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Fitness for Life 6th Edition, (Ebook

PDF)
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Contents

17 Stress Management 388


Lesson 17.1 Facts About Stress 389
• Self-Assessment: Identifying Signs of Stress 394
Lesson 17.2 Managing Stress 395
• Taking Charge: Managing Competitive Stress 402
• Self-Management: Skills to Manage Competitive Stress 402
• Taking Action: Relaxation Exercises 404
Chapter Review 405

18 Making Choices and Planning for Health and Wellness 406


Lesson 18.1 Lifestyle Choices for Fitness, Health, and Wellness 407
• Self-Assessment: Healthy Lifestyle Questionnaire 413
Lesson 18.2 Healthy Lifestyle Planning and Career Opportunities 414
• Taking Charge: Thinking Success 418
• Self-Management: Skills for Thinking Success 418
• Taking Action: Your Healthy Lifestyle Plan 419
Chapter Review 420

UNIT VII Moving Through Life


19 Strategies for Active Living 422
Lesson 19.1 Opportunities in Physical Education 423
• Self-Assessment: Assessing Game Strategy and Tactics 428
Lesson 19.2 Strategy and Tactics 429
• Taking Charge: Developing Tactics 433
• Self-Management: Skills for Developing Tactics 433
• Taking Action: Cooperative Games 434
Chapter Review 435

20 The Science of Active Living 436


Lesson 20.1 Moving Your Body 437
• Self-Assessment: Analyzing Basic Skills 442
Lesson 20.2 Moving Implements and Objects 443
• Taking Charge: Positive Self-Talk 450
• Self-Management: Skills for Positive Self-Talk 450
• Taking Action: Applying Principles 452
Chapter Review 453

21 Lifelong Activity 454


Lesson 21.1 Social Interactions in Physical Activity 455
• Self-Assessment: Modifying Rules in Games 461
Lesson 21.2 Active Living Opportunities 462
• Taking Charge: Conflict Resolution 468
• Self-Management: Skills for Conflict Resolution 468
• Taking Action: Team Building 469
Chapter Review 470

Glossary 471
Index 479

vi
Touring Fitness for Life

Do you want to be healthy and fit? Do you want


to look your best and feel good?
Fitness for Life is based on the proven HELP
philosophy: Health for Everyone for a Lifetime in
a very Personal way.
H = Health
E = Everyone
L = Lifetime
P = Personal
• understand and use self-management skills
The HELP philosophy allows you to take per-
that promote healthy lifestyles for a lifetime;
sonal control of your future fitness, health, and
wellness. • be an informed consumer and critical user of
fitness, health, and wellness information; and
E5266/Corbin/fig I.1/4783076/JG/R1
Fitness for Life helps you become a physically
literate person so that you can • adopt healthy lifestyles now and later in life.
• understand and apply important concepts Fitness for Life is the winner of the Texty Award
and principles of fitness, health, and wellness; for textbook excellence.

© Monkey Bu
siness - Fotolia

© Photodisc

vii
Touring Fitness for Life

Fitness for Life will help you meet your fitness and physical activity goals. Take this guided tour
to learn about all of the features of this textbook. Two lessons are included in each chapter to
help you learn key concepts relating to fitness, health, and wellness.

UNIT OPENER: Provides


a brief overview of the
content in each unit.

Unit iii
HEALTHY PEOPLE
2020 GOALS: Lists
Moderate and Vigorous
national health
goals covered in
Physical Activity
each unit. Healthy People 2020 Goals STUDENT WEB
• Increase the percentage of teens who meet aerobic activity guidelines.
• Increase overall cardiovascular health. RESOURCES: Provides


Reduce the risk of heart disease and other chronic diseases.
Increase education to promote health-enhancing behaviors and reduce health risks.
the web address for
• Reduce the percentage of teens with high blood pressure and other health risks. finding additional
• Improve teens’ understanding of health promotion and disease prevention.
• Reduce overweight and obesity among teens. information in each
FEATURES: Lists the •

Reduce sport and recreation injuries.
Improve community facilities (such as parks) and environment (such as sidewalks).
lesson.

2
Self-Assessment, • Increase physical education in schools.
• Increase the percentage of teens who do in-school and out-of-school activity.
Taking Charge, • Improve health literacy and increase the number of high-quality health-related websites.
Self-Management, Self-Assessment Features in This Unit
• Walking Test
and Taking Action • Step Test and One-Mile Run Test
features in each unit. • Assessing Jogging Techniques
Taking Charge Features in This Unit
Adopting a H
ealthy
• Learning to Manage Time
• Self-Confidence

Lifestyle and
• Activity Participation

S
Management elf-
Self-Management Features in This Unit
• Skills for Managing Time
• Skills for Building Self-Confidence

Skills
• Skills for Choosing Good Activities
Taking Action Features in This Unit
• Your Moderate Physical Activity Plan
• Target Heart Rate Workouts In This Chapte
r
• Your Vigorous Physical Activity Plan Lesson 2.1
www
Student Web
Adopting Health
Resources
y Lifestyles www.fitnessfo
135
rlife.org/studen
seLf-Assessm t
ent
Practicing Phy
sical Fitness Tes
ts
Lesson 2.2
Learning Self-M
anagement Ski
lls
tAking ChAr
ge
Building Knowle
dge and Under
CHAPTER OPENER: seLf-mAnAg
ement
standing
Skills for Buildin
Provides a brief over- and Understandi
g Knowledge
ng

view of the content of tAking ACtio


Fitness Trails
n

the chapter.

IN THIS CHAPTER: Lists


the main elements of
each chapter.
©
Ey
ew

28 Fitness for
ire

Life

viii
Touring Fitness for Life

LESSON OBJECTIVES: Describes what


you will learn in each lesson.
LESSON VOCABULARY:
Lists key terms in each
lesson, which are defined
in the glossary and on Lesson 13.2
CONSUMER CORNER:
the student website. Energy Balance Provides information
Lesson Objectives to help you become
After reading this lesson, you should be able to
1. explain how to use the FIT formula for fat control,
a good consumer and
2. describe how many calories are expended in doing various physical activities, avoid quackery.
3. explain how physical activity helps a person maintain a healthy body fat level, and
4. describe some common myths about fat control.
ww w
1 Lesson Vocabulary
calorie, calorie expenditure, calorie intake, energy balance

Do you know how many calories you expend in


a typical day? Do you know how many calories you
consume in a typical day? One major health goal is Consu
to achieve and maintain an acceptable level of body
m er Corne
Lesson
19.2
You’ve no
w r: T V T
fat throughout your life. To do this, you must bal- and usin learned about de actics—
ance the calories you consume and the calories you g tactics
to achiev veloping a strate Creatin
also deve
lo e a gy g need
WEB ICONS: Indicate expend. In this lesson, you’ll learn the FIT formula
for fat control and appropriate activities for gaining
their stra p strategies and goal. Compani
you. For
tegies he
lp them ta ct ics. Som es
every day.
deceptiv O f course,
no t all adve
s
example, but are no et im es e, but man
that additional infor- weight and losing body fat. get you to a company
or need. buy something yo strategy may be
’s
t good fo
r
ey e
ads and
to detect
the m
y are. It ta rt
kes a ve
is ements ar
e
To help th u to to distin essages being co ry critical
mation is available on Balancing Calories compani
es
such as te buy advertising
em ca rr y
do
out their
n’ t really w
strategies
an t
informat
As you’
io n.
gu ish betw
ee n good
nveyed in
and bad
levision, in , try to de re exposed to m
the student website. The term calorie is commonly used to describe the
amount of energy in a food. The true term is kilo-
Energy in zines, radi
compani
o, and ne eEnergy
th web out various media—
wspapers.
(pop-up
ad s), maga- us ed. Ask
termine
th e
Lessst
6. 1
onrategy
edia adve
rt is ement,
calorie (a unit of energy or heat), but when talking
es
media ou pay for advertisem The money thes ad trying the following qu and tactics bein ww w
2
to es g
about diet and nutrition, calorie is typically used.
tle
that sell th ts to survive. So ents is what allow
e selling so get me to do? Is tions: What is th
m th is
Energy balance refers to balancing calorie intake sell the ad e products and th th the compani
bo s likely to ething I really ne e product they’re
s are trying e media ou es work as ad ed ? Is
learn ho vertised? the
and calorie expenditure (figure 13.3; also see figure FigurE 13.3 behaBalancing
vior in or energy to influen intake tlets who
der to mak(calorie) w In this ch product
with energyer(calorie)
ce your co tactics to to develop a st ap
s create output media is essential e mon foreyhealthy ns
. In fact, m umer carry ou rategy an ter, you
Fit FaCt weight maintenance. messages arke S y st e th mis skn owledge t th at strategy. d identify
that flood
aly si s t- to Yo
on Anou r senses strategies help you u can us
y: Moti
anve e
One pound of fat contains 3,500 calories. d ry beco me an in analyze marketing
slow
or acE5266/Corbin/fig
olo
tivity. Yo g13.5/471539/JG/R1 action in o- formed co
Therefore, you can lose 1 pound (about 0.5 e otc h n u ca n an alyze the ter analysis to pr nsumer.
kilogram) of fat by eating 3,500 calories FitneS13.4 S tand he
Fornotice
rs who have
the energy succ
al
balance
so consult lo w
alatwtheithus
er s to
rate com
pu
rformer m
ake
exampl
lped
e, ifPyramid). peeeop deled scale
in thm
topexpe
ionisan
ofdrtge
s ne
and lps the pe s can be used
fewer than you normally eat in a given time abva
the Physical ounc have he
Activity
es cc
t su yo u’re pltiv Calorie
ay i-ing te intakee spotor orthe
t fo rmacat ion that hesys teispsyst3em
ca l ad es sf ul sp or t ac nn de in ti vi ty . al : P re ll pi tch-
or by burning 3,500 calories more than
Man y technolonumber
gi by of rilfety of
calories
atyoa ur
vase or te nnisenergy
total
e us stra
e te
vi
ofgiinesthe isfoods , youyou
ectiocansn. leMarotnion A (such as softbapareonag Pla
an
normal in physical activity. Eating food that skilled
e eat. succno thypaisstthm
in
e K ed
usco ofrrby s of activity fter cons pular am n
be come mor th Calorie
os
e mthroyout essfteexpenditure
ulwor st ra
is at
as
the
si ch
m number
pl
es . ee
calories
m
ot
an hey ki
rs ndor
— in es
fope ci al lyidpo
ering avaick to
provides more calories than your body uses hich cangi
teinbe esphysical oryo piIf ngryou
fo note is) but arpa rm
e athaioni ablou feedba lable strategies
tie s. One of (energy)is sy st em ugs,hwexpend
5. ba ck
canstem
sy help activity.
u ca in g an
take
d steabnnou t e bi om
re a ec
w
n ca t yourself and colle
will cause you to gain weight. Therefore, alysin (eat) more calories play than you expend (in activity), rr y out stwep e th ritten plan an cting
motion an deo camera and video camera and goislfe rs, hos 2us ings side
. r ho . In com d your opponent
a basic vi youasswill their sw and ta w you or your te petitive sport, yo , pre-
you can gain a pound of fat by eating 3,500 te pgain -s:peweight
ed because extra
mer’senergyim stored
as a hi gh2 C oIfll a pe rf or pr ov e am can us
calories more than you usually eat within amplicatin
as co
ed the bodyyzase fat.
al w he eerctexpend more
thyou n ew Info
t an d calories than ke advant
ag es e yo
u con-
heOlp nes anwin, cien
e effiweight. For exam
pl if yo of your opponent ur strengths
given time or by expending 3,500 calories thatyou take ayyou tocsde will
) ciarlose If you rm balance atiothe and your ne,
software wio
(b orm ec
k you hani
bestconsume deplwex a motion
hi, ch n ologyur strength ’s weaknes
fewer than usual in physical activity within ementscalories
ov m plfoe roryo coumand expend, you
rfavoraim la-blwill maintain si nigghttechopponent of in tennis is ses.
m of thyoer si
ur is to
rs on pe e st ra te U m co or ’s
m w aneace
kn your serv
a given time. he current
Wyour stre
re weight. s a pe conduc g gy will ns id pe rf esces is retu
ef fe ct iv e. sp
em orvit de
pe o- ng
co rd
th s anad sk w ill
ea -l ea rn tin a se lf-assessm vi deha yo ur
ond, if yo the peof
of er an rffe m
ornsivan
e
rn of serve, e
sy st rf or anex t, kn en a u’ st ra yo u
analysis tplor tivitym . N ce) orgiofst or es coseacs h, (for plan M ak t skso e Analyze re le quaritne
e dfitfro m an tegy
and yoeur . On the other
or anni acng a liftespe dago yourorpe ’s niangmaotor ill.fit, nyoyo um u’ve
ight co ed in th
ing a sp playasa sp a orspor tyle chanegepe rf mrseron al ouat t io ation ns gaid iner op
a strategy ponent is not
d needs317 your
rm
ch yzyes th ). IferComposition ing info
(for infoop rmpo
expert, sutoviasde t, le
d ant’s alsa Bodyay yos an
u’ re us
structor uctco
yo fro m ne nttiv ity . of tr ying to ti
an te ballis,pl it wougeldtherplanninginto ent ac so that
or
e seoss your
views thCoa. ch ple, footnn ul take
ion dstud re
ts Foesr do examop pone ntfo otagng
’s st e to also be help Science in lateAr in ad
the match vantage
movemen descutriin el y reth ewbygammeae ns forerm
viis thio
at ns,daswea
s an
kn
ful .
be ot ns iv eof “s s es se
coachesidro ende
her tedam
ive an offes’ sth- wer
coedutsyinstgem re s.
tify
fensstra igreng poth s and wea ports” that
FIT FACT: Offers to looktoatuse.neTo
well as
te anH
s’ tagictesics. d ta
oppo nt help you ctics they have be esses and
lear plan, w
kn
en know
n abou
interesting information about the t your own streng rite down what n
st th yo
Even the rengths and wea s and weaknesses u
pr kn an
about key topics. profession os collect info esses of an oppone d
al basket rmation.
has excelle ball play For exam nt.
er ple,
ies video nt physical abiliti LeBron James,
of oppone es and sk who
report of nt ill
other team s and reads the s, also stud-
a strategy s. He do full scou
ti
ahead of and use tactics th es this to implem ng
opponent at keep hi en
s. m one st t
ep
FITNESS TECHNOLOGY:
Helps you become aware ed perf
ormance
.
r improv Stra
of new technological udied to
prov ide feed
back fo tegies fo
r Active Livi
ng do that an
d
n be st th how to 431 ur
information related to Movem
ent sequ
ences ca
ss on , yo u’ll learn bo ing proficient in yo
In this le e plans for becom
nation ak
fitness, health, and th eye–ha
nd coordi , as in
er
how to m ities.
en ac tiv
cludes bo s and eyes togeth ability ch os
d
wellness and helps you th at in
elate
a Skill-R
ability ur hand n (the
ty to use yo ordinatio ga
g
(the abili ll) and eye–foot co ther, as in kickin il d in
hitting a
ba et toge t as good B u Profile
try out and use new to us e yo ur eyes an d fe
od in on e ar ea t no eas that
bu
e ar Fitness -related ph
ysical
may be go king on th ing the skill then
technology. ball). You In addition to wor ld consider select s. did all of in this chapter, ee
r. ent, Sue,
in anothe ement, you shou match your strength One stud ssments presented -related fitness (s
ov ss se ill
need impr r your program that skill-related fitne fit ne ss as fo r he r sk
fo ur
activities u’ve assessed yo ile of your results .
to d a profile
develope n 113
nc e yo p a pr of tiv iti es Preventio
O de velo ot her ac d Injury
u ca n an d ning an
yo
abilities, lect lifetime spor
ts Skill Lear
se
help you

ix
Touring Fitness for Life
EXERCISES: Provide
instructions and pictures SELF-ASSESSMENT: Helps you
to teach you correct learn more about your fitness
technique for exercises. and behaviors that affect your
health and wellness and helps
you prepare a personal plan for
improvement.
ise
Heel Ra inches (5
centi-
that is 2 and with
the
e a board e floor. St d and the
1. Plac ick on th
meters) th on th e boar
ur feet lders.
balls of yo your shou
even with lms facing
handles
2. Gra sp the ha nd les with your pa
dy . Ke ep
m your bo during the lift.
your hand
s
Gastrocne
mius
✓ Self-AS
SeSSme
away fro ry nt: Wa
and arms
statio na
your feet
, then Many of lking te
balls of
onto the ting position.
th
this cour e self-assessmen st
3. Rise ar se ts you pe
lower to
th e st ity. If you’ require very in rform in
re a very tens
fit, the m active pe e physical activ
Soleus ile run or rson and -
to estim PACER m ar e quite
ate ay
but the w your cardioresp be the best way
alking te iratory en
is especi st is also durance,
al a go
ners, who ly good for peop od one. The te
haven’t le st
or who ar done a lo who are begi
e t of rece n-
get mor regular walkers nt activity
e vigorou bu ,
uscles. also good fo s activity t do not regularly
string m cannot do r older people The walk test
.
your ham
ex ercise uses ru nn an d fo is
is ing tests r
problem due to jo those who
Th
s.
your scor As directed by int or mus
cle
es and yo
ing test fitness ra ur teacher, reco
. You ca rd
Trapeziu
s
preparin n then us tings for the w
g your pe e th al k-
-Down 1 e info
laT Pull in g on Te
in/ res10ma
fig
/471476
.17jor yo/Ru’
If/JG re worki rsonal physical rmation in
, depend
orb ng with ac
h (or floor ht so
E5266/C that self-
as a partner tivity plan.
the benc seat heig and cons sessment info
dorsi , remem
1. Sit on hine). Adjust the nd ed when
Latissimus
sh
idered co rmation
is perso
ber
the m ac fully ex te ar ed with othe nf id en tia nal
arms are the pers rs withou l. It shouldn’t
that your e bar. on being te t the perm be
th cing
you grab yo ur palms fa at sted. ission of
with ould be 1. Walk
the bar ur arms sh
a mile at The wal
2. Grab m you. Yo apart. can go w a fast king test
away fro hile keep pace (as fast as or peop
le who
is a good
ou ld er-width sa m e pace for in g ap yo u don’t do assessm
ent for
least sh ch es t level. th e entire
proximat
el y
a lot of
vigorous beginners
ba r do wn to 2. Immed w al k).
the activity.
e n. iately af
3. Pull th tin g sit
Lesson
po io3.1
heartbea te r the wal 3. U se the ap
to the star ts for 15 k,
your wal propriate chart
4. Return result b seconds. count your ki to determ
y
minute he four to calculat ultiply the
M rate in th ng rating. Loca ine
e your e te your
art rate. one- your wal left column of he
king tim the char art
Find the e along t and
Science in Action: optimal challenge 18 0+
intersec
point whe
re the ro
th e bottom
row.
t to dete w
rmine yo and column
170 ur rating.
Scientists in many fields have collaborated to Success 180+
find ways to help people stay active, eat well, 160 and
in)

stick with other healthy lifestyle behaviors. They 170


(beats/m

Low
have discovered that in order to be successful, 150 you fitness
must set goals that provide “optimal challenge.”
om

zone
Fa

Margina 16 0
l
in)
ilur
ed

The key is giving effort (trying


biceps and If a chal-
hard). fitness
Heat rate

(beats/m
Bor

Low
e

uses your s.
cise there’s
140 zone fitness
lenge
This exereasy,
is too
bo w fle xor mno need to try hard—it’s
uscle
23 5
150
zone
not ot her ela challenge. On the other hand, if a
really Goss
ne od Basics
130 uscle Fit
goal is too hard, we fail, which may lead Mus to fitness
Heat rate

140
zone Too easy Optimal Too hard
give up or quit because our effort seems 120hopeless
(see figure 3.2). Figure 3.2 Some challenges can lead to boredom 130 or Good Margina
l
fitness fitness
An optimal challenge requires 11reasonable 0
failure, but optimal challenges can lead to success.
zone zone
effort. Meeting an optimal challenge provides 14 15us /47 /JG /R 2 12 0
or less fig 10.18 16 147717 E5266/Corbin/fig 3.2/470795/JG/R1
with success and makes us wantE5to26try 6/Corbagain.
in/ In 18 19 20
fact, providing optimal challenge is one reason Time (m 21 110
Rating ch
that video games are so popular.AdThey challenge art for th
in) StudentorActivity more 12
e walking 13 14
apted fro or less 15
you by making the task moreM.difficult Rippe, M. as you
m the One Mile Imagine
te that
st (for fe you want to help a friend learn 16
Walk Te males). 17 18
improve, and this optimal challenge makes you
D. astskill—for
with perm example, hitting a tennis ball Time (m 19
ission of Ra g ch in)
or a golf ball. How r James you usetin
authocould optimal ar t for the
or more
want to play again and again. You can use optimal Adapted w al king test
challenge to help your friend learn the fro
skill?
m the On (fo
challenge when setting your own goals to help M. Rip pe, M.D. e Mile Wa
lk Test wit
r males).
h permiss
yourself succeed. E5266/C
orbin/fig ion of au
thor
7.3/4708 James
92/JG/R
1
SCIENCE IN ACTION: E5266/C M
od/ar
orbin ertat
7.2e/47
Ph08
day (figure 3.1b). Process goals make good short- The Taking Charge and Self-Management fea- ys93
ica/JG
Helps you understand
l Ac
/Rtiv
2 ity 143
term goals because you can easily monitor your tures in this chapter focus on setting goals for physi-
progress and, with effort, succeed. In contrast, prod- cal activity and building physical fitness. Elsewhere
how new information uct goals do not make especially good short-term in the book, you’ll get the chance to set long-term
goals, because they can be discouraging, especially goals for fitness, health, and wellness (product goals)
is generated using the for a person who is just beginning to change. For and for making healthy lifestyle changes (process
example, if you chose a product goal of performing, goals) that lead to good fitness, health, and well-
scientific method. say, 25 push-ups, it might (depending on your cur- ness. You’ll also get the chance to set short-term
FITNESS QUOTES:
rent fitness level) take you so long to meet the goal goals that help you move toward achieving your
that you would give up. But a short-term process
goal—such as performing 5 to 10 push-ups each
long-term goals.
Provide quotes

“ from famous
day for two weeks—would be possible for you to
achieve with effort. Thus, as you meet a series of If you want to live a happy life,
short-term process goals, you work toward meeting tie it to a goal, not to people or
people about

long-term product goals. things.
—Albert Einstein, Nobel Prize–winning physicist
fitness, health,
LESSON REVIEW:
Lesson Review and wellness.
Helps you review 1. How does the SMART formula help you set goals?
and remember 2. How can you use long-term and short-term goals to plan your program? In your answer,
use fitness and physical activity examples.
the information 3. What is the difference between a process goal and a product goal? In your answer, use
fitness and physical activity examples.
you learned in the 56 Fitness for Life

lesson.

x
Touring Fitness for Life

TAKING CHARGE AND


SELF-MANAGEMENT:
Provide guidelines for
Taking Charge: improving Physical Self-Perception
learning self-management
Each person has a mental picture
of himself or herself. If you think
Raul was one of the shortest
people in his class, but his height skills that help you adopt
you do well in a certain activity,
you’ll probably take part in that
did not stop him from being
involved in activities. He realized healthy behaviors.

© Photodisc
type of activity. If you feel embar- that he had never been a great
rassed about your appearance or basketball player, but he still liked
ability level while doing an activity, to play with his friends from school.
you’ll probably avoid that activity. He also discovered that height had
Here are two very different examples of physi- nothing to do with his ability to go hiking, nor
cal self-perception. did it prevent him from being a good wrestler.
Michael was not sure that he wanted to
go back to school after the summer break. It
seemed as if all of his friends had grown taller
For Discussion
in the last few months, but he had stayed the Michael had a negative self-perception
same height. Michael felt embarrassed and a because of his height. What can he do to
change his negative perception? How does
FOR DISCUSSION: Helps you
little jealous, even though none of his friends
seemed to notice. His height certainly did not Raul keep a positive self-perception? What
else can a person do to develop a positive self-
take charge by making good
alter his ability to play tennis. In fact, his friends
still called him “King of the Court” because he perception? Consider the guidelines presented
in the Self-Management feature as you answer
decisions.
usually won.
the discussion questions.

➡ SelF-ManageMenT: Skills for Self-Perception


A self-perception is an idea you have about • Consider your self-assessment results.
your own thoughts, actions, or appearance. It is Use the self-assessment worksheet to
influenced by how you think other people view determine whether you have any areas
you. Some of the many kinds of self-perception in which your physical self-perceptions
are academic, social, and artistic. In this book, are especially low (strength, fitness, skill,
the focus is on physical self-perceptions—the or physical attractiveness).
way you view your physical self. • Perform regular physical activity to
Four aspects of physical self-perception are improve your physical fitness or prac-
strength, fitness, skill, and physical attractive- tice regularly to improve your physical
ness. People with good physical self-percep- skills. Regular physical activity can help
tions are happy with their current strength and you look your best, and learning skills
fitness levels; they also feel that their skills are can help you perform your best. star ha
adequate to meet their needs, and they like the s an ea
way they look. We know that people who have
• Consider a new way of thinking hy hab ting disorde
healtabout
its. Co r
a nd set
yourself. People often set unrealistic realis nsider or practices
positive physical self-perceptions are more your h
standards for themselves,• such Think asplook- tic standard e • Con
likely to be physically active than those who do ositive s for yo redity si d e
not. The following list provides guidelines you
ing like someone they see on a ptelevision
hysical ly. Alm
ost all
urself. actions r h o w y o u
or in the movies. Understand likethat ch ar
in real acterist p eople h influen r beh
v a
can use to maintain or improve your physical to ch ange. B ic th av e ie w you. A ce the way o v io r a n d
life these people do not th look
ingsthepeoway ut stud at they wou has as cting ch ther pe
self-perceptions. p ie s ld m e e ople
they look on the screen.are le sh
rarelytheirdon’t like abo ow that the
In fact, ceive yo ch to do wit rful and frien
u
seen u as yo h d
• Assess your physical self-perceptions. appearance is often enhanced people by spe-
. You’re as problem emselves
ut th
• Rea ur phys how others p ly
and th o s li z e ical charac er-
You may use the worksheet provided by cial cameras and computers inking p ften your own by other
programs. im p e rf th a t a ll p e teristic
s.
ent you a movie osi wo e o p le h a
your teacher. You also do not know whether rself in tively can help rst critic, streng c ti o n s. Try v e so m
a positi th to
• Do
not let ve way you pres- weakn s and impro b u il d o n y e
the act . ess. ve you ou
sitive p
e ions • Find r areas r
tively a ople cause y of a few inse role m
a reali
stic
of
b o n odel fo role mode
be som out yourself u to feel ne - to be lik r others l and
322 Fitness for Life e peop . There ga- be a
others le who will alw e some . Instea
’ feelin a a y o u , fi o d
have lo gs. Th re insensitive ys n d so m ne who is to of trying
tally un
ese pe has ch
w
themse self-perceptio ople o to aracteri e o n e y o u a like
lv n fte achieve stics yo d m ire
d o w n . es up by tea s and try to bu n .
for mo And, just as
u can
re
who
R rin ild you loo alistically
these p e co g n iz e th g other peo look to
dels, re
memb k to oth
eople is at ple
their pro cr it ic is m fro yo
tive mo u as a mode that others m
er ers
blem, n m del for l. Provi ay
ot yours p o o th d in
. sitively ers can g a posi
about h elp you -
Acade yourse th ink
m ic Con lf.
nectio
Various
st n: Qua
for a gr atistics can be rtiles
ou u
to descr p of people. T sed to describ
ibe the sc he term e scores
bution. ores for quartile A go o
In ea is used
represen the following ch quarter of 15-year- d fi tn es s ra ti
ts a scor example a distri- ol ng
test for e
36 15-y (in inches) on , each number color of d females is 3 fo r w ai st gi
q 2 rt
is divided ear-old
fem the wai
st ness ran uartile includes inches or less. h fo r
quartile into quartiles ales. The distr girth good fitn
ge? Wh
at perce scores for the goWhich
, listed in (25 perce ibution n ta od fit-
differen n
t colors). t of scores per age of gi ess zone for wai ge of girls wer
ACADEMIC Distrib
ution o
rl
the good
st
to be in s had scores th girth? What p in the
at did n
ot
e
ercent-
f Waist fitness zo qualify
CONNECTION: Girth S
cores (I
nches)
ne? them
34 for 15-Y
Relates concepts 28 32
33 34 35
ear-Old
Female
33 s
from other 27 28 29
30
30
32
33
34
34
35 36
32 35
academic subject 33 34
35 36
36
37 38 39
The red 37 40
areas to fitness, fitness
quartile
zone. T includes sco Check
Your A
38 39 40 41
fitness hat also res in th n 42
health, and zone. means eg
that 75 ood fitness ra
percent
swers
nge, so
25 per
43

, or thre
wellness. e quart cent of
iles, of the
the gir girls were in
ls were the go
not in od
the go
od

Body C
omposi
tion 32
3

xi
Touring Fitness for Life
TAKING ACTION: Lets you try out
teacher-directed activities that can
help you become fit and active for
a lifetime.

Taking acTion: Target Heart Rate Workouts CHAPTER REVIEW: Helps


Cardiorespiratory endurance is important for • Determine your target heart rate by you reinforce what you’ve
living a long and healthy life. It’s also essential using either the percent of heart rate
for competing, participating in your favorite reserve method or the percent of maxi- learned in the chapter’s
physical activities, and maintaining a healthy mal heart rate method.
body weight. As you’ve learned in this chap- • Before choosing vigorous activities, two lessons.
ter, you must do vigorous physical activity consider your level of fitness.
above your threshold of training and in your
• Before doing vigorous activity, perform Chapt
target zone to build cardiorespiratory endurendur-
a 5-minute cardiorespiratory general er rev
ance. Take action by doing vigorous activity
warm-up. iew
that fulfills the FIT formula: at least three days review
each week (addressing F for frequency in the • Check your pulse rate or rating of per per- ing Co
ceived exertion periodically to Asmake sure ncepts
FIT formula), in your target heart rate zone
you’re maintaining the intensity
directe
of your d by and vo
(addressing I for intensity), and for at least 20 sente
workout in your target heart rate nzone. ce with your teacher, cabula
minutes each session (addressing T for time). a word an
or phra swer items 1
ry
Consider the following tips as you take action • After your vigorous workout, perform 1. Fac a se. throug
tors that h 5 by
by performing a target heart rate workout. cool-down. 2. Fac af fect yo correct
tors influ ur fitne ly com
e ncing fit ss , h e pleting
trol are alth, an each
called __ n e ss, heal d wellness
3. Fac __ ______ th , and w ar e called
tors influ __ ___. e lln ess ove ______
control encing r which __ __
are calle fitness you hav _____.
4. The d ______ , health, and e little
steps th ______ wellness con-
gether at lead ___. over w
as the __ yo u from h ich you
5. The ______ de have th
fitness ______ pendence to e most
signale test use _. indepe
d by a d to as ndence
beep is sess are refe
For item
s 6 thro called th cardiorespir rred to
to-
the app ugh 10 e ______ at ory end
ropriate , as dire __ ______ urance
phrase cted by _. b y running
6. sed in column yo ur teac w hen
entary 2. her, mat
person ch each
7. inac term in
tive thin a. column
8. plan ke r just bo 1 with
ner ught exe
9. acti b. is ac rcise eq
vator tive mo uipmen
c. st days t
10. ac is someti of the w
tive exe mes ac eek
rciser d. is co tive
For ite nsideri
ms 11 e . ng beco
questio th rough is inactive m ing acti
n. 15, as ve
directe
11. Exp d by yo
ur teac
lain wh her, resp
12. W at a self- ond to
hat are manag each st
ement atemen
as Fitne some of the skill is an t or
ss g ram, an fit n e ss test d w hy it ca
13. De d what d it e ms use n be use
scribe th o d fu
14. W e five st th ey meas in majo l.
hat are ag es of ch ure? r fit ness te
fitness ange. st batte
Take action by doing a workout that elevates your heart rate into the target zone. 15. Wh trails, an ries such
at are so d how
me guid can the
elines fo y be use
r buildin ful in st
g know aying ac
thinkin ledge an tive?
THINKING CRITICALLY: g Critic d unde
rstandin
Write a ally g?
parag
Requires the use of Of all th raph to answe
one wo e self-manag r the followin
uld mo ement g quest
critical-thinking skills reason st
s for yo help you be
ur answ
skills d
e
more ac scribed in less
ion.
er. tive or o
eat bett n 2, which
to apply chapter 172 Fitness for Life project er? Giv
e the
information. Assume
that yo
assigne u are th
d to cr
eating eate an e head of a
and m ad ca marketi
sion co ore active livin mpaign prom ng company
mm g. P otin
availab ercial for the repare a scrip g healthier
©E

le, creat p t for a te


PROJECT: Provides e a vid romotion. If levi-
yew

eo of th re
e comm sources are
ire

ercial.
an enrichment
activity for use
outside the 51
classroom.

In addition to all the textbook features, the Fitness for Life program includes several other
components:
• Student Web Resource: You have access to a wide variety of resources at www.fitnessforlife.
org/student. These resources will aid your understanding of the textbook content and
include video clips that demonstrate how to do the self-assessment exercises in each chap-
ter, worksheets, interactive review questions, and expanded discussions of topics that are
marked by web icons throughout this book.
• Teacher Web Resource: Your teacher has access to a special web resource with lessons and
activities that you can do to better learn and understand the information in this textbook.
Now read on, and enjoy Fitness for Life!

xii
UNIT I
Building a Foundation

healthy People 2020 goals


• Live high-quality, longer lives.
• Reduce preventable disease, injury, and early death.
• Increase awareness and understanding of what determines good health.
• Encourage all people to adopt healthy lifestyles that promote lifetime health, fitness, and
wellness.
• Create environments that promote health, fitness, and wellness for all.

Self-Assessment Features in this Unit


• Physical Fitness Challenges
• Practicing Physical Fitness Tests
• Assessing Muscle Fitness

taking charge Features in this Unit


• Learning to Self-Assess
• Building Knowledge and Understanding
• Setting Goals

Self-Management Features in this Unit


• Skills for Learning to Self-Assess
• Skills for Building Knowledge and Understanding
• Skills for Setting Goals

taking Action Features in this Unit


• The Warm-Up
• Fitness Trails
• Exercise Circuits

1
1
Fitness, health, and
Wellness for All
in this chapter www Student Web resources
www.fitnessforlife.org/student
LESSON 1.1
Scientific Foundations
SELF-ASSESSMENT
Physical Fitness Challenges
LESSON 1.2
Lifelong Fitness, Health, and Wellness
TAKING CHARGE
Learning to Self-Assess
SELF-MANAGEMENT
Skills for Learning to Self-Assess
TAKING ACTION
The Warm-Up

2 Fitness for Life


Lesson 1.1
Scientific Foundations
Lesson objectives
After reading this lesson, you should be able to
1. describe the scientific method;
2. define health and medical science and nutrition science;
3. define kinesiology and list the seven types of science it encompasses; and
4. describe and differentiate the warm-up, the workout, and the cool-down.
ww w
1 Lesson Vocabulary
biomechanics, calisthenics, cool-down, dietitian, dynamic warm-up, exercise anatomy, exercise
physiology, exercise psychology, exercise sociology, health and medical science, kinesiology, motor
learning, motor skill, nutrition science, sport pedagogy, stretching warm-up, warm-up, workout

Science is the study of knowledge based the Scientific Method


on observation and experimentation. In school,
you study various sciences, such as natural science Scientists of all types use the scientific method to
(focused on nature), social science (focused on discover new knowledge and establish principles
individual and social behavior), and mathemat- that help us make good decisions and solve prob-
ics (focused on numbers and their operations). lems. A simplified form of the scientific method is
Examples of natural science include biology, presented here. The steps—identifying a problem,
chemistry, and physics; examples of social science establishing a hypothesis, collecting information,
include psychology, sociology, and geography; and and interpreting information—are shown in figure
examples of mathematics include algebra, geometry, 1.1.
and calculus. The information presented in this book is based
on studies that use the scientific method as described
in figure 1.1, and each chapter includes a special fea-
Fit FAct ture called Science in Action. This feature helps you
see how research in health and medical science,
Many of the names of sciences end with
kinesiology (exercise science), and nutrition science
“-ology,” which means “the study of.”
can help us make good decisions about fitness,
health, and wellness.

?
=
=

Problem Hypothesis Collect information Interpret information


Friends are They think a Conduct a search for Analysis and conclusion:
considering taking a supplement information about benefits the risks are greater than
dietary supplement. might help them and risks associated with the benefits. Don’t take
Should I take one? get fit faster. the supplement. the supplement.

FigUrE 1.1 A simplified form of the scientific method.

Fitness, Health, and Wellness for All 3


E5266/Corbin/fig 1.1/468865/JG/R2
Lesson 1.1

ww w
2 You’ve probably used the scientific method and research studies are required before medical
yourself when conducting experiments in science procedures and medicines are approved.
classes. You’ve also read studies that used the scien- Because of advances in health and medical
tific method. But you may not have thought about science, life expectancy in the United States has
using the scientific method in your personal life. increased dramatically over the last century. In 1900,
As you work your way through the Fitness for Life the life expectancy for Americans was 47 years. Over
program, you’ll learn to use the scientific method to the next century, it almost doubled, reaching nearly
help you solve problems and make healthy lifestyle 80 years. Health and medical scientists have devel-
decisions. You’ll also use the scientific method to oped medicines that treat bacterial infections, and
plan programs for building your fitness, health, as a result infectious diseases such as typhoid fever
and wellness. and smallpox, which used to be among the leading
causes of death, have been conquered. Before 1900,
fewer than 100 medicines were available to doctors.
health and Medical Now there are more than 10,000, and in the United
Science States they must be tested before the government’s
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves
Medicine is the art and science of healing. His- them. With infectious illness reduced, the main
torically, the practice of medicine has been focused causes of early death in developed countries today
on diagnosing and treating disease. In prehistoric are heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and other chronic
times, people often associated illness with demons diseases related to unhealthy lifestyles.
and evil influences. But as early as 2000 Health science focuses on preventing disease and
BC, Egyptians performed sur- promoting wellness and high quality of life. Some
gery and began to build a more health scientists study personal health issues in order
scientific base for medicine. to help individuals prevent disease and promote
Modern medical practitioners wellness. Public health scientists, on the other hand,
use evidence-based approaches, study patterns of health and illness among popula-
tions in order to help prevent epidemics of illness;
thus they are sometimes called epidemiologists.

“ Physical fitness is not only one of


the most important keys to a healthy
body; it is the basis of dynamic and


creative intellectual activity.

—John F. Kennedy, U.S. president

Kinesiology
(Exercise Science)
The past two centuries have sometimes been
called the golden age of medicine because
they have seen many of the most significant
© REmy MASSEGLIA

advances in health and medical science.


Toward the end of the 20th century, a rela-
tively new science called kinesiology emerged
as more and more evidence accumulated
showing the health and wellness benefits

4 Fitness for Life


Lesson 1.1

of physical activity and exercise. The U.S. National Exercise Physiology


Research Council now recognizes kinesiology as a
Physiology is a branch of biology focused on the
major area of science along with other major branches
study of body systems. More specifically, exercise
such as those listed at the beginning of this chapter.
physiology is a branch of kinesiology that explores
Put simply, kinesiology is the study of human
how physical activity affects body systems. For
movement. There are, of course, many types of
example, exercise physiologists study the cardio-
human movement. Some involve small muscle
vascular, respiratory, skeletal, muscular, and other
movements, such as the movement of your eyes
body systems to see how they are affected by exer-
when reading, the movement of your fingers when
cise. Understanding the basic principles of exercise
typing, and the movement of your hands when
physiology is essential for planning physical activity
playing a musical instrument. Kinesiology is the
programs for promoting lifelong fitness, health,
study of all human movement, but it focuses on
and wellness.
large-muscle physical activity; in fact, the phrase
“physical activity” is a very general term for large
muscle movement. There are many types of physical
activity, including moderate activities such as walk-
ing, vigorous activities such as aerobics, sport and
recreational activities, and exercise for muscle fitness
and flexibility. These activity types are included in
the Physical Activity Pyramid, which is described
in more detail throughout this book.

Fit FAct
One national health goal established by
the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services (USDHHS) is to eliminate dispari-
ties in fitness, health, and wellness. People
who study kinesiology look for ways of
helping all people be active, fit, healthy,
and well—regardless of race, ethnicity,
social or economic class, disability, age,
sex, or gender identity.

The general category of kinesiology includes


seven sciences. The most prominent are featured
in this chapter and in special features that appear
throughout this book. They include exercise
Exercise physiology is the branch of kinesiology that
physiology, exercise anatomy, biomechanics, explores how physical activity affects body systems.
exercise psychology, exercise sociology, motor
learning, and sport pedagogy. These sciences pro-
vide the foundation for our current understanding of
Exercise Anatomy
the health benefits of physical activity and exercise. Human anatomy is a branch of biology focused
Exercise professionals, including physical education on studying the structure of the human organism.
teachers, study all of the sciences in kinesiology as Scientists who study human anatomy focus on
part of their training. You don’t need to know as the tissues that make up the body (muscle, bone,
much about kinesiology as your teachers, but an tendon, ligament, skin, organ). Scientists who study
understanding of the sciences of kinesiology will exercise anatomy are especially interested in under-
help you to understand the information in this book. standing how we use our muscles—and how our

Fitness, Health, and Wellness for All 5


Lesson 1.1

muscles work together with our bones, ligaments, cooperation; social responsibility; and cultural and
and tendons—to produce movement. Understand- ethnic differences in physical activity. Understand-
ing exercise anatomy can help you choose good ing key principles of exercise and sport sociology
exercises for building your personal fitness program. will help you experience positive social interactions
in your physical activity.
Biomechanics
The human body is much like a machine. It uses
a complex system of levers (bones) that are moved
by the force produced when you contract your
muscles. Biomechanics is the branch of kinesiology
that seeks to understand the human machine in
motion through the principles of physics. Knowing
the basic principles of biomechanics can help you
move efficiently and avoid injury.

Exercise Psychology
Psychology is commonly referred to as the science
of mind and behavior. More specifically, exercise
psychology focuses on the study of human behavior
Exercise sociology is the branch of kinesiology that
in all types of physical activity, including sport and
focuses on social relationships and interactions in
exercise for fitness. Exercise psychology, including physical activity, including sports.
sport psychology, can help motivate people to be
active, set realistic goals, and perform better in
sports. Motor Learning
When you see the word motor, you may think of an
Exercise Sociology automobile engine, but the term motor learning in
Sociology is the study of society and social relation- this book refers to skill learning. When you perform
ships. Within this broad field, exercise sociology a movement skill (also called a motor skill), your
focuses on social relationships and interactions in brain sends a signal through a nerve that tells the
physical activity, including sports. Exercise sociol- relevant muscles to contract. Nerves and muscle
ogy has helped people understand teamwork and fibers that work together to produce movement are

Biomechanics is the branch of kinesiology that seeks to understand the human body in motion through the
principles of physics.

6 Fitness for Life


Lesson 1.1

learning have developed rules and principles that


help us learn motor skills and control movements.
In this book, you’ll learn the best ways to develop
and practice the skills used in all of the activities
presented in the Physical Activity Pyramid.

Physical Education and


Sport Pedagogy
Pedagogy is the art and science of teaching. People
who study pedagogy as a science focus on discover-
ing the best ways to teach. Sport pedagogy is the
study of teaching and learning in many different
physical activity settings, including school physical
education, on sports teams, and in fitness clubs. The
word sport is used broadly to include more than just
traditional American sports. In other regions of the
world, sport is used similarly to the term physical
activity. So sports, or sporting activities, include
activities such as riding a bike, taking a hike, per-
forming muscle fitness exercises, and performing
© Shariff Che'Lah

traditional sports such as basketball, volleyball, or


tennis. People who study pedagogy as a science
focus on developing a better understanding of the
most appropriate approaches to teaching and the
Motor learning is the branch of kinesiology that many factors that influence learning. They apply
involves the study of nerves and muscles to see how learning principles to help students meet important
they work together to perform motor skills. educational objectives. Examples include applying
motor learning principles to help students improve
their skills, applying management principles to
called a motor unit. Performing a motor skill, such increase physical activity during classes, and using
as throwing a ball, requires action by many motor motivational principles to encourage full participa-
units (nerves and muscles). People who study motor tion and optimal learning.

Fitness Technology: World Wide Web


ww w
3 The World Wide Web has given many people also give you links to other good sources of fitness
immediate access to all kinds of health and fit- and health information.
ness information. As you’ll learn elsewhere in this
book, some of the information available on the Using Technology
web is good. However, much of it is inaccurate,
especially health information. In each chapter of Access the web address provided at the
beginning of each chapter in this book. You
this book, you’ll find a web address that leads you
will find additional information related to
to sound information about fitness, health, and topics in each lesson. Explore the topics to
wellness. Look for special web symbols included learn more. Explore some of the websites
throughout the book; just type in the address provided to find good fitness and health
from the first page of the chapter, and you’ll find information.
good, reliable information. These web pages will

Fitness, Health, and Wellness for All 7


Lesson 1.1

Science in Action: Guidelines for Warming Up and


Cooling Down
ww w
4 The time you spend doing physical activity each thought that a stretching warm-up was the pre-
day is your physical activity session. The activ- ferred method of getting ready for a workout. For
ity session has three phases: warm-up, workout, this reason, the most common type of warm-up
and cool-down. The warm-up is the activity includes static stretching (slowly stretching a
you perform before your workout in order to muscle beyond its normal length and holding
get ready for it. The workout is the main part the stretch for several seconds). The American
of your activity session. It can involve exercise to College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) notes that
build fitness, participation in a competitive event, a warm-up improves range of motion and may
or activity done just for fun. The cool-down is reduce the risk of injury. But some recent research
the activity you perform after your workout to has raised questions about whether the traditional
help you recover. You can use the information stretching warm-up really prevents injury. Addi-
presented here about warming up and cooling tionally, questions have been raised about the
down to prepare yourself for the various workouts effects of a stretching warm-up on certain types
described in this book. of performance. The best evidence now suggests
that your warm-up can vary depending on the
workout you plan to perform. Here are some
warm-up guidelines:
You don’t need to perform a warm-up prior
to a workout of low to moderate intensity
(such as walking or slow jogging). Low to mod-
erate physical activity is used as a general warm-
up as recommended by ACSM, so a workout
consisting of low- to moderate-intensity exercise
doesn’t require a special warm-up.
ACSM recommends 5 to 10 minutes of
general warm-up involving low- to moderate-
intensity physical activity prior to a vigorous
workout or competition. The goal is to increase
your body and muscle temperature. This general
warm-up helps your heart and other body sys-
tems get ready for more vigorous exercise. The
general warm-up can include walking, jogging,
and calisthenics, such as those included in a
dynamic warm-up (see the Taking Action feature
near the end of the chapter).
The National Strength and Conditioning
Association (NSCA) recommends a series
of dynamic exercises prior to a workout or
The general warm-up helps your heart and other
body systems get ready for more vigorous physi-
competition that requires strength, speed, and
cal activity. power. Examples of dynamic exercises include
jogging, skipping, hopping, jumping, and calis-
thenics using your arms, legs, shoulders, and hips
The Warm-Up (see this chapter’s Taking Action feature). You can
Experts have studied the warm-up for nearly also perform sport-related movements that use
100 years. For many years, exercise physiologists your body parts similarly to how you’ll use them

8
Lesson 1.1

in sport competition. Examples include jumping for flexibility be done after the general warm-up
and shooting drills for basketball and swinging as part of the workout or as a separate workout
a club or bat with gradually increasing intensity. session after the cool-down. The flexibility
Dynamic warm-up exercises are good for increas- workout is typically much more comprehensive
ing your body temperature and for getting your than a warm-up. You will have the opportunity
muscles ready for more vigorous exercise. They to study flexibility and the flexibility workout
can serve as all or part of the general warm-up later in this book.
recommended by ACSM.
A stretching warm-up may be performed The Cool-Down
prior to a workout or competition, includ- After a workout, your body needs to recover
ing activities that require strength, speed, from the demands of physical activity; to aid
and power, if the stretch is not held too long. this process, ACSM recommends a cool-down
The NSCA recommends dynamic movement of 5 to 10 minutes after a vigorous workout.
exercises as the preferred warm-up before activi- The cool-down usually consists of slow to mod-
ties requiring strength, speed, and power. For erate activity, such as walking or slow jogging,
this reason, some may choose not to perform a that allows your heart and muscles to gradually
stretching warm-up before these activities. How- recover. The cool-down helps prevent dizziness
ever, for those who enjoy a stretching warm-up, and fainting. Hard exercise increases the flow
stretching exercises can be included as long as of blood to your muscles; for example, running
each stretch is not held for more than 60 sec- causes more blood to be pumped to your arms
onds, even prior to a strength, speed, and power and legs than to your head. If you suddenly stop
workout. Recent research indicates that as long as running, the blood can pool in your legs. This
the stretches don’t exceed 60 seconds, they don’t leaves your heart with less blood to pump to your
inhibit performance. Research also indicates that brain, which may cause you to feel dizzy or faint.
abruptly stopping a stretching warm-up after But if you continue moving after a hard run, your
regularly performing one increases risk of injury. muscles will squeeze the veins of your legs. This
If you choose a stretching warm-up you should helps return the blood to your heart, which can
use a variety of stretching exercises to address then pump more blood to your brain, making
all of your major muscle groups and joints (see you less likely to feel dizzy or faint. The following
this chapter’s Taking Action feature). Stretches list provides some more cool-down guidelines.
should be held for 15 to 30 seconds. Stretching
is more effective when your muscles are warm, • Do not lie down or sit down immediately
so you should stretch only after performing a after vigorous activity.
general warm-up. • Gradually reduce the intensity of activity
Stretching exercises used to build flexibility, during the cool-down (for example, if you
rather than for warming up, are best per- were running, slow to a jog, then a walk,
formed as a separate part of your workout. The and then consider gentle stretching).
stretching warm-up and the stretching workout • Walk or do other moderate total body
are not the same thing. A stretching warm-up movements.
is used to prepare you for physical activity. The • You may choose to do some of the stretch-
stretching workout includes exercises to build ing exercises presented in the chapter
flexibility, a health-related component of physi- titled Flexibility after your general cool-
cal fitness. ACSM recommends that stretching down while your muscles are still warm.

Student Activity
How does the information in this feature change the way you would warm up before, and cool
down after, a workout?

9
Lesson 1.1

nutrition Science ones contribute to healthy growth and development.


One type of nutrition science—food science—is
Nutrition science is the study of how plants and the study of the chemical makeup of food. Another
animals use food to grow and sustain life. This book, type—food technology—focuses on food process-
of course, focuses on human nutrition. Nutrition ing, packaging, preservation, and safety. Dietitians
scientists study nutrients (carbohydrate, protein, fat, are experts who help people apply principles of
vitamin, and mineral) to better understand which nutrition in daily life.

For healthy growth and development, apply the principles of nutrition in daily life.

Lesson review
1. What is the scientific method and what are its four steps?
2. What are the health and medical and nutrition sciences, and how do they relate to fit-
ness, health, and wellness?
3. What is kinesiology, and what are the seven types of science it encompasses?
4. What are the warm-up and the cool-down, and how are they best performed?

10 Fitness for Life


✓ SELF-ASSESSMEnt: Physical Fitness challenges
Each chapter of this book includes a feature physical fitness. Please do not draw conclu-
titled Self-Assessment. In most chapters, sions about your fitness based on your per-
the self-assessment is designed to help you formance in these challenges. As you work
determine your personal fitness level. You’ll your way through this book, you’ll learn many
record and analyze your assessment results. self-assessments to help you determine your
In this self-assessment, you’ll try 11 chal- true fitness level.
lenges. They’re called challenges rather than The cardiorespiratory endurance and flex-
tests because they are not meant to be tests ibility challenges will help you warm up before
of fitness; nor are they meant to be exercises performing the other challenges. You may also
that you do to get fit. Instead, trying these want to consider additional warm-up exercises
challenges is a fun way to better understand recommended by your teacher.
the differences between the various parts of

PArt 1: health-related Physical Fitness challenges


Running in Place (cardiorespiratory endurance)

1. Determine your resting heart rate for


one minute. To do this, use your fingers
to feel your pulse at your wrist or neck,
then count your pulse (heartbeats) for
one minute.
2. Run 120 steps in place for one minute.
Count one step every time a foot hits
the floor.
3. Rest for 30 seconds, then count your
pulse (heart rate) for one minute. People
with good cardiorespiratory endurance
recover quickly after exercise. Is your
heart rate after this exercise within 15
beats per minute of your resting heart
rate before running in place?

This challenge focuses on


cardiorespiratory endurance.

Two-Hand Ankle Grip (flexibility)

1. Squat with your heels together. Lean the


upper body forward and reach with your
hands between your legs and behind
your ankles.
2. Clasp your hands in front of your ankles.
3. Interlock your hands for the full length of
your fingers. Keep your feet still.
4. Hold the position for five seconds.

This challenge focuses on flexibility.

Fitness, Health, and Wellness for All 11


Single-Leg Raise (muscular endurance)

1. Bend forward at your waist so that your upper body rests on a table and your feet are
on the floor.
2. Raise one leg so that it is extended straight out behind you. Complete several such raises
with each leg. Performing multiple repetitions (8 or more) requires muscular endurance.
Stop if you reach 25 with each leg.

This challenge focuses on muscular endurance.

Arm Skinfold (body fat level)

1. Let your right arm hang relaxed at your


side. Have a partner gently pinch the skin
and the fat under the skin on the back
of your arm halfway between your elbow
and shoulder. Together the skin and fat
under the skin is called a skinfold.
2. Several skinfolds in different body loca-
tions can be used to determine the
total amount of fat in the body. At this
point there is no need to measure the
skinfold. The skinfold on the arm is used
only to illustrate the concept of body
composition.

This challenge focuses on body composition.

12 Fitness for Life


90-Degree Push-Up (strength)

1. Lie facedown on a mat or carpet with your hands under your shoulders, your fingers
spread, and your legs straight. Your legs should be slightly apart and your toes should
be tucked under.
2. Push up until your arms are straight. Keep your legs and back straight—your body should
form a straight line.
3. Lower your body by bend-
ing your elbows until your
upper arms are parallel
to the floor (elbows at a
90-degree angle), then
push up until your arms
are fully extended. Do
one push-up every three
seconds. You may want
to have a partner say “up-
down” every three seconds
to help you. Performing up
to 5 push-ups requires
muscular strength. This challenge focuses on strength.

Knees-to-Feet (power)

1. Kneel so that your shins and knees are on a mat. Hold your arms back. Point your toes
straight backward.
2. Without curling your toes under you or rocking your body backward, swing your arms
upward and spring to your feet.
3. Hold your position for three seconds after you land.

This challenge focuses on power.

Fitness, Health, and Wellness for All 13


Part 2: Skill-Related Physical Fitness Challenges
Line Jump (agility)

1. Balance on your right foot on a line on


the floor.
2. Leap onto your left foot so that it lands
to the right of the line.
3. Leap across the line onto your right foot;
land to the left of the line.
4. Leap onto your left foot, landing on the
line.

This challenge focuses on agility.

Double Heel Click (speed)

1. Jump into the air and click your heels


together twice before you land.
2. Your feet should be at least three inches
(eight centimeters) apart when you land.

This challenge focuses on speed.

14 Fitness for Life


Backward Hop (balance)

1. With your eyes closed, hop backward on


one foot five times.
2. After the last hop, hold your balance for
three seconds.

This challenge focuses on balance.

Double-Ball Bounce (coordination)

1. Hold a volleyball in each hand. Begin-


ning at the same time with each hand,
bounce both balls at the same time, at
least knee high.
2. Bounce both balls three times in a row
without losing control of them.

This challenge focuses on coordination.

Fitness, Health, and Wellness for All 15


Coin Catch (reaction time)

1. Point your right elbow outward in front


of you. Your right hand, palm up, should
be beside your right ear. If you’re left-
handed, do this activity with your left
hand.
2. Place a coin as close to the end of your
elbow as possible.
3. Quickly lower your elbow and grab the
coin in the air with the hand of the same
arm.

This challenge focuses on reaction time.

16 Fitness for Life


Lesson 1.2
Lifelong Fitness, health, and Wellness
Lesson objectives
After reading this lesson, you should be able to
1. define physical fitness, health, and wellness and describe how they are interrelated;
2. describe the five components of health and wellness;
3. describe the six parts of health-related physical fitness and the five parts of skill-related
physical fitness; and
4. define self-assessment and explain how it is important to good fitness, health, and well-
ness.
ww w
1 Lesson Vocabulary
agility, balance, body composition, body fat level, cardiorespiratory endurance, coordination,
flexibility, functional fitness, health, health-related physical fitness, hypokinetic condition, muscu-
lar endurance, physical fitness, power, public health scientist, reaction time, skill-related physical
fitness, speed, strength, wellness

if you could have one wish come true, what would of the words fitness, health, and wellness, and you’ll
it be? Some people would wish for material things, learn about their components.
such as money, a new car, or a new house. But after
thinking about it, most people indicate that they
would wish for good fitness, health, and wellness for What is health? What is
themselves and their family. If you possess health, Wellness?
fitness, and wellness, you can enjoy life to its fullest.
Without them, no amount of money will allow you Early definitions of health focused on illness. The
to do all of the things you would like to do. More first medical doctors concentrated on helping sick
than 90 percent of all people, including teens, agree people overcome their health problems; in other
that good health is important because it helps you words, their main job was treating people who
feel good, look good, and enjoy life with the people were ill.
you care about most. But in 1947, the World Health Organization
As you read this book, you’ll learn more about (WHO), which now includes representatives from
healthy lifestyle choices that can help you be fit, 194 countries, issued a statement indicating that
healthy, and well. You’ll learn how to prepare a health meant more than freedom from disease or
healthy personal lifestyle plan and how to use self- illness. This recognition led people to develop a
management skills to stick with your plan. The goal more comprehensive definition of health, which
of this book is to help you become an informed now includes wellness. According to the WHO
consumer who makes effective decisions about your statement, the sheer fact of not being sick doesn’t
lifelong fitness, health, and wellness. mean you are well. Wellness is the positive compo-
nent of health that includes having a good quality

“ ”
of life and a good sense of well-being exhibited by
The first wealth is health. a positive outlook on life.
Figure 1.2 shows that a healthy person both is
—Ralph Waldo Emerson, poet
not ill (the blue circle) and has a strong wellness
Before you can start developing a plan, you need component (the green circle). Illness is the nega-
some basic information. In this lesson, you’ll learn tive component of health that we want to treat or
definitions for some key words used throughout prevent, whereas wellness is the positive component
this course. You’ll better understand the meaning of health that we want to promote.

Fitness, Health, and Wellness for All 17


Lesson 1.2

the health components into your life. You possess


wellness, and your risk of illness is reduced. The
bottom line is this: Health is freedom from disease
and debilitating conditions as well as optimal well-
ness in all five components (physical, emotional-
Total
mental, social, intellectual, and spiritual).
health
Freedom from
illness and
debilitating
Wellness
(quality of life)
Personal health and
conditions
community health
One major goal of this book is to help each reader
achieve good personal health, including wellness.
Another important goal is to promote community
health, which refers to the health of a group rather
than an individual—from small groups such as
families and networks of friends, to larger groups
such as towns and cities, and on to very large groups
FigUrE 1.2 Being healthy means having wellness such as states and countries. Just as each person
in addition to not being ill. sets health goals, communities do so as well. Your
school is a community, and many schools have a
E5266/Corbin/fig 1.2/470772/JG/R2 coordinated school health program (CSHP). A
Health and wellness have many components, and CSHP program has many components including
a chain is often used to show how the components physical education, health education, wellness pro-
are linked (figure 1.3). For a chain to be strong, each grams, and other programs designed to improve the
link must be strong. Likewise, to have good health personal health of students and the health of the
and wellness, you must have all of the health and school community.
wellness components, not just one or two. The goal One example of a large-scale program designed ww w
2
is to promote the positive while avoiding the nega- to promote health in a large community is the
tive in each component, as shown in figure 1.3. If Healthy People 2020 project, in which the U.S.
you’re happy, informed, involved, fit, and fulfilled, Department of Health and Human Services has
then you have incorporated the positive aspects of set national health goals to be accomplished by

Positive component (goal)


Informed Involved Fit Happy Fulfilled

Intellectual Physical Spiritual

Social Emotional-mental

Ignorant Lonely Unfit Depressed Unfulfilled


Negative component (avoid)

FigUrE 1.3 The total health and wellness chain.


Based on Corbin et al. 2011.

E5266/Corbin/fig 1.3/470773/JG/R3
18 Fitness for Life
Lesson 1.2

the year 2020. The project is part of an ongoing power, and strength. They also help you function
program. Every 10 years, experts from more than effectively in daily activities.
400 groups nationwide work together to develop As the name implies, skill-related physical fit-
health goals for the nation. Public health scientists ness components help you perform well in sports
and other experts from every state and many federal and other activities that require motor skills. For
and private agencies develop the goals. Many of the example, speed helps you in sports such as track
Healthy People 2020 objectives are described on the and field. These 5 parts of physical fitness are also
unit opening pages of this book. linked to health but less so than the health-related
components. For example, among older adults,
balance, agility, and coordination are very impor-
What is Physical Fitness? tant for preventing falls (a major health concern),
Physical fitness refers to the ability of your body and reaction time relates to risk for automobile
systems to work together efficiently to allow you accidents. Each part of physical fitness is described
to be healthy and perform activities of daily living. in more detail in the two following features: The Six
Being efficient means doing daily activities with the Parts of Health-Related Fitness and The Five Parts
least effort possible. A fit person is able to perform of Skill-Related Fitness.
schoolwork, meet home responsibilities, and still
have enough energy to enjoy sport and other leisure
activities. A fit person can respond effectively to Fit FAct
normal life situations, such as raking leaves at home, Cardiorespiratory endurance is also
stocking shelves at a part-time job, and marching in referred to as cardiovascular fitness and
the band at school. A fit person can also respond to aerobic fitness. The Institute of Medicine,
emergency situations—for example, by running to an independent U.S. nonprofit organi-
get help or aiding a friend in distress. zation, reviewed names for this fitness
component and chose cardiorespiratory
endurance, especially for use with youth.
Fit FAct They chose the name because this type
Studies indicate that fitness scores in the of fitness requires the cardiovascular and
United States have declined in recent years respiratory systems to work well together
for recruits in physically demanding lines (cardiorespiratory) to allow your entire
of work, such as policing, fire fighting, and body to function for a long time without
the military. fatigue (endurance).

ww w
3 the Parts of Physical health-related Physical Fitness
Fitness Think about a runner. She can probably run a long
distance without tiring; thus she has good fitness in
Physical fitness is made up of 11 parts—6 of them at least one area of health-related physical fitness.
health related and 5 skill related. All of the parts But does she have good fitness in all six parts? Run-
are important to good performance in physical ning is an excellent form of physical activity, but
activity, including sports. But the 6 are referred to being a runner doesn’t guarantee fitness in all parts
as contributing to health-related physical fitness of health-related physical fitness. Like the runner,
because scientists in kinesiology have shown that you may be more fit in some parts of fitness than in
they can reduce your risk of chronic disease and others. The feature named The Six Parts of Health-
promote good health and wellness. These parts of Related Fitness describes each part and shows an
fitness are body composition, cardiorespiratory example. As you read about each part, ask yourself
endurance, flexibility, muscular endurance, how fit you think you are in that area.

Fitness, Health, and Wellness for All 19


The Six Parts of Health-Related Fitness

© Michael Svoboda

Cardiorespiratory endurance is Strength is the amount of force your Muscular endurance is the ability to F
the ability to exercise your entire muscles can produce. It is often mea- use your muscles many times with- j
body for a long time without stop- sured by how much weight you can out tiring—for example, doing many m
ping. It requires a strong heart, lift or how much resistance you can push-ups or curl-ups (crunches) or i
healthy lungs, and clear blood ves- overcome. Examples of activities that climbing a rock wall. e
sels to supply your large muscles require good strength are lifting a heavy e
with oxygen. Examples of activities weight and pushing a heavy box. m
that require good cardiorespiratory g
endurance are distance running, g
swimming, and cross-country skiing.

How do you think you rate in each of the six have more energy. You don’t have to be a great
health-related parts of fitness? To be healthy, you athlete in order to enjoy good health and wellness
should be fit for each of the six parts. Totally fit and be physically fit. Regular physical activity can
people are less likely to develop a hypokinetic improve anyone’s health-related physical fitness.
condition—a health problem caused partly by
lack of physical activity—such as heart disease, Skill-Related Physical Fitness
high blood pressure, diabetes, osteoporosis, colon
cancer, or a high body fat level. You’ll learn more Just as the runner in our example may not achieve
about hypokinetic conditions in other chapters of a high rating in all parts of health-related physical
this book. People who are physically fit also enjoy fitness, she also may not rate the same in all parts
better wellness. They feel better, look better, and of skill-related physical fitness. Though most sports

20 Fitness for Life


o Flexibility is the ability to use your Body composition refers to the different Power is the ability to use strength
joints fully through a wide range of types of tissues that make up your body, quickly; thus it involves both
y motion without injury. You are flex- including fat, muscle, bone, and organ. strength and speed. It is sometimes
ible when your muscles are long Your level of body fat is often used to referred to as explosive strength.
enough and your joints are free assess the component of body composi- People with good power can, for
enough to allow adequate move- tion related to health. Body composition example, jump far or high, put the
ment. Examples of people with measures commonly used in schools shot, and speed-swim.
good flexibility include dancers and include body mass index (based on
gymnasts. height and weight), skinfold measures
(which estimate body fatness), and body
measurements such as waist and hip cir-
cumferences.

require several parts of skill-related fitness, different enjoyed both by great athletes and by people who
sports can require different parts. For example, a consider themselves poor athletes.
skater might have good agility but lack good reac- As noted earlier, health-related fitness offers a
tion time. Some people have more natural ability in double benefit. It not only helps you stay healthy
some areas than in others. No matter how you score but also helps you perform well in sport and other
on the skill-related parts of physical fitness, you can activities. For example, cardiorespiratory endurance
enjoy some type of physical activity. helps you resist heart disease and helps you perform
Remember, too, that good health doesn’t come well in sports such as swimming and cross-country
from being good in skill-related physical fitness. It running. Similarly, strength helps you perform
comes from doing activities designed to improve well in sports such as football and wrestling, mus-
your health-related physical fitness, and it can be cular endurance is important in soccer and tennis,

Fitness, Health, and Wellness for All 21


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DANCE ON STILTS AT THE GIRLS’ UNYAGO, NIUCHI

Newala, too, suffers from the distance of its water-supply—at least


the Newala of to-day does; there was once another Newala in a lovely
valley at the foot of the plateau. I visited it and found scarcely a trace
of houses, only a Christian cemetery, with the graves of several
missionaries and their converts, remaining as a monument of its
former glories. But the surroundings are wonderfully beautiful. A
thick grove of splendid mango-trees closes in the weather-worn
crosses and headstones; behind them, combining the useful and the
agreeable, is a whole plantation of lemon-trees covered with ripe
fruit; not the small African kind, but a much larger and also juicier
imported variety, which drops into the hands of the passing traveller,
without calling for any exertion on his part. Old Newala is now under
the jurisdiction of the native pastor, Daudi, at Chingulungulu, who,
as I am on very friendly terms with him, allows me, as a matter of
course, the use of this lemon-grove during my stay at Newala.
FEET MUTILATED BY THE RAVAGES OF THE “JIGGER”
(Sarcopsylla penetrans)

The water-supply of New Newala is in the bottom of the valley,


some 1,600 feet lower down. The way is not only long and fatiguing,
but the water, when we get it, is thoroughly bad. We are suffering not
only from this, but from the fact that the arrangements at Newala are
nothing short of luxurious. We have a separate kitchen—a hut built
against the boma palisade on the right of the baraza, the interior of
which is not visible from our usual position. Our two cooks were not
long in finding this out, and they consequently do—or rather neglect
to do—what they please. In any case they do not seem to be very
particular about the boiling of our drinking-water—at least I can
attribute to no other cause certain attacks of a dysenteric nature,
from which both Knudsen and I have suffered for some time. If a
man like Omari has to be left unwatched for a moment, he is capable
of anything. Besides this complaint, we are inconvenienced by the
state of our nails, which have become as hard as glass, and crack on
the slightest provocation, and I have the additional infliction of
pimples all over me. As if all this were not enough, we have also, for
the last week been waging war against the jigger, who has found his
Eldorado in the hot sand of the Makonde plateau. Our men are seen
all day long—whenever their chronic colds and the dysentery likewise
raging among them permit—occupied in removing this scourge of
Africa from their feet and trying to prevent the disastrous
consequences of its presence. It is quite common to see natives of
this place with one or two toes missing; many have lost all their toes,
or even the whole front part of the foot, so that a well-formed leg
ends in a shapeless stump. These ravages are caused by the female of
Sarcopsylla penetrans, which bores its way under the skin and there
develops an egg-sac the size of a pea. In all books on the subject, it is
stated that one’s attention is called to the presence of this parasite by
an intolerable itching. This agrees very well with my experience, so
far as the softer parts of the sole, the spaces between and under the
toes, and the side of the foot are concerned, but if the creature
penetrates through the harder parts of the heel or ball of the foot, it
may escape even the most careful search till it has reached maturity.
Then there is no time to be lost, if the horrible ulceration, of which
we see cases by the dozen every day, is to be prevented. It is much
easier, by the way, to discover the insect on the white skin of a
European than on that of a native, on which the dark speck scarcely
shows. The four or five jiggers which, in spite of the fact that I
constantly wore high laced boots, chose my feet to settle in, were
taken out for me by the all-accomplished Knudsen, after which I
thought it advisable to wash out the cavities with corrosive
sublimate. The natives have a different sort of disinfectant—they fill
the hole with scraped roots. In a tiny Makua village on the slope of
the plateau south of Newala, we saw an old woman who had filled all
the spaces under her toe-nails with powdered roots by way of
prophylactic treatment. What will be the result, if any, who can say?
The rest of the many trifling ills which trouble our existence are
really more comic than serious. In the absence of anything else to
smoke, Knudsen and I at last opened a box of cigars procured from
the Indian store-keeper at Lindi, and tried them, with the most
distressing results. Whether they contain opium or some other
narcotic, neither of us can say, but after the tenth puff we were both
“off,” three-quarters stupefied and unspeakably wretched. Slowly we
recovered—and what happened next? Half-an-hour later we were
once more smoking these poisonous concoctions—so insatiable is the
craving for tobacco in the tropics.
Even my present attacks of fever scarcely deserve to be taken
seriously. I have had no less than three here at Newala, all of which
have run their course in an incredibly short time. In the early
afternoon, I am busy with my old natives, asking questions and
making notes. The strong midday coffee has stimulated my spirits to
an extraordinary degree, the brain is active and vigorous, and work
progresses rapidly, while a pleasant warmth pervades the whole
body. Suddenly this gives place to a violent chill, forcing me to put on
my overcoat, though it is only half-past three and the afternoon sun
is at its hottest. Now the brain no longer works with such acuteness
and logical precision; more especially does it fail me in trying to
establish the syntax of the difficult Makua language on which I have
ventured, as if I had not enough to do without it. Under the
circumstances it seems advisable to take my temperature, and I do
so, to save trouble, without leaving my seat, and while going on with
my work. On examination, I find it to be 101·48°. My tutors are
abruptly dismissed and my bed set up in the baraza; a few minutes
later I am in it and treating myself internally with hot water and
lemon-juice.
Three hours later, the thermometer marks nearly 104°, and I make
them carry me back into the tent, bed and all, as I am now perspiring
heavily, and exposure to the cold wind just beginning to blow might
mean a fatal chill. I lie still for a little while, and then find, to my
great relief, that the temperature is not rising, but rather falling. This
is about 7.30 p.m. At 8 p.m. I find, to my unbounded astonishment,
that it has fallen below 98·6°, and I feel perfectly well. I read for an
hour or two, and could very well enjoy a smoke, if I had the
wherewithal—Indian cigars being out of the question.
Having no medical training, I am at a loss to account for this state
of things. It is impossible that these transitory attacks of high fever
should be malarial; it seems more probable that they are due to a
kind of sunstroke. On consulting my note-book, I become more and
more inclined to think this is the case, for these attacks regularly
follow extreme fatigue and long exposure to strong sunshine. They at
least have the advantage of being only short interruptions to my
work, as on the following morning I am always quite fresh and fit.
My treasure of a cook is suffering from an enormous hydrocele which
makes it difficult for him to get up, and Moritz is obliged to keep in
the dark on account of his inflamed eyes. Knudsen’s cook, a raw boy
from somewhere in the bush, knows still less of cooking than Omari;
consequently Nils Knudsen himself has been promoted to the vacant
post. Finding that we had come to the end of our supplies, he began
by sending to Chingulungulu for the four sucking-pigs which we had
bought from Matola and temporarily left in his charge; and when
they came up, neatly packed in a large crate, he callously slaughtered
the biggest of them. The first joint we were thoughtless enough to
entrust for roasting to Knudsen’s mshenzi cook, and it was
consequently uneatable; but we made the rest of the animal into a
jelly which we ate with great relish after weeks of underfeeding,
consuming incredible helpings of it at both midday and evening
meals. The only drawback is a certain want of variety in the tinned
vegetables. Dr. Jäger, to whom the Geographical Commission
entrusted the provisioning of the expeditions—mine as well as his
own—because he had more time on his hands than the rest of us,
seems to have laid in a huge stock of Teltow turnips,[46] an article of
food which is all very well for occasional use, but which quickly palls
when set before one every day; and we seem to have no other tins
left. There is no help for it—we must put up with the turnips; but I
am certain that, once I am home again, I shall not touch them for ten
years to come.
Amid all these minor evils, which, after all, go to make up the
genuine flavour of Africa, there is at least one cheering touch:
Knudsen has, with the dexterity of a skilled mechanic, repaired my 9
× 12 cm. camera, at least so far that I can use it with a little care.
How, in the absence of finger-nails, he was able to accomplish such a
ticklish piece of work, having no tool but a clumsy screw-driver for
taking to pieces and putting together again the complicated
mechanism of the instantaneous shutter, is still a mystery to me; but
he did it successfully. The loss of his finger-nails shows him in a light
contrasting curiously enough with the intelligence evinced by the
above operation; though, after all, it is scarcely surprising after his
ten years’ residence in the bush. One day, at Lindi, he had occasion
to wash a dog, which must have been in need of very thorough
cleansing, for the bottle handed to our friend for the purpose had an
extremely strong smell. Having performed his task in the most
conscientious manner, he perceived with some surprise that the dog
did not appear much the better for it, and was further surprised by
finding his own nails ulcerating away in the course of the next few
days. “How was I to know that carbolic acid has to be diluted?” he
mutters indignantly, from time to time, with a troubled gaze at his
mutilated finger-tips.
Since we came to Newala we have been making excursions in all
directions through the surrounding country, in accordance with old
habit, and also because the akida Sefu did not get together the tribal
elders from whom I wanted information so speedily as he had
promised. There is, however, no harm done, as, even if seen only
from the outside, the country and people are interesting enough.
The Makonde plateau is like a large rectangular table rounded off
at the corners. Measured from the Indian Ocean to Newala, it is
about seventy-five miles long, and between the Rovuma and the
Lukuledi it averages fifty miles in breadth, so that its superficial area
is about two-thirds of that of the kingdom of Saxony. The surface,
however, is not level, but uniformly inclined from its south-western
edge to the ocean. From the upper edge, on which Newala lies, the
eye ranges for many miles east and north-east, without encountering
any obstacle, over the Makonde bush. It is a green sea, from which
here and there thick clouds of smoke rise, to show that it, too, is
inhabited by men who carry on their tillage like so many other
primitive peoples, by cutting down and burning the bush, and
manuring with the ashes. Even in the radiant light of a tropical day
such a fire is a grand sight.
Much less effective is the impression produced just now by the
great western plain as seen from the edge of the plateau. As often as
time permits, I stroll along this edge, sometimes in one direction,
sometimes in another, in the hope of finding the air clear enough to
let me enjoy the view; but I have always been disappointed.
Wherever one looks, clouds of smoke rise from the burning bush,
and the air is full of smoke and vapour. It is a pity, for under more
favourable circumstances the panorama of the whole country up to
the distant Majeje hills must be truly magnificent. It is of little use
taking photographs now, and an outline sketch gives a very poor idea
of the scenery. In one of these excursions I went out of my way to
make a personal attempt on the Makonde bush. The present edge of
the plateau is the result of a far-reaching process of destruction
through erosion and denudation. The Makonde strata are
everywhere cut into by ravines, which, though short, are hundreds of
yards in depth. In consequence of the loose stratification of these
beds, not only are the walls of these ravines nearly vertical, but their
upper end is closed by an equally steep escarpment, so that the
western edge of the Makonde plateau is hemmed in by a series of
deep, basin-like valleys. In order to get from one side of such a ravine
to the other, I cut my way through the bush with a dozen of my men.
It was a very open part, with more grass than scrub, but even so the
short stretch of less than two hundred yards was very hard work; at
the end of it the men’s calicoes were in rags and they themselves
bleeding from hundreds of scratches, while even our strong khaki
suits had not escaped scatheless.

NATIVE PATH THROUGH THE MAKONDE BUSH, NEAR


MAHUTA

I see increasing reason to believe that the view formed some time
back as to the origin of the Makonde bush is the correct one. I have
no doubt that it is not a natural product, but the result of human
occupation. Those parts of the high country where man—as a very
slight amount of practice enables the eye to perceive at once—has not
yet penetrated with axe and hoe, are still occupied by a splendid
timber forest quite able to sustain a comparison with our mixed
forests in Germany. But wherever man has once built his hut or tilled
his field, this horrible bush springs up. Every phase of this process
may be seen in the course of a couple of hours’ walk along the main
road. From the bush to right or left, one hears the sound of the axe—
not from one spot only, but from several directions at once. A few
steps further on, we can see what is taking place. The brush has been
cut down and piled up in heaps to the height of a yard or more,
between which the trunks of the large trees stand up like the last
pillars of a magnificent ruined building. These, too, present a
melancholy spectacle: the destructive Makonde have ringed them—
cut a broad strip of bark all round to ensure their dying off—and also
piled up pyramids of brush round them. Father and son, mother and
son-in-law, are chopping away perseveringly in the background—too
busy, almost, to look round at the white stranger, who usually excites
so much interest. If you pass by the same place a week later, the piles
of brushwood have disappeared and a thick layer of ashes has taken
the place of the green forest. The large trees stretch their
smouldering trunks and branches in dumb accusation to heaven—if
they have not already fallen and been more or less reduced to ashes,
perhaps only showing as a white stripe on the dark ground.
This work of destruction is carried out by the Makonde alike on the
virgin forest and on the bush which has sprung up on sites already
cultivated and deserted. In the second case they are saved the trouble
of burning the large trees, these being entirely absent in the
secondary bush.
After burning this piece of forest ground and loosening it with the
hoe, the native sows his corn and plants his vegetables. All over the
country, he goes in for bed-culture, which requires, and, in fact,
receives, the most careful attention. Weeds are nowhere tolerated in
the south of German East Africa. The crops may fail on the plains,
where droughts are frequent, but never on the plateau with its
abundant rains and heavy dews. Its fortunate inhabitants even have
the satisfaction of seeing the proud Wayao and Wamakua working
for them as labourers, driven by hunger to serve where they were
accustomed to rule.
But the light, sandy soil is soon exhausted, and would yield no
harvest the second year if cultivated twice running. This fact has
been familiar to the native for ages; consequently he provides in
time, and, while his crop is growing, prepares the next plot with axe
and firebrand. Next year he plants this with his various crops and
lets the first piece lie fallow. For a short time it remains waste and
desolate; then nature steps in to repair the destruction wrought by
man; a thousand new growths spring out of the exhausted soil, and
even the old stumps put forth fresh shoots. Next year the new growth
is up to one’s knees, and in a few years more it is that terrible,
impenetrable bush, which maintains its position till the black
occupier of the land has made the round of all the available sites and
come back to his starting point.
The Makonde are, body and soul, so to speak, one with this bush.
According to my Yao informants, indeed, their name means nothing
else but “bush people.” Their own tradition says that they have been
settled up here for a very long time, but to my surprise they laid great
stress on an original immigration. Their old homes were in the
south-east, near Mikindani and the mouth of the Rovuma, whence
their peaceful forefathers were driven by the continual raids of the
Sakalavas from Madagascar and the warlike Shirazis[47] of the coast,
to take refuge on the almost inaccessible plateau. I have studied
African ethnology for twenty years, but the fact that changes of
population in this apparently quiet and peaceable corner of the earth
could have been occasioned by outside enterprises taking place on
the high seas, was completely new to me. It is, no doubt, however,
correct.
The charming tribal legend of the Makonde—besides informing us
of other interesting matters—explains why they have to live in the
thickest of the bush and a long way from the edge of the plateau,
instead of making their permanent homes beside the purling brooks
and springs of the low country.
“The place where the tribe originated is Mahuta, on the southern
side of the plateau towards the Rovuma, where of old time there was
nothing but thick bush. Out of this bush came a man who never
washed himself or shaved his head, and who ate and drank but little.
He went out and made a human figure from the wood of a tree
growing in the open country, which he took home to his abode in the
bush and there set it upright. In the night this image came to life and
was a woman. The man and woman went down together to the
Rovuma to wash themselves. Here the woman gave birth to a still-
born child. They left that place and passed over the high land into the
valley of the Mbemkuru, where the woman had another child, which
was also born dead. Then they returned to the high bush country of
Mahuta, where the third child was born, which lived and grew up. In
course of time, the couple had many more children, and called
themselves Wamatanda. These were the ancestral stock of the
Makonde, also called Wamakonde,[48] i.e., aborigines. Their
forefather, the man from the bush, gave his children the command to
bury their dead upright, in memory of the mother of their race who
was cut out of wood and awoke to life when standing upright. He also
warned them against settling in the valleys and near large streams,
for sickness and death dwelt there. They were to make it a rule to
have their huts at least an hour’s walk from the nearest watering-
place; then their children would thrive and escape illness.”
The explanation of the name Makonde given by my informants is
somewhat different from that contained in the above legend, which I
extract from a little book (small, but packed with information), by
Pater Adams, entitled Lindi und sein Hinterland. Otherwise, my
results agree exactly with the statements of the legend. Washing?
Hapana—there is no such thing. Why should they do so? As it is, the
supply of water scarcely suffices for cooking and drinking; other
people do not wash, so why should the Makonde distinguish himself
by such needless eccentricity? As for shaving the head, the short,
woolly crop scarcely needs it,[49] so the second ancestral precept is
likewise easy enough to follow. Beyond this, however, there is
nothing ridiculous in the ancestor’s advice. I have obtained from
various local artists a fairly large number of figures carved in wood,
ranging from fifteen to twenty-three inches in height, and
representing women belonging to the great group of the Mavia,
Makonde, and Matambwe tribes. The carving is remarkably well
done and renders the female type with great accuracy, especially the
keloid ornamentation, to be described later on. As to the object and
meaning of their works the sculptors either could or (more probably)
would tell me nothing, and I was forced to content myself with the
scanty information vouchsafed by one man, who said that the figures
were merely intended to represent the nembo—the artificial
deformations of pelele, ear-discs, and keloids. The legend recorded
by Pater Adams places these figures in a new light. They must surely
be more than mere dolls; and we may even venture to assume that
they are—though the majority of present-day Makonde are probably
unaware of the fact—representations of the tribal ancestress.
The references in the legend to the descent from Mahuta to the
Rovuma, and to a journey across the highlands into the Mbekuru
valley, undoubtedly indicate the previous history of the tribe, the
travels of the ancestral pair typifying the migrations of their
descendants. The descent to the neighbouring Rovuma valley, with
its extraordinary fertility and great abundance of game, is intelligible
at a glance—but the crossing of the Lukuledi depression, the ascent
to the Rondo Plateau and the descent to the Mbemkuru, also lie
within the bounds of probability, for all these districts have exactly
the same character as the extreme south. Now, however, comes a
point of especial interest for our bacteriological age. The primitive
Makonde did not enjoy their lives in the marshy river-valleys.
Disease raged among them, and many died. It was only after they
had returned to their original home near Mahuta, that the health
conditions of these people improved. We are very apt to think of the
African as a stupid person whose ignorance of nature is only equalled
by his fear of it, and who looks on all mishaps as caused by evil
spirits and malignant natural powers. It is much more correct to
assume in this case that the people very early learnt to distinguish
districts infested with malaria from those where it is absent.
This knowledge is crystallized in the
ancestral warning against settling in the
valleys and near the great waters, the
dwelling-places of disease and death. At the
same time, for security against the hostile
Mavia south of the Rovuma, it was enacted
that every settlement must be not less than a
certain distance from the southern edge of the
plateau. Such in fact is their mode of life at the
present day. It is not such a bad one, and
certainly they are both safer and more
comfortable than the Makua, the recent
intruders from the south, who have made USUAL METHOD OF
good their footing on the western edge of the CLOSING HUT-DOOR
plateau, extending over a fairly wide belt of
country. Neither Makua nor Makonde show in their dwellings
anything of the size and comeliness of the Yao houses in the plain,
especially at Masasi, Chingulungulu and Zuza’s. Jumbe Chauro, a
Makonde hamlet not far from Newala, on the road to Mahuta, is the
most important settlement of the tribe I have yet seen, and has fairly
spacious huts. But how slovenly is their construction compared with
the palatial residences of the elephant-hunters living in the plain.
The roofs are still more untidy than in the general run of huts during
the dry season, the walls show here and there the scanty beginnings
or the lamentable remains of the mud plastering, and the interior is a
veritable dog-kennel; dirt, dust and disorder everywhere. A few huts
only show any attempt at division into rooms, and this consists
merely of very roughly-made bamboo partitions. In one point alone
have I noticed any indication of progress—in the method of fastening
the door. Houses all over the south are secured in a simple but
ingenious manner. The door consists of a set of stout pieces of wood
or bamboo, tied with bark-string to two cross-pieces, and moving in
two grooves round one of the door-posts, so as to open inwards. If
the owner wishes to leave home, he takes two logs as thick as a man’s
upper arm and about a yard long. One of these is placed obliquely
against the middle of the door from the inside, so as to form an angle
of from 60° to 75° with the ground. He then places the second piece
horizontally across the first, pressing it downward with all his might.
It is kept in place by two strong posts planted in the ground a few
inches inside the door. This fastening is absolutely safe, but of course
cannot be applied to both doors at once, otherwise how could the
owner leave or enter his house? I have not yet succeeded in finding
out how the back door is fastened.

MAKONDE LOCK AND KEY AT JUMBE CHAURO


This is the general way of closing a house. The Makonde at Jumbe
Chauro, however, have a much more complicated, solid and original
one. Here, too, the door is as already described, except that there is
only one post on the inside, standing by itself about six inches from
one side of the doorway. Opposite this post is a hole in the wall just
large enough to admit a man’s arm. The door is closed inside by a
large wooden bolt passing through a hole in this post and pressing
with its free end against the door. The other end has three holes into
which fit three pegs running in vertical grooves inside the post. The
door is opened with a wooden key about a foot long, somewhat
curved and sloped off at the butt; the other end has three pegs
corresponding to the holes, in the bolt, so that, when it is thrust
through the hole in the wall and inserted into the rectangular
opening in the post, the pegs can be lifted and the bolt drawn out.[50]

MODE OF INSERTING THE KEY

With no small pride first one householder and then a second


showed me on the spot the action of this greatest invention of the
Makonde Highlands. To both with an admiring exclamation of
“Vizuri sana!” (“Very fine!”). I expressed the wish to take back these
marvels with me to Ulaya, to show the Wazungu what clever fellows
the Makonde are. Scarcely five minutes after my return to camp at
Newala, the two men came up sweating under the weight of two
heavy logs which they laid down at my feet, handing over at the same
time the keys of the fallen fortress. Arguing, logically enough, that if
the key was wanted, the lock would be wanted with it, they had taken
their axes and chopped down the posts—as it never occurred to them
to dig them out of the ground and so bring them intact. Thus I have
two badly damaged specimens, and the owners, instead of praise,
come in for a blowing-up.
The Makua huts in the environs of Newala are especially
miserable; their more than slovenly construction reminds one of the
temporary erections of the Makua at Hatia’s, though the people here
have not been concerned in a war. It must therefore be due to
congenital idleness, or else to the absence of a powerful chief. Even
the baraza at Mlipa’s, a short hour’s walk south-east of Newala,
shares in this general neglect. While public buildings in this country
are usually looked after more or less carefully, this is in evident
danger of being blown over by the first strong easterly gale. The only
attractive object in this whole district is the grave of the late chief
Mlipa. I visited it in the morning, while the sun was still trying with
partial success to break through the rolling mists, and the circular
grove of tall euphorbias, which, with a broken pot, is all that marks
the old king’s resting-place, impressed one with a touch of pathos.
Even my very materially-minded carriers seemed to feel something
of the sort, for instead of their usual ribald songs, they chanted
solemnly, as we marched on through the dense green of the Makonde
bush:—
“We shall arrive with the great master; we stand in a row and have
no fear about getting our food and our money from the Serkali (the
Government). We are not afraid; we are going along with the great
master, the lion; we are going down to the coast and back.”
With regard to the characteristic features of the various tribes here
on the western edge of the plateau, I can arrive at no other
conclusion than the one already come to in the plain, viz., that it is
impossible for anyone but a trained anthropologist to assign any
given individual at once to his proper tribe. In fact, I think that even
an anthropological specialist, after the most careful examination,
might find it a difficult task to decide. The whole congeries of peoples
collected in the region bounded on the west by the great Central
African rift, Tanganyika and Nyasa, and on the east by the Indian
Ocean, are closely related to each other—some of their languages are
only distinguished from one another as dialects of the same speech,
and no doubt all the tribes present the same shape of skull and
structure of skeleton. Thus, surely, there can be no very striking
differences in outward appearance.
Even did such exist, I should have no time
to concern myself with them, for day after day,
I have to see or hear, as the case may be—in
any case to grasp and record—an
extraordinary number of ethnographic
phenomena. I am almost disposed to think it
fortunate that some departments of inquiry, at
least, are barred by external circumstances.
Chief among these is the subject of iron-
working. We are apt to think of Africa as a
country where iron ore is everywhere, so to
speak, to be picked up by the roadside, and
where it would be quite surprising if the
inhabitants had not learnt to smelt the
material ready to their hand. In fact, the
knowledge of this art ranges all over the
continent, from the Kabyles in the north to the
Kafirs in the south. Here between the Rovuma
and the Lukuledi the conditions are not so
favourable. According to the statements of the
Makonde, neither ironstone nor any other
form of iron ore is known to them. They have
not therefore advanced to the art of smelting
the metal, but have hitherto bought all their
THE ANCESTRESS OF
THE MAKONDE
iron implements from neighbouring tribes.
Even in the plain the inhabitants are not much
better off. Only one man now living is said to
understand the art of smelting iron. This old fundi lives close to
Huwe, that isolated, steep-sided block of granite which rises out of
the green solitude between Masasi and Chingulungulu, and whose
jagged and splintered top meets the traveller’s eye everywhere. While
still at Masasi I wished to see this man at work, but was told that,
frightened by the rising, he had retired across the Rovuma, though
he would soon return. All subsequent inquiries as to whether the
fundi had come back met with the genuine African answer, “Bado”
(“Not yet”).
BRAZIER

Some consolation was afforded me by a brassfounder, whom I


came across in the bush near Akundonde’s. This man is the favourite
of women, and therefore no doubt of the gods; he welds the glittering
brass rods purchased at the coast into those massive, heavy rings
which, on the wrists and ankles of the local fair ones, continually give
me fresh food for admiration. Like every decent master-craftsman he
had all his tools with him, consisting of a pair of bellows, three
crucibles and a hammer—nothing more, apparently. He was quite
willing to show his skill, and in a twinkling had fixed his bellows on
the ground. They are simply two goat-skins, taken off whole, the four
legs being closed by knots, while the upper opening, intended to
admit the air, is kept stretched by two pieces of wood. At the lower
end of the skin a smaller opening is left into which a wooden tube is
stuck. The fundi has quickly borrowed a heap of wood-embers from
the nearest hut; he then fixes the free ends of the two tubes into an
earthen pipe, and clamps them to the ground by means of a bent
piece of wood. Now he fills one of his small clay crucibles, the dross
on which shows that they have been long in use, with the yellow
material, places it in the midst of the embers, which, at present are
only faintly glimmering, and begins his work. In quick alternation
the smith’s two hands move up and down with the open ends of the
bellows; as he raises his hand he holds the slit wide open, so as to let
the air enter the skin bag unhindered. In pressing it down he closes
the bag, and the air puffs through the bamboo tube and clay pipe into
the fire, which quickly burns up. The smith, however, does not keep
on with this work, but beckons to another man, who relieves him at
the bellows, while he takes some more tools out of a large skin pouch
carried on his back. I look on in wonder as, with a smooth round
stick about the thickness of a finger, he bores a few vertical holes into
the clean sand of the soil. This should not be difficult, yet the man
seems to be taking great pains over it. Then he fastens down to the
ground, with a couple of wooden clamps, a neat little trough made by
splitting a joint of bamboo in half, so that the ends are closed by the
two knots. At last the yellow metal has attained the right consistency,
and the fundi lifts the crucible from the fire by means of two sticks
split at the end to serve as tongs. A short swift turn to the left—a
tilting of the crucible—and the molten brass, hissing and giving forth
clouds of smoke, flows first into the bamboo mould and then into the
holes in the ground.
The technique of this backwoods craftsman may not be very far
advanced, but it cannot be denied that he knows how to obtain an
adequate result by the simplest means. The ladies of highest rank in
this country—that is to say, those who can afford it, wear two kinds
of these massive brass rings, one cylindrical, the other semicircular
in section. The latter are cast in the most ingenious way in the
bamboo mould, the former in the circular hole in the sand. It is quite
a simple matter for the fundi to fit these bars to the limbs of his fair
customers; with a few light strokes of his hammer he bends the
pliable brass round arm or ankle without further inconvenience to
the wearer.
SHAPING THE POT

SMOOTHING WITH MAIZE-COB

CUTTING THE EDGE


FINISHING THE BOTTOM

LAST SMOOTHING BEFORE


BURNING

FIRING THE BRUSH-PILE


LIGHTING THE FARTHER SIDE OF
THE PILE

TURNING THE RED-HOT VESSEL

NYASA WOMAN MAKING POTS AT MASASI


Pottery is an art which must always and everywhere excite the
interest of the student, just because it is so intimately connected with
the development of human culture, and because its relics are one of
the principal factors in the reconstruction of our own condition in
prehistoric times. I shall always remember with pleasure the two or
three afternoons at Masasi when Salim Matola’s mother, a slightly-
built, graceful, pleasant-looking woman, explained to me with
touching patience, by means of concrete illustrations, the ceramic art
of her people. The only implements for this primitive process were a
lump of clay in her left hand, and in the right a calabash containing
the following valuables: the fragment of a maize-cob stripped of all
its grains, a smooth, oval pebble, about the size of a pigeon’s egg, a
few chips of gourd-shell, a bamboo splinter about the length of one’s
hand, a small shell, and a bunch of some herb resembling spinach.
Nothing more. The woman scraped with the
shell a round, shallow hole in the soft, fine
sand of the soil, and, when an active young
girl had filled the calabash with water for her,
she began to knead the clay. As if by magic it
gradually assumed the shape of a rough but
already well-shaped vessel, which only wanted
a little touching up with the instruments
before mentioned. I looked out with the
MAKUA WOMAN closest attention for any indication of the use
MAKING A POT. of the potter’s wheel, in however rudimentary
SHOWS THE a form, but no—hapana (there is none). The
BEGINNINGS OF THE embryo pot stood firmly in its little
POTTER’S WHEEL
depression, and the woman walked round it in
a stooping posture, whether she was removing
small stones or similar foreign bodies with the maize-cob, smoothing
the inner or outer surface with the splinter of bamboo, or later, after
letting it dry for a day, pricking in the ornamentation with a pointed
bit of gourd-shell, or working out the bottom, or cutting the edge
with a sharp bamboo knife, or giving the last touches to the finished
vessel. This occupation of the women is infinitely toilsome, but it is
without doubt an accurate reproduction of the process in use among
our ancestors of the Neolithic and Bronze ages.
There is no doubt that the invention of pottery, an item in human
progress whose importance cannot be over-estimated, is due to
women. Rough, coarse and unfeeling, the men of the horde range
over the countryside. When the united cunning of the hunters has
succeeded in killing the game; not one of them thinks of carrying
home the spoil. A bright fire, kindled by a vigorous wielding of the
drill, is crackling beside them; the animal has been cleaned and cut
up secundum artem, and, after a slight singeing, will soon disappear
under their sharp teeth; no one all this time giving a single thought
to wife or child.
To what shifts, on the other hand, the primitive wife, and still more
the primitive mother, was put! Not even prehistoric stomachs could
endure an unvarying diet of raw food. Something or other suggested
the beneficial effect of hot water on the majority of approved but
indigestible dishes. Perhaps a neighbour had tried holding the hard
roots or tubers over the fire in a calabash filled with water—or maybe
an ostrich-egg-shell, or a hastily improvised vessel of bark. They
became much softer and more palatable than they had previously
been; but, unfortunately, the vessel could not stand the fire and got
charred on the outside. That can be remedied, thought our
ancestress, and plastered a layer of wet clay round a similar vessel.
This is an improvement; the cooking utensil remains uninjured, but
the heat of the fire has shrunk it, so that it is loose in its shell. The
next step is to detach it, so, with a firm grip and a jerk, shell and
kernel are separated, and pottery is invented. Perhaps, however, the
discovery which led to an intelligent use of the burnt-clay shell, was
made in a slightly different way. Ostrich-eggs and calabashes are not
to be found in every part of the world, but everywhere mankind has
arrived at the art of making baskets out of pliant materials, such as
bark, bast, strips of palm-leaf, supple twigs, etc. Our inventor has no
water-tight vessel provided by nature. “Never mind, let us line the
basket with clay.” This answers the purpose, but alas! the basket gets
burnt over the blazing fire, the woman watches the process of
cooking with increasing uneasiness, fearing a leak, but no leak
appears. The food, done to a turn, is eaten with peculiar relish; and
the cooking-vessel is examined, half in curiosity, half in satisfaction
at the result. The plastic clay is now hard as stone, and at the same
time looks exceedingly well, for the neat plaiting of the burnt basket
is traced all over it in a pretty pattern. Thus, simultaneously with
pottery, its ornamentation was invented.
Primitive woman has another claim to respect. It was the man,
roving abroad, who invented the art of producing fire at will, but the
woman, unable to imitate him in this, has been a Vestal from the
earliest times. Nothing gives so much trouble as the keeping alight of
the smouldering brand, and, above all, when all the men are absent
from the camp. Heavy rain-clouds gather, already the first large
drops are falling, the first gusts of the storm rage over the plain. The
little flame, a greater anxiety to the woman than her own children,
flickers unsteadily in the blast. What is to be done? A sudden thought
occurs to her, and in an instant she has constructed a primitive hut
out of strips of bark, to protect the flame against rain and wind.
This, or something very like it, was the way in which the principle
of the house was discovered; and even the most hardened misogynist
cannot fairly refuse a woman the credit of it. The protection of the
hearth-fire from the weather is the germ from which the human
dwelling was evolved. Men had little, if any share, in this forward
step, and that only at a late stage. Even at the present day, the
plastering of the housewall with clay and the manufacture of pottery
are exclusively the women’s business. These are two very significant
survivals. Our European kitchen-garden, too, is originally a woman’s
invention, and the hoe, the primitive instrument of agriculture, is,
characteristically enough, still used in this department. But the
noblest achievement which we owe to the other sex is unquestionably
the art of cookery. Roasting alone—the oldest process—is one for
which men took the hint (a very obvious one) from nature. It must
have been suggested by the scorched carcase of some animal
overtaken by the destructive forest-fires. But boiling—the process of
improving organic substances by the help of water heated to boiling-
point—is a much later discovery. It is so recent that it has not even
yet penetrated to all parts of the world. The Polynesians understand
how to steam food, that is, to cook it, neatly wrapped in leaves, in a
hole in the earth between hot stones, the air being excluded, and
(sometimes) a few drops of water sprinkled on the stones; but they
do not understand boiling.
To come back from this digression, we find that the slender Nyasa
woman has, after once more carefully examining the finished pot,
put it aside in the shade to dry. On the following day she sends me
word by her son, Salim Matola, who is always on hand, that she is
going to do the burning, and, on coming out of my house, I find her
already hard at work. She has spread on the ground a layer of very
dry sticks, about as thick as one’s thumb, has laid the pot (now of a
yellowish-grey colour) on them, and is piling brushwood round it.
My faithful Pesa mbili, the mnyampara, who has been standing by,
most obligingly, with a lighted stick, now hands it to her. Both of
them, blowing steadily, light the pile on the lee side, and, when the
flame begins to catch, on the weather side also. Soon the whole is in a
blaze, but the dry fuel is quickly consumed and the fire dies down, so
that we see the red-hot vessel rising from the ashes. The woman
turns it continually with a long stick, sometimes one way and
sometimes another, so that it may be evenly heated all over. In
twenty minutes she rolls it out of the ash-heap, takes up the bundle
of spinach, which has been lying for two days in a jar of water, and
sprinkles the red-hot clay with it. The places where the drops fall are
marked by black spots on the uniform reddish-brown surface. With a
sigh of relief, and with visible satisfaction, the woman rises to an
erect position; she is standing just in a line between me and the fire,
from which a cloud of smoke is just rising: I press the ball of my
camera, the shutter clicks—the apotheosis is achieved! Like a
priestess, representative of her inventive sex, the graceful woman
stands: at her feet the hearth-fire she has given us beside her the
invention she has devised for us, in the background the home she has
built for us.
At Newala, also, I have had the manufacture of pottery carried on
in my presence. Technically the process is better than that already
described, for here we find the beginnings of the potter’s wheel,
which does not seem to exist in the plains; at least I have seen
nothing of the sort. The artist, a frightfully stupid Makua woman, did
not make a depression in the ground to receive the pot she was about
to shape, but used instead a large potsherd. Otherwise, she went to
work in much the same way as Salim’s mother, except that she saved
herself the trouble of walking round and round her work by squatting
at her ease and letting the pot and potsherd rotate round her; this is
surely the first step towards a machine. But it does not follow that
the pot was improved by the process. It is true that it was beautifully
rounded and presented a very creditable appearance when finished,
but the numerous large and small vessels which I have seen, and, in
part, collected, in the “less advanced” districts, are no less so. We
moderns imagine that instruments of precision are necessary to
produce excellent results. Go to the prehistoric collections of our
museums and look at the pots, urns and bowls of our ancestors in the
dim ages of the past, and you will at once perceive your error.
MAKING LONGITUDINAL CUT IN
BARK

DRAWING THE BARK OFF THE LOG

REMOVING THE OUTER BARK


BEATING THE BARK

WORKING THE BARK-CLOTH AFTER BEATING, TO MAKE IT


SOFT

MANUFACTURE OF BARK-CLOTH AT NEWALA


To-day, nearly the whole population of German East Africa is
clothed in imported calico. This was not always the case; even now in
some parts of the north dressed skins are still the prevailing wear,
and in the north-western districts—east and north of Lake
Tanganyika—lies a zone where bark-cloth has not yet been
superseded. Probably not many generations have passed since such
bark fabrics and kilts of skins were the only clothing even in the
south. Even to-day, large quantities of this bright-red or drab
material are still to be found; but if we wish to see it, we must look in
the granaries and on the drying stages inside the native huts, where
it serves less ambitious uses as wrappings for those seeds and fruits
which require to be packed with special care. The salt produced at
Masasi, too, is packed for transport to a distance in large sheets of
bark-cloth. Wherever I found it in any degree possible, I studied the
process of making this cloth. The native requisitioned for the
purpose arrived, carrying a log between two and three yards long and
as thick as his thigh, and nothing else except a curiously-shaped
mallet and the usual long, sharp and pointed knife which all men and
boys wear in a belt at their backs without a sheath—horribile dictu!
[51]
Silently he squats down before me, and with two rapid cuts has
drawn a couple of circles round the log some two yards apart, and
slits the bark lengthwise between them with the point of his knife.
With evident care, he then scrapes off the outer rind all round the
log, so that in a quarter of an hour the inner red layer of the bark
shows up brightly-coloured between the two untouched ends. With
some trouble and much caution, he now loosens the bark at one end,
and opens the cylinder. He then stands up, takes hold of the free
edge with both hands, and turning it inside out, slowly but steadily
pulls it off in one piece. Now comes the troublesome work of
scraping all superfluous particles of outer bark from the outside of
the long, narrow piece of material, while the inner side is carefully
scrutinised for defective spots. At last it is ready for beating. Having
signalled to a friend, who immediately places a bowl of water beside
him, the artificer damps his sheet of bark all over, seizes his mallet,
lays one end of the stuff on the smoothest spot of the log, and
hammers away slowly but continuously. “Very simple!” I think to
myself. “Why, I could do that, too!”—but I am forced to change my
opinions a little later on; for the beating is quite an art, if the fabric is
not to be beaten to pieces. To prevent the breaking of the fibres, the
stuff is several times folded across, so as to interpose several
thicknesses between the mallet and the block. At last the required
state is reached, and the fundi seizes the sheet, still folded, by both
ends, and wrings it out, or calls an assistant to take one end while he
holds the other. The cloth produced in this way is not nearly so fine
and uniform in texture as the famous Uganda bark-cloth, but it is
quite soft, and, above all, cheap.
Now, too, I examine the mallet. My craftsman has been using the
simpler but better form of this implement, a conical block of some
hard wood, its base—the striking surface—being scored across and
across with more or less deeply-cut grooves, and the handle stuck
into a hole in the middle. The other and earlier form of mallet is
shaped in the same way, but the head is fastened by an ingenious
network of bark strips into the split bamboo serving as a handle. The
observation so often made, that ancient customs persist longest in
connection with religious ceremonies and in the life of children, here
finds confirmation. As we shall soon see, bark-cloth is still worn
during the unyago,[52] having been prepared with special solemn
ceremonies; and many a mother, if she has no other garment handy,
will still put her little one into a kilt of bark-cloth, which, after all,
looks better, besides being more in keeping with its African
surroundings, than the ridiculous bit of print from Ulaya.
MAKUA WOMEN

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