Happy New You

It's not rocket science, but the attempt to make it seem so -- is the barrier that prevents many people from being in optimal condition and health. It seems unscrupulous to do so but most of the obscene profits are made off of ignorance and misinformation.

Yesterday I was at Sports Authority and was quite impressed that a “bow” resistance knockoff was selling for virtually the same price as a fancy name brand, “high-tech,” rapidly adjustable dumbbell set. I pointed that out to the cashier after he had just rung up a happy customer of the latter, and was amused at his attempts to seem noncommittal and non-judgmental at such an anomaly -- that a highly sophisticated, and really state of the art machine that was formerly priced ten times as much as it is now, had broken below the price level for the lowest tech devices, albeit highly-advanced as far as a primitive idea can go.

Variable resistance apparatus are so much more superior to dead weight apparatus at developing the body efficiently -- and a great reason why, is that variable resistance is caused by greater range of motion in the articulation of the movement. Eventually, every movement has to run into its ultimate greatest range -- at which there is natural resistance to further movement.

All one needs to do is insure that they do not force a movement beyond its voluntary natural range -- by the use of external force, including one’s own. So that is a key concept in developing effective and safe movement -- that any position one can attain slowly and deliberately, is the proper range of motion that the body (musculature) was made to move in -- and the further one moves in that direction, slowly and deliberately, produces a greater muscle contraction (which for people desiring the right motivational metaphor -- is to make the body smaller). The advantage in variable range resistance is that it slows one down -- ensuring that it is a slow and deliberate movement, rather than movement caused by inertia or momentum.

Such apparatus can be helpful for those wondering what exercises to perform to look fit and healthy, which is not an inconsequential and vain objective. What’s really been a crime is that has been made to seem something apart from “real” health -- as can be measured only by the properly certified “experts.” This same kind of usurpation of universal rights has also taken place in a lot of areas of human activity -- that every thinking person has a right and responsibility to determine their own outcomes.

Several years ago, when the "certified fitness professionals" were trying to claim their turf -- they’d be a few overzealous types advising people they needed to consult with their certified professional fitness instructors, brain surgeon or cardiologist, if they chose to go the more arduous route, before attempting to increase their heart rate, breathe deeply, or attempt any movement at all -- with out the proper supervision or permission from the appropriate accrediting agencies.

While claims had been made beforehand and prematurely that their exercise technology was guaranteed “foolproof,” I think the bow resistance machines should allow one to “experiment,” safely and productively with movements -- especially, in doing so with the least resistance that allows and enables the greatest range of movement.

And then one realizes that those great ranges can be obtained even without apparatus when one notices that movement at the extremities of the axes of the rotation as the neck, wrists and ankles effect the greatest changes with the least expenditure of energy -- where most out-of-shape people hardly ever move, no matter how much energy they expend otherwise.

But most importantly, if health as a society is to improve, and it very easily could, it has to be deprofessionalized and decriminalized so that people have the “permission” to improve without having to pay professional self-interests to solve their problems for them. The same is true of many unwarranted professional intrusions on one’s inalienable rights -- to live happily, healthfully and richly. Those are essential human rights -- which many self-interests would like to exploit, to their great profit.

Understanding Conditioning(repeat) FOCUS (Channel 49, Honolulu, Hawaii) 1/2/2007 2:00:00 PM A revolutionary new way of looking at exercise. Environmental/Health