Making Something Out of Nothing

 In a world full of options and choices, one doesn’t have unlimited time, energy and resources, and must develop priorities — in order of what is most important to do. In a time of scarcity and dearth of that abundance, that might have been eating, drinking, travel, entertainment, bodybuilding and weightlifting without end — just because we could. However, even the most prolific practitioners often culminated in premature deaths, injuries, and health problems — and so one has to question whether just getting as big as possible, running as far as possible, lifting as much weight as possible, are productive ends in themselves.

If one could truly develop any aspect of their bodies and lives, what would they deem most important? The intelligent answer would be those qualities that make humans above all the previous iterations of life forms — which is the large brain, tool-making hand, and feet that enables an upright posture. That would be obvious to the anthropologists studying the evolution of species over time, and was particularly the topic of JJ Bronowski’s “The Ascent of Man.” From there, he describes the further evolution and development of humankind and what the ideal can be.

That brought us to the 20th century in which people like Abraham Maslow, inquired what is the ultimate “human actualization?” — and writers like Heinlein, Rand, Orwell, et al fleshed out in their literary creations. The underlying question was what is the ultimate human form and expression — of every individual life, which is the underlying theme of Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land. That was the story of a human born on Mars and had no preconceived ideas of what the ideal form should be — and so he manifested it, or made it flesh.

There is a widespread belief that the heart pumps blood equally to all parts of the body — but obviously, more so to those areas actually exercised — which is the reason some people only manifest upper body development, while their legs languish. That would not be possible if the heart pumped that blood equally — even to those muscles and organs not used. Instead, the blood goes more to those muscles that are contracted and relaxed — just as the heart moves fluid. Where there is no such articulation at that joint, the blood and fluids remain in those tissues — and will immediately increase that flow, when it is exercised directly. That’s why people who do cardio exercises have small, atrophied muscles. Their hearts work harder and faster — but the rest of the musculature largely is inactivated.

That is the advantage weight-training has over most conventional exercise — it can be directed to develop the part of the body one thinks is so important — like the biceps and abdominals, etc. But the most efficient and economical way to enhance the flow (circulation) is to activate the joints at the extremities of the body — because that pushes the blood back towards the heart at that axis of activation. Those are the places where aging is most visible — even in aging bodybuilders. That’s where most of the aches and pains are experienced first — in the arthritis and neuropathies — where the circulation is the poorest, and not health-sustaining. Those are the casualties of disuse and aging.

It doesn’t have to be. One can activate all the muscles of the upper body by simply bending at the wrist. Likewise, one can activate all the muscles of the lower body by raising the heel or toe as much as possible. It doesn’t require weights to produce those contractions. The movement itself, is a contraction — and the farther one expresses those extremes, the more it engages all the supporting and connected muscles back towards the center of the body where all the muscles converge. The ancient Chinese called it dyantin — or simply, the center of the body — conveniently located next to the heart.

Nature is very smart in that way. It makes things economical and efficient — because it really wants us to live, thrive, and evolve to higher possibilities, rather than favor disfunction, disease and extinction. That is ultimately what “fitness” is all about — and not just doing what we’ve always done before with the predictable end results. It’s not that lying, sitting, standing are bad in and of itself — but there is no movement at the wrist, ankle and neck — that implies the rest. But if there is no movement beyond the shoulder and hip girdle, all those areas beyond it, don’t receive the exercise effect.

Knowing this, one can design an exercise program with heel raises, wrist curls and the turning of the head all the way to the left and right — and most inactive people will come alive in doing so. That is the easiest way just to get up in the morning. One does not need resistance or to make these movements any harder. The (lack of) movement is the resistance. It’s not that one isn’t moving their head to the left and right with 100 lbs of resistance — but they never move their head at all. That is most obviously true in what passes for the typical cardio exercise — the head and hands never move, and the feet shuffle as fast as possible — with little articulation. The proper foot articulation would be to raise the heels as high as possible — just like the ballet dancers — men and women. But all one needs to do is hold on to the back of a chair or countertop and merely raise their heels up as high as possible and down — as the superior leg movement. No special equipment required. No need to make the movement harder, or add more weight and resistance. The movement itself is exemplary.

It’s not that the calves, forearms and neck are the hardest muscles to develop — but that most don’t think to move at those joints — at all. But in so doing, unlike the disproportionate development many have because they concentrate on core muscles to the exclusion of the extremities, exercise seems to have no preventive effect against aging, atrophy and deterioration. It seems to be the obvious way to design a 21st century exercise program for health in longevity. You don’t want to lose your most valuable parts of yourself — while the heart is still the only muscle still ticking for decades longer.

The Holy Grail of Health

  The question is not whether exercise works and is good for you, but what does one prioritize in a world of limited time, energy and resources?

We see that in older people, what breaks down are the critical faculties at the head, hands and feet — or cognitive function, grip strength, and foot strength (balance), as the major markers of decline — or good health. Those are neuromuscular functions — or voluntary — rather than cardiovascular — which is autonomic. That means that what one can make the most significant difference, is what one can control — rather than what is automatic. The neuromuscular effects the cardiovascular system automatically, while simply increasing the heart rate, does not indicate or improve athletic performance. That is to say that lifting a weight will increase the heart rate, but simply increasing the heart rate, will not necessarily lift a weight.

And in fact, what is usually called cardio exercise, is usually done with very little movement of the upper body, as well as foot articulation. It is the full range articulation at that axis that causes the muscle to be fully contracted or fully relaxed. Just shuffling one’s feet with little of that change of muscular states precludes that flow to the extremities — while the core may continue to function for years. And that is the problem of the unexcercised body — the willful voluntary muscles hardly move again. That movement causes blood and fluids to circulate to those areas — and without it, the circuit is circumscribed.

The heart may be working harder — but none of the other muscles of the body are — and they contribute greatly to the circulatory effect. It is that circulation that produces muscle growth and optimal functioning of all the organs. So if the brain, hands and feet are cut off from that enhancement, effective and efficient circulation will not occur no matter how hard and fast the heart alone works. It is a one pound organ providing for the hundredful mass and musculature — rather than recruiting all the other muscles of the body to optimize that circulatory effect. That would be the intelligent thing to do — and the most productive exercise to do.

That is what is overlooked in exercise expressly for health in longevity. A person who is vital and animated is particularly so by the expressions and movements (articulations) at the head, hands and feet. Those are the organs of human expression. The rest of the body plays a supportive role. When the functioning (health) of the head, hands and feet cease, then that individual loses their uniqueness and identity — and become our worst nightmare — requiring constant care by others to do all the things most people can do for themselves.

But if a person retains and increases their functioning and proficiency at the head, hands and feet, they are functioning at their highest level. But even young and presumably fit people don’t achieve that — because their time, energy and resources are misplaced to what is much less important — including competitive athletics, which presumably is to prepare them for the greater challenges of life ahead. That may be lifting a heavy weight, or running great distances — leaving no time for developing the head, hands and feet.

The best example would be maintaining and enhancing one’s ability to turn one’s head 360 degrees — because that movement, requires the activation and engagement of all the muscles of the body! — and not just the heart alone. The exercise of that movement, would be indicative of a person firing on all cylinders — and not just the one — whether that be the heart, biceps, glutes, abdominals, etc. The atrophied turkey/pencil neck is not inevitable in every aging person — but indicative of poor circulation to the head (brain) — with predictably disastrous consequences. The head must actually move to provide that circulation; playing “mental” games doesn’t produce that very “physical” effect. That is the integration of mind and body long sought as the Holy Grail of Health. It’s not the mind or the body; it requires one to be firing on all cylinders to make the “unprecedented” life possible. That is what we are all here for.

Obviously we just can’t keep on doing the same things that hasn’t worked before — hoping for a different result. We have to do something differently — something that makes perfectly good sense — so we don’t have to force ourselves to do what doesn’t make perfectly good sense and produces those results immediately as self-evident truth.

Both Sides Now

  A muscle can do one of two things: it can contract (shorten), or relax (lengthen) — and in concert and coordination with all the other muscles of the body, can produce the myriad of movements possible to the (human) body. Many ancient understandings and disciplines thought that muscles could only relax — or only contract — as their singular function, most exemplified by yoga on the one hand and competitive bodybuilders on the other extreme.

It is the alternation of one extreme to the other, that is the most efficient and beneficial — just as the heart functions for its critical role in circulation. It is not enough for the heart to just contract — and never relax (again). Or for the heart to relax and never contract (again). It is the alternation of one state to the other, that is the life-giving property of the heart — and the heart either contracts 100% and relaxes 100%, and if it only does 50% each way, one has major problems — if not imminent death. Hence, that is the significance of the heart rate, because one knows exactly what the quantity is as a constant — and not a variable.

Realizing this, the limit of any muscle is in its weakest position — rather than its strongest, and that was the rationale for varying resistance along that curve — if at all possible. While a weight (resistance) may remain constant, one uses all the muscles to orchestrate the minimal amount of load to any one muscle exclusively. That is to say that a major function of all the muscles, is to protect any one muscle from exclusively bearing the load — rendering it vulnerable to injury when contracting forcefully in its weakest, most vulnerable position.

The classic example is doing a standing barbell curl with too heavy a weight — causing a rupture at the biceps (tendon) insertion. In that variation of the exercise, the adjoining muscles are not in position and activation to protect the biceps — as they would be if the “finished” position was rotated so that rather than the elbow hanging down, the elbow is rotated to point towards the ceiling — resulting in a maximal contraction of the biceps because its supporting muscle is contracted as well.

All the muscles of the body are connected in that same way — that the contractile state of any one muscle, is dependent on the state of the muscles adjoining it. In knowing that, one can then conceive of the most efficient and effective to effect that state in all the muscles simultaneously, rather than have to do one specific exercise for each muscle — to say nothing of multiple exercises as well as sets for each muscle. The impracticality of that is that there is not enough time in the day to get to all one’s muscles to ensure full muscular development and a well-functioning body.

Fortunately, in understanding that the muscular state of any one muscle is dependent on the state of all the others, it then becomes a simple task to produce that one state or the other — rather than 600–800 different states of contraction/relaxation coordination throughout the body. Not surprisingly, the position of the head determines the muscular state for the rest of the body — which is the easiest to overlook, and with modern conveniences, unnecessary to move at all. The obvious downside of that is that movement dictates the flow to and from the heart. Those are the gates governing fluid flow through the body — particularly problematical in the well-known deterioration of the body beginning at the hands, feet and head — due to the inflammation caused by venous insufficiency in the return to the heart and central purifying organs of the body.

That is what muscular contractions from the extremities do — quite naturally, from most forms of traditional, productive, necessary movements — and why people who do them a lot, tend of be better developed, and more robust than those who seldom perform such movements. That essential “fitness” is hardwired into the evolution of every species — but modern conveniences have obviating their necessity over the last 50 years especially. That is the downside of labor-saving machinery — coinciding with the devolution of human health over that time period — when obesity and metabolic disorders have become the prime threat to human health in longevity.

The other side of the coin is just as bad — in those who remain hypertense all the time. The most extreme example of that are bodybuilders who remain contracted all the time — and never allow themselves to ever be seen “relaxed.” Relaxation is just as important as being able to maximize effort — and switching from one to the other as appropriate, is the healthy response to life — rather than the psychopaths constantly at war with everybody else — for no good reason. Predictably, they too live short, nasty, brutal lives — exacerbated by their behaviors and conditioning. The switch can be instantaneous.

Most conditioning is not done that way — instead thinking there is only one way to be — either all force, or all relaxation, and it is the ability to switch appropriately from one to the other, and all variations in between, that has the most survival value (fitness) — and how one wishes to condition themselves to be.

Risks and Rewards

  The most significant contribution of Arthur Jones in developing the Nautilus principles and machines was not variable resistance through the full range of movement around one axis — but actually determining in what position that muscle had to be in to be fully contracted and fully relaxed — because it is the alternation between those muscular states — that determines the blood flow (circulation), and that is what produces health, growth, and optimal functioning. To him, that was incidental to developing machines that would be “foolproof” in ensuring that a person did precisely the right movement — and ensuring the results he “guaranteed.”

However, he did not account for trainees to actually subvert the intended functioning of his equipment — usually by lifting more weight than could be maintained by the proper performance. The machines were not designed to enable one to lift the most weights, but actually to exhaust the muscles using the least amount of resistance. All that got lost in training and selling machines to those who believed that using the most weight (resistance) was what produced optimal results — rather than by achieving the greatest difference in the state of muscular contraction and relaxation — just as the heart is effective in pumping blood out towards the extremities by that same action.

However, contrary to popular belief, the heart cannot force blood through the miles of capillaries, in which the purpose of that evolutionary design is to slow the blood down to where it can efficiently exchange gases with the resident tissue — at which point, contractions of the muscles at those extremities that contain the capillaries (at the head, hands, and feet), are effective at contracting (pumping) that blood back to towards the heart aided by the veins that allow blood to flow in only that direction back towards the heart (center of the body). It is two different set of blood vessels, and not just the heart providing the motive power for all the blood flow. That is the greatest misunderstanding of cardiovascular functioning and exercise effectiveness.

That is why exercise — or more specifically, contractions at those extremities, cause blood flow that ensures the elimination and removal of those accumulating and stagnant metabolic waste products (inflammation), and then allowing the new nutrients that ensure health, development and optimal functioning — as Nature intended. That process ensures the health and well-being of that individual — and not simply wanting it more than everybody else — as the jocks fancy it is.

So, far and away the most important thing, is to understand the science of this process — and not simply lifting the most weight possible. Thus the squat, deadlift, bench press are not the most effective exercises as often touted — but are simply those movements that allow one to use the most weight — regardless of whether they produce the desired results. As many have known and proven time and again, lifting the most weights possible, is a precursor for a career-ending injury, while a better objective for most, is to obtain the maximum benefits with the least amount of risk and injury. That is the wise strategy no matter what one is doing.

And hopefully by now, many more are entertaining how well they are functioning, or can function at all, when they are 75, rather than thinking that any price at 25, ensures their glory for the rest of their years. That has been the predictable failing in the traditional sports model as the template for lifelong fitness and health. It won’t matter how good one was at 25, when one is absolutely no good at 75 — and god forbid, even live another 25 years in that persistently declining condition.

After all, this is the 21st Century and the Space Age — and not just the continuation of the Cave man era — when life was assuredly, short, nasty and brutal. Then the future did not matter — and how one hoped to improve for it. It was just “one and done” — at every opportunity. And so life has persisted with that kind of attitude and outlook — rather than in thinking it is for a better tomorrow, and day after that… So yeah, excessive drinking, smoking, eating, driving recklessly and fast, has consequences and long term effects, and not taking the maximum risks just because one can.

Easy Does It

 The worst advice on exercise is to make it harder all the time -- aiming for a point beyond one's present capacities, and never being satisfied with one has actually done.  That kind of "negative" conditioning will cause one to abandon all efforts -- when just a persistent modest effort, would make a huge difference.  That becomes a huge factor in later life -- when one is often defeated and discouraged before one does anything at all -- and falls further into despair and hopelessness as their fate from here on out.  Why does it have to be that way?

Few have asked that right question because they;ve ben conditioned from the start to accept that Commandment -- as though it embodied some truth, or great wisdom -- rather than headinng in the right direction in seeking the path of least resistance -- which is the better way,  Why would one voluntarily take the most perilous and laborious path -- when it would make more sense take the easy and safest route -- in just about everything?

So we have been conditioned in the wrong direction and least rewarding and productive path -- as though it was some kind of wisdom and great virtue.  Why shouldn't we pick the low hanging fruit first -- and then only if necessary, and driven to it, would be to climb the most precarious branches -- even as impressive as that may be.  In this manner, we have been conditioned wrongly -- by people who don't know any better, to take the difficult and impossible path, rather than the easiest to ensure their success and rewards.

Such a strategy is particularly important the older one becomes -- and how difficult every becomes.  They want to know the easiest and most productive way to do anything -- and particularly, the momentarily impossible.  It is by making the impossible possible, that one becomes more skilled, and not the impossible, even harder - at every turn.  That would be sheer madness -- and the problems of aging.

Hopefully, one learns all those lessons throughout life, which is their meaning in life -- and not to forget everything they once knew, and learned 50 years ago.  They want to live their best now -- and not 50 years ago, or in 50 years to come -- when they are no longer.  Things have to make sense right now -- and in every present moment.  Otherwise, one may never know, or can tell the difference.

The classic case is instructing a person who has fallen on the ground, how to get up.  On hearing this, a lot of exercise instructors tell one how not to fall or be in that condition in the first place -- as though that were helpful.  Classes that instuct one how to get up off the floor are actually readily available as beginner Yoga classes.  But if one is too weak for doing even that, how would one begin?

I do that most mornings by just moving my head as far to the left and then as far to the right -- while wondering how I'm going to eventually get up.  But shortly, I don't worry about it anymore, and move on to activating and articulating my hands to enhhance that circulation and feeling.  Finally, I articulate the full range foot movement from the pointed toe to the retracted -- which some exercise researchers have named the Soleus Pushup -- thinking that function is peculiar and unique to those muscles, rather than the characteristic of all muscle function in its role to keep the body healthy.

It's not optional, and good if one has the time and leisure -- but is the "categorical imperative" for every living being.  It's not just for when they are young, or can win accolades for it, but essential to their very being -- all one's life.  That is the future generation beyond just making it to that age -- in poor and deteriorating condition.  Even to get to that age in any condition used to be a milestone -- but now we know better -- that an unprecedented quality of life can still be actualized.  Just good enoiugh is no longer good enough -- or enjoyable for that matter, and we now think we are entitled to enjoy life -- and not just endure it for as long as we can hold out.

That was yesterday's story.  The future is making the best out of life in every moment one can -- including waiting for the microwave or washer to stop.  Or waiting at the bus stop.  Those are opportunities -- and not just wasted time -- unless making it so.  That is the easy way to do it -- rather than deciding what priority it should have over everything one hopes to do in that day -- and how to manage our time, energy and resources to achieve it.  Some even believe there is no other way but the strict adherence to schedule -- with no exceptions and deviations from the one true path -- for everyone.

But the beauty of life is that we all get to find out -- for ourselves, what is true -- and then share that knowledge to as many as are open to it.  That is particularly true if what one is doing, is not working -- and no amount of additional effort seems to be the answer.  One encounters that frequently in life -- that the answer is not the right answer that actually works.  And rather than arguing over who has the right answer, we need to find out what actually works -- and discard everything else.  Knowledge that doesn't work, is useless -- unless all one wants to do is claim to know the most -- whether it is true and actually works or not.  Many people are satisfied in that way, having all the answers -- but nothing works as they should. They think it is because they don't have enough "likes," as though it is just one big popularity contest, or who is in power to tell everybody else what to do or think.

Some leaders are even thinking that those who "wrong-think"  must be locked away from the public for the rest of their lives.  We thought that those were just the Dark Ages -- but it could be at any time and circumstances.  It's that kind of world -- playing out daily.

So the key observation I come away with is that mental functioning seems to come about because of of the poor neck development produced by the lack of circulation that comes with not turning one's head to use optimize one's awareness.  That distinguishes those who know what is going on around them -- from those trapped in their own thoughts and show no such proclivity to be aware of their surroundings.  Then that world further shrinks and implodes.  That is increasingly the fear of old age -- and everything it entails.  But how not to be like that equally obvious -- with the perspective of evolutionary time.  We are the way we are for a reason.

Understanding that is human nature and the way we work.  That is the key to living and aging well.  Without that simplicity of understanding, no amount of effort will produce the desired results.

The Future of Exercise

  In order of descending importance, the organs which one would most want to improve, are the head, hands and feet — which conventional exercises pay very little attention to and frequently regard as nothing more than stumps, but which will always make the greatest difference in one’s health, development and functioning. This is also the reason that conventional exercises don’t seem to work as one gets older and really needs them to work — because it increasingly becomes a matter of life and death. When one is young, it seems that everything can work — even if they are uncertain what does work from all their frenetic activity. Thus we .typically see the legendary bodybuilder or athlete, who is dumbstruck in their later years, that what they thought worked, doesn’t now, when it matters the most.

One doesn’t have to be a rocket scientist, brain surgeon, or god forbid, a PE teacher to notice that the familiar pattern of deterioration and aging at the neck, hands and feet where circulation is poorest, and the simple value of exercise, is that it enhances the circulation specifically to those areas actually moved at those joints, or axis of rotation. There is movement around those joints because the muscles providing that movement either shorten (contract) or lengthen (relax), and that alternation of the contraction with a relaxation, produces the pumping effect — just as the heart does in pumping the blood out towards the extremities.

However, once they get out to the capillaries, the heart which weighs less than a pound, cannot push the blood through the miles of capillaries, but are reliant on the skeletal muscles to contract and push the blood back towards the heart as its motive force, and upon relaxation, has cleared space for the new blood and nutrients to easily enter. That understanding greatly reduces the work of the heart while enhancing the circulatory effect.

Many scientists, researchers and exercisers have come to realize that the source of all disease and deterioration in the human body is due to inflammation —or the lack of this efficient and effective circulation. And so the fluids merely pool in the tissues — in the familiar forms of fluid retention (edema, lymphedema, lipedema, obesity, neuropathy, arthritis, etc). Properly thought out muscle contractions alternated with relaxations, optimizes the flow that keeps the body healthy, growing, and functioning (moving). The moving is also the lubrication for such movements.

None of this has to be traumatic or dramatic — but can be achieved just with the proper understanding of these cause and effects. It has very little to do with the common markers for such achievement — such as calories expended, sweat generated, weight lifted, miles moved, etc. The relevant and productive movement, is what occurs at the neck, wrist and ankles — and everything else is a lot less important — particularly for productive exercise as one ages, is disabled, or even hopeless. If one increases the flow to the brain, one has already made a quantum leap in improvement, and then next in importance, improved the flow to the hands, and then the feet — which is the usual progression of deterioration of the human body.

In the long evolution of the human being, these movements were necessary to insure one’s survival. If one was incapable of turning their head, they had no idea what dangers lurked behind them. And then when they recognized the dangers, the ability to throw a rock, or a spear, required the proper flick of the wrist to perfect that accuracy — just as one shoots a basketball, throws a ball, and hits with a racquet oor bat. It is the wrist movement that gives that effort meaning. Similarly, the full articulation of the foot movement acts as a lever against the earth (ground) — allowing them to maneuver into the most advantageous place or position. So merely shuffling one’s feet with no such leveraging effect, does very little to maintain that mobility and circulation. The hands and feet are not just stumps — but actually the marvel of human evolution — along with a large brain.

That advantageous equipment does not come without a high cost — and justifying the highest expenditure of resources to optimize. So once one has that critical understanding of the body, and how it was designed and evolved to work, then one can hone those faculties into finely tuned instruments — rather than the brute force one thinks works miracles. It’s like the cell phone. It works much better the more one understands how it is designed to work, rather than using it as a hammer on every occasion and opportunity.

On days when r I feel particularly lazy and lethargic, I know the best thing I can do to wake up is to increase the flow to my head — which means turning it as far to the left and then right — at least for a count of 50, or at least a minute of sustained movement. Any sustained effort, will raise the heart rate above the resting heart — which is automatically “cardio.” And the 50 repetitions ensures that it is also an aerobic exercise — done “with breathing” — as opposed to only one or two repetitions without breathing — which is very stressful and demanding on the heart. One will frequently note that exercisers of that sort, frequently have enlarged, weakened hearts because of the unfairly disproportionate demands placed on the heart with minimal contractions at the extremities — inn the condition known as congestive heart failure — which is so named in the belief that it is the fault of the heart for not working hard enough — while the organs at the extremities remain immobilized. And so the fluids continue to accumulate to what seems the bursting point of what the skin can contain. It’s not a pleasant sight — and in its extreme forms, those appendages are heavily wrapped and further immobilized.

All the more need to produce muscular contractions at those tissues — while reducing the work the heart has to do. That is a large part of the aging process — that the heart gets weaker, necessitating the need for the skeletal (voluntary) muscles should contribute more to that healthful circulation — as the most important work it can do. Far beyond any competitive activity or sport. The problem is that many people make a game of it, rather than realize it is seriously the best thing one can do — with their muscles — to ensure their health and fitness.

That is the future of exercise.

Creating the Ultimate Stationary Bike

 Whether designing an exercise program for a world-class athlete -- or the senior, disabled, even terminal -- the most important consideration is the design of what it was meant to do, and how best to optimize that functioning, and with this understanding of what it was meant for, achieve its best performance and maintenance (health).

Without this proper understanding, any amount of effort is likely to be unproductive and discouraging -- rather than the key to health and vitality -- for as long as they live, and not that they suffer a catastrophic event or injury, and swear off exercise for the rest of their lives -- with predictably disastrous results.

Exercise is the process by which one keeps their body in its optimal health and functioning -- and with seniors particularly, we see the lifelong impacts of what they've done -- good, bad, and indifferent.  It doesn't take a rocket scientist or brain surgeon to see this.  Most people do in the ordinary course of their day.  It's obvious even to the untrained and unindoctrinated -- which people are healthy and which people are not -- and if they are predatory and exploitative, they select the least able as their targets -- rather than the most formidable.  One does not need to be a human to understand those differences.  Every form of life makes those distinctions -- because it is immensely advantageous to do so, and their very life may depend on it.

That is the importance of looking around and making those discriminations -- rather than thinking that nothing makes a difference -- or should, and the results are all the same no matter what one does.  That's not a prescription for success in anything one does.  The successful make it their practice to observe the relationship of one thing to every other -- and determine the critical path of cause and effects -- from all the other co-incidences, that may or may not be related, or significant.

Chief among these is the thinking that expenditure of energy accounts for the results -- when clearly, the master practitioners of every activity, are those who are the most economical and efficient -- rather than those who are the most profligate in their expenditures -- as though they will always have unlimited time, energy and resources to burn.  Understandably, it matters more, the older they get -- rather than thinking as the novice does -- that those considerations will always be unlimited, and even multiplied, the more one wastes of it.

The world doesn't work that way.  It wants to achieve maximum efficiency and economy of resources -- and the whole design of living organisms is to achieve that effect.  There is a reason muscles contract from the insertion at the distal (furthest) end towards the proximal (closest to the center) or origin of that muscle, which then is inserted into the insertion of the supporting (proximal) muscle -- all the way back to the origin of all the muscles at the center next to the heart -- so in that way and manner, the blood and fluids can return to the central organs that purify and recycle those waste products for the next cycle of circulation.

If that movement doesn't occur, then the body is overcome with accumulated waste products (inflammation) and one see the typical bloating at the extremities of the hands, feet and head -- experienced as the neuropathies, arthritis, dementias in those tissues before the others.  That's why exercise can be so effective at (re)moving them -- because that is what the muscle contractions do.  The contractions at the extremities push the blood (fluids) forcefully back towards the heart -- which the heart cannot do no matter how hard or fast it is forced to work.  That is not its job: its job is just to pump the blood out to the extremities -- but if the extremities do not contract to force the residual blood and fluids out beforehand, it cannot go into those tissues -- because that is not how the system is designed to work.

Recently, some exercise researchers have proclaimed that the calf muscles are the second "heart" of the body because it does that.  But that is a misnomer because the heart is a very specialized and dedicated muscle that can do only one thing -- contract fully and relax fully -- which is the action of a pump.  While the skeletal muscles allow one to run, jump, throw, bat, look around, etc., if it contracts fully alternated with a full relaxation for a sustained period of time, it too acts as a pump.

Most people have been conditioned to think that it is resistance that produces the contraction and the relaxation -- instead of more properly, the range of muscle contraction and relaxation achieved in moving any muscle around its axis of rotation -- regardless if there is any resistance.  The resistance then, is provided by attempting to increase the range of movement in the contracted position -- and the relaxed position -- otherwise one could move infinitely in any direction they desired, which only a rare few seem to be able to do.

Such full range movements are particularly important at the axes of the joints at the furthest extremity, because it means that that entire area is being cleared and creating space for new nutrients that provide all the necessary requirements for health and growth -- but first getting rid of the accumulated toxins that arise from metabolic processes in addition to an accelerated load produced in exercise that requires the break down of cells to release energy and waste products.  Thus one experiences muscle fatigue and resulting soreness at an accelerated pace in recovery.

The peculiarity of modern exercise design is to eliminate the movements at the extremities in favor of movement at the more central joints (axes) of the shoulder and hip girdle -- and so the accumulation of these waste products are likely to continue throughout one's life -- despite all the exercise they are apparently doing -- that merely works their heart harder and faster, and moderately more at the shoulder and hip axes where there is considerably less than full range of articulation at those joints -- which is the reason they can persist in such movements virtually indefinitely.  

A full, and even extreme contraction, alternated by a full, and even extreme relaxation, will cause the muscle to fatigue and fail in about 50 repetitions -- in virtually everyone.  That is true muscular failure as opposed to a premature cardiovascular failure which causes the trainee to stop because they are not breathing but actually holding their breath, or breathing so shallowly as to effectively not be breathing -- which like the heart, requires the fullest contraction, alternated with a full relaxation -- because that is the requirement of the branch-like structures of the lungs -- as well as the circulatory system (blood vessels).  Because of that specific structure, the old has to be expelled first, for the new to come in -- because that is the environment that life on this planet evolved in.  Nature will not allow a vacuum to persist in this ecosystem.

In ancient times, it was thought that the important part in breathing was to draw the air in -- rather than as we realized, the compression (contraction) creates a vacuum which Nature in the atmospheric pressure will fill.  But in the old understanding of breathing, one was instructed to blow more air into a lung that was already mostly full -- but since the air must follow a fixed and systematic pathway, the old air never gets out.  And so one was better off just eliminating the mouth to mouth breathing disrupting the chest compressions in Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) because chest compressions is the movement of air in and out he of the body (breathing) -- rather than trapping the air within the lungs -- which is counterproductive to what one hopes to be achieving.

So once we have a clear understanding of what is healthful and productive to the body, it is a simple matter of designing exercise to achieve those desirable effects. It is the full range articulation at the joints furthermost from the heart -- rather than closest to it that is the most healthful and productive -- which includes the critically important organs of the head, hands and feet which people famously fail at as the notable signs of aging specifically.  I suspect, for most, it does not matter that they can still finish a marathon -- if it looks like they should be dead -- or are in pretty good shape for a person who looks so old.

The reason they look so old is because of inadequate (suboptimal) blood flow to their most telling organs of the head, hands and feet -- in not addressing those problems directly -- and easily.  But it doesn't matter if one still has washboard abs or peaked biceps -- if the circulation from and to the most telling organs of the body, are not accounted for as the priority of where the circulation matters the most.  As for the heart, it doesn't need to be consciously programmed; it has evolved to work perfectly -- automatically.  

As a scientist, one tests the variables -- and not the constant -- and in that manner, knows how to make the biggest difference directly and expressly -- and not just hoping doing any ol' thing, will get them the desired results.