What's the Difference?

 What is important to note is that the greatest health benefit of exercise is that it promotes and optimizes the circulation (flow), and when one recognizes that, that can be one's primary objective and focus, and not as we have been conditioned to think -- of running faster, jumping higher, lifting more weight, or making the heart work harder.

The weakness in the circulatory system is the lack of push back towards the heart, and not the lack of push from the heart -- which is the problem of sedentary lives that produce few muscular contractions by the voluntary (skeletal) muscles -- but the heart works unfailingly autonomously. So it behooves one to fix what isn't broken -- while continuing to ignore what actually needs working (fixing). That's why things don't get better.

Instead, such people are sent off an endless wild goose chase — expending as much time, energy and resources as an end in itself, and so they use these arbitrary measures and landmarks to keep them on course — even to the detriment of their lives and health. Still, they will be cheered on to do anything as equally good as any other — which is seldom the case.

Usually there is a difference but one has to discern (discriminate) those differences and not proclaim the “new equity” — that one should ignore all differences and results as “empirical” correctness. Thus it doesn’t matter what one does, or what results one gets — because they are all the same — and one should be blinded for seeing any differences. Sadly, that is what the world is coming to — if present trends continue.

But since the beginning of human consciousness, there have always been a few who see through the haze into the next realm of human development and evolution. That is not a matter of trying harder and effort in the ways that aren’t working, but observing the truth in the false, and the false in the truth — and not equating and denying those realities. Those few make significant gains and advances, while the vast majority think they are doing the same — but not experiencing those same results. The first thing to ask themselves is, are they really doing what they think they are doing? That might explain a lot.

Many think it is enough just to mimick the actions — with no understanding of why they are doing so — as though that were enough, while the far better course, is to first develop as good an understanding of what one is doing — and why. But most are just told to do this or that — arbitrarily, as though that will make a difference. Even if they do the “right” thing, it may be at the wrong time — or place and circumstances — because they lack this greater comprehension of what they are trying to “effect.” A few will even think that the reason to exercise is that they can eat more — and instead, gain even more weight. A better exercise for that, is to fast. No amount of exercise will “burn off” those calories fast enough; that’s just not how any life form is built — or has survived.

Meanwhile, a superior understanding always trumps any amount of brute force — in the accomplishing of anything. Unfortunately, brute force has been the only hammer used in many people’s toolbox. Tools exist to amplify those innate human movements — at the head, hands and feet that account for what we know of human expressions and creativity. Yet that is precisely what we ignore in the design of most exercise programs — the most important and essential organs of the body, and lament when those faculties decline prematurely in the “normally” aging people. Is that normal — or simply what is deliberately not exercised? — in favor of all the wrong things?

But while the former implies the latter, it is not true that the latter implies the former — and that is cause and effect — and the proper understanding of it. One precedes the other — and they are not co-equivalents. But in the understanding that one thing is equal to every other, such chaos and anomie reign — and one hardly begins to know how to extricate themselves from an eternal merry-go-round. — at the end of which, their time is merely up — for better or worse, one does not know the difference.

How Life Works

 What distinguishes top bodybuilders from the average is the extent to which they pump up immediately from their exercises — but most people have that ability to respond to a very visible extent. When I used to conduct the “Scientific Weight-training” class at the Boston YMCA in 1974, it was to test if the assertions of Arthur Jones and his Nautilus principles were true, and the results of his “Colorado Study” could be duplicated — and the surprising thing was that every person from young to old, well-trained or not, displayed a drastic transformation from the beginning of a six-week period to the end — but at the end, they had learned how to effect that radical transformation in a single workout.

In that manner, it was obvious that the effects of a bodybuilding workout could be manifested immediately — and not only after six months or a year. One knows from the very first workout that it is having that very detectable and obvious effect. That is why no competitive bodybuilder WILL NOT pump up before going onstage — and most do so using only light or even no weights at all, but obviously know how to contract their muscles without those aids. That can even be a modality of exercise — as was promoted by people calling it “dynamic tension,” or simply, posing (postures). The problem with many modern bodybuilders, is that they are always contracted, and never allow anybody to see them relaxed — both on and off the stage.

Muscles can either do one of two things — contract or relax — but some disciplines think that muscles can only contract, or only relax — rather than it is the alternation (change) in muscular states that is the magical power. That is also the health benefit — of directing the flow (circulation) to those areas specifically exercised, and not as some “experts” claim, that one cannot develop muscles specifically, but that the heart will pump the blood equally to all tissues indiscriminately. That is obviously not true or many people would not exhibit the grossly disproportionate development of their upper bodies to their less exercised lower bodies, and vice-versa. Such experts will tell you that there is no such thing as “spot-reducing,” so that the only thing one can do is exercise the heart harder and lose weight equally throughout the body — whether one wants to do that or not.

Unfortunately, that is what passes for bro-“science” — by those who have never tested anything themselves and are incapable of distinguishing any truth in any matter. They simply repeat unquestioningly, what some self-proclaimed authority tells them is the truth — and that is why it is so important to run the test themselves and see if those results can be duplicated. That is what science is — what anybody can test to be true, and not simply which authorities are to be unquestioned and unchallenged. That is not science but merely authoritarianism.

Granted, many people exercising improperly and unproductively will not show any obvious signs of change for months, if not years, and will never begin to question all they believe that has led them astray. Journalists and media celebrities are particularly prone to go along with the crowd and popular no matter how untrue it might be. So-called health practitioners rely on this faith and instruct never to believe in what one’s own body and senses are telling them — even to the bitter end — but that is largely the reality we live in, and why each has their own brain, muscles, intelligence: to distinguish these differences immediately.

Of course if one is doing nothing productively, that will show too. But staying the course for six months, a year, decades, will not miraculously manifest at some point in the future. Along the way will be measurable changes and landmarks that one is proceeding in the right course. That’s how life works.

The Exercise of the Future

 The great advantage weight training has over most other forms of exercise is NOT that one can adjust the resistance up (as is their preoccupation) but that it can be adjusted DOWN — to almost an infinite extent, which is not even possible with exercises using just bodyweight — because that CANNOT be adjusted. Most people assume that bodyweight is ZERO — when in fact, it is often the barrier to entry for even such innocent activities as walking and jogging — let alone chin ups, or even push ups.

But with weights, one can first envision the movement that requires the change in muscular state from fullest relaxation to fullest contraction — which is made prohibitive by using TOO MUCH weight. While many muscle heads will insist that one can never use TOO MUCH weight, the limiting factor in full range movement from 0–100% contraction, is that when the weight is too heavy, the muscle is not allowed to relax fully at any the point — or for example in the bench press, the weight will crush their chest. And that was the whole reason for the argument for varying the resistance through the full range of movement — that it went to nearly zero at the beginning, while maximizing at the other extreme of that movement.

Otherwise, one could just do an isometric contraction for as long as possible — which tended to elevate the blood pressure levels and heart rate well past the hypothetical safe maximums of 220 - (one’s age) — which greatly accounts for the dangerous condition of enlarged, weakened hearts in strength athletes in particularly, and those who exclusively work the heart muscle over every other. A much more sensible approach, would be to recruit all the other muscles of the body in enhancing the circulatory effect — which invariably happens whether people realize it or not in any muscular activity. However, if we’re going to be scientific about it, it can be done deliberately and primarily to achieve that effect — to maintain one’s fitness on a space shuttle or even a cross country bus ride.

Under those circumstances, it is conventionally presumed that one cannot “exercise” productively — resulting in circulation problems for those most vulnerable — when in fact, there are many precedents for exercise with minimal movement, sweat, increase in heart rate and respiration in the examples of yoga and ballet, people actually well-known for their greater range of movement than the average. The distinguishing characteristic of older people is their decreasing range of movement rather than persistence in a limited and constrained range — that progresses until there is virtually no movement — particularly at the head, hands and feet which are obvious indicators of expression and animation (vitality).

The efficacy of that is that muscles contract from the most distal (distant) axis of joint movement back towards the proximal (center) — and those contractions produce the compressions that move fluid (waste products) back to the heart and other purifying/recycling organs of the body — to obviate the inflammation resulting if that process is not enhanced in this manner. Exercising primarily to enhance these processes should be paramount in the exercise of older people and not for achieving personal records, and lifting heavier weights, or even getting bigger — which merely increases the downside risks of doing so.

That is the reason older people often abandon exercise entirely — recognizing the risks greatly outweigh the rewards, rather than rethinking healthy exercise entirely from scratch to accentuate only the positives and eliminate the negatives. But in the usual backwards thinking, the experts may even advocate accentuating the negatives to make movement harder, more difficult, and more dangerous. It doesn’t have to be that way. That is the exercise of the future. 

High-Intensity Training Frequency

  A once a week session of high-intensity exercise is the standard for what most people will thrive on.

The problem for most is dealing with the extreme muscle soreness from only once a week workouts because if one does nothing between those once a week high intensity workouts, the recovery takes longer, and so the key was discovering how one can recover from those once a week high-intensity workouts, and the fortunate discovery I made was when in my 40s at the height of Nautilus and high-intensity training, I was diverted onto exercising with no equipment for a while, and then when asked to instruct disabled, senior, and even terminal people on recovering from their conditions -- recognized the unappreciated points that Arthur Jones also emphasized but was ignored.

And that was the importance of extending the range of motion as an essential focus of the movement -- because those extremes, provide their own resistance. His claim was that the Nautilus machines provided variable resistance throughout the full range of movement -- but adding resistance, decreases the range of movement. That is to observe that increasing the weight (resistance) always decreases the range that is moved -- and that the real value, was moving from 0 to 100% contraction -- because that difference is the rate of flow, and the principle of fluid dynamics. That's how the heart works in pushing the blood out towards the extremities.

But the greater benefit is not in making the heart work harder (resulting in enlarged, weakened hearts that is the bane of strength athletes), but in using the skeletal (voluntary) muscles of the body to compress (contract) the blood back towards the heart -- and that is why people who exercise that function over every other consideration including running, jumping, lifting weights, optimize their health to those extremities that are well-known for poor circulation and the first places to fail in older people as the dementias, arthritis, venous insufficiency, edema, lymphedema, lipedema, etc.

Contraction is compression -- and why compression clothing works in people with notoriously poor circulation. It reduces the inflammation (swelling) just as it reliably does in healing injuries, as well as the recovery from intense workouts which are a controlled form of injury. That is to note that one must break down to make room and necessity for the new -- as the muscle cell releases energy and produces waste products. However, in modern sedentary lives, it is quite possible that one does not provide any muscle contractions other than what they actually think to effect (exercise), so that the glaring weakness becomes the circulation to the head, hands and feet -- which then become the characteristic markers of deterioration in the elderly and those in poor condition. That's actually where the primary focus should be -- over the biceps and abdominals -- which are not the primary expressors of human performance.

Again, it is because people are distracted from the essential and significant, to the trivial and decorative -- because the problem of the old, weak and disfunctioning, is not that one can no longer squat with 200 lbs -- but they cannot squat at all, which includes many bodybuilders and formerly great athletes. Increasing the weight to 300 lbs is not going to recover that capability -- much less doing it more frequently. That's just wishful thinking.

One Set of 50 Repetitions

  One set of 50 repetitions will approximate “muscle failure” — for all practical purposes. No amount of weight or added resistance — will compensate for a movement performed poorly. So before one undertakes to attempt a one rep maximum, they should check to see that they are performing the movement sufficiently well with as little or no weight possible — just to check that they are performing it properly.

It’s like a ballet or gymnastics — you don’t get any points for performing any movement poorly. But if you can perform the movement precisely, then one has perfected a motor-control far beyond what one thought possible starting off — and that is the progression one should be mindful of, and not simply slapping on more weight, to do something that is so unrecognizable as a meaningful, thoughtful, and productive movement. That work is making one the person they are.

Many lose the connection of the cause and effect of anything — thinking that nothing is related to anything else, never has, and never will be — but that is the evolution and progress of any individual. It is not just a random crap shoot — and then you die a miserable death. You really are creating a life. And like sporting activities, dance, skill, it takes practice, practice, practice — and 3 reps and done, are not going to do it. For these people, it is a full time preoccupation — but what is not unlimited, is recovery ability — and so those who have tried it earnestly rather than the countless many who dismiss it as being “too easy,” that’s where the rubber hits the road, and one discovers reality.

And that is what we ultimately want to know — the person we are and can be — and the only way to know that, is by the doing — and not simply the “thinking” one can. The greatest common denominator between the weakest and the strongest, is their ability to do 50 repetitions — of any movement well. If they are smart, they will start off with the lightest weight that makes that possible — but if they choose to begin with as heavy as weight as possible, they will progressively deload until they end up with the lightest weight (resistance) possible — which is true neuromuscular failure — rather than the familiar cardiovascular failure that causes them to quit prematurely — because they are afraid and don’t want to go there.

That is a frightening prospect for nearly everyone — to go to one’s point of failure and learn what lies beyond. That means breaking new ground for anyone. One won’t get there staying within their familiar boundaries — and always quitting before those supreme tests, and that is what is valuable to know — throughout one’s life. It is as much a mental (psychological) barrier as a physical one — and that is what conditioning should entail, and not just the humdrum of meaningless repetitions performed mindlessly. That’s not good conditioning — for anything.

Of course the bottom line is the results one is getting. If one is attaining excellent results, they should continue on that path — but as so many rightly question, why am I not getting the results I think should be forthcoming? That answer is obvious — in observing what they are actually doing, which is usually resting “between” sets of a low number of repetitions, so that their hour of working out, actually amounts to less than five minutes of actually doing anything. But with a person doing 50 repetitions, they are actually exercising most of the time — except for a brief rest to recover for the next exercise to “virtual failure.”

That is the elephant in the room — that those who do multiple sets of few repetitions, are spending the vast majority of their time in the gym resting — and preventing others from using the equipment productively. No one has a problem with a person actually exercising with the equipment; the problem arises when a person is not actually using it, and is preventing everybody else from using that equipment as well. And a rare few, will actually do supersets or supercycles in that manner — thinking that everybody else showed up just to watch him — just like the people in the media.

In this age of unlimited distractions and diversions, many people have extremely short attention spans — rendering them incapable of doing anything requiring a sustained and persistent effort — which is an absolute requirement in accomplishing anything of great skill and merit. Many just assume that they could — even they really wanted to, or had to — but that is seldom the actuality, and that is an important lesson and discipline in conditioning oneself for the better life. You find out what it really and actually takes — and not just wish it were so because of “magical thinking.” That never gets one there.

And all that is what one is doing in learning and conditioning oneself to be better — and the true meaning of fitness — for meeting all the challenges of life, and not simply doing any one thing — regardless of whether it is the right and appropriate thing to do at that moment. That is like polishing one’s nails while the house is burning down. That is the challenge of being human — of determining what is the right and appropriate response at that moment and circumstances, and not to get lost in all the distractions and entertainment, eating as much food as possible, or seeing how much they can lift before suffering an injury — needlessly.

Instead, one is trying to build up further reserves for even greater challenges — including just living longer in unprecedented good health — and not simply living longer in declining and poor health. That should be the challenge for everyone in the long term and not just the short term one-off. It only makes sense to live longer when one can do it in good health — rather than dragging down the rest of society to keep one alive one day longer. That’s not a calculus that makes any kind of sense.

So with one set of 50 repetitions, one can attain the intensity sufficient to stimulate long-term adjustment and growth — while sustaining it long enough for the body to recognize it must. And then when one achieves that intensity of stimulus, only one exhaustive workout per week is required, and the rest of the time is spent recovering and building up that recovery ability — rather than simply exhausting it for no good reason. The older one gets, the more precious those resources become — and not that one is burning off as many calories so that one can eat unlimited more, and waste as much time, energy and resources — as though that was an intelligent thing to do at any time, under any circumstances.

Making Time

 The value of exercise is that movement causes an increased circulatory effect at the joint actually moved — because a contraction causes compression of the residual fluid in the tissues which is inflammation — the source of all disease and aging. When those toxins are compressed out of the tissues, new blood and nutrients can enter — which produces health and growth. That is the reason why muscular contractions (exercise) are so beneficial — and not just for burning off (wasting) as many calories possible so one can eat more.

There is no problem in sitting or lying to do those exercises, because if when thinks about it, many movements can be done sitting or lying — however, all those considerations that people equate with exercise are also not important, like working up a sweat or raising one’s heart beat. There is no exercise or activity that will not raise the heart rate at least to the 60% of the theoretical maximum heart rate, which is the imminent danger of failure. However, because of the competitive nature in most thinking, many interpret the maximum heart rate to be the new minimum — while all the other skeletal/voluntary muscles remain as dormant as possible — often referred to as “cardio” — in that the only muscle contraction, is made faster, while the voluntary muscles continue to be unactivated as much as possible.

The real need is not for the heart to work increasingly harder — but for the skeletal/voluntary muscles to optimize those circulatory pathways in contracting at the most important organs of the body — which is the head, hands and feet — above all else, and don’t worry about the biceps and the six-pack. If the brain operating at its greatest capacity thinks that is what is necessary, then that is what it will do but usually it is far down the list of most important things to do, enable and optimize. It will choose to prioritize the blood flow to the brain — foremost, because that is the critical path of neuromuscular functioning. That is why humans have the largest brain in the animal kingdom, and with that, they have a grip that allows them to make tools, and unique feet that allows them upright locomotion — so they can see, hear, smell, taste the world around them more advantageously.

At least, that is what humans used to do, and the challenges they evolved for — which are almost unrecognizable in contemporary life. In fact, those are the areas most telling and indicative of the state of health — the pencil/turkey neck, the swollen hands and feet that haven’t been articulated in ages — which is the inflammation that exacerbates in the downward spiral of aging and disease. Those are the markers of those aging badly.

There is nothing inherently wrong with sitting or lying — or prohibitive for any exercise program. One simply moves what is normally never moved — but should have the highest priority and attention, and the bonus is that because a muscle contracts from its furthest insertion activated back to the origin — which then is inserted into the underlying proximal (supportive) muscle, it is quite possible with that understanding, to exercise all the muscles of the body beginning from those insertions at the extremities. But you see, modern life no longer requires those movements at those most critical organs and features of the body.

What that is doing is driving all that inflammation out of the tissues back towards the purifying/recycling organs at the center of the body — which is really the whole point — and nothing else. That creates the conditions for optimal functioning and health — and everything else, is an added bonus. That person is operating on all cylinders — and looks it.

Yoga is done while lying, and most of the weight-lifting machines are done seated — as well as the bicycles. The problem with the treadmills is that there is very little foot articulation, and virtually none at the wrists and head — which means that the circulation is being diverted to where there is actual movement, which is at the hip joint — but not to the greatest range of that possibility, and so many report feeling that the blood has pooled even more in their feet from their walk — and hands, even though their heart rate has increased.

That shouldn’t be the objective and concern, because while lying in a hospital bed and presumably dying, is a wonderful opportunity to reflect on what is most important in life to empower — and that would be first the brain, then the hands, and then the feet — and in doing that and really understanding the mind/body connection and the meaning of that, one can rethink what it means to survive and then function at one’s highest level.

With that understanding, one can exercise beneficially anytime, anywhere, under any conditions, with or without any equipment — making do and the most with what one has — or think of one reason after another, for why one can’t. That is the difference between those who do — and those who can’t. Circumstances will never be perfect enough to do what they need to do — and make the impossible seem more improbable with each attempt (repetition). Life is a practice — and that is how people become better at what they do, and are.

Is Exercise Necessary?

 A healthy life is movement (exercise) — so why would one not do it? Only if they were totally disabled — which would not be a healthy life. So to be healthy implies being all one can be — and that means exercising all their faculties fully. That is what life is all about. Does one think one could enjoy not moving, or never being able to move again — as some kind of nirvana?

But in order to ensure everything is still in good working order, one has to actually use those capacities — and not just imagine one still has them, or could access them easily. By then, it is usually lost forever — if one has never exercised them before. Those possibilities shrivel up and die — for lack of that stimulation that keeps those pathways alive.

So rather than exercise being the “extra-ordinary,” it should be regarded as the “ordinary,” and among the things one must do to maintain optimal health — like proper breathing, circulation, nutrition, elimination, hygiene, dress, balance, proportion, symmetry in all things. That’s not “extra” — so one can play video games all day while gorging on pizzas. Survival at the highest level of possibility is the objective of all life. It is the categorical imperative. The problem is that many make that hard rather than easy — and natural.

All that is not necessary — but some insist it is so — usually as part of their own money-making scheme. If people could listen to their own bodies and senses, then what would be the need for such “experts” to tell them what to think and how they feel?

Exercise is the expression of their capabilities; they don’t exist otherwise. We all have the same basic equipment as members of a species, but what some can do with them, is what they practice to be proficient at. If that is to look robust and healthy, that is what they do. There is that connection — and not just brains existing in space apart from their physical manifestations. A person capable of doing something, will look the part. That is the world of reality.

It is very important to know when a question is only theoretical — and has no basis in actuality. Exercise is the manifestation and embodiment of health — and doesn’t exist apart from it. But health is not the manifestation and embodiment of exercise — which is something else entirely, and why so many people go astray. In a cause and effect universe, we have to have the right order of things — which is lost in a world of correlation and coincidences as the ruling principle of that alternative universe. Correlation is not causation. Lives do not exist coincidentally to what one is doing, but is the direct result of what one is doing.