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n If you want to emulate the featsnof Thomas Topham – the British Samson – you may need to enter into a trainingnregime. Captain Barclay – The Celebrated Pedestrian (more of whom below),nrecommended the following method of training, and it can be found in DonaldnWalker’s book Manly Exercises (1860).
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| Title Page – Donald Walker – Manly Exercises – 1860 |
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nThe first step is to purge thenbody by physic – this means taking a dose of Glauber’s salt, of one and a halfnto two ounces, three times with an interval of four days between doses.nGlauber’s salt, named after the German apothecary Johann Glauber who discoverednit, is decahydrate sodium sulphate, a popular laxative in the past. When purgednproperly, the training proper begins. The prospective pedestrian must rise atnfive o’clock in the morning and run half a mile uphill at top speed, followednby a six-mile walk at a moderate pace. At seven o’clock, the walker comes innfor breakfast – this is either beefsteaks or underdone mutton chops, with stalenbread and some old beer.
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| How to walk – from Walker Manly Exercise 1860 |
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nAfter breakfast, another six-mile walk at a moderatenpace follows, and at twelve noon the walker must lie in his bed, withoutnclothes, for half and hour. Upon rising, there is another moderately paced walknof four miles and at four o’clock is dinnertime – again beefsteaks or muttonnchops with bread and beer. Immediately after dinner, the athlete must again runnhalf a mile at top speed and walk six more miles at a moderate pace. Then, innWalker’s words, “He takes no more exercise for that day, but retires to bednabout eight; and next morning he proceeds in the same manner”.
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| How to Run – from Walker Manly Exercise 1860 |
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nWalker isnvery specific about the diet – beef or mutton are preferred, and the meat mustnbe lean and fresh, roasted or broiled rare, with a little salt, althoughnroasted chicken legs may be eaten. The only ‘vegetable’ matter allowed isneither bread or biscuit, and seasonings and spiceries are prohibited. Thenintake of fluids should be limited to what will quench the thirst; coldnhome-brewed, old beer (not bottled) is best, although half a pint of red winencan be substituted at dinner. The athlete, according to his appetite, decidesnon how much is eaten. This is repeated daily for three or four weeks, afternwhich comes the sweating; the pre-breakfast exercise is replaced by a four milenrun, at top speed, dressed in flannel, after which he returns home and drinks anpint of hot, sweating liquor, made by boiling an ounce each of caraway andnliquorice root, with half an ounce each of coriander and sugar-candy, in twonpints of cider until the volume is reduced by half.
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| How to Throw a Discus – from Walker Manly Exercise 1860 |
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nThe pedestrian is then putninto a feather bed, still in the flannels, and covered by six or eightnblankets. After half an hour, the athlete is rubbed perfectly dry, dressed in angreat coat, and walks quietly for two miles, after which it is breakfast time –nwhich is now a whole roasted chicken. After breakfast, the normal trainingnresumes. The sweating must be carried out once a week for the next three ornfour weeks, during which any additional time not spent training can be spentnplaying cricket, bowls, golf or throwing quoits, and after which the pedestriannis deemed to be in the highest condition and ready to compete.
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| Captain Barclay walking. |
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nCaptain Barclayn– Robert Barclay Allardice – known as The Celebrated Pedestrian was a famousnScottish walker and father of pedestrianism, an early form of race-walking.nLong distance walking was extremely popular in the eighteenth and nineteenthncenturies; it featured at fairs, drawing great crowds and attracting bets andnwagers. Barclay (of the banking family), undertook many feats of long distancenwalking, his most notable being a walk of 1,000 miles done in 1,000 successivenhours, from June 1st to July 12th 1809, at Newmarket, innorder to win a wager of 1,000 guineas.
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n“He breakfasted at 5 a.m., when he ate anroasted fowl, drank a pint of strong ale, and then two cups of tea, with breadnand butter. Lunch at twelve—the one day beef-steaks and the other mutton-chops,nof which he ate a considerable quantity. He dined at six either on roast-beefnor mutton-chops, and his drink was porter and two or three glasses of wine. Hensupped at eleven on cold fowl. In addition to the foregoing, he ate suchnvegetables as were in season, and the total quantity of animal food he tookndaily was from five to six pounds.”n
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n James Glass Bertram Sporting Anecdotesn1889.
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| Frontispiece – George Benedict – Handbook of Manly Sports 1883 |
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nThat’s the way to win an empire – train your athletes on beef, bread andnbeer.
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