Proper Exercise is Not Wasting the Most Time and Energy Possible

Many people have been taught by bad physical education “instructors,” that exercise is all about wasting as much time and energy as possible -- and having a miserable time doing so, as though that experience, by some miraculous transmutation, becomes a virtue. They don’t know how, but everything bad becomes good, the poor become rich, the anonymous, famous. They don’t know how, but if that is one’s wish beyond all desires, that is what must eventually come into being. Of course, that is merely wishful-thinking, but doesn‘t prevent many from living their whole lives with such fanciful notions.

The reason world champions invariably look like world champions, is because of their mastery of their skill, and not by doing something badly, more than anybody else -- which invariably embodies itself as a person who couldn’t do anything well. There are no exceptions -- though undoubtedly, many spread the myth that reality can be so fragmented, so deceived, that nothing is related to anything else, nothing can be correlated to anything else, it is so, because I say it is so. That is the underlying premises of much contemporary physical instruction; understanding is not a prerequisite for what one is doing, or focused on.

In fact, many research studies insist that ignorance of what one is doing and the objectives one wishes to achieve must be unknown for that test to be truly scientific -- when obviously, the intent is not to measure and observe random behavior but directed and focused behavior. That requires that the subject know what he is doing and why he is doing what he is doing. In fact, it is the understanding of this that is much more important than any amount of doing without such an organizing principle in their activities and behaviors. Only once those principles are well understood, are favorable results not only predictable, but are actually, inevitable. Without this proper understanding, no amount of effort will produce those desirable results -- randomly.

Yet that is precisely the approach taken by many fitness/exercise experts. Random behavior never produced desired results in any field of human endeavor, why should it on the athletic field or in a gym? Yet there are a lot of well-conditioned athletes -- who are not exercising for fitness’ sake. The focus on the mastery of their skill, is the organizing imperative of that body to achieve a high level of efficiency and functioning. The challenge of the task requires that optimal performance, function and form.

In reading most contemporary literature on exercise, what is striking is how these authors have no idea what they are talking about -- but have merely claimed the turf as experts because of their ability to write more coherently than most. But because their writing is clearer, it is more obvious they have no idea what they are talking about -- as long as they throw in all the buzzwords, that seems to be saying something, without actually saying anything. In the end, they advise you to consult with your doctor, implying that they are corroborating agents for their own expertise.

In seeking out worthwhile instruction, the telltale piece of information is this sense of purpose and a mastery of a skill valuable in itself. If there is no identifiable objective other than to waste the most time and energy possible, seek another. Such instruction, has nothing to offer -- it will only waste as much time and energy as you give it.