. The carbon dioxide accumulates very fast in the muscles and if you shut off the supply of blood or impoverish it, particularly during vigorous exercise, it is surely a tearing down instead of a building up process; whereas, if you breathe continuously and rhythmically, fresh blood flows to the parts exercised. The gasping that follows the too long holding of the breath during exercise is liable to injure the valves of the heart.
Bear in mind that muscles are not made better merely by working them, but by nourishing them; also, by giving them fresh blood upon which to feed regularly.
To extract the maximum amount of work from all the slow, tense exercises (those that have an interval of rest) the muscular contraction at the end must be positive; i. e., when you
