This section is from the book "American Football", by Walter Camp. Also available from Amazon: American Football.
Crews and ball nines have oftentimes the trial of exceptionally hot and exhausting weather to face, while a football team, after the few warm days of September are passed, enjoy the very best of bracing weather - weather which will give almost any man who spends his time in out-door work a healthy, hearty appetite. In order that any captain or coach reading this book may feel that, while it offers several courses of diet, it would emphatically present the fact that there is no hard-and-fast system of diet that must be religiously followed, I submit a variety of tables, showing some old as well as new school diets. None of them are very bad, several are excellent; and I don't think that a captain or coach would be called upon to draw his pencil through very many of the items enumerated.
Jeremah S. Back. Princeton.
Rise, about 7 A.M. ......... | ............ | So as to be in chapel; but early rising not compulsory. |
Exercise ................... | A short walk or run ............................ | Not compulsory (walk only, and short). |
Breakfast, 8.30.... | Meat, beef or mutton. | |
Bread or toast, dry ........................ | The crust only recommended. | |
Tea ....................... | As little as possible recommended. | |
Exercise (forenoon] | None ................................ | American football men should kick, catch, and pass. |
Dinner, 2 p.m..... | Meat; much the same as for breakfast. | |
Bread .......................... | Crust only recommended. | |
Vegetables, none allowed... | A rule, however, not always adhered to. | |
Beer, one pint ......... | This is what Americans call ale, and not indulged in to any great extent except after a hard game. | |
Exercise ....................... | About 5 o'clock start for the river, and row twice over the course, the speed increasing with the strength of the crew. | |
Supper, 8.30 or 9.. | Meat, cold. | |
Bread; perhaps a jelly or watercresses. | *As has been stated elsewhere, improvements have been made in diet since this table was compiled. This will also apply to the Cambridge System, page 143. | |
Bed about 10. | Beer, one pint (see above). |
Rise about 7.30 a.m. . . | ............................................... | . Early rising not compulsory. |
Exercise .............................. | A short walk or run .............................. | Not compulsory. |
Breakfast, 9 ............................... | As for summer races. | |
Exercise (forenoon) ................. | None. | |
Luncheon about 1 p.m. | [ Bread, or a sandwich. | |
! Beer, half a pint. | ||
Exercise ................................ | About 2 o'clock start for the river and row twice over the course. | » |
Dinner, 5 ........................... | Meat, as for summer races. Bread. | |
Vegetables, as for summer races. Pudding (rice), or jelly. Beer, half a pint. | ||
Bed, 10.30. |
Rise at 7 a.m. | The old system of running a mile or so before breakfast is fast going out, except in the case of men who want to get a good deal of flesh off." | |
Exercise .................................. | Run 100 or 200 yards as fast as possible. | |
Breakfast, 8.30 ................... | Meat, beef or mutton. | |
Toast, dry. Tea, two cups, or towards the end of a training a cup and a half only. Watercresses occasionally. | ||
Exercise (forenoon).. | . None. | |
Dinner about 2 p.m. | Meat, beef or mutton. | |
Bread. Vegetables - potatoes, greens -Beer, one pint. | Some colleges have baked apples, or jellies, or rice puddings. | |
Dessert - oranges, or biscuits or figs; wine, two glasses. | ||
Exercise .................. | About 5.30 start for the river, and row to the starting-post and back ........................ | "Most men get out for a little time before rowing back." |
Meat, cold. | ||
Supper about 8.30 or 9. | Bread. Vegetables - lettuce or watercresses. | |
Bed at 10. | Beer, one pint. |
Rise between 6 and 7 A.M. | |
Exercise .................... | . A country walk of four or five miles. |
Breakfast, 8.... | Meat, chop or |
Couple of eggs. | |
| Bread. | |
Tea. ("We never drink coffee.") | |
Exercise .................. | Rest for half an hour, and then a brisk walk or run. If morning exer-cise has not been heavy, a row on the river, terminating about 11 A. M. |
Dinner, 12 m. . | Meat, beef or mutton (broiled). |
Egg pudding, with currants in it if desired, or other light farinaceous pudding. | |
Ale, one glass. | |
Wine, one glass (port), or | |
Ale, two glasses, without wine. | |
Exercise .................... | Rest for an hour, and then on the river again for a hard row. "Rowing exercise should be taken twice every day." |
Tea ................. | "Tea, with toasted bread sparingly buttered, with one egg only - more has a tendency to choke the system." |
Supper ........................ | Not recommended. When taken, to consist of new milk and bread, or gruel, with raisins and currants and a glass of port wine in it. |
Bed about 10. |
Rise at 6 A. M., or earlier in the summer. | - Cold bath and rub-down. |
Exercise ............................... | Sharp walk about a mile out, and run home; or a row of a couple of miles at three-parts speed. |
A dry rub-down. | |
Breakfast (time not stated). | Meat, mutton-chop or steak (broiled). |
Bread, stale or toast. Tea, half a pint. | |
Exercise ............................... | (Not stated.) |
Dinner, 2 P.M. .................................... | Meat (as at breakfast). Vegetables, none; "except a mealy potato." Bread, stale. Beer, one pint. |
Exercise (afternoon) ......................... | . Rowing. |
If dinner be late, luncheon to be taken to consist of Meat, beef or mutton, hot or cold. Bread. Beer, one glass. (If dinner be early, "tea with viands and liquids as at breakfast" to be taken.) | |
Supper ................................... | . Half a pint of thin gruel, or dry toast and a glass of ale. |
Bed.......................... | Time not stated. |
N.B. - It is added "that the above rules are of course open to alteration according to circumstances, and the diet varied successfully by the introduction of fowls, either roast or boiled - the latter preferred;" and "it must never be lost sight of that sharp work, regularity, and cleanliness are the chief if not the only rules to be followed to produce thorough good condition."
Rise at about 7 A.M. | (Glass of cold water recommended.) |
Exercise ............................. | The crew meet at 7, walk and run for four or five miles; or, in later practice, quick run of two miles. Wash and dress. |
Breakfast, 9 ........................... | 'Meat (broiled); bread (brown) and butter; tea, two cups. "Cocoa made of the nibs boiled for four hours is better than tea for breakfast." |
Smoking allowed (conditionally). "Smoking is barred, for, though here also a man's habits are to be taken into account, the subjects of training in match-boats are usually too young to have contracted a custom of smoking so inveterate as to have made tobacco indispensable to the body's internal functions, though it is not unfre-quently so in older men. After breakfast is the only time allotted to the pipe." | |
Luncheon at 1 ..... | Beef sandwich with half a pint of beer, or Biscuit and glass of sherry, or egg in sherry. |
Exercise .................. | At 2.30 go out to row, and row over the whole course. "This altogether depends on the state of the crew." Wash in tepid water. |
Dinner at 6 P. M... | "Meat (roast, broiled, or boiled). "Any kind of wholesome meat thoroughly cooked." |
Vegetables - "The green foods permissible contain in their list spinach - the very best of all; sea-kale, asparagus, but without melted butter; turnip-tops, young unhearted greens, but not solid cabbages; broccoli, carrots, parsnips, and cooked celery. Turnips are also favored, and pease condemned; also cucumbers, and all salad mixtures. But boiled beet-root is good, and Jerusalem artichokes; and French beans stand next to spinach in virtue." The course is varied daily, so that no two days together shall see the same articles on the table. | |
Pudding. ("Light puddings may be eaten.") | |
Bread. Beer, one pint. | |
Wine, two glasses of old port or sherry, or three of claret. | |
Biscuits and dried fruits, as cherries, figs, etc., allowed. ("All fresh fruits are avoided.") | |
Jellies. (" Plain jellies are innocuous.") | |
Water. ("As much spring water as they have a mind to.") | |
Supper, 9 ........................ | Oatmeal gruel if desired. |
Bed at 10. | N. B. - On Sundays a brisk walk of three hours or so is taken. |
Summary. | |
Sleep, eight or nine hours. Exercise, about three hours. Diet, very varied. |
Rise at 8 A.M. ................ | According to season and weather. Cold bath. |
Exercise, 8.30 to 9... | Walking or running. "Let all take a gentle run or smart walk." |
Breakfast, 9 to 9.30 | Oatmeal porridge, with meat (beef or mutton, broiled) and bread. |
Tea or coffee, or table beer, one pint. "Tea is preferred to coffee. Cocoa is too greasy." | |
Exercise, 9.30 to 11.30 | , Billiards, skittles, quoits, or other light exercise. |
11.30 to 1.30 ....................... | Rowing. |
1.30 to about 2.30. | Running. "According to circumstances." |
Rubbed dry and linen changed. | |
Dinner, 2.30 to 3 | Meat - beef (roast) or mutton (boiled mutton occasionally), roast fowl, partridges, or pheasants (allowed), or venison (nothing better). "It is generally directed that the steak or chop should be underdone; this, I am sure, is a fallacy." - Bread (ad lib.). - Puddings occasionally, made of bread, eggs, and milk, and served with preserved fruits. - Vegetables - potatoes (one or two only), cauliflowers, and broccoli (only as an occasional change). If training is protracted, fish allowed (cod or soles). - Beer, from a pint to a pint and a half. - Wine, a glass or two, port or sherry. |
After dinner, until 5 or 6. A gentle stroll or book. | |
Exercise, 6 to 7 ................... | . Rowing. |
Supper, 8 ............................. | Oatmeal porridge with dry toast or chop, with glass of port. |
Bed at 9 or 10. |
 
Continue to: