This page has been validated.
SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY.
23
ACTIVE AND PASSIVE CHEST.
See Figs. 8 and 9.
By an active chest I mean that the chest should be raised to its highest position muscularly; i. e., independently of the breathing—purely a muscular exercise; the passive chest being a complete relaxing of the muscles.
I am not an advocate of clavicular breathing to the extent of the raising or the clavicle (collar bone). All breathing should begin at the waist (diaphragm) and then extend upward, but without lifting the upper chest.
The mobility of the chest can be obtained and retained by muscular action—active to passive, passive to active, etc., and by exercising the shoulder, back and chest muscles as hereinafter indicated.
