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American Physical
Education Review
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Twenty Years' Progress in

Efficiency Tests
a
Dudley Allen Sargent M. D.
a
Harvard University , USA
Published online: 24 Apr 2013.

To cite this article: Dudley Allen Sargent M. D. (1913) Twenty Years' Progress
in Efficiency Tests, American Physical Education Review, 18:7, 452-456

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/23267224.1913.10651743

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 452 AMERICAN PHYSICAL EDUCATION REVIEW

TWENTY YEARS' PROGRESS IN EFFICIENCY

TESTS.

DUDLEY ALLEN SARGENT, M. D., HARVARD UNIVERSITY.

Those of us who are engaged in making physical measure-

ments of men soon learn the limitations of the information which
comes to us from this source. While it is true that the strength
and functional capacity of a part generally increases with the
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jsize of the part, other things being equal, the number of cases
where other things are not equal are so numerous that the gen-
eralization is almost nullified. The measurements alone do not
tell us anything of the texture and quality of the parts covered,
i.e., how much is fat or bone, and how much muscle, nor do
the measurements alone give us any information as to the general
nutrition or innervation of the parts upon which power and
efficiency so frequently depend. Even if we accept the physical
measurements of a man as an indication of his potential power,
as so many of us almost intuitively do, we are soon taught by
experience that there is in most men an unknown equation which
makes for power and efficiency which has never been determined
and which can only be measured by an actual test. The medical
examination, such as is usually given candidates for the army,
navy and life insurance, consists of a general inspection of the
body in order to ascertain the presence of any physical defect
or disease which might impair the candidate's health or chances
of longevity. This inspection is usually supplemented by in-
quiries into family history and heredity, occupation and habits
of living, previous diseases, and the examination of the urine.
From the information obtained from such an examination the
skillful physician is supposed to be able to determine the candi-
date's fitness for service and probable immunity from disease.
Many persons could pass a medical examination and show a clean
bill who would break down when called upon to do active service,
or bear the slightest strain or hardship. The medical examina-
tion as usually conducted simply shows negative results-that is,
the absence of disease, or any physical defects. When one is
looking for some positive quality, as ability to do and endure,
then it is necessary in some way to test the functional capacity
of the individual in order to ascertain what he can offer in the
way of power and efficiency for actual service. Some twenty-
five years ago I was called upon to make physical examinations
of the students of Harvard University. Among my other duties
I was expected to grant certificates to such students as were
capable of taking part in athletic contests, as well as to eliminate
 TWENTY YEARS' PROGRESS IN EFFICIENCY TESTS 453

those who were unfit for such contests. As the great majority
of the men who offered themselves for these athletic examina-
tions were in a fair state of health, I maintained that they should
be expected to show some positive reasons why they should,
rather than negative reasons why they should not, engage in
athletic contests. Freedom from disease and physical defects, j
although very important factors, were hardly considered convinc-
ing evidence of ability to stand a severe physical strain. Some
minimum test of power seemed necessary. A test of all-round /
strength was decided upon, because this seemed the most common
factor required in all forms of physical activity. The loss of
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strength is the first thing we notice when we are ill; the return
of it is the first thing we notice as we recover. A strength test
was also adopted because it had been several years in use, and
considerable data from various sources had been accumulated. It
was only necessary to tabulate the tests that had been made by
the different classes of athletes for several years back, to get at
a standard that would be acceptable for a minimum requirement.
This all-round test of the strength of the arms, back, legs and
chest worked admirably from 1880 to 1898, when it was adopted.J·
by recommendation of the college gymnasium directors as the
Intercollegiate Strength Test. The emulation and rivalry that .
followed the establishment of an intercollegiate strength test
contest, led to the 'almost inevitable violation of the rules and
regulations framed to govern such a contest. Attempts were
made to juggle the instruments and beat the tests in various ways,
until unofficial and fake records became so common that the better
class of students had very little respect for them. The recent
revision of the rules governing the intercollegiate test, and
improvements of the apparatus with which it is taken, have ren-
dered it much more acceptable at the present time than ever
before. The value of an intercollegiate contest in strength may
well be questioned. There are the same objections to this kind
of contest that there are to many others, and although few men
have been injured by them, the physical director should, in my J
opinion, never be placed in a position where he is expected to
urge men to make extreme efforts in anything. (In athletics as
in everything else our deeds follow us from afar and what we
strive to do or be, as well as what we have been, makes us what
we are. "\ For this reason we should be extremely cautious along
what lirres we spur men on to supreme efforts. Louis Cyr is the
strongest man I ever examined and according to his published
records is the strongest man in the world. He is about five feet
eleven inches tall, weighs three hundred pounds and has a chest
of sixty inches in circumference with other proportions to match.
This is an extreme case illustrating the strong man type. Short
limbs, large chest, broad back and shoulders and great girth
measurements of all parts. This type is analogous to the big
 454 AMERICAN PHYSICAL EDUCATION REVIEW

draught horses that are used on drays for heavy teaming-the

thickset or stocky-built type, as it is familiarly called. But this
is not the type of man that was brought forward by the inter-
collegiate strength test-the opinion of the public to the contrary
notwithstanding. Fortunately for the cause this type has been
preserved and immortalized by Doctor McKenzie's statue of the
ideal athlete, * which was made from the measurements of some
400 or 500 of the strongest men at Harvard for a period of
twenty years. In composition of figure, relative proportion of
parts and beauty of lines from all points of view, I do not know
of any creation by an American artist that compares with it. The
reason why this composite figure was so lithe and graceful in its
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trunk and limbs is because the subjects who were measured "for it
attained their strength through the practice of rowing, gymnastics,
.ball playing, and general track and field athletics. The test was
simply an incident in their development, not the principal cause.
Moreover, the intercollegiate test is not a test of strength alone
as the term implies, but of endurance as well. The endurance
test, to be sure, is of a short and concentrated nature, and is made
by drawing the weight up to the chin on a horizontal bar, and
pushing the weight up between two parallel bars as many times
as possible. The original object of this test as introduced by me
at Yale University in 1873 was to test the efficiency of men in
handling their weight by their arms as a preliminary qualification
for proficient work in heavy gymnastics. Fat and heavy men
are eliminated by this test, and that is the reason why such figures
have exerted so little influence on the proportions of the statue
of the ideal athlete to which I have previously alluded. Although
the majority of those who made the first fifty on the list of col-
lege strong men were usually members of some of the regular
college athletic teams, those who were among the first five or
ten were apt to be men who had trained and practiced more or
less assiduously for this special contest. As many of these men
were not on the athletic teams, some of them failing to qualify
for one reaon or another, the idea soon became prevalent in the
college community that there was something about the strength
test that was detrimental to those who wished to make the athletic
teams. A theory soon became established that men who were
unusually strong were likely to be muscle bound. As this term
is generally used it is simply a cloak for our ignorance. While it
is true that when certain groups of muscles are extensively used
in lifting heavy weights-as in pushing and pulling the body up
and down as many times as possible-these muscles frequently
feel cramped or over-contracted, as it were, for a few minutes,
but a little rubbing, stretching and extension of the arms soon
relieve this feeling, as it does lameness and stiffness from any
.See REVIEW, May, 1913, p. 301.
 TWENTY YEARS' PROGRESS IN EFFICIENCY TESTS 455

exercise. A permanent muscle-bound condition is not met with

in one person out of ten thousand. I can only recall two cases
out of all the men whom I have examined. The men who make
the highest strength test are not infrequently lacking in endur-
ance when they try to run, row, etc. This may be due to lack of
heart and lung development, or to interference with respiration
by the muscles of the chest and upper back. The discovery of
this fact by some of the athletic men led to a more or less well-i
founded criticism of the old strength test on the ground that itl
was not a good test for endurance, and this was the quality that
athletes most needed. In order to meet this criticism I invented
a new test some two or three years ago in which strength was
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to be a minor factor and speed and endurance of the first impor-

tance. The test consisted of six simple exercises familiar to
you all-such as: Elbows to knees from a supine position. Pull-
ing up part of the body weight. Pushing up part of the body
weight. Bending forward tOl"hing fingers to floor. Rising on
toes. Sitting on heels and returning to standing position. The
experiments with the new test brought out several very interesting
results. In the first place it taught many a vigorous athletic man
to have a little more respect for simple free exercises which he
had affected to despise. The difficulty of getting out of bed the
next morning and the lameness and soreness that accompanied
every movement throughout the day following the test was a not
altogether pleasant reminder that there had been something doing
in nearly every muscle of the body. The new test also served
to quiet the kickers against the old test. It was only necessary
to offer them their option to readily allay any feeling of irritabil-
ity that previously existed. The new test brought to the front
a different type of man from the one who had come forward in
the old strength test. In the old test highly concentrated, short,
vigorous efforts with intervals of rest were required. In the new
test the ability to continue moderately vigorous efforts for thirty
minutes without res~was the kind of ability which rolled up'
the highest record. The former was essentially the test of th.>J
gymnast, the latter 0 the athlete.) It was not surprising, there-
fore, that the University oarsIT?e'n, long distance runners and
swimmers and men of great enduring power made the best
records in the new test. When we consider that endurance is
largely a matter of superior circulatory and respiratory powers, ,
and that these qualities are developed by a slow process of train- :
ing, it will readily be seen that a test for endurance is not a good
one to tryon new pupils, unless you wish to test them for their
natural capacity in this direction before they' have had any
practice. The unpleasant feature about such a test among new
men is that the first symptoms of organic weakness you are likely
to encounter are nausea and syncope. While the appearance of
these symptoms may serve to take the conceit out of certain
 456 AMERICAN PHYSICAL EDUCATION REVIEW

would-be athletes, whose zeal is always in excess of their abilities,

it would hardly seem that the physical director was called upon
to carry his examinations to such a nauseating conclusion. On
the other hand, it may be said that one of the objects of the
examination, as far as would-be athletes are concerned, is to
ascertain if anyone has an organic weakness or lack of functional
power that would be likely to incapacitate him in a race or athletic
contest. It is certainly much better for a man to faint in the
office of the gymnasium, where he can be looked after, than in
the waist of a rowing shell where he might endanger his own
life and the lives of the rest of the crew. Men who are not
aspiring to athletic honors and who have had little preparatory
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training may better postpone the endurance test until later in

the season, or, in other words, until they have had time to prepare
for it. As the two tests stand to-day both are very useful, the
: one primarily as a test of strength, the other as essentially a test
of endurance. The endurance test requires twice the time, and
twice the amount of clerical assistance that the old test does.
It could hardly be expected to be otherwise and remain a test
of endurance. Some of the instructors, however, have reduced
the factor of time by dividing the men to be examined into two
classes and have one test, watch and record for the other. This
adds also an emulative spirit to the test and makes it more in
the nature of a class contest. This scheme is said to be working
well in some of the schools and colleges in the West. Tests could
be made along other lines in order to measure some of the finer
qualities which make for power and efficiency. Such tests are
usually made at the physiological and psychological laboratories.
Then again, a good many forms of elementary gymnastics and
athletics, such as wrestling, jumping, running, putting the shot,
etc., could be introduced as tests for all classes of students. These
tests could be easily measured and would undoubtedly indicate ct
certain kind of ability which it is important to recognize and culti-
vate. This, however, is encroaching upon the ground covered by
Igymnastics and athletics as such, and though there might be some
i advantages in introducing such tests as a means of arousing
-greater interest among students, and discovering those who had
natural abilities in these athletic events, there is no particular
reason why they should be chosen rather than many others. It
seems to me advisable for that reason that the physical director
should confine himself to the more fundamental tests, which bring
.out certain basic abilities common to many forms of gymnastics
! and athletics, such as strength, speed, endurance, etc., rather than
'to tests that call for special qualifications in a narrower line of
action.