Beyond Nautilus Principles into the 21st Century

 Far more important than high intensity exercise, is full range movement -- which seems to correlate with age as well as condition.  As a lifelong observer and student of movement, the greatest difference has always been obviously the range of movement the most capable exhibit (flaunt), and the lack of range in those who are least capable and fit.  That seems to be true for every movement and activity.  Those who are most prolific, have a far greater range of expression and articulation than those who have a limited range done harder.  I would even go so far as to say that the range of movement implies all else.

This is important because this is the least discussed and understood aspect of most "exercise" activities.  This is the qualitative aspect of movement -- which makes it productive or not.  Even among the former greats, the diminishing range of movement, is what makes those exercises unproductive -- more than all the other factors usually discussed -- about how it is impossible to do a full range movement anymore, and so one settles for a very limited range of movement -- while lamenting that they no longer get the same results as when they used to do a fuller range movement -- even with minimal resistance.

Instead, they load up the resistance to as much as they can, while doing very little with it -- and certainly not getting any desirable results, because it doesn't matter how much resistance they apply, if the movement itself is minimal.  In every case, the fullest range of movement (articulation) with minimal resistance that allows it, is self-evident indication that the joint is in optimal functioning condition -- because any full range movement, will require the muscle change from fullest relaxation to fullest contraction, and that change, produces the flow that produces the greatest health in every cell, tissue, organ of the body -- and that lack of flow, is what causes it to stagnate and die.

And rather than that being automatic, is the major rationale for exercise being a healthful, productive activity.  But most are focused on the wrong things -- as the most important measures for producing and sustaining health, and that is evident in their very performance (movement) of an exercise.  Invariably, the lack of range is explained away by an injury (weakness) that limits that range -- particularly if the resistance is too great to allow movement in safety.  But those focused on the wrong things, will maintain the weight, but further reduce the range -- to the point that it is no longer a productive activity.  And that is what most people do -- and as the years go by -- note that their range of movement(s) is further circumscribed -- because that was never regarded as the priority above all other considerations.

If one can lift their leg backwards and touch their foot to their head -- more weight (resistance) is not required to make it a better movement, and in fact, adding more resistance (weight) to the leg, will NOT make that movement MORE possible.  The range of that movement provides its own resistance to doing so.  Conversely, there is no weight light enough that will make such a movement possible for most people.  But obviously and undeniably, such a movement is possible for some people, and to a far lesser extent, everybody else.

For this, we don't need to correlate it to some other measure of predictability -- other than the actual performance of it.  One can or one can't.  Most of real life is like that -- self-evident truth -- and not the reliance on something else to prove it is true.  In fact, it can be argued that it can't be done -- and we should not believe our own lying eyes, but rely on the "experts" -- to tell us what is true.  There are many people who think this way -- that what is true, is what the experts say, and not that it can be demonstrated otherwise.  They may even insist that the demonstration of such facts, are prohibited by consensus -- that it can never be done -- and that will be the new history of the world going forward.

So in that way, nothing new can ever be discovered or created, and the parameters of expression and achievement, grows narrower and more exclusive of anything but the one predetermined ideal.  Instead, what we witness is the explosion of undesirable results as obesity and metabolic syndromes -- as people get into worse conditions and health -- rendering them susceptible to even more diseases, especially over a longer span of vulnerability.

However, there will always be a few -- who get better despite all the prohibitions against it.  Those people test the limits to see what is truly possible -- and not what the consensus of experts (Pharisees) say it is, and the Scribes repeat it endlessly.  The highest intensity of any muscular contraction begins where most think further  movement is not possible.  That key concept is the most overlooked of all the Nautilus principles -- that the fullest range, is not what most people think it is.  And that is particularly so in the direction of fullest contraction.  Most people on hearing the need for this, willingly extend the range in the relaxed position while neglecting to extend the range in the fully contracted position.

That is to say that using the bench press as an example -- the position at which most begin the lifted position on downwards -- to maximize the contraction, they would begin to push up further in the other direction -- producing such a powerful contraction, that there is a real danger of cramping and muscle failure -- so that one is fearful of doing a movement in that way because of the very possibility of losing total control and having the bar crash into the trainee.  For that reason, one would design a machine that would eliminate that danger and possibility -- but most people do not extend the range of movement in the direction of fuller contraction, but may extend the range of movement in the relaxed position -- because it is easier and more convenient to do so.  That misses the whole point.

The really productive part of the movement, is extending the range in the contracted position -- because that contraction, is also a compression -- which for health purposes, pushes the fluids back towards the heart -- which is the weakness of most bodies to generate that healthful flow.  In many people, that results in edema and lymphedema, or the swelling of the body tissues -- which compression in its many variations is the solution -- especially in exercise or movements producing a very definitive muscle contraction-relaxation phase, which is the principle of fluid dynamics upon which the body works and maintains its viability.

Exercise, compression clothing, massage, pharmaceuticals that do this -- make the body healthier by removing the toxins that build up as the normal processes of cell functioning -- and merely getting the heart to work harder is not going to make a difference, but will certainly strain and enlarge the heart.  Instead, what is needed, is to force the skeletal muscles to contract from the extremities -- which compresses the fluids back towards the heart and other purifying and recycling organs, and when those tissues are evacuated, there is room for new blood and nutrients to enter -- but not before then.

That is the flawed understanding of exercise as we know it.  You cannot fill a cup that is already full.  You must first empty it -- for it to have any meaning and impact.  Simply making the heart work endlessly and tirelessly harder, is why most of the extreme athletes are dying prematurely of heart failures.  That should be way obvious -- and the solution to that, is not to find ways of making the heart work even harder, but to understand the proper relationship and dynamics of flow.  Then everything one does will become productive, healthful, and enjoyable as well because everything will make sense -- rather than forcing the body to do what it knows is better not to, on the penalty of premature injury, disability and death.

That's what inevitably happens to all the older bodybuilders.  You start off with a light weight and make the exercise harder by contracting more intensely by extending the range of movement in the contractile phase (exhaustion) -- rather than starting with a heavy weight and then unloading the barbell as the muscle fails to contract even minimally.  In the latter, the only ones who do most of the work are the "spotters" -- removing the weights, to make it seem like one is exercising intensely.  It's far more effective to make a light weight heavy, than to make a heavy weight light.  Why would one do otherwise?

This is the 21st Century.  Only in this way can one continue to train productively all the days of their extended lives -- while attaining and retaining maximum range of movements.  "Nothing else is possible."

The Magic of "50"

 Most people who train with weights or other resistance equipment have never done 50 repetitions of any exercise -- being told to keep their repetitions around 10, and as they handle more weight, lower that even further -- until they're down to 1.  And then they spend most of their time at the gym -- resting up before their next 1 -- and then they wonder why they aren't getting "results."  

They are getting results from all that "resting" their doing.  The movement -- not so much, and there even seems to be a prohibition against being aware of what they are actually "doing."  They show up at the gym, and do as little as possible, and wonder why they aren't getting the results they think should be automatic -- just by their showing up, and finding ways to distract themselves from the unpleasantness of the workout.

The magic of 50 repetitions of any movement, is that it requires a sustained effort -- and not "one and done," which quite predictably, will have very little lasting impact on their fitness levels.  Even among the heavy lifters, very few can perform 50 repetitions with even the lightest weights -- because their bodies are not conditioned for such sustained effort, which is adapting to fatigue -- which causes short-term as well as long-term adaptations, while a one-off does not.  The body is right to assume that such demands will be infrequent and when well-rested, and so no higher level of readiness is necessary -- as required when it knows that that effort must be sustained indefinitely.

People have frequently and invariably noted that those who lift heavier weights are not usually those with the largest muscles -- which is stored energy readily available for any demands and challenge of the moment.  As the muscle is "fired," it releases energy, as well as waste products -- of which a large part of one's conditioning, is to train the body to deal with -- or it fails.  The accumulation of junk without elimination causes toxicity and the body to shut down -- until that situation is corrected by time, rest and recovery -- because in the absence of oxygen and other nutrients, the body has to preserve itself by not locking up -- and thus becoming vulnerable to every threat and demand a highly-functioning person would want to be in -- most of the time.

So while understanding that the body's response to such failure is to improve longterm to overcome it, in the short and immediate term, it lays one vulnerable to an inability to respond momentarily -- until with time, rest and recovery, they can be restored to another maximum challenge.  Thus like any other medicine or therapy, one wants to determine the proper dosage -- for that optimal effect.  While pain-killers are often desirable and necessary, one doesn't want to be entirely anesthetized or incapacitated -- most of the time, as is often necessary in terminal conditions.  

But sometimes, that little bit, is just what is necessary to revitalize and optimize one's greatest capacities -- over a lifetime.  Again, on the other extreme, one can run into the problem of the overdose that kills -- with medicine, therapies, food, and other resources necessary in their proper doses -- but deadly in their abuse and overkill.

What those proper balances are, is what each individual is finding out for themselves -- as they live, discover, and manifest their lives.  There are usually helpful guidelines and authorities to aid them in the proper ranges of tolerance and responsiveness.  The prodigies of every activity and arena, are one in a billion, and simply doing what they do, is not going to make those less inclined and talented, like them.  It is necessary to understand that from the very beginning -- so that one is not trying to emulate an impossible ideal, while understanding that improvement is possible for every living being -- from Day One to the last day of their lives.  That is what life is.

When life no longer can improve, then that life is on its way out -- and the prognosis is not good.  But when improvement is still possible, that is the beginning of the possible -- in all its infinite variations.  Exercise is fundamentally this discovery -- of what is possible, and from that beginning, one can go further and beyond.  But when one gives up all hope and doing, nothing but a dire outcome is assured.  So we hope never to get to that point, anytime in our lives -- and it is not like it is forever.  Even the prodigies, great as they are, will not live forever -- and certainly, not at their peak condition and performance -- but something is still possible no matter how low life ebbs until it is no more.

And that lengthy but not infinite span of time, is most intelligent people's concerns -- which is enough to fill and fulfill any life.  It doesn't have to be forever to be worth living -- though others have come before, and others will come after.  Everybody lives their own life -- in their own time.  That's worthy enough.  One doesn't have to be immortal -- only that they live a good life, in their own time and place -- doing the best they can, and knowing that difference.  That makes it all worthwhile.