It Simply Works
When you think about it, micro workouts throughout the day — as one has the time and inspiration for it, is more likely to be the more natural and productive way to exercise and maintain one’s health and fitness — because it is done as needed, and has the opportunity for it — than as a rigid program of requirements regardless of how one feels — in the moment. Then one is likely to get “out of synch” with the need and appropriateness of activity and movements — apart from the actual realities and challenges (demands) of the moment — and in that way, exercise becomes an arbitrary obligation regardless of the realities and needs — rather than the answer to them — as required.
That is the meaning of “listening to one’s own body (and senses),” rather than just following a program that may not work for some — but think they must do regardless of the outcomes (results). The outcomes are what is important — and not the inputs, or good intentions — without any feedback in reality. That is because a lot of people these days learn only what other people tell them is the truth, rather than finding out that truth for themselves — in their own experience and lives, and that is entirely the truth for themselves, and not the “theoretical/academic average” — that poor students and instructors think is the ultimate truth of the matter — regardless of their own results.
It is their own results that matter — and from that, one might extrapolate a greater universal application — but if it is not working for one(self), one has to look elsewhere, and try something else until it works — and that will be the truth of the matter, and not what everyone says, but nobody has actually seen any results from doing so. Before one asks anyone else, one can test out an idea themselves — to get a baseline understanding of what is involved, and then enlarge the perspective and understanding by asking others what their own experience and results have been — and process all the answers into a greater understanding and meaning.
Obtaining 30 minutes of deliberate and focused daily exercise is easily possible anyway one can get it. It doesn’t have to be constrained with many rules that make it nearly impossible to achieve. That seems to be what a lot of people insist exercise must be — that makes it an exercise of the will to overcome the impossible — rather than making it as possible for themselves all their lives. There is no rule against that. Movements are frequently hard enough, and so the exercise is to make them as easy and effortless as possible. Obviously the best conditions and circumstances to practice this, is upon first awakening from a prolonged inactivity (rest), and get one’s moving parts moving again — without the aches and pains that accumulate and compound with life. This is actually the best time to exercise — in moving from zero to normal operating conditions — because such movement accelerates the movement of the two major fluids of the body — the blood, and the synovial fluid (mucus) — which is the lubricant for all movement in the body.
That is the role and importance of the mucus and mucus membranes — throughout the body. Without it, food would not pass through the digestive tract, air would not pass through the respiratory tract, etc. And movements properly activated, cause the contraction of the muscles that exaggerate this flow back towards the central, purifying and recycling organs of the body — which if never moved out of the tissues, result in the accumulations we know as inflammation and swelling — which are the precursors of all disease. If we could flush these toxins out effectively, then we’d be self-perpetuating healthy beings — which is the natural design of all living beings. And in clearing the space, we make room for new nutrients to enter into those spaces (tissues) — because there is not unlimited space to store as much junk — just because we can. At some point, the body becomes toxic — and then tissues and organs start breaking down in the various neuropathies. Then things don’t work as well as they used to — and keeps getting worse — unless this course is corrected.
That could be as little as a minute of concentrated movement to restore that full functioning again — as in the case of a leg or arm going to sleep (numb), and being revived with a minute (50 repetitions) of a simple movement around one joint (axis) — to start up the circulation again. Usually, that already makes a difference — and can be repeated a few times throughout the day — without fear of harm, or further injury and damage. In fact, that is the cure — and should be the basis of any exercise program — first for rehabilitation and restoration, and in that process, are the seeds for continued progress, growth and development.
Too many people put the cart before the horse — and want to win the Kentucky Derby or the Mr. Olympia title before just to get healthy and whole again — and let the body take its natural course from there. That is the process that gets one there — and not how ambitious or desirous one is of getting to the top — even sacrificing their health and life to do so. That is the wrong way to go about it. But if one is simply and humbly focused on finding out what works for them — they will go as far as they pursue it, and have it last their entire lifetime — which is the new benchmark of possibility for this day and age.
Increasingly many are coming around to that realization of this new paradigm for fitness. Why not all one’s life, and not just while one is young — and then revert back to the traditional paradigm of unrelenting decline and deterioration? Obviously that requires a different way than the one that hasn’t worked before. One knows by now that High Intensity workouts have to be brief and infrequent, but does that mean that Low Intensity workouts can be sustained and prolonged throughout one’s lifetime? But it also can’t be nothing. Yet it has to be the easiest movements possible.
Rather than handling the heaviest weights, it would be maximally effective with the lightest weights possible — and that is the movements at the head, hands and feet — that initiate those contractions at the farthest extremities of the body — to do the most good. It is a well-known truism that the greatest predictor of future health and vitality is the functioning of the head, hands and feet — as what must be exercised as the priority to health and longevity, and can easily be done anywhere, under any circumstances, if one can just spare a minute from their daily lives. There doesn’t have to be an upper limit on how frequently it can be done — to good effect. That is the simplicity and genius of the micro workout. Anytime, anywhere, under any circumstances. It simply works.