Moving in the Right Direction

Most of the exercise movements, as well as apparatus, are designed to move in the range of hyper-extension rather than hyper-contraction, and it is this latter range, that produces a very powerful circulatory boost -- removing toxins otherwise stagnant in the tissues, and allowing fresh nutrients in, because of that removal.

That is the whole meaning and purpose of the circulatory function -- and not merely working the heart as hard and as fast as it can, and having no idea why. The circulatory system is a system, with every part of it, playing its own essential role -- that can be enhanced to its optimal effect, and not merely overworking its strongest link. It’s the weakest link that breaks down -- and needs to be addressed.

In most cases, what is monitored and measured, is that which is simply the easiest thing to measure, rather than what is most significant to measure. In earlier times, that was simply seeing the most weight one could lift; then people selling measuring devices, realized heart monitors were an untapped gold mine, and convinced everyone they had to have one -- presumably to obtain that vital feedback they’d have no idea of otherwise.

So that became a compulsion -- along with poundages lifted in the bench press -- as though those were indicative of anything. Most talented athletes don’t monitor their heartbeats as a priority in whatever they are attempting to do; it is implied in the attainment of whatever is their focused objective. Heart rate and breathing, are what they have to be -- to enable and empower the greater effort, and are not ends in themselves, as that school of fitness promoted, as though fitness was an end in itself, without an actual focused objective -- like IQ that can only be measured, but never actually manifested, demonstrated and observed in actuality.

That is all nonsense.

So the range of movement that is most meaningful and useful to develop, is the range that is not performed by most exercise movements and machines -- because such machines would be difficult, if not impossible to build.

A good example is the performance of the barbell curl, which is lifting a weight by bending the arm and bringing it up to the shoulder. That is the usual range of the exercise to develop the biceps -- however one will note, that at this top position, the biceps is not really contracted fully but can actually be relaxed -- yet hold that position indefinitely.

However, when that bent arm is then rotated so that the elbow moves towards the ceiling, an unmistakable greater contraction takes place that seems ten times as powerful as the contraction thought to be completed by the simple bending of the arm -- even without holding a weight or providing any resistance.

The movement itself is a powerful muscular contraction -- that the former movement, usually performed, seems now, obviously not a significant contraction at all. That is the reason most exercises are relatively ineffective -- while just a few of these really powerful contractions that even most “fitness buffs” are unfamiliar with, have a very powerful and instantaneous transformative effect that can not be believed by those who have never moved in this range.

And it doesn’t matter how much they have moved in the less effective range -- that doesn’t shape their body in this very effective manner, because as copious as they have been, it is movement in the wrong direction (range).