Optimizing Health and Functioning

  The meaning and purpose of life comes down to this: if one dies in the process of achieving it, then that is life -- but in the meantime, each does their best to actualize what that can be.  That is the simplicity of living.  It's easy to get side-tracked and blind-sided by all the trivial considerations at the expense of the greater, ie., seeing how much one can bench press before it crushes them, or how fast they can go before crashing, or how much one can get away with before somebody stops them, etc.

Understanding this, is called balance in life -- weighing each thing carefully against everything else -- and achieving that optimal balance -- and not just the one thing at the expense of everything else.  For these indicators and measures, the most important are at the critical faculties of the head, hands and feet -- rather than just development of the showy muscles of the biceps and abdominals -- or achieving the highest heart rate ever -- before succumbing to it.  That is not the objective of all these activities -- but to function as well in as many daily and ordinary challenges of living -- which increasingly, seem to be about increasing pain and immobility in all its manifestations and guises.

That seems to be an increasing fact of life -- and the reason we get "older."  Until then, we expect to increase our capacities -- even if just a tiny bit more, because it is this direction of change that signals appropriateness and progress over an entire lifetime -- and not just any particularly short-lived glory of the moment.  That is how lives are built -- each small thing after another -- so at the end of the day, the world is a different place, and better than before.  That is the story of civilization when all the lives are put together -- and not just the zero-sum game many academics proclaim their one thing explains all the others -- even to the suppression of everything else.

Nobody has that monopoly on truth -- and so all are empowered to test it for its validity -- and in that process, discover the many other things in life which might matter even more.  Science is more than just confirming what one wants to believe but recognizing when one thought was all that could be known, was just an unquestioned and unexamined premise -- and the truth lies beyond.  Until then, the future looks like a dead-end -- with only the end in sight.

But once we regain the right path, the possibilities seem endless again.  Life goes through such cycles -- as does every living thing.  We see both individuals and societies in decline and a few rising from the ashes and rubble to go on to unimaginable better lives because of it.  They have figured out what the problem is -- and not just know the solutions without even asking the right questions.  Unfortunately, much of that passes for our present education and conditioning -- and why the problems are interminable.  It is not enough just to have the "right" answers, but to know what actually works -- and not just more elaborate explanations of why it doesn't -- despite all one's "knowing."

Knowledge like that is life's greatest handicap -- knowing what doesn't work, and defending that ignorance to one's dying day.  Of course such people cannot change their outcomes.  They wouldn't know how to begin.  They no longer or never had the ability to distinguish "better" from "worse," and were taught instead, that there is no difference -- and anything is just as good as any other.  In fact, the good is only what "they" say it is -- beyond all review and recrimination.  It is because they say it is so -- and questioning it is forbidden.  

That has been the story since time immemorial.  New worlds were forbidden to be discovered -- because it would upset the old apple carts entrenched in their favorable spots -- to collect the tolls from all who were forced to pass.  It was always the straight and narrow.  

But life is not that way: it is the wide and vast -- which no one person or group can monopolize forever -- even the young or old.  Now we know that what works for the old, works for the young and everybody else -- and not that if one still behaves as the young, it will prevent them from becoming old.    One has to understand what makes the old "old."  It is the failing at the head, hands and feet -- that should be prioritized over the development of the biceps and six-packs they exhibit so proudly in their unflattering tank tops and leisurewear -- while gesturing unnaturally to emphasize those developments.  They've become caricatures of stereotypes rather than the picture of robust health and vitality -- which can be obviously seen at the neck, hands and feet.

Hands and feet weren't meant to be just clubs and stubs -- but are the very impressions unique to human beings.  Particularly characteristic of declining cognition and mental functioning, is also this distinctive lack of head movement -- which is the physical manifestation of the lack of awareness of what is going on around them.  That is how traditional humans took in information -- from which they could react appropriately to all the challenges they had to adapt to.  Now, they can just ignore it all -- because they have devices that tell them what is going on -- on the other side of the world!  But that kind of knowledge and information is virtually useless for responding to the requirements of their immediate environment.

Not surprisingly, they become increasingly disconnected to their actual realities, and all the people in it.  To hear effectively, requires directing all one's attention to the source of the sound -- and not just having the best headphones possible.  That's a very truncated and fragmented version of the world.  It is much like the conditioning of the classical dancer who has to be fully aware of the space of their performance, and not simply focused on what it is they do -- like the few who think that an entire weight-room exists for their exclusive use, and everybody else does not matter.  Such athletes make very poor teammates, and usually are locked into their own performance and world as though it is the only thing that matters -- which is a very distorted and unbalanced view of the world that can lead to many problems and conflicts -- and particularly to the damaging perspective that they are perpetually in competition with every other.

That precludes the much greater power in realizing the advantage of cooperation -- which magnifies the effectiveness of any one individual, no matter how formidable.  We've all seen the videos by now of how even the King of Beasts cannot prevail over a pack of hyenas or wild dogs, but even two, resumes the advantage in their favor.  Then when the numbers are equal, the rout is on.  That is frequently how the leadership changes -- beyond the one on one.  Thus the leader is not only the one who is the strongest but also skilled at mobilizing the collective force as well -- which requires awareness beyond themselves.

The less successful frequently have this tunnel-vision, or lack of awareness of anybody but themselves -- as though that were sufficient to achieve any worthwhile task, let alone achieving a monumental undertaking.  It requires more than just the sum of the parts -- but is a comprehensive greater whole, and life is firing on all cylinders -- and not just the one -- which then is an uncontrollable explosion, which then become our disasters.

So in our training style, we want to develop not only power, but also patience, persistence and endurance -- for the long haul so we are still there at the end when everybody else has passed.  That is the last man standing -- and often, that is what it requires to be successful -- just showing up.  Merely that, is the survival of the fit -- to still be in the game.

Is 20 Minutes of Exercise Enough?

  I workout 20 minutes a day — just to recover from the aches and pains of juvenile arthritis/old age, and to lubricate my joints for subsequent movements throughout the day.

However, once a week I go to the YMCA a half-mile uphill and workout for an hour with light weights for 50 repetitions of each exercise — focusing on extending my range of motion in both the contracted position and the relaxed position as the primary objective. There are plenty of older guys “lifting” weights but I noticed with most — including Arnold and these former/older bodybuilders that their range of movement is quite restricted, and they don’t spend any time in the most productive positions — which is the extended ranges of contraction and relaxation, but are merely moving the weights through a limited mid-range, and therefore,  hardly changing muscle states at all.

The importance of this is that in fluid dynamics, the rate of flow is determined by the difference in the pressures created inversely by the volume — which is also how the heart works. Pressure is inversely related to volume, and so as the heart contracts, the pressure increases — and moves into an area where there is less pressure.

This also happens when the skeletal muscles contract and relax — producing the flow from the tissues back towards the heart and recycling organs of the body. Otherwise, the veins conducting the flow relies on the valves to prevent a backflow but no powerful push as when a muscle contracts (volume gets smaller). In most people, and particularly those who never produce these muscle contractions in their inactive and sedentary lives, this can cause fluid buildups in the tissues — as is familiar in edema, lymphedema, lipedema, swollen ankles, swollen hands, sluggish brain functioning. This is a circulatory problem determined by the lack of regular voluntary muscular functioning as most humans have evolved for — causing the most vigorous and productive, to development greater capacities and efficiencies — while the immobile would largely die off because they could not fend well for themselves — just as we see of the runts of the litter in every species.

The more vigorous get most of the food, while the weak and incapacitated are eliminated in this way. Those are the conditions which life evolved — over millions of years — and what each has to work with as the fact of life. Once we see that clearly, we can simulate (exercise) those conditions that favor our survival, while eliminating those actions that are counterproductive and undermine those purposes — including eating as our only activity — which some have taken to the level of constant eating, as with the advice to eat and drink as much as possible — as an end in itself. Instead, one could devote that time to optimizing the circulation and respiration as a better use of one’s time, energy and focus — as even the ancients have recognized for centuries.

So where these people get the idea that 20 minutes of intentional movements (exercise) for this enhancement is a bad idea is a truly remarkable reversal (perversion) of what Nature intended. Nature wishes life to succeed — but one must do so on those terms — and not just eat, drink and be merry — while not taking exceptional care of what has been provided us as what we have to work with. When we have that fundamental understanding of reality, then it doesn’t make sense to do anything less — to ensure the success of everything else we subsequently do in our lives — because it is all dependent on this basic operating conditions.

That is to be functioning on one’s highest levels of possibilities — and not simply mindlessly doing everything equally and arbitrarily. In order to get one’s head into it, one should place as primary importance, the actual movement of the head — otherwise, there is very little difference from a head that cannot move, and eyes, ears, and brain that can no longer function and take in the information the body needs to respond effectively.

As people age and become less capable, the neck muscles are the first to go — resulting in the atrophying of the neck muscles with the characteristic turkey neck. That doesn’t happen with people in the practice of moving their heads (think dancers) — because it follows the same principles of the development and maintenance of every other organs of the body. It is dependent on the blood flow (circulation) to those tissues, and that is what makes them function well and grow — and not by all that mumbo-jumbo trying to sell heart monitors or whatever is the new gimmick of the day.

Some even go further down that path in insisting that one cannot spot-reduce or spot-develop particular bodyparts they wish to — and that the only thing that matters is elevating the heart as high as possible — which is to suggest that all phenomena is random. That’s not the world we live in. People actually become good at what they exercise and practice, and it shows in their development. That should be a well-known fact by now — but we have academics who now rule the roost proclaiming that they are “the science” — and everyone should not trust their own lying eyes, ears, and brains — but listen only to their certified lunacies and propaganda — that don’t work, and if 20 minutes is not enough, then 40 minutes would be better, etc.

It depends on what one does, and how one does it — and not that they will get the same results doing anything — depending on their calorie expenditure and highest heart rate sustained — because life and the world is random in that way. The problem is seldom that the heart is not pumping and one is not eating enough — but the skeletal (voluntary) muscles are not working — which explains how the marathon runners have enlarged hearts with very little muscular development otherwise. One cannot assume that just because the heart is working at its hardest that the circulation through the other muscles (organs) are optimal — and that is the problem of the dementias and neuropathies (arthritis) at the extremities of the hands, feet and head. That is what needs to be exercised for at least 20 minutes every day to achieve and maintain optimal functioning and development throughout life.

Eliminating the Pain for the Gain

  As people get older, they usually report experiencing daily bodily aches and pains — which is an indication that they need to do more contractions alternated by complete relaxations to increase the flow of the fluids (blood, inflammation, swelling, edema, lymphedema, lipedema) from the tissues back towards the heart and other purifying/recycling organs at the center of the body. That was what a normal, healthy lifestyle used to be before all the modern inventions made any unnecessary movements necessary — which is the problem of sedentary lives in which major parts of the body are no longer exercised, and so becomes merely redundant bodyweight.

Otherwise, the waste products from normal cell functioning accumulate with no enhanced push back towards the center — and the nerves are destroyed by those prevailing toxic conditions — which the body has minimal provisions to deal with them. However, exercise greatly enhances that effect by providing the muscular contractions that propel fluid more forcefully and vigorously back towards the heart — which the heart cannot do alone no matter how vigorously it pumps because it runs into the resistance of the miles of capillaries that slow the flow down as much as possible so there can be the efficient exchange of oxygen and other nutrients to the tissues, while exchanging it for the waste products.

That happens naturally with an active lifestyle requiring those contractions and relaxations that produce a flow. That is also why the heart works. But that same circulation, is also the primary responsibility and function of all the voluntary (skeletal) muscles of the body, and why those who exercise those parts, develop higher degrees of functionality and health. That is particularly important to optimize that development at the head (brain), hands (grip), and feet (balance) — and not just stop at the biceps and abdominals.

When muscles “fire,” they release energy along with resulting waste products — which under normal healthy conditions is removed effectively, however, not all individuals have that same degree of efficiency and activity. In fact, there is the rather common phenomenon of “venous insufficiency” which is most prominent of people suffering from “varicose veins,” but everybody has this tendency for insufficiency — particularly if they misunderstand this vital role of all the skeletal (voluntary) muscles in this greater scheme of defining the ultimate limits of the circulatory effect.

This is particularly important in light of the most common afflictions of modern life — which is this notable deterioration at the head, hands and feet — even as the heart and lungs continue to function for another 20 years beyond the responsiveness at the most distinctive and critical parts of the human body — in the head, hands and feet (neuropathies). That’s where any intelligent life form would prioritize as the most significant markers of fitness and health — over biceps and abdominals — but in doing so, also derive those benefits as well because they have to be engaged in a supportive (anchoring) role by evolutionary design.

That must be how it works — and it is not optional dependent on what one wishes and theorizes it is. That is simply the fact of the matter — despite what the self-proclaimed experts develop more jargon and buzzwords to explain away their lack of any scientific underpinnings. For them, the truth is anything they want it to be — and they are the “science.” Even if it doesn’t work, and only needs infinite more funding for further studies.

It is indeed true that one can provide extreme muscle soreness requiring a week to fully recover from — producing sustainable growth indefinitely if that is the only consideration — but that is seldom the only consideration in life — for most people who live more balanced lives — and that balance is paramount in what defines fitness and health. Lots of people will go out in a blaze of glory — if they think that one thing is the “only” thing. Sometimes a person has no choice but to go “all in” this way, but for most situations, something less is “optimal.” How much less then becomes the significant question.

Ideally, one does not want to awaken each day to unbearable pain (extreme muscle soreness) but if they do, want to be able to rectify that situation so by the end of day, they have fully recovered and restored their abilities — even if they awake the next morning with a similar or even worsening soreness — but they know there is something they can do to improve. That is simply alternating the contractions and relaxations from the extremities back towards the center of the body to flush the body of that inflammation which is the source of pain and dis-ease, and that is the trigger for increasing health and responsiveness (fitness). That is the recovery ability so few understand — but is key to sustaining health and fitness for as long as one lives.

Then once a week workouts to exhaustion (failure) should be enough for most people — along with daily “freehand” movements for 50 repetitions articulating the full-range movements at the neck, wrists, and ankles to produce those alternating full contractions and full relaxations that optimizes the flow to the circuit activated in such manner. What won’t work is merely increasing the flow to the heart itself — in what is called cardio exercise — because that is what we were all blessed with starting out by virtue of being born.

The difference is how effectively one includes that circulation to even the remotest areas of the body by activating those contractions back towards the heart — creating the space (vacuum) for the new nutrients to enter, and in that contraction (compression) removing the fluids tending to accumulate otherwise as the inflammation and swelling of the tissues until they are no longer functional and responsive.

That is the greater meaning of health and fitness — if we hope to live longer lives in as good a condition as Nature intended and allows for. We don’t have to reinvent the wheel — or even the pulley.

The Optimal Exercise (Movement)

 Any variation of the pullover would be the optimal exercise — for young, old, dying, world class, most sedentary, skinny, obese, beginner, lifelong exercisers, etc.

It used to be the foundational exercise of bodybuilding in the ’50s and ’60s — when most of the people doing it were doing it to build up their health foremost — often from a 98 lb. weakling to surprising physique champions. The classic case was Tommy Kono — who got into it to help cure his asthma, and then went on to become the weightlifting champion as well as Mr. Universe. Other big proponents of the pullover were George Eiferman, Reg Park, Steve Reeves, Pat Casey, Freddy Ortiz, etc.

Unfortunately, that exercise has gone out of style — which largely accounts for the fact that most people who train don’t achieve the muscle pump and immediate transformations most of these guys would exhibit from their training sessions. The magic of the pullover is that it focuses the attention on breathing — and when one has optimized that oxygenation of the blood, circulation becomes transformative in a way not possible if one has not first optimized the oxygenation (breathing).

Instead, that is what people supposed they are getting by doing “cardio” or “aerobic” exercises and breathing faster but more shallowly. For this reason, it was highly touted by the strength magazine publishers Bob Hoffman and Peary Rader — with light weights and high repetitions as the introductory exercises for any other exercises to follow — or not. People were amazed at the gains they achieved from one set of breathing squats followed by light pullovers to enhance that circulation through the upper body. Thus it was no accident that Arthur Jones made his first Nautilus machine the pullover movement — to prove the validity of his Nautilus principles. His second machine, was the Hip and Back — which is more like the Yoga Bridge (lying hip lift) — because he recognized that in order to activate the large muscles of the glutes and back, the femur has to be moving backward in this manner rather than terminating in a bone-on-bone squat finish which doesn’t produce this severe glute contraction. That is also the problem with the Deadlift — or any other traditional exercises claiming to be the best for this development. The finished position, is a resting position, and so the muscle is not engaged.

One of the great tenets of his “Nautilus Principles” was to provide variable resistance through the full range of movement — which became corrupted by the attempt to use it in the standard manner to lift as much weight as possible — thereby undermining its value. One can only achieve the greatest range of movement by having the resistance go to zero — not in the relaxed position but in the fully contracted position. The resistance prevents attaining the full range of movement possible — because increasing the range, increases the resistance — because one cannot contract infinitely.

An easy example of this is simply turning one’s head as far to the left or right as possible. No matter how little the resistance (or none at all), the head will not continue to move infinitely further — but the muscle will be so powerfully contracted, that it will provide the resistance against any further contraction. Most never realize that because as they increase the weight (resistance), they shorten their range of movement — to make it easier, or even possible. And so the effect of a heavier weight, is to prevent the muscle from achieving its fullest contraction — and the importance of this, is that the contraction is what is pushing the fluids out of the tissues and creating the space (vacuum) for new nutrients and oxygen to enter — because the heart cannot achieve this flow by itself — through miles of capillaries which design is to slow the flow down so there can be efficient exchange of waste products for nutrients.

Thus the proper concern is to use a weight (resistance) that allows one to achieve the greatest relaxation possible — which is obviously not going to be their one rep maximum — and claiming they’ve exercised to “failure.” Failure is that state achieved when one has so totally fatigued and exhausted a particular muscle, that they can’t perform the movement with no weight at all — and at that point, require all the muscles of the body to assist in completing that movement. Thereby, that becomes the ultimate recruitment of all the muscles available — to move even a negligible weight. At that point, the body has gotten the signal (message) that it has to greatly improve its present capabilities — which is the stimulus for growth and strengthening.

If it can do a bench press, squat, deadlift, or anything else easily — why should the body have to improve? It can do everything it is called on to do already — easily. That’s not “failure.” Failure is when one is doing everything one can, and it is hardly sufficient — so these people who are claiming to do 5 sets until failure, have no idea what they are talking about, because one set of 50 is all you can do — and may require a week to recover from that exertion. Thus the further admonishment that High intensity exercise must be brief and infrequent is an actual requirement — and not asking if they can work out to failure every day — let alone doing 5 sets?

Rather, the movements one should be performing are movements with no weights just to move from one state of contraction to relaxation in relieving the muscle soreness from that single high intensity workout — that may take a week to fully recover from. But one is understanding that the objective is to use one’s skeletal (voluntary) muscles in that characteristic way that produces a flow — out of the tissues and back to the heart and recycling organs of the body. It’s not enough just to make the heart alone work harder; the heart is always working, and is the hardest working muscle in the body. It is the other muscles of the body that aren’t doing anything — and why they atrophy because there is no flow of nutrients and removal of the accumulated waste products by the voluntary (skeletal) muscles.

That is why we’re trying to optimize the breathing function as the primary improvement that makes that difference. That has been recognized by the Ancients as the reason for focusing on breathing and circulation mindfulness as the key to health. And we know that is a huge problem of simply living longer lives — in declining health. Even as much as we devote our lives to much exercise and practice in the traditional and conventional manner of thinking about these things. Obviously, we need to change the paradigm and not simply put more energy, pain and effort into what hasn’t worked so well before — because the science and thoughtfulness is not there. It doesn’t make any sense but hopes to achieve miracles through opposite thinking — or denial.

Recognizing this, one asks, what would be the optimal exercise of our faculties to achieve the life (condition) never actualized before?

That would be, lying on a hard mat preparatory to doing the hip raise but beginning with the arms straight back and then bringing them forward and pressing into the mat and then commencing to lift the hips up — to engage all the muscles of the body with a single exercise. If one does not believe that it is the further extension of the contracted position that optimally fatigues a muscle, then I invite them to load the barbell with their usual weight in a bench press, and in the usual finished position — begin to press up the bar even further. Failure will be imminent — and that tels the body, I have to get stronger. But not so much if their “finish” position is a bone on bone lockout requiring no muscle engagement as is usually seen in the conventional bench press, squat, deadlift, press, etc. One has to extend the range of both the relaxation as well as the contraction.

In looking around at my peers in the gym, what is obvious to me, is that the oldest and most disabled are so because of their limited range of movement — rather than the lack of weight (resistance) in their exercises. I’m not impressed with those who load up a barbell with great weight and proceed to do very little with it. I am impressed with those in advanced ages who even with no weight, have a greater range of movement than most everyone else can even imagine doing. That is also true for young athletes beyond the level of their peers —they exhibit a much greater range of movement (articulation and expression) than others even think possible.

One set of 50 repetitions is the best scheme for most people because they lack the attention span to persist in anything for that long — and not because it is too easy they will get bored and need to get back to their smartphones or some other diversion/entertainment — and why their workouts are unproductive. Then the magic happens — because there is a sound basis for doing so — just as Nature and Evolution intended.

All in One

A better question is which one movement requires the activation and engagement of all the muscles of the body to achieve?

That would be rotating the head 360 degrees from left to right, and back again. A hundred years ago, a doctor recommended this movement he called ”The Giant Swing” — as the cure for all common ailments — because it enhanced the circulation throughout the body — beginning with the head.

One of the great afflictions of modern times is the problem of the dementias — which is the condition of the brain becoming disengaged (dysfunctional) from the rest of the body, so while the heart and lungs may continue to function (automatically), all the other cognitive and responsiveness of the body has ceased — increasingly for ten, twenty, thirty years or more — requiring many other lives to sustain that one. Of course that is not a sustainable course for the future because we can’t have increasingly many caring for the one — who is incapable of doing anything for themselves — or we’re back into the more primitive times in which everyone was a vassal sacrificing their life for the Pharoah or chief — who upon their death, took everybody with them to continue serving them in the next life.

Hopefully we live in more enlightened times — in which each individual is empowered to be all they can be — and not one part overruling every other — but integrating the whole as the summation of every action. That genius of evolution can also be noticed at the other extremities of the body where the critical faculties are. Those are the movements most advantageous and beneficial to do so — at the extremities of the head, hands and feet — which are ultimately the movements of articulation and expression — and not the six-pack or core muscles, whose main function is to support and stabilize the movements occurring at the hands, feet and head.

Anybody with any smattering of understanding of physiology knows that to produce a desired work, the insertion (distal) of a muscle must contract towards the origin (proximal), which in turn, is attached to insertion of the anchoring muscle — so that a contraction from the most distant (distal) point, triggers the contraction of every proximal muscle back towards the center of the body close to the heart, and thus even the ancients recognized it as the center of power. But that power can only be triggered from the most distal insertion back towards the origin — and never vice-versa.

Naturally, that is the only way to engage most of the muscles with an economy and efficiency of movement — or one has to work out each muscle in isolation individually (660+) which is a very laborious process resulting in the disproportionate development of so many exercisers — and most egregious among the many novice bodybuilders who develop their upper bodies to the complete neglect of their lower bodies, and then to every disproportion imaginable because they are not exercising with this balance and integration foremost in mind.

And thus in their older ages, may still have impressive six-packs and biceps, but are no longer capable of moving their heads — and all other head functioning as well, which of course, include one’s cognitive functioning. This is particularly striking if one ever has the opportunity to visit a place where all the people there are suffering from this lack of cognitive functioning — and every other expressions we’ve come to regard as distinctly and uniquely human — for lives we no longer recognize or are responsive.

The same goes for these people who shuffle along each day thinking the objective is to walk or run a certain amount with no discernible foot movement — when it is only the articulation of the foot that really matters. That’s why high jumpers can jump; they have to use their foot as levers to thrust them high — and no amount of shuffling their feet, is going to get them off the ground. In throwing or batting, one has to turn the wrist — for any meaningful result to occur. That is the construction of the human body and how it is designed to function, maintain, and optimize their abilities — and not to prematurely self-destruct and abuse by doing all the wrong things so that we need replacement parts — which again, can be endless.

So that is the question we really want to be asking — how to develop this greater whole — including the brain, touch, balance — to be firing on all cylinders, and not just be one more lop-sided developed person in the world thinking the part is the whole of the universe. That’s not how it works. 

Aerobic or Anaerobic?

  Whether an exercise is “aerobic” or not, is determined by the manner in which it is done. The original concept was to establish at what levels exercise could be done by people with heart problems — so as not to unduly stress the heart, and not as it came to be distorted as — the minimal thresholds for exercise. Obviously, when a person hits 101% of their maximum theoretical heart rate, there is imminent danger of death.

And so the benchmark for determining this, was whether an activity could be conducted while continuing to carry on a conversation — which is a very low threshold. That makes an activity “aerobic” — because it is dictated by the cadence of normal breathing — rather than forcing the breathing to catch up to the activity or effort, which is best exemplified by maximum weight reps of 3–6 — often done with no breathing at all, or very shallow, forced breathing because the resistance is so heavy as not to allow any relaxation between reps.

A good example is the proxy for pushups of the bench press. When a weight is heavy, no proper breathing can take place because a minimal amount of chest pressure must be maintained at least equal to the weight of the bar, and one has to contract a minimum above that in the characteristic bounce off the chest. No competitor would begin their lift from a completely relaxed position — which is the hardest thing to do — but resulting in the greatest change from the complete relaxation of a muscle to its fullest contraction. That can only be done with extremely light weights — making deep and thorough exhalations and inhalations possible — which is the primary purpose of any exercise for health purposes.

The primary focus should be on the breathing — and once that is effected — circulation can be directed specifically to those other areas exercised with beneficial results. The effectiveness of breathing is determined by the change of chest volume housing the lungs. The objective is not to breathe faster, but more deeply and more thoroughly — so that the residual air that remains in the lungs is exhaled as completely as possible, thus creating space for new air (oxygen) to enter. The completeness of the exhalation is particularly important because of the structure of the lungs — which means branching tissue so that the last molecules out, are the first to be replaced — and if only the air in the top portion of the lungs is expelled, the deeper (residual) air remains — producing an anaerobic condition because there is no effective breathing until one can exhale fully again — when the load is removed, and one can carry on a normal conversation again.

A better exercise for aerobisizing the body is the bent-armed or straight-armed pullover done with a fairly light weight for 50 repetitions. More than any other single exercise, it focuses on the action of the breathing — and as such, was the foundational movement for bodybuilding in the ’60s along with the breathing squat with light weights also done for 50 reps. Those two movements alone accounted for the transformational developments of those times — and were highly recommended by the two most popular bodybuilding magazine publishers of the time, Bob Hoffman and Perry Rader. That was the characteristic development of bodybuilders in the ‘50s and ’60s — notable mainly for their ribcage development and differential between the chest and waist measurements.

An activity can be sustained indefinitely if it is performed “aerobically” — with this attention to breathing as the limiting factor, and if not, is terminated by the inability to breathe properly as when occurs in limit lifting because the breathing is constricted and not by true muscle failure. True muscle failure occurs when the muscle itself gives out before the lack of breathing forces them to stop — which is actually cardiovascular failure. That is anaerobic exercise. It can be attempted briefly and infrequently — when one’s life depends on it, but is not the preferred conditioning modality otherwise — because the organ most susceptible to a lack of oxygen, is the brain — and its neuromuscular functioning.

Invariably, this style of training will result in the absolute cessation of all movement activities because of its cumulative damaging effects overwhelming the decreasing benefits one achieves exercising in this manner. There is no net gain but an acceleration of the anaerobic effect. But at this point, most people don’t know how to exercise any other way — and so they just stop, otherwise they might go on indefinitely exercising in the manner that increases their aerobic capacities.