Making Exercise Easier

  Making Exercise Easier

Your living area should reflect the priorities of what you think is most important to do. For many people, their living spaces are configured to accommodate that ease and convenience — of plopping down into a Lazy Boy and turning on their television by remote control — and spend the rest of their hours in that position until it is time to go to sleep, and many just give up entirely and go to sleep in that position. So of course, they don’t get a lot of exercise in their daily lives — except to get up for bathroom breaks and getting something to eat. That reflects who they are and the shape they are in.

People who make exercise the central activity of their lives con’t have to buy a lot of exercise equipment just to use for a minute each day — but are inclined to have a nearly empty room for which they can move around quite easily — because it is the movement itself which is important, and not the amount of equipment they have — and use so briefly. The best example of this is the dance studio — with little or no furniture — only bars installed into the walls to practice their balance and flexibility. Close seconds are the martial arts studios with their cleared space to practice their movements. And then there are the yoga practitioners — who don’t move around a lot, and just require a mat — if that.

Clearly the lesson to be learned from these examples of people highly likely to break into exercise at any opportunity and inspiration, is that they are not dependent on any particular apparatus and circumstances, but can improvise with nothing or very little — rather than being constricted and constrained by the furnishings and predisposition to comfort with no further effort. Monasteries are often set up in this way — to make prayers, postures and practices the only thing possible, as well as to indulge in as much as possible.

That would be the template for anybody desiring to design more exercise into their lives — or anything else for that matter. Their living room should be their exercise studio — and everything else secondary to that primary purpose — if at all necessary. Instead, the usual contemporary life accumulates as much clutter as is possible — to make productive movements and exercises nearly impossible and prohibitive. Rather than clutter as much as possible into their living space, the ascetic values that space as the room that makes movement possible, productive and expressive — instead of limiting those possibilities, and even putting away their exercise equipment to limit their access and spontaneity to it.

But rather than cluttering up one’s space with as much specialized equipment as one can afford, a far better idea is to realize that the floor, walls, movable chair and mat (not rolled up and put away), is the perfect time and conditions for practicing and mastering whatever movements one can think of. One could even do 10,000 steps marching in one place more productively than walking outside — in less ideal conditions. It doesn’t matter how far one goes, but how fully they lift their knees and articulate the leg movement — which is likely to be more constrained if they have to transport the rest of their body over uncertain terrain.

That’s what the exercise adepts realize — that it is not the external trappings that make exercise more conducive, but this anywhere, anytime access possible — even if one just thought of it in the spur of the moment. That really is what the true spirit of exercise was meant to be — and not all this planning, expense, and thinking people insist is required. Many will even insist that you consult with one’s Primary Care Provider or Certified Personal Trainer before attempting to do anything new and unfamiliar.

People are invariably successful because they discovered a way that works for themselves — despite what all the experts say and prescribe for everyone else. That is the whole poi.nt of living, purpose and meaning in the fully actualized life — not reserved just for the experts, media and influencers. That ultimately is the permission to live one’s own life — and achieve the greatest success at it. No one can do it for any other. That success is entirely personal. It either works, or it doesn’t — and what one should go by.

Lots of things work for a while — and then it stops working once the novelty wears off. That merely indicates that one has to improve the understanding — and not that all understanding is futile. Exercise doesn’t have to be hard and difficult. Only the experts insist that it is so — but then it doesn’t work for them either. So one has to break all the rules to find the way that does work — and not simply settle for more elaborate explanations of why things don’t work. Anything that works is self-evident truth. Life is very simple in that way.

Upright Rows

  Upright Rows

The human body is perfectly hinged to do an upright row — so to believe it is a movement that should never be done is preposterous — just as believing that a squat should never be done — ever. Those are the movements the human body was designed to do — but as always, many take a foolproof construct and turn it into their own self-destruction by using it for purposes it was not designed to do. If one should never do the upright rowing motion, then no parent should ever lift a baby — because that is precisely the movement involved. However, one would never attempt to lift a grownup in that manner — for what should be obvious reasons. That should be a moot point.

The problem always lies in the manner and circumstances in which such movements are prescribed — usually by the self-proclaimed experts on this — and every other matter they think they know what they are talking about, even if they’ve never thought it through, and tested it first on themselves, and then others — until they could reasonably be sure they knew what they were talking about. But that absolute certainty that they can know and do no wrong, should give us a clue as to how far they are to be believed.

While both the upright rowing motion and the squat are movements the human body is uniquely evolved and designed for, that manner which it is prescribed, makes them injurious — on the advice that the joint (axis) in which it is optimally designed to move, is instead advised to remain immobile — placing undue and unnatural movement and stress on joints that should be secondarily involved in supportive roles — rather than as the primary movers.

In the case of the squat, it is commonly advised that one should not allow the lower leg to move at all — usually indicated by the angle of the lower leg to the foot — which they advise should be maintained at a right angle, thus immobilizing the ankle — which actually should be the joint at greatest expression, or range of movement. This is particularly notable in dancers, gymnasts, divers, and performers of most athletic events. The reason a person jumps high, is because they can use their foot as a lever against the earth — but if some arbitrary rule demands that the foot must remain at a 90 degree angle to the lower leg, the result will be much less than allowing for the fullest articulation of the range of movement in all the joints. That would not make for interesting viewing, as all participants would be handicapped in that way — and we would not witness the full potential and possibilities of such movements.

However, that lack of movement might be advantageous in being able to support a heavier weight — by not allowing for the vulnerability that movement entails. Except in rare cases, movement is required in most human activities and expression — or we’d simply get a mechanical jack to hold up that weight indefinitely — if that is required. That is obvious in the case of a “squat” in which there is no movement from a bone on bone lockout. As soon as there is movement out of that position, the weight that can be supported is less — and finally, at the furthest range of movement, the range is the resistance. Everyone has those ultimate natural limits — although they may vary greatly from one person to another. But each individual only has to work with what they are given — and that is what matters. That is the importance of “knowing oneself,” and not presuming to know everyone else — and what they “all must be doing.”

The upright row is like the squat in that respect — that the ultimate expression and articulation of the arm movements — is indicated by the range of movement at the wrist joint. The manner in which it is usually performed with injurious effect — is to immobilize the wrist movement throughout the movement — to enable the handling of a heavier weight — rather than in recognizing, that the range of movement at the wrist, determines the state of muscular contraction of all the muscles of the arm land torso. That is a movement that most modern contemporary people do not do except for the aforementioned dancers, gymnasts, performers, etc. — in favor of the misplaced and prodigious development of the “showy” muscles for visual impact — and how much weight they are using.

In the case of the most productive exercises most people can do, it is far more important to perform the movement correctly than to increase the weight used. In most cases, such exercises are so productive that no additional weight is required to achieve the exercise effect and benefits. This is especially true when people become older and wiser, and realize just to be able to retain such movements is a rare feat in itself — even among the former world champions and people hoping to retain as much of their faculties and abilities throughout their lives — as their outstanding accomplishment.

There are a lot of people who have damaged their shoulder and arm mobilities by using too much weight in the upright row to whom just performing a full-range articulation of all the joints (axes) involved in that movement with no weight for 50 repetitions, would be a feat they no longer thought possible ever again. That is enough to put them in the top 5% of all people over 75, and if younger, a light enough weight to maintain their focus — that particularly, the essential range of movement is the axis at the wrist, and not any amount of weight done with the wrists immobilized — to damage the rotator cuff and arm muscles.

That and the ability to do a squat (get off the ground) with just one’s own bodyweight, are the benchmarks and milestones that everyone should aim for. 10,000 steps — or even 1,000 steps — are much less indicative and beneficial than those 100 reps a day — as measured by the articulation at the wrist, ankles, and neck. Those are the critical faculties of the human body anybody in their right mind wishes to retain, maintain, and improve throughout life — as their priorities. You don’t need to add more weight to exercise those parts of the body. The full range articulation produces the maximum contraction and relaxation without the need for added resistance. That is what all the exercise machine manufacturers realize — and so they don’t build those machines for those movements. Doing so, would make those exercises worse, less productive and injurious.

Hip and Back

  There is a reason the gluteus muscle is the largest and strongest muscle of the human body — but most people cannot see the reason for it, and so ignore and even deliberately do not develop it — in favor of developing all the other, less critical muscles of the body — and that becomes the source of a lot of pain and problems even in the otherwise well-developed human physique. The major function and importance of the gluteus muscle is to bind the upper body to the lower body, and in that manner, provide maximum stability and support for all the movements taking place at the extremities that are obvious as “movements,” while the base (gluteus) seems immobile.

As such, the best exercise for the gluteus does not require or exhibit movement, but actually occurs when the gluteus is simply squeezed into a tighter contraction — without and regardless of visible movement. Such compression and activation, forces the engagement and subsequent blood flow, that becomes problematical when there is no contraction and relaxation (pumping effect) of the gluteus muscle resulting in the numbness or sciatica of people who do not activate their glues for prolonged periods.

It is like any other muscle of the body that has that capability — but is ignored, because it can be — in the modern sedentary life and activities. One back researcher noted that such back pain was unheard of among indigenous peoples — who always exhibited well-toned and usually contracted gluteus muscles — but then developed elaborate back exercises to remedy back pain in modern sedentary lives — rather than the much more obvious solution to contract the gluteus muscles — as is apparent in any athletic performance — but invariably overlooked, as the key functioning that makes the supreme effort most effective.

Instead, they will seek to develop all the muscles adjoining it — like the spinal erectors above and the hamstrings and quadriceps below it — but not the gluteus itself. It is always taken for granted, and assumed to be working as well as it can — even without deliberate attention paid to it. In fact, a lot of exercise machine design addresses the upper body and lower body exercises as though they were two separate universes — rather than an integral whole. The obvious example is the difference between the standing press and the bench press — because no upper to lower body tie-in is required in the latter. And then in the leg press, no upper body tie-in is necessary. And that is how the body is generally worked — as two different and unconnected spheres of power — the shoulder girdle, and the hip girdle — but seldom as one and the same thing, which natural movement is meant to be.

Some traditional and conventional movement disciplines don’t make such divisions, and their whole intent is integral movement — rather than the isolated movements favored by the makers of exercise equipment. The more, different, and unrelated movements, the more machines and gimmicks they can sell — rather than the simplicity of understanding the human body at its most basic and functional level. The best example of these are the dancers and yogis who are fond of saying that their bodies are their instrument. From there, gym equipment and apparatus can get more elaborate and costly. But as fitness and exercise afficionados have known forever, all one requires is the body itself — to get the best workout.

Knowing what to do is the lack. The hardest thing to see is the obvious. Most glute exercises are unsatisfactory because they are done lying on one’s stomach (pressuring the abdomen) — while moving the thigh bone rearward. The easiest way to contract the gluteus is to lie straight on one’s back and with very little visible movement, simply squeeze the gluteus muscles — and then alternately relax. The sciatic nerve comes out of the vertebra into the gluteus — so if that (blood) flow is not optimal, it would affect the entirety of the sciatic nerve running all the way down the leg resulting in the familiar numbness and pain. The nerves are not being stimulated and fed by that proper functioning.

The other position to perform the glute squeeze is lying on one’s side — and placing the upper hand on the lower glute for added range of movement — with that twist. The glute can only be maximally contracted when the body is in a straight line — and not as commonly practiced in a squat, deadlift, or any other hinged movement. That is the peculiarity of the glute contraction — that it is to provide stability and support for all the other movements of the body — which even squatting or deadlifting cannot do, or any other back and leg exercises commonly done for glute activation and development.

It is an important muscle in the body — but not for the reason most people think so — as some kind of a sexual magnet, but is the anchor of the entire body — to which all other movements and activities are ultimately based in. We ordinarily don’t think about it, and merely take it for granted that it will just be there — until one day they fall, and the shock absorber they thought would always be there, isn’t, and so they fracture their hips — with devastating consequences. Shock absorption, is one of the major attributes of muscles that provide an added layer of responsiveness and protection in a long and prosperous life. It’s not just decoration.

Health and Functionality

The older one gets, the more they realize that their very health and functioning is what really matters -- and not all the lesser concerns one thought was so important -- including how much one can lift in a gym, how many steps one should take to simulate "natural movement and exercise," etc. -- the point being to be able to do those movements throughout the normal course of their day, and throughout life -- as who they are.  That is the reality of each life -- no matter what they do.  The doing is the telling.

The theme that seems to be gaining prominence, is the realization that people, and particularly the young, are not be well-prepared to meet the challenges of the present -- particularly when faced with problems and difficulties -- as the people of yore.  Instead, they waste a lot of time playing video games -- often for hours each day -- while hardly moving from their couch.

So rather than looking like robust and dynamic individuals, capable of doing anything, they turn into couch potatoes -- hardly capable of moving, and even requiring assistance with their daily living.  As much as we can, we choose to do as much as possible independently as the primary expression of everything we are capable of doing -- which means maintaining those capabilities as required -- throughout life.  That is the meaning and purpose of "fitness" -- beyond all else.  Everything else just seems less important -- over the years -- and even counterproductive in many cases.

Until recently, it was even thought a prolonged period of complete dependency on others, was a final stage of life -- beyond retirement -- that might even last the entire latter half of life -- if one was so fortunate to live so long.  Of course, such lives were unprecedented because if people lived so long, it was because they excelled at maintaining their fitness beyond the rest.  And while entire industries have sprung up to keep others alive as long as profitable, lesser attention has been given to learning how to take better care of oneself.  The chief beneficiary in that, is the individual themselves -- in their own better quality and capacity of life.

In that way, the quality of life has improved directly, and not simply the cost and profitability of keeping people alive beyond what they can do for themselves.  That is the only way it can be done for mass numbers of people -- that each individual has to train themselves to attain that life, and no amount of other people, can do it for them.

Ultimately, that is the great equalizer in life -- not how one' began, and all the distractions subsequent -- before that final stage and act -- that can be increasingly prolonged.  If the only yardsticks for that measurement was what we first learned as young people, that usually eliminates the great majority of people -- but there is no rule against moving those goal posts -- as becomes practical and meaningful in one's own life.  That will best be determined individually -- and uniquely -- rather than by the arbitrary authority of those who would establish that criteria for everyone else, and particularly the young who can benefit from that guidance -- before one is well on their own path.

That is the ultimate objective of every learning, practice and exercise -- and not to abandon it as soon as nobody else is validating them for such efforts.  And these days, it is often the case that a few go into a lifelong downward spiral -- in full public view until they disappear completely because they no longer want to be seen, much less participate in community activities.  They even come to believe that they are "invisible," and so why should they care?

It's not that there are no longer standards -- but increasingly, they have to be set by every individual for themselves -- in the hierarchy of ascent to a greater life.  At that challenge, many implode because there is nothing within except jumping onto the latest new trend and bandwagon -- until they are let off, or fall off in the wilderness -- and are left entirely on their own.  It happens to everyone sooner or later.

From there, only a rare few continue on -- realizing that is what they have been practicing and preparing all their lives to do.  The rest will retreat back to the familiarity of the past -- even with its certainty of a dead-end, and no exit.  That has been the paradigm of aging in the past -- clinging to the past, rather than in creating the future paradigm that subsumes all that has come before into a more sustainable future.

So rather than lamenting what no longer works -- one must discover or invent what does work -- and makes a difference.  It doesn't have to be a 500 lb. bench press, squat or deadlift -- but the full range (articulation) of such movements -- without impediments and resistance.  That is making all movements possible, easy and functional -- rather than the present course of making it more difficult and impossible -- until the predictable abandonment of all further efforts and hope because it is just "too impossible" anymore.

Learning from Everything

  Learning from Everything

Structure provides the framework so that one is not reinventing the wheel to do anything and everything in life — which means they are always starting from zero — instead of where they left off, which becomes the foundation and baseline for improvement. However, many people take this structure as inviolable and perfected for all time and all conditions, rather than just the beginning of their undertaking, which may be different every time, and particularly, changing with time and age — no matter how much one wishes it were not so. So change will happen whether we make it happen or not — because that is what life is — constantly changing, improving, evolving — and we cannot keep everything as they were, frozen in time and space, no matter how much we try.

But some people think that their objective in life is to relive and reinvent the past — rather than improve the present — which means learning as we are doing, and not simply going through the motions and reliving the past as though that were enough to keep one young forevermore. So while it is nice to have a preconceived program for what one intends to do, the much greater gain lies in learning something new and possibly better — because that’s how one makes these quantum leaps in life, and not simply plod along as one always has, hoping for a different (better) result. Those are the breakthroughs in life that are not simply a matter of time and staying the present course — but the transformative moments when life becomes unexpectedly something else — much greater.

We don’t know what that is, if we only stay within the known and familiar — and so there must be a provision for breaking the mold as well. It is the same with every human activity — those who grow immensely from it, and the many who don’t, get discouraged and move on from one fad to another — never figuring out what actually works. That means learning and trying something new — and the surprisingly easiest way to do that is just to keep one’s ears, eyes and mind open — and learn what is going on around them, as well as what their own body is telling them.

Often, the exercises one is doing is not making them better, but actually making them worse — like lifting as heavy a weight as possible, or running or walking arbitrarily great distances — to the point that their feet, knees, hips and back are begging them to stop. At which point, most sensible people will just stop — but not try something else, because they were misled to think that was the only way — and it worked for everybody else but them. Obviously, the truth of the matter is that it doesn’t work for most — even as much as these “experts” claim it will — although they don’t seem to be living proof of that themselves. Often, these experts are experts because they’ve tried everything that doesn’t work — and that is what makes them the expert on these matters. You can’t tell them otherwise.

The gyms are full of people who used to be in shape — even at the top of the game once — but what they claimed worked before, no longer works now — when they need it to work most. That is the present state of the art — who knows what works best now, for the condition they are in now? Just doing what one did 50 years ago, is not the answer to reliving that peak. The deadlift, squat, and bench press were not the most productive (healthful) movements performed but owed their popularity to being the movements that allowed for the most weight to be used — and there was nothing magical beyond that. Yet still, they are prescribed as the cure for all the damage done by lifting maximum weights in those movements — by those who claim to know better.

That’s obviously not how it works. What doesn’t kill you, will eventually do so — if one persists at it. That’s what injuries are about — but even before that, are the imbalances that may be disabling in the later years of life — that one unfairly attributes to normal aging. That includes the limited range of movement, the lack of balance that leads to falls and hip fractures because the largest and strongest muscles of the body are left undeveloped in favor of the frivolous development of the showy muscles that are less critical to health and functioning.

That is the greatest threat and fear of the old people — that they fall and have no musculature to absorb the shock with the gluteus muscle. That is the great danger — and not that their biceps are lacking. That is the key to understanding the problems of aging — the back pain, hips pain, knee pain, foot pain. There must be a good reason Nature made the gluteus the largest and strongest muscle of the human body — that few think to accentuate it — not because of the concern that it will become too large and prominent, but that the well-developed glute holds the body together tightly — and that is its fundamental and integral strength.

The exercises we think develop this vital connection — the deadlift and squat, cannot engage and activate the gluteus muscle because it requires the thigh bone to be moving backwards — which is prohibitive in those movements. And in fact, the completed position for the deadlift and squat, produces an uncontracted gluteus muscle — in a bone on bone lockout. That is the problem with most weightlifting movements — that they end in a bone on bone lockout — rather than the fullest muscular contraction. That fullest muscular contraction, has to be designed into the movement — or it will always terminate in a bone on bone lockout — which allows the muscle to rest and relax.

That was the rationale for the Nautilus machines — which were actually so effective and efficient, that one had to use less weight rather than more — but bodybuilders being bodybuilders, defeated that purpose by adding more weight than most could use to perform the movements correctly and completely — and continued in that direction until it became unproductive for most. It was designed to be used in a rehabilitative manner than a competitive one — and in that manner, would have produced the foolproof results its inventor promised, rather than being abandoned by most within a decade.

That greatly accounts for the overwhelming success of the early bodybuilders of the 50s and 60s — most who got into it not because they were great athletes to begin with, but because they had no other hope as the proverbial 90 lb weaklings and other outcasts from the most prolific natural competitive athletes of their time — very few who trained with weights at that time. Then the world changed.

Movement and Resistance

  Thoughtful, well-designed, productive equipment should be adjustable down as well as up — which was the unanticipated genius of the Nautilus machines — created to provide variable resistance throughout the full range of movement. That means going from zero to 100% — whatever that is — but the zero resistance is just as important — because that allows for full relaxation — alternated with a full muscular contraction — which mimics the essential function of the heart to provide the circulation and flow that is the river of life and health for every body.

Without that essential circulation and flow, the body becomes a stagnant pond — isolated from the life-giving resources outside that body in which all of life has evolved, and why they are so similar in basic ways that don’t have to be reinvented with each and every life. They are automatic (autonomous) and given to every living being as the result of millions of years of trial and error that has resulted in the evolution of the brain, heart, structures and functions distinctive of each species, as well as the individual variations within each species.

The eternal question asked by exercisers is whether it is best to exercise with heavy weights or light weights for optimal gains — when the answer should obviously be “both” — just as it might be asked of the heart — which is more important and productive?, the contraction or the relaxation? One gives meaning and significance to the other — but one without the other is the cessation of life. In life, that is often true — that one is not more important than the other, but that both are necessary parts of the whole.

Unfortunately, many gym equipment are designed to go harder, but few think to go easier, and then it is a whole new level of sophistication to realize that it should be infinitely variable — because the muscle itself is designed for that range of articulation — which is the fullest expression and realization of health. The problem with a barbell is that it always stays the same — and so it is too heavy when the muscle is in its weakest position (relaxed), and often too light in its strongest position — which can be easily rectified by extending the range of movement (contraction) — which most people fail, or never think to do.

Instead, the common manner of performance in all their movements, is to use the entire body mass to throw the weight up, and then let it drop when the momentum comes to its highest point — and repeat that manner of movement until one needs to stop and breathe — because that manner of performance, requires them to hold their breath until the conclusion of their set, which is usually five or less. And although they claim it is muscular failure that terminates that set; it is actually cardio-pulmonary failure — because they are not breathing — and will only resume once their set is terminated. While that supreme effort may be an objective for lifting the maximum weight in that movement, it is not the manner in which most activities or work is achieved — usually as a sustained effort — oftentimes for 8 hours. The closest physical approximation is long distance bicycling — in which one is essentially performing one unvarying movement (repetition) as long as necessary to get where they want to.

It’s not the Tour de France — but takes as long as it takes — until one gets there. Rather than being as fast as one can get there, the preferred pace is what allows them to enjoy the ride. The physical exertion is secondary but a necessary ingredient of the total experience in learning more about one’s self — and how one will respond to varying challenges. Fitness doesn’t come in a test tube — or in any one measure — but is the total response one has at their command and mastery — even if finding that out for the first time what that is. That can change from moment to moment, and position to position.

It would be a simple matter if all one had to do was load up a barbell as heavy as possible — but then, what is one doing with it? For most people, the more weight they use, the less they do — because the muscle has to remain contracted throughout the entire range of the movement — which precludes proper breathing. Breathing also requires the alternation of the muscles involved to contract and relax — to move air in and out of the body by the same principles of fluid dynamics that moves blood — by the pressure differences caused by changing volumes. That is the ultimate significance of muscle contractions (compressions) alternated with relaxations (expansion) — as is made possible when the weight moves from zero to 100%.

In that way, the muscle can work indefinitely. The reason for conditioning, is to succeed and not fail. That is the flaw in high-intensity training. The objective is to succeed and persist — and not fail prematurely when it is inconvenient to do so. 50–100 repetitions should be enough to maintain those capabilities — no matter how old one gets. It’s the movement that matters — and not the resistance.

First Things First

  I had the good (mis)fortune to be diagnosed at a young age with childhood (rheumatoid) arthritis — for which the doctors said I would be crippled as an adult — “but then they could operate.” So I asked innocently if that would make me well — and the doctor replied facetiously, “No, but then they can operate.” So early on, I realized I was on my own — at least until I was old enough for them to “operate.”

When one is “old,” it does not much matter if one’s arthritis is the cause of being too young — or too old, because all one hopes for, is to be functioning at the highest level possible — all the rest of one’s days. Many of the greatest transformative legends began with such modest but realistic goals — just to be able to breathe without fearing one can’t. Two of them, Tommy Kono and George Eiferman, went from being scrawny asthmatics, to having strongman performances including blowing up hot water bottles til they burst — as well as being acclaimed as the most perfectly developed physical specimens of their time.

That was before everybody realized how effective exercise could be in producing such great results. But these original pioneers weren’t doing it for such spectacular results — but were starting to just get up to normal — and derived all the great benefits beyond. Those were the bodybuilding stories in the first half of the 20th century — before the hype took over, and everyone was sold to believe anybody could have similarly great results.

The truth of the matter was that nobody knew for certain who could and who couldn’t achieve such remarkable results — except by actually finding out for themselves — in the doing. In that way, they would remain grounded in their own reality — limitations and potential. That is all one can ask in life — that it is uniquely and personally their own experience — and not just the average as the truth of that endeavor for everyone. That is the primal lesson in life.

That is also what “science” is — testing out the truth of that matter for oneself, and not simply relying on the “experts” to tell them what the truth is — regardless of whether it works for them or not. And then if it doesn’t, the next question is to inquire why it didn’t — and refine a better solution. Otherwise, one is trapped in the conundrum of doing the same things over and over that doesn’t work — expecting a different result, no matter how fanciful the explanation. Therefore, the greatest motivator, is testing whether an idea works in the present reality — and not only after a year has passed. If it takes a year to manifest, you’re uncertain what worked — because a lot can happen in a year.

But if it manifests immediately, one can have more confidence that what one just did — is probably the reason for the difference (change.) The simplest and most direct understanding of the body and how it moves, is manifested at the extremities of the feet, hands and head — and as long as those organs are functioning well, the rest of the body is less important for ensuring lifelong health and functioning. As easy as it is to say, most older people lose their movement at these most distal joints — which defines the possibilities and limits of that functioning — including the arthritis at those joints and the brain fog at the head.

That is totally predictable and likely. But if such individuals do nothing else but keep their head, hands and feet looking youthful and fully functioning, there’s no easy way to tell how old such a person is — because the telltale markers are absent. That won’t change with more movement at the hip or shoulders — while remaining unmoving at the neck, wrists, and ankles. It is at those distal joints that movement has to be articulated — which implies the engagement of the supporting muscular structures — because that is how the body actually is designed to work — and not by short-circuiting the movement and circulation to the proximal structures — that does nothing, or very little for beyond that movement.

That is the most misunderstood part of exercise — that makes it far less effective and unproductive — but with the proper understanding of the whole design and objectives of the human body, the ultimate objectives can be achieved and manifested immediately. That goes for beginners or advanced — and puts everyone into the game — without the torturous path to it. You simply do what the body immediately needs and will benefit most by, and the body fills in the rest. Otherwise, the efforts and resources are diverted to the lower priority needs — at the expense of the higher. It’s like considering the brain alone. All things being equal, what would one choose to develop most? Then do it first.