This workout is from J.P. Muller's book My System. Free copies in various formats (PDF, Kindle, Text, etc) can be found at archive.org and a scan of the whole book can be found at sandowplus.co.uk.
Each exercise has a number of degrees, meaning levels of difficulty. For the first 5 weeks, the reader is given subsets of the exercises to do in specific order (different than below) to ramp up to the full exercise routine. Starting on the sixth week, the reader is meant to do all 18 exercises in order, and progress to the highest degree over time.
The below exercises are based on a summary of the book in which the language has been paraphrased from the original into a more modern dialect, and only the highest degree exercise is shown. The names have also been changed to be less cumbersome and the more strange things, like rubbings, have been removed.
- Spinning Straw - 5x clockwise, 5x counterclockwise
- Standing, feet shoulder-width apart, arms fully extended above the head (touching the ears) with hands interlocked. Bend the upper body back, then lean it left, then forward, then right, and bend back again. Turn this motion into a full circle of the upper body, INHALING for odd numbered circles and EXHALING for even ones. Keep torso/back straight throughout. Do 5 times in one direction, and 5 the other.
- Pendulum - 20 short swings of the leg backward followed by 20 long swings forward
- Speed skating - 20x
- Sit-ups - 12x
- Normal sit-ups with hands fully outstretched above head (arms locked to ears), with feet held down by something.
- Helicopter - 10x
- A kind of combination of yoga's triangle pose and reverse warrior. Start with feet apart, left hand touching the ground -- right hand and arm is a mirror of the left throughout this entire exercise. Stand up and twist the trunk so that the left hand is behind the buttocks, then try to touch the ground with the left hand while the right hand is opposite. Then bend forward and touch the ground with the right hand. This is one movement. Perform 10.
- Quick Arm Circles - 20x small fast, 2x big slow
- The third degree in this exercise has the reader doing it while lunging, and the fourth adds slowly twisting the trunk into the mix.
- Ds - 10x small, 2x large, then opposite direction
- Lie on back, hands at waist, lift legs up 45 degrees and circle them like D and its reflection.
- Rooster - 10x
- Arms line airplane wings, feet like an A, lean forward over the left leg. Then twist to the right (keeping legs facing forward the entire time) and back so that your chest ends up facing the ceiling, then lean over the right leg. Reverse the exercise and that makes one movement.
- Push-ups - 10x
- The third degree is regular push-ups, while the fourth is advanced ones: one-arm, lifting a leg, rapid ones, etc.
- Rubbing of the Feet, Top of Back, and Round the Neck
- Rub the top and sides of the right foot with the left foot, while simultaneously rubbing the top of the back, back of neck, sides and then front of neck with the left hand. Switch to the opposite hands and feet and repeat.
- Hugs - 10x
- Extend arms to the side and back, then hug, with one arm under an armpit and another on a shoulder, alternating the hugging arm positions.
- Squats - 10x
- Extend arms to the front as you go down on the squat, and bring them back to the side as you go up.
- Drinking Bird - 20x
- While standing, legs apart and straight, bend from thewaist, backward (INHALE), then forward to the knees (EXHALE). No pause, smooth movements; relax the neck and back on the way down.
- Penguin (12x)
- Stand with feet wide apart. Bend left knee such that it supports most of your weight and bend your trunk solely to the right (not forward at all), while your right leg is completely straight. In this position, you should be able to lift your right leg an inch off the floor, because your weight should be on the bent left leg. Stand back up and repeat on the other side. This is one exercise.
- Look Behind (12x)
- Stand with feet wide apart, toes turned inward and knees locked. Turn to the left while grabbing your lower back with the right hand until you can see fully behind you. Do the same to the right side. Do 12x total.
- Ballerina (3 cycles of 3x with each leg)
- Stand with your hands and your sides. Lift the left leg to the front, completely straight, as high as you can, then to the side and to the back. Repeat with the right leg, and this is one cycle. Do 3 cycles.
- Soldier (10x)
- Lift one knee, grab with both arms and push the thigh against the body. Then put it down and do the same with the other knee.
- Grandfather Clock (8x)
- Bend sideways, to one side and then the other. Lift the opposite hand to the armpit while bending.
- Look Ahead (20x)
- The same as Look Behind, but keeping the head still, facing forward. During the twists, each shoulder should come under the chin.
- Quick Drinking Bird (24x)
- Same as the Drinking Bird, but very fast, without stopping or bending at the waist (kick butt and hips out during bending)