Lack of Sociability in Work Not only did the craft worker find interest in his work, but he did his work at home with the good wife close at hand to drop a pleasant word at times and the children admiringly watch him fashion the raw material into the finished product. Then, too, he had time to gossip as he worked. His customer would discuss the topics of the day with him, and, as a result, both assumed the position of casual philosophers and students of literature. There was a certain pleasantness about the work that gave relaxation to offset the weariness naturally brought on by twelve and sixteen hours of daily work. It was somewhat of a leisurely business; the working man mixed his work, play, and conversational efforts thoroughly in the day's routine. Today, however, his machinery is noisy, conversation of any length is not tolerated in the necessity of speeding up the output, and the result is that the man is isolated while he works. Strain in Modern Life It is realized that long-continued concentration on a task and the resulting monotony soon terminate in nervous exhaustion. This strain has been recognized almost universally in recent years. Not only has strain entered into work but also into every activity of the day. The modern individual is forced to maintain a tremendous pace. Everything is speeded up: his work, his lunch hour, his pastimes, and even his time for sleep. The cross-country trip by horse and carriage or oxen has given way to the mile-a-minute train; the walk or the drive with the horse and buggy, to the high-powered automobile; the airplane has now supplanted both of these, with the commercial jet airplane now a reality. The speeding-up process together with that of specialization make daily life one of minutely cooperative affairs, one of many appointments that must be kept punctually. The net result is hurry. The laborer leaves the close confinement and monotony of his specialized work, dodges the traffic of buses and automobiles, finds his recreation in television, perhaps, or in a speeding auto ride, and sleeps to the accompaniment of shrill whistles and horns and the grating of gears. The child finds himself shut up in a schoolroom, his activity curbed, with restlessness and tension prominent factors of his daily existence. Industrial unrest is not economic but spiritual, not physical but moral. It is the revolt of man who sees life slipping away from him without his having lived, who sees wishes unfulfilled and aspirations unattained and unattainable. There are two alternatives in solution -- strike at the industrial system and change it to something more satisfying to human interests or make life challenging in its fullest extent to men in the margin outside of work. It is to the cultivation of life in this margin that the modern recreation movement is dedicated.		Home Components of Physical Fitness Clinical Examination Differences Between Fit and Unfit Men Physiological Elements of Fitness The Step Test The Effects of Training on the Physiological Systems Work Output Physical Condition of Muscle Application of Muscular Force Maintaining Optimum Strength Tests of Muscular Strength Strength and appearance Strength as a measure of physical fitness Strength as affected by organic problems Strength as prophylaxis Role of inactivity in production of disease Lack of Sociability in Work Lactic Acid System Muscular Form Capillary Growth Heart Size Heart Rate Training produces physicochemical changes Muscular Strength Nervous Stimulation and Muscular Strength Quality of Champions Factors Which Limit Skill Blood Supply Kinesthesis Balance Reaction Time Skill Muscular Tension Visual Aim Skill Center in the Brain Endurance for Exhaustive and Moderate Work Distribution of Energy