Detail Halt

The confusion at five-thirty in the Indoor Athletic Building yesterday points the way to a new type of conditioning program. The policy of marching before calisthenics which has been staggering along all summer finally stumbled because winter weather is forcing exercisers into the restricted space of indoor buildings.

Not only is marching becoming increasingly difficult because of confusion of commands and overcrowding, but marching even in ideal conditions is also becoming of doubtful value. Since exercise groups are extremely variable, improvement since last spring is imperceptible, the same maneuvers being repeated month after month. Adding to this the fact that Stimson has come out against pre-induction training, stating that the Army can do in days what schools and colleges fail to do in months, the future and even the present benefits of marching are decidedly dubious.

The main objective of the compulsory athletic program is physical conditioning and the benefits of marching in gaining this effect are only fractional. And with student time becoming more and more of a problem, compact, half-hour exercise periods seem to be the ideal solution.