A Sense of Proportion

Exercise doesn't have to be hard (long), to be effective.  Even for those who (should) know better, that is a difficult conditioning to overcome -- the belief that something good in small quantities, are not better in unlimited larger ones.  While a little walking, running, or any other activity may be all one needs, indiscriminately more has a negative impact -- so it is discovering that delicate balance of greatest benefit for the least risk and wear, is the magic equation -- and not simply more or less, all good and all bad.

The best life, is this constantly balancing act -- of discovering what this optimal relationship of all to all, results in the highest actualization of well-being and functioning.  If one takes too great a risk, danger is imminent, if not certain.  Nevertheless, that is how many people live their lives -- from one catastrophe to the next -- thinking they are wise.  Unlimited risks, do not result in greater rewards.  Usually, only a slight increase in risk, may convey an advantage -- but it is still not equal to a little, all one's life.

Yet the very measure of these things, is often and foremost, how much -- instead of, at all -- which adds up over time, whether that is savings, or just to live (fight) another day.  So before one becomes too advanced in age, the hope is that one gives up as much unnecessary risk-taking, even while knowing that eventual death is a certainty.  Nobody -- not even the gods, seem to have gotten past that one.  That is what we know of life.  That it continues -- until it doesn't.

There is no thought or action, without its impact, and knowing that, one is always asked to make a choice -- while the foolish think they can "have it all."  No matter how much one thinks they know, there is always more that can be known -- and not the lament of the foolish, who think they know it all, and tell everybody as much -- constantly, until they are silenced -- usually by their own actions.  That brought one to the time and place of one's choosing.  One is likely to die -- or live, doing what they enjoy doing -- rather than at what they seldom, or never do.

That is self-evident truth.  In movement, one has to actually go through the motion, and not simply think or wish it so -- no matter how earnestly.  The problem is seldom that one has to overcome a great resistance, as it is to move a bodypart at all -- that one has not moved in a long while.  That simple movement, would be a 100% or even tenfold improvement -- immediately, particularly in those we have given up seeing such responsiveness again.

But if one conditions such movements and never stops because it is made possible in the doing -- one maintains such movement, because one can.  Until one can't.Humanity will get by with some one else bench pressing 500 lbs. or finishing a marathon -- because it has nothing to do with simple, varied, useful  movements.  Yet that is what we don't do -- and wonder why that is lost.  That was never exercised.  Instead, they chose to do things that were not necessary to do -- until they couldn't do them anymore, and even then, did not replace them with the simple movements necessary to maintain their viability and responsiveness in any noticeable manner.

What are they choosing to do instead?  What is the meaning of a bench press or a squat -- to get to that day when they can no longer bear to move at those joints?  And so they don't -- forevermore.  It's not a good tradeoff  -- but we seldom see anything else.  Yet the variety and range of movement,  distinguishes one's vitality -- and not just one motion, repeated relentlessly.  That is the failure of running or walking, no matter how much it is done.  It is only one movement, repeated countless times -- until it inevitably results in destructive wear and stress.

But that doesn't mean that one can't do something else -- just that one thing, of the many things one can be doing.  More importantly in one's conditioning, is to do what one hasn't does before -- not just in making a familiar movement more difficult, but in doing something entirely different -- as the conditioning best suited to solving life's many challenges.

That is the conditioning that enhances one's survival chances -- rather than just doing one thing, no matter how proficiently.  One is conditioning oneself for success in life -- and not just proficiency in any arbitrary and contrived measure, whether that be running, walking or weight-lifting.    The big picture, is much more important than the narrow focus and specialization -- that may have very little value and significance in the big picture -- that is conditioning for successful longevity, which hasn't been achieved so far.

That milestone is achieved by the first person to reach 100, who doesn't look 100 -- as we're familiar with it.  That is obviously the logical step in human evolution -- and not just remaining as we are, longer -- which is totally preposterous and meaningless.  We don't need to decline longer; we need to improve as long as humanly possible -- even if that takes less, and not more -- in variety and range, to achieve that balance.