BOB FITZSIMMONS BOOK Excerpts

[McGoorty]

A CHAPTER FOR WOMEN—TO GAIN BEAUTY
WITH STRENGTH
Muscle Building Will Bring Charms that the
Toilet Table Can Never Furnish
MUSCLE building brings beauty to woman.
This brief statement is sufficient, I think, to
I make many women embark upon a physical
development course. What will woman not
do to become beautiful? They—some of them,
at least—powder and paint, and bleach their
hair, and do all kinds of other foolish things
in an attempt to improve their appearance.
If they but knew what a routine of daily,
healthful exercise would do for them they
would soon forsake their toilet tables for the
gymnasium.
There is nothing in this world more lovely
than a beautiful woman. There is nothing
more pleasing to the eye than a browned, rosycheeked,
fullchested,
straight—backed woman.
Let her be all these and she is certainly queen. A Woman that Excites Pity
When I see a poor, pale, narrowchested,
weak woman, with her waist drawn up so tight
that it is impossible for her to take a deep, full
breath—the kind that puts health and strength
into the human body—my heart fairly bleeds
for her.
My wife having at one time been an athlete,
I am in a position to know just what is
beneficial and what is not for the average
woman.
In the first place, a woman should dress so
that there will be plenty of room for the lungs
to have full play. Ninetynine
per cent. of
them are dressed so that it is impossible for
them to take a good, deep breath. They
breathe up in their chests only. Consequently,
they are shortwinded.
Then, again, the average woman seldom
gives a thought to the idea of daily exercising.
She seldom walks unless she is compelled to.
She shuts herself up in a hot, stuffy room, eats
improperly, and then wonders that she is
subject to so many complaints. Golf's Many Advantages
I must say that in the past few years there
has been a big change in the mode of living
adopted by women.
The game of golf has been responsible for
this to a large degree, and I cannot say too
much for it as a means of exercise for women.
It provides just the kind of outdoor life that
they need. It takes them out into the sun and
makes them brown and healthy looking. It
fills their lungs full of pure, fresh air, while the
continual walking and swinging of the clubs
supplies exercise for the entire body.
Women, play golf!
Of course, you can overdo it. Women differ
so much in their physical makeup
that what is
medicine for one is poison for another. For
this reason a woman should carefully guard
her strength.
Do not overtax yourself. Go about your
sports and your walks with moderation. Too
much exercise is worse than not enough. You
can easily find out just what you are capable
of enduring, and then shape your work and
play to suit your strength. Do Not Be a Physical Freak
What I want most of all to impress upon
women is not to try to make physical freaks of
themselves.
A woman cannot stand too much training in
any one direction at the expense of the rest of
her body as well as a man can. Her physical
makeup
is not constructed for it. For this
reason she should try to divide her exercises as
evenly as possible.
A woman who can row, ride a wheel and
a horse, swim, shoot, play tennis and golf all
moderately well, and not try to overtax her
strength in any one branch, is the woman who
will be strong and healthy.
She does not lace herself too tight; she
glories in the pure air and delights to throw
out her shoulders and drink in long, deep
mouthfuls of it, and she nurses her strength
as carefully as does the trained athlete.
This is the woman whom it is a joy to see.
This is the woman who is queen.

[McGoorty]

CHAPTER V
ADVICE TO PARENTS FOR THE HEALTH AND
REARING OF THEIR CHILDREN.
“How can I train my child so he will grow
up to be an athlete?”
This is a question which I am asked constantly.
At the outset I want to say to both
fathers and mothers who put this question to
me—Don’t.
By this don’t I mean do not start out with
the idea that you want to make an athlete of
your boy.
Just so sure as this plan is pursued you will
overwork him in his tender years and end by
sending him to an early grave.
But do start out to make of him a big,
strong, healthy child who will grow into a fine,
manly man, and his athletic bent will follow in
the natural course of events.
Too much training for the young bones and
muscles is far more harmful than too little. If a child gets no exercises for the muscles
there is a chance for him to make up for this
neglect when he grows up. lf he gets too
much, and his weak little muscles are strained
and his supple bones warped, he can never
fully recover.
Double Strain Weakens
It must be remembered that a child’s brain
is growing even more rapidly than its body.
This is a strain on its system, but a certain
amount of healthy exercise will help it to stand
this strain. Too much exercise will add to
the strain. This double strain will end by
weakening the entire system.
There is nothing that can be so easily trained
as the muscles of a child. The muscles and
bones are both soft and pliable. They can be
moulded like so much putty. See that they
are moulded the right way.
There is not a day passes that I do not have
a romp with my little son. I also put him
through a regular, daily course of exercise.
I instruct him in gymnastic movements that
will tend to make him supple in every joint.
At the same time the tiny muscles are slowly but surely building up on his little limbs and
body. That is the way they should be formed
—slowly—almost as slowly as the wearing
away of a rock by the waves of the ocean.
Do Not Start Too Soon
Another point which should be carefully
followed is not to start too early to train
your children. just so sure as you do you will
put some strain upon them that their young
bodies cannot endure. And then they are
permanently incapacitated. All the bright
hopes of making a man among men of your
boy are spoiled by undue haste to make a
youthful wonder of him.
When your boys, and your girls, too, for that
matter, are just able to toddle around, the best
thing you can do is to see that they are kept
outdoors as much as possible.
Children cannot get too much fresh air.
Get them up early in tl1e morning and send
them out into the fresh air. Even if you live
in the city, keep them outdoors when the
weather permits.
Better to have them dirty and healthy than
clean and sickly. When to Use Gymnastics.
Follow the foregoing plan, and then when
you think that the children are able to stand
a certain amount of simple exercise commence
to put them through their gymnastics every
morning and night.
They will grow strong: they cannot help it
if you will follow the above rules.
Bear in mind that your children must have
plenty of fresh air, and moderate, regular
exercise, and they will grow up to be men and
women of whom you may be proud.

[McGoorty]

TO PROSPECTIVE ATHLETES
THE great secret of proper training for all
kinds of athletic feats is to use commonsense.
This is the keynote of success for all athletes.
Commonsense
in eating, commonsense
in
exercising, commonsense
in sleeping, all form
a combination that brings one to success.
One thing that I want to impress upon the
young athlete is not to overtax himself at the
outset. This mistake has been the undoing of
many a youth who would have developed into
a big, strong athlete if he had not started with
wrong ideas of how to train.
Different people need different work. A
frail, delicate boy cannot stand as vigorous
work at first as a big, lusty chap; and yet the
little one has just as much chance as the big
one if he only goes about things in the proper
manner.
Good health is the first essential of an
athlete. If one is not healthy then he must endeavor to build himself up in this direction
before starting on any course of physical
exercise.
This can be done only by laying down
certain rules and following them strictly.
These rules are very simple.
Six Rules for Young Athletes
Do not drink.
Do not smoke.
Do not chew.
Get all the sleep you can.
Get all the pure, fresh air you can.
Eat plain, wholesome food, and plenty of it.
Adhere to these rules, and gradually, but
surely, you will find yourself becoming stronger
and stronger. Finally, the day will come when
you will never know a sick moment. Then is
the time to commence your exercising. At
this stage another duty presents itself.
Find Your Weak Points
You must find out your weakest physical
points. These must be built up so that they
will correspond with the rest of your body. If your back is weak it must be strengthened;
if your arms, your legs, or your chest are weak
you must pay particular attention to these
parts until you feel that they are as strong as
the rest of your body. After this has been
accomplished you are fairly upon the road to
the making of a “perfect physical man.” Now
comes the daily routine of regular training; do
not forget that this routine must never be
overdone. It is just as harmful to overtrain, in
fact more harmful, than it is not to train at all.
You may easily ascertain just how much
exercise your system can stand. Then regulate
your work accordingly. Gradually, not
all at once, must you work your system up to
the point where it is capable of standing the
strain which you desire to place upon it.
How to Train
If you are training to be a runner, you must
strengthen your legs and thighs. You must
also see that your wind is good. If you want
to wrestle, you must have good, strong back,
chest, and neck muscles, as well as strong arms
and legs. This is also the case with a boxer.
Every one of his muscles must be well devel- oped. In addition to all this, he must learn to
be quick—quick on his feet and quick with his
hands and arms. Different forms of athletics
require entirely different styles of training.
Some do not require as much headwork as
others. Perhaps the boxer has more need for .
clear, cool headwork than any other kind of an
athlete. He has so many lessons to learn
before he can be rated as even a fair boxer
that it takes a long while to reach any sort of
perfection. He has not only his body and
muscles to build up, but his brain must be
properly trained. All of this takes time, and
can be done only by long, careful, systematic
and faithful training and muscle building.
One thing that I want particularly to impress
upon the young athlete is the priceless value of
a good home and pleasant home surroundings.
Some boys and young men have an idea that
an athlete must be “tough.” This is all wrong,
and it has been proved time and again that
the athlete, whether a runner, wrestler, boxer,
or anything else, can best fit himself for manly
sports if he leads a clean, wholesome, good life.
And this can best be found amid pleasant
home surroundings.

[McGoorty]

PART II
SELF DEFENCE CHAPTER VII
FIRST LESSON IN BOXING
Cool Head and Good Temper Essential to
Success
BOXING is one of the best exercises that a
young man can take up. The art of selfdefense,
as it is called, brings into play so many
qualities and helps to develop so many traits of
character which figure in one’s daily life that
it furnishes quite a moral training in itself.
An even, peaceable temperament is developed
by boxing; patience is taught by the
same means. A cool, clear head in moments
of danger and confusion is always found in
the man who knows how to use his fists for
pleasure or protection, as the case may be.
In boxing, as in everything else, there is a
right and a wrong way. It is a long road to
travel before one can be called even a fairly
good boxer. At the start, however, it is a
good plan to memorize certain rules which
must be strictly followed. Three Cardinal Rules
Keep cool.
Do not get “rattled.”
Do not lose your temper.
The mastery of these three rules is of more
consequence than the learning of the many
blows and guards which in time become the
property of a boxer. The blows are learned
naturally. It is not everyone, however, who
realizes the importance of mastering the three
rules which I have laid down. It can easily
be seen of how much importance they are.
If a person is cool and goodnatured
when
boxing he has an advantage at once over one
who loses his head, gets angry, and rushes
headlong into danger. If you are boxing for
exercise and pleasure a cool, clear head will
help you to see every opening which your
opponent offers.
Keep Your Temper
Do not get excited, and you will not lose a
single chance of scoring a point. At the same
time, you are goodnatured
and ready to laugh
at any hard knocks you may receive yourself. All this is training for the moment of real
danger.
You may be attacked in the street by footpads.
They intend to rob you, and you may
be in a lonely, dark locality. Of course, their
first efforts are directed to rendering you helpless.
Now, take the man who does not know
how to box, who has never been drilled to keep
cool and calm in moments of danger. What
happens to him? He is probably found lying
in the gutter in the gray light of early morning,
his pockets rifled, and with possibly a fractured
skull.
Ruffians His Foes
Then look at the man who as a boy learned
to protect himself who knows the science of
selfprotection,
and who can stand firm and true
before a couple of fastflying
fists.
He is probably pitted against a couple of
burly, clumsy, cowardly ruffians. They come
at him with murder in their hearts. Does he
lose his selfpossession?
On the contrary, he
waits for the attack, selects the toughestlooking
one, with the idea of getting him out
of the way first; measures his man carefully
and then sends in a welldirected
blow, right or left as the case may be. Ten to one Mr.
Ruffian goes down. That leaves ample time
to vanquish footpad No. 2.
This is only one picture to illustrate the
great advantage of a knowledge of the art of
selfdefense
and the qualities which go with it.
A thousand instances might be quoted where
the qualities which saved this man from the
footpads would come into play.

[McGoorty]

Learn to Box
Therefore, I say everyone should learn to box;
let all parents encourage their boys to learn
to protect themselves with their fists. It does
not make ruffians of them; it does not teach
them to be vicious; it does not turn them into
bullies. But it does make of them manly,
upright, selfpossessed,
clearheaded
men.
They know their power and can afford to be
merciful; they are cool, and therefore do not
fear danger; they are mildtempered,
and therefore
lovable. When they are right, they advance
with a determination which brooks no
obstacle ; when they are wrong, they hold their
peace. Learn to box: but be sure you learn
the right way. RIGHT AND WRONG KINDS OF MUSCLES
CONTRASTED
Soft and Supple Muscles the Kind that Give
Athletes Speed, Strength, and
Lasting Power
A PROFESSIONAL strong man came into my
gymnasium one day, and said, “I would like
to be a boxer.”
“A boxer, eh?” I replied. “What makes
you think you would make a good boxer?”
“Why, I am as strong as a lion. just come
in here and I will show you.”
And then this strong man went into my
gymnasium and took the heavy weights and
the heavy punchingbag
and tossed them
around like feathers. In a moment he was
puffing and blowing like a porpoise, but he
stepped back and looked at me with a smile.
He certainly was a picture of strength. The muscles stood out all over his body in big
knots. From head to foot he was one mass
of knotty, protruding cords.
“How is that for a starter?” he said.
I did not say a word. His ignorance was
pitiful to me. Walking over to one side of the
room, I took a set of boxing gloves from the
wall and handed him a pair. Following my
lead he put them on.
It took me about two minutes to show that
man how useless, unwieldy, and impracticable
his muscles were. He handled himself like a
carthorse.
He was as slow on his feet as a
messenger boy. His brain acted as did his
muscles, slowly and stiffly. Although a big
man, weighing perhaps two hundred pounds,
he did not make as good a showing with me as
many amateur lightweights
with whom I had
put on the gloves.
I think I showed him clearly the uselessness
of his heavy weightlifting
muscles. They were
good for one thing—the service for which they
had been trained.
Like every athlete in his profession he was
musclebound.
Those huge masses of muscle,
gained at the expense of many hours of hard work, were for all practical purposes of no
more use than a handorgan
would be to a
shipwrecked sailor on a raft in the middle of
the Atlantic Ocean.
In fact, such muscles serve to help shorten
one’s life. The musclebound
man, with every
fibre of his body drawn to a tension that pulls
at the very heartstrings, most frequently dies
with what is known as an “athlete’s heart.”
A musclebound
man is worse than a skinbound
horse. He is as awkward and ungainly
as a crocodile would be in a ballroom. Take
him away from his chosen profession and he is
all at sea. He is a frightful object lesson
against the use of heavy dumbbells,
or heavy
weights of any kind.
The man or boy who wants to become quick,
strong, and clever must avoid the use of heavy
weights as carefully as though they were
poisonous snakes. They completely destroy
all that suppleness and agility which mark
every detail of the clever athlete’s work.
A man who is a runner, jumper, boxer—in
fact, anything except a heavyweight
lifter—
can have no use for knotty, unwieldy masses
of strength.Even our best wrestlers nowadays recognize
the fact that muscles of that kind are of no use
to them. They know that there are right and
wrong muscles just as well as they know there
is a right and wrong way to wrestle. They
know that such muscles bring them premature
old age and early death.
Thus it is that every ambitious young athlete
should strive to train his muscles in the proper
way. Light dumbbells,
Indianclubs,
and other
muscle building weights should never be forsaken.
Do not use heavy weights.
Do not exercise too much.

[McGoorty]

BAG PUNCHING
Do you want to become an expert bag
puncher?
Yes? Well, there is nothing easier. There
is not an art or athletic exercise that can be
acquired so readily. You have to impress but
one thing upon your mind—that is, that there
can be absolutely no limit to the amount of
practice that you must take.
The merest novice can, by constant work,
become a bag puncher of no mean ability in a
surprisingly short space of time.
That is encouraging, is it not?
Another advantage that the exercise has is
that it does not cost very much to rig up a
platform and bag. Any boy can make a platform
and fasten it to the ceiling of his woodshed,
attic, or cellar. Then he can save up his
pennies until he gets two or three dollars.
That will not buy the best punchingbag
in the
world, but it will buy one that will answer his
purpose. Have your platform about two feet above
your head. Let the ball hang on a level with
the bottom, and just about on a level with, or
a little bit above, your shoulders.
It is best when punching the ball to stand on
the bare floor, not on a mat, as you are apt to
become sluggish in your footwork
if you adopt
the latter course.
Wear regular gymnasium shoes, and the less
clothes you have on the better. It will give
you more freedom of movement.
Put on small gloves. If you cannot get what
are known as “punchingbag”
gloves, take an
old pair of kid gloves. Cut the ends of the
fingers off if you wish, as the glove is worn
simply to protect the knuckles and to give
compactness to the hand.
As to the different movements and blows,
it would take up too much space to go into
details. And, again, it is hardly necessary.
Get the bag and you will soon teach yourself
how to do the punching.
At first you must be careful not to get hit by
the ball when it rebounds from the platform
after you strike it. This is only a preliminary
danger, however. You will soon become too light on your feet and expert at dodging with
your head to be in danger from this source.
Learn your straight blows, right from the
shoulder, and the full swings first. Then gradually,
after you have become fast and clever,
learn the fancy movements.
Practice just as much as you possibly can.
That is, first and last, your most important
lesson.

[McGoorty]

CHAPTER X
RIGHT AND WRONG WAY OF USING THE FEET
AND HANDS WHILE SPARRING—WHAT
THE EXERCISE DEVELOPS
EVERYONE should learn to box. It is as
necessary to a physical education as swimming.
A boy should be able to defend himself at all
times from the attack of a bully or a ruffian,
and there is no manlier way to do it than with
his fists. In civilized localities it is only the
coward who carries a knife or a pistol.
President Roosevelt taught his boys to box.
Most of the prominent men of the country,
those who have made its history, learned to
box when they were lads.
As a healthgiving
exercise boxing has no
equal. It develops all the large and important
muscles of the body, legs and arms, and
strengthens the lungs and quickens the eye.
It gives a boy courage in the face of danger.
It makes him calm and cool and never in a
hurry to seek a quarrel, because the knowledge
that he can take care of himself renders him
goodnatured
at affronts which would wound
his pride were he unable to resent them.
Easy to Learn
Anybody can learn to box. But he must not
think he will be a Terry McGovern the first
time he puts on boxing gloves. It took little
Terry a few years to be the great fighter he is
now. He had to learn.
You can learn, too, if you will do as I tell
you. You will not need a man who teaches
boxing to show you the “blows” and “stops”
if you read these lessons with care and do not
try to do too much at the commencement.
The first thing to learn is the right way to
use your feet. Almost as much depends on
the way the feet and legs are used as on the
hands and arms. The legs support and back
up the arms when a blow is struck and also
when a blow is stopped.
The First Lesson
For your first lesson in boxing do not think
of your hands. jump about on your toes as if you were dancing a hornpipe. Bend the
knees and straighten them again. Spring from
one foot to the other, forward and backward.
Bring the left foot forward with a spring from
the toe of the right, and do the same with the
right foot forward. All this will make you
quick and shifty on your feet, which is a most
important requirement in a good boxer
When you can jump about like this for
fifteen minutes at a time without getting tired
or losing your wind, and if you do it quickly
you will find that it is not so easy as you think,
it will be time to learn the way to stand when
boxing. Of course, you never stand still. You
should always keep your legs moving.

[McGoorty]

Distance of the Feet
Do not keep the feet too close together or
too far apart. If they are too close you do not
have a solid stand and are easily knocked
down. If they are spread too far you will not
be able to quickly change their position, and
that you must be able to do to land a good
blow.
Put the left foot forward in a straight line
from the body. Bend the knee slightly and rest the foot on the toe. Have the weight of
the body on the right foot, with the toe turned
a little outward. Have this foot flat on the
floor.
Never stand stiffly. Keep shifting about,
but do not change this general position unless
certain blows are to be struck. I will explain
them in a future lesson. Stand near a wall.
Place your feet as I have told you. Now reach
out your left fist and touch the wall with your
knuckles. Have your arm almost straight,
bent just a little at the elbow. Push back as
hard as you can. If the push throws you out
of your position, your feet are too close
together.
Spread of the Legs
If you cannot bring the right foot up to the
left as quickly as you can hit a blow they are
too far apart. The right foot should not be
directly behind the left, but spread so that the
body may not be easily upset sideways nor yet
backward.
When you step in for a blow take the spring
from the right foot, lifting the body forward
and steadying it with the left. In landing a righthand
swing bring the right
leg forward with the blow. This will bring
the feet together. They should not be kept
together a second after the blow lands. Either
carry the right foot forward or bring it back
again to the first position. If the feet are
together it is very easy for the man with whom
you are boxing to knock you down.
In jumping backward from a blow take the
spring from the left foot, using the toe. When
you land have the feet in the same position,
still ready for attack or defense.
All this you can practice alone without an
A instructor or an opponent. Never mind about
how you hit or what kind of blows you use.
Persevere with your legwork
until you feel
at home on your feet. It is the hardest
lesson to learn, but if you learn it well you
will see how much you will have advanced
when you put on the gloves.

[New England]

i got started on reading fitz book first


when i saw his bit on pulling a guy's jacket down around his elbows i almost spilled my coffee. guys in three piece suits duking it out
times have changed lol

the pictures he's got in there are terrific as well

[McGoorty]

i got started on reading fitz book first


when i saw his bit on pulling a guy's jacket down around his elbows i almost spilled my coffee. guys in three piece suits duking it out
times have changed lol

the pictures he's got in there are terrific as well

Yeah, those pictures are brilliant. I thought I'd post up the text on this and a few other books like the Klaus book, which also has some really great photos which are some of the rarest fight photos ever, Klaus Vs Papke, Klaus Vs Carpentier and Klaus Vx Moreau. I really suggest everybody downloads those books, in fact they'd be worth buying just to have them handy. I found a link for a book on Jimmy Clabby, but it's not free, I might order it anyway. Glad you liked the book mate, which one are you doing now ????