Optimizing Health is the Best Defense

 While much has been made about what the whiz-bang experts say should be done -- usually by not following their own example -- most of what every individual can do to improve, enhance and maintain their quality of life, lies entirely within their own hands and jurisdiction.  In fact, that has always been the point of life -- and living -- to do best with what each has -- rather than pining for how they wish things were -- first, before initiating any actions of their own.  Of course, that has never been a good prescription nor formula for success -- and happiness -- but to the contrary, ensures the opposite -- and renders one vulnerable and susceptible to all kinds of assaults, infections, misfortunes, etc.  Invariably, that is a disaster waiting to happen.

Ironically, that often happens despite one being extremely active and tireless -- doing all the wrong things, and solving all the wrong problems -- while the real problems, simply get worse, and are regarded as a hopeless situation.  So first, there must be right perception and right understanding -- before there can be right action.  That is the essential teaching of Buddhism -- and real awakening, and enlightenment.  It is not some far off goal of perfection in the far distant future or another life, but the here and now in every moment and possibility.

That is the Great Awakening -- and not all this silliness of who is righter than anybody else.  One is righter relative to their own understanding and being -- and that is the proper study and focus of every significant life -- understanding their own, and not presuming to know better than others.  That is obviously the distinction of those without any understanding -- usually of anything at all, and so they delight in whatever takes them away from themselves and that mindfulness.

 The world is what it is -- for good reason.  It is like the novice approach of market values in which one is led to believe that only they know the true value and price of anything -- and they are led to the slaughter, never knowing what went wrong -- because they knew the truth, and the rest of the world was only fooling themselves.  So one must first allow, that maybe everybody else could be right -- and maybe they are driving on the "right" side of the road -- rather than the new and improved enlightened way.

And then if that presumption proves more damaging than helpful -- one can then ask, Might there be a better way, and what are the alternative explanations -- that make more sense, but more importantly, work -- regardless of one's previous knowledge and experience?  That is how new worlds are discovered -- and the unknown become known.  It is not that everything was already known -- but lost and forgotten -- and the only quest in life is to rediscover that.  That is a very small view of the universe and its possibilities -- and truth and wisdom lie beyond that.

It is nearly impossible to save one on their death bed, or the bed they have prepared for themselves -- all their lives.  It may begin with successes but end in failures -- if they have not learned to deal with both.  Success is a greater challenge than failure -- and so, many deconstruct their successes so they can rebuild from failure -- rather than taking success to the next and subsequent level.  And that is why so many undermine their own success, and sabotage their lives -- including and especially the great athletes, and great success stories in every field.  They never learned to make a good thing better -- even if it was only themselves, which is the most important to do -- and not compare oneself favorably or unfavorably with everybody else -- constantly and incessantly.  Of course we recognize that instantly in social media and every media of our own making -- and why many spend more than half their lives deleting and canceling everything else they did previously.

Obviously, that is not any way to build foundations for any future successes and endeavors, but always has one starting from scratch -- or worse, with tremendous and growing deficits -- until everything seems futile and hopeless.  Chief among that, is one's own health -- which should not just be thrown away, as many talk about it.  That is the life of endless and unceasing dissipation that many literary characters seem to think was all there was -- and the point of their whole existence.  We recognize such characters today as the "dysfunctional" personalities that we hope to learn from their mistakes -- rather than repeating them ourselves as the only model possible.

That is the advantage of learning from other people's mistakes -- as well as our own.  But if we just cancel out everybody else and delete our own, we predictably never get anywhere -- have nothing to build on, develop no fortifications against the travails and challenges in life.  That ultimately, is what life is -- everything, and not just one thing, or only those things we wish to acknowledge.  That is not good enough.  And if one solve problems that don't need to be solved, while ignoring those matters of great urgency, then life will predictably be short, brutish, and "unfair."  One would expect nothing else.

So for the novices of every beginning, they should learn from everything -- not just to immediately emulate them, but to know of that possibility -- among many others, and once one has seen enough, can make intelligent choices -- and not merely try to become more intelligent, diligent or thoughtful on a path that may be totally misguided.  Those choices have to come at the end -- when they virtually make themselves -- rather than choosing prematurely, and then never deviating from that path although it is the cause of all their difficulties.  Trying harder, is not the answer to their problem that may be something else entirely.

So to ask, how can I do more, without first inquiring whether one should be doing any at all -- is beginning on the wrong foot, and asking the wrong question -- that some even demand that others must answer for them, and will tolerate nothing else.

As long as one regards Time as a friend, it will be a powerful ally -- in achieving what one desires, but if one regards Time as an enemy, then it is an indomitable foe.  Unfortunately, too many are conditioned to think that way -- and so set the indomitable forces against themselves -- as their worthy adversary, not realizing they are way out of their league.  In this, patience is one's best counsel -- so cultivating that talent comes back frequently to aid them in the new.  Good things take time to unfold -- just as bad things -- but the impatient, demands that results be instant -- or they don't want to waste their time.  But time is what we all have most equally. 

We all have twenty-four hours in each day -- and some make the most of it, while many others fritter theirs away -- never seeming to find time to do anything important and beneficial -- and all the time in the world will not make any difference.  However much they have, they will waste.  But if one is in the habit of making each moment precious, it seems to beget more, of ever increasing greater quality.  That is the self-evident truth of optimizing one's health as their first line of defense -- and from that foundation, to launch one's offensive actions -- while those in steadily declining health, are rocked further back on their heels with every subsequent attack.  Everybody seems to know better -- but many feel powerless to do anything about.  They know they should take better care of their own health -- but find some excuse for not doing so.  Eventually, it is too late -- and the windows of opportunity are closed.

It is seldom that one never had any chances -- for even the most destitute and unfortunate, will lament endlessly about all their wasted chances.  Somebody else was supposed to do something -- and then everybody else -- before they could act on their own behalf.  So lacking that improbability, their lives were lost.  All one can do is try their best -- but that's not the same as doing nothing -- and calling it their best.  Some will know the difference, and call it out -- but the most important person to realize that, is each individual for themselves -- that they could have made that difference.

Age is what separates the winners from the losers.  Use it wisely.

Two Critical and Essential Movements to Understand

 The first two machines Arthur Jones thought to embody and exemplify his Nautilus Training Principles into foolproof machines -- were the Pullover and the Hip and Back -- the latter which never caught on as well as the former -- because for many bodybuilders, let alone less enthusiastic trainees, the lower body is almost a foreign concept (and alien appendage) -- which eventually comes home to haunt them.  Thus bodybuilders who still compete after their 70s, are notorious for having grossly disproportionately underdeveloped lower bodies -- even while still maintaining impressive biceps and abdominals -- and in many cases, that is all -- even if they have great difficulty climbing the dais to claim their trophy.

The rationalization is usually that what could one expect? -- having damaged their knees from squatting and their backs from deadlifting -- the standbys through which they hoped to develop those particular areas, but rather, have destroyed them.  Obviously, those two movements that eventually result in these disabilities, are exactly what one should not do -- but in the Opposite Universe -- one will do them until one no longer can -- and that will be proof of their effectiveness and value.

The genius in his selection of the Pullover and the Hip and Back reflect the understanding of the two essential power producing fulcrums of the human body which engage the most and largest muscles of the human body at the shoulder and hip girdles.  During the '50s and '60s, the most commonly employed exercise to build up the chest was not the bench press but the pullover -- in the recognition that it would directly expand the ribcage -- or breathing capacity, because that particular movement is the best breathing exercise -- let alone, muscle developer.

As the upper arms move back towards the head and beyond, the chest volume increases, and when the arms come down towards the hips, chest volume is decreased -- and it is the alternation of the chest volume that moves air in and out of the lungs, and why manual chest compressions are helpful in achieving this effect in those who have stopped breathing.  This is also noticeable as the chest rises or falls with normal breathing -- particularly when one is breathing only through the natural passage through the nose.  When the mouth is closed, it forms a perfect seal through which the only passage in and out is through that opening -- and the pressure caused by the alternating chest volume -- working in an atmosphere of about 15 lbs per inch.  Nature will not allow a vacuum to exist without instantly seeking to equalize those pressures.

Thus one does not need to practice proper breathing as a separate function -- but is optimized by the change in chest volume in the pullover movement -- which is also engaging the most, and largest muscles of the torso concurrently.  It is the most effective way to make breathing the critically and essential movement to get better at -- throughout one's life.  When one stops breathing, the consequences will be disastrous, if not fatal -- and in better circumstances, is the key to optimizing the highest capabilities of the upper body as well as its entirety -- obviously.

That movement can be performed lying on a bench with a light dumbbell or barbell -- with a straight-arm or bent arm -- for 50 repetitions -- focusing on increasing the range of motion in both the backward and forward positions, rather than increasing the resistance.  Increasing the range naturally and automatically increases the resistance -- even while using a light weight.  The reason light weights are often unproductive, is because no attempt is being made to increase the range of movement -- which is the whole point of that exercise, and not adding more weight while hardly moving, or shortening the movement so one can handle the heavier weight.

That is the reason many people can presumably increase their resistance while showing very little in increased muscle gain and strength in moving to greater ranges.  In every case, it is the athlete or performer with the superior range of movement that impresses, rather than those who load up the bar, and do nothing significant or recognizable with it.  The legendary strongman at the turn of the 20th century, almost without exception trained with extremely light weights, doing many repetitions -- and so even halfway through the 20th century, many older YMCAs still had these wooden shaped dumbbells that many up and coming bodybuilders wondered why were these here?

That's how people used to exercise -- using those props in their movements (calistethics) -- if they did that.  That kind of movement, was capable of achieving and maintaining those impressive physiques of their time -- not unlike those of the sculptures of the human form of antiquity.  That would still be impressive by today's standards.  So once we understand how that can be achieved with the more familiar upper body, we can take a deeper dive into the proper understanding of the requirements for lower body development -- and why it is something other than we've come to think of it -- that bypasses the destruction and limitations of the knees and back, and why the Nautilus Hip and Back was the superior movement -- although most could not get used to the novelty of the position it placed them in.

You cannot engage the gluteus by moving the femur forward; the femur has to be moving backwards -- but it is not enough just to move it inline with the torso -- because its range of movement is much greater than that for the fullest contraction to occur.  The contraction of the gluteus muscle only begins from a straightline -- and then back, which is exactly what the Nautilus Hip and Back machine did.  And then when the glutes are engaged, then the back muscles that form the arch in the small of the back, are also activated -- and the deviation from that characteristic and structural integrity, is the cause of back pain -- and rounding of the back.  That is how the back is injured -- when it contracts maximally into a rounded spine -- rather than an arched one in which the back muscles must be contracted strongly and thus provides strength.  In the rounded lower back, the muscles must be relaxed -- and thus afford no such protection -- even while a person may lift a higher weight.  And that is precisely the back position we see in people attempting heavy squats and deadlifts -- that eventually catches up with them.

But now that Nautilus machines are generally unavailable, the closest simulation, are the traditional yoga positions called The Bridge, and Upward bending Bow -- both directly resulting in the arched back strengthening.  It is also commonly performed in the gym with a barbell held on top of their legs with a bench supporting the upper body -- but whether that is an improvement over no weights with increasing range of motion is again questionable -- because the increased resistance only rationalizes decreasing the range of movement that happens whenever the resistance is increased.  The tradeoff is counterproductive and eventually injurious.

For that reason, many people think that lifting weights don't work -- and that is the reason it doesn't, and makes one justifiably weary of doing more -- as they are encouraged to push prematurely until they are definitively injured.  But a light weight used as a prop for achieving greater ranges of movement, is another matter entirely -- and in fact, manifest instant results as the self-evident truth.  The more one increases the range of movement in the direction of its proper contraction, the stronger that contraction is manifested -- immediately and actually.  It has very little to do with the weights.  It is the manifestation of the proper understanding that is instantly actualized.