Sex efficiency through exercises : special physical culture for women / by Th. H. van de Velde ; [photos, by E. Steinemann].

" What of women who have been decidedly unathletic before and up to the time they became pregnant, i.e., who have either not taken part in games and sports at all or only occasionally and whose proficiency is slight ? I should forbid all physical exercises till the third month is past; then, from the third to the sixth month, gentle exercises involving the whole body, to be followed, after the sixth month, by arm and leg exercises only. In this manner, we shall succeed in keeping the maternal body supple, and in strengthening the particular muscles which are called on to bear the weight of pregnancy, while avoiding undue constriction of those regions which should be flexible and yielding." Should exercises of the pelvic floor be continued during pregnancy ? I think the answer must be to make a definite distinction between indirect exercises—in which the pelvic floor is affected secondarily, as it were, by the exertion of other groups of muscles—and direct exercises, which affect the perineal and vaginal groups alone. As an example of the indirect group we may take ga (Figs. A and B). Anyone who gives the first illustration even a moment's attention will understand that the contraction of the abdomen involved in this exercise rules it out for the greater part of gestation. And this becomes particularly evident when we read the letterpress and realise that the trunk should be dropped loosely, that is, that the pressure and contraction of the abdomen is sudden and not gradual. Such a type of exercise could only be recommended in the early months, and then only to women who have considerable gymnastic proficiency, and no constitutional tendency to uterine haemorrhage, etc. And these precautions amount to a veto, for there must be so many restrictions and so much care that it is best to rule out Exercise ga for the pregnant woman, not because the pelvic floor is drawn taut, but because of the manner in which tension and relaxation are affected therein. This gives the key to the advisability or the reverse of other indirect perineal exercises for the expectant mother. What are the precise movements of the rest of the body by