Doing the Most Good -- Where it Most Matters

 Optimizing the circulatory effect is how the body keeps itself healthy and functioning — by getting rid of the metabolic waste products first — to produce space for the new nutrients. That’s why those who exercise produce better health and beyond that, enables prodigious growth. That should be the rudimentary understanding of life processes.

We recognize that in the ABCs of First Aid and CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation). If there is no circulation of the vital fluids, then that person will imminently die — and the first to go will be the brain — because it is critically dependent on the flow of oxygen to the brain — which is effected by pressure differences caused by the contraction (compression) of the chest and lungs. Then when that pressure is released the space (vacuum) created will allow the higher atmospheric pressure to enter — and those are the conditions all life forms have evolved in. That is the greater environment and context of life — that no theory, gimmick, nutritional supplement, exercise apparatus can overrule.

In speaking of “exercise” as being the fabled elixir of health and life, what is frequently overlooked is this importance of the circulation (flow) to the brain (head), hands and feet — resulting in those organs and areas being the first to go — in most aging and deteriorating people. Those are the obvious and most visible “markers” of the underlying health and vitality of any individual — whether there is range of movement at the axis of the joints at those furthest extremities — because they really imply the rest.

Whether throwing or hitting a baseball, tennis ball, basketball, etc., most people fail to note that the turning of the wrist determines the success of the outcome. Likewise, the success at running, jumping, climbing, etc., is determined by the range of movement at the ankle — and not the knee, hips, or heart. Those are more obvious, but much less noticed and apparent to most is that the head movement is critical to the functioning of all the head senses — requiring one to turn their head to place their eyes, ears and nose in the proper position to optimize their functioning and usefulness. That is how a person knows what is going on around them — and not from the information they get from screens and books — not requiring them to turn their heads for that information.

Thus the neck muscles famously atrophy for lack of that engagement and functioning — which affects its circulatory effectiveness — because that specific contraction of the neck muscles as seen in the most prolific performers, can no longer be taken for granted — but must be given the highest priority when it is understood how movement at that joint, directly determines the flow. Thus, no matter how much attention is given to maintaining and developing the biceps and the abdominal muscles, or even the heart (which is an autonomic function), the most critical organs of the human body will be the first to atrophy and deteriorate from this misplaced attention and effort — even diverting those resources away from where they would do the most good.

And thus we have the familiar pattern of aging and atrophying and the neck, hands and feet in most older people — even as they work their larger muscles more — at the hip and shoulder girdle, and sometimes not even that in the case of most cardio machines that require nothing from an upper body movement. It is then pure heart action — which is automatic and appropriate to whatever the voluntary muscles require — and doesn’t need this exclusive attention. The failure to move is occurring at the furthest extremities — which is the problem, and no amount of doing the wrong thing, will rectify or improve. It will in fact, make the imbalance and disproportion worse.

That is precisely the problem of older bodybuilders in competition. Most invariably have atrophied lower legs, lower arms, and pencil (dental floss) necks — which would not happen if they only developed their lower legs (calf), lower arms (forearms), and neck muscles because that development requires the development of all the muscles proximal to the center of the body — but doesn’t happen if the range of movement doesn’t extend beyond the movement at the shoulders or hips. Why a person would want to do that is the reason exercise becomes less effective as one ages — when properly conceived, it should be doing them the most good — where it most matters.