Creating the Ultimate Stationary Bike

 Whether designing an exercise program for a world-class athlete -- or the senior, disabled, even terminal -- the most important consideration is the design of what it was meant to do, and how best to optimize that functioning, and with this understanding of what it was meant for, achieve its best performance and maintenance (health).

Without this proper understanding, any amount of effort is likely to be unproductive and discouraging -- rather than the key to health and vitality -- for as long as they live, and not that they suffer a catastrophic event or injury, and swear off exercise for the rest of their lives -- with predictably disastrous results.

Exercise is the process by which one keeps their body in its optimal health and functioning -- and with seniors particularly, we see the lifelong impacts of what they've done -- good, bad, and indifferent.  It doesn't take a rocket scientist or brain surgeon to see this.  Most people do in the ordinary course of their day.  It's obvious even to the untrained and unindoctrinated -- which people are healthy and which people are not -- and if they are predatory and exploitative, they select the least able as their targets -- rather than the most formidable.  One does not need to be a human to understand those differences.  Every form of life makes those distinctions -- because it is immensely advantageous to do so, and their very life may depend on it.

That is the importance of looking around and making those discriminations -- rather than thinking that nothing makes a difference -- or should, and the results are all the same no matter what one does.  That's not a prescription for success in anything one does.  The successful make it their practice to observe the relationship of one thing to every other -- and determine the critical path of cause and effects -- from all the other co-incidences, that may or may not be related, or significant.

Chief among these is the thinking that expenditure of energy accounts for the results -- when clearly, the master practitioners of every activity, are those who are the most economical and efficient -- rather than those who are the most profligate in their expenditures -- as though they will always have unlimited time, energy and resources to burn.  Understandably, it matters more, the older they get -- rather than thinking as the novice does -- that those considerations will always be unlimited, and even multiplied, the more one wastes of it.

The world doesn't work that way.  It wants to achieve maximum efficiency and economy of resources -- and the whole design of living organisms is to achieve that effect.  There is a reason muscles contract from the insertion at the distal (furthest) end towards the proximal (closest to the center) or origin of that muscle, which then is inserted into the insertion of the supporting (proximal) muscle -- all the way back to the origin of all the muscles at the center next to the heart -- so in that way and manner, the blood and fluids can return to the central organs that purify and recycle those waste products for the next cycle of circulation.

If that movement doesn't occur, then the body is overcome with accumulated waste products (inflammation) and one see the typical bloating at the extremities of the hands, feet and head -- experienced as the neuropathies, arthritis, dementias in those tissues before the others.  That's why exercise can be so effective at (re)moving them -- because that is what the muscle contractions do.  The contractions at the extremities push the blood (fluids) forcefully back towards the heart -- which the heart cannot do no matter how hard or fast it is forced to work.  That is not its job: its job is just to pump the blood out to the extremities -- but if the extremities do not contract to force the residual blood and fluids out beforehand, it cannot go into those tissues -- because that is not how the system is designed to work.

Recently, some exercise researchers have proclaimed that the calf muscles are the second "heart" of the body because it does that.  But that is a misnomer because the heart is a very specialized and dedicated muscle that can do only one thing -- contract fully and relax fully -- which is the action of a pump.  While the skeletal muscles allow one to run, jump, throw, bat, look around, etc., if it contracts fully alternated with a full relaxation for a sustained period of time, it too acts as a pump.

Most people have been conditioned to think that it is resistance that produces the contraction and the relaxation -- instead of more properly, the range of muscle contraction and relaxation achieved in moving any muscle around its axis of rotation -- regardless if there is any resistance.  The resistance then, is provided by attempting to increase the range of movement in the contracted position -- and the relaxed position -- otherwise one could move infinitely in any direction they desired, which only a rare few seem to be able to do.

Such full range movements are particularly important at the axes of the joints at the furthest extremity, because it means that that entire area is being cleared and creating space for new nutrients that provide all the necessary requirements for health and growth -- but first getting rid of the accumulated toxins that arise from metabolic processes in addition to an accelerated load produced in exercise that requires the break down of cells to release energy and waste products.  Thus one experiences muscle fatigue and resulting soreness at an accelerated pace in recovery.

The peculiarity of modern exercise design is to eliminate the movements at the extremities in favor of movement at the more central joints (axes) of the shoulder and hip girdle -- and so the accumulation of these waste products are likely to continue throughout one's life -- despite all the exercise they are apparently doing -- that merely works their heart harder and faster, and moderately more at the shoulder and hip axes where there is considerably less than full range of articulation at those joints -- which is the reason they can persist in such movements virtually indefinitely.  

A full, and even extreme contraction, alternated by a full, and even extreme relaxation, will cause the muscle to fatigue and fail in about 50 repetitions -- in virtually everyone.  That is true muscular failure as opposed to a premature cardiovascular failure which causes the trainee to stop because they are not breathing but actually holding their breath, or breathing so shallowly as to effectively not be breathing -- which like the heart, requires the fullest contraction, alternated with a full relaxation -- because that is the requirement of the branch-like structures of the lungs -- as well as the circulatory system (blood vessels).  Because of that specific structure, the old has to be expelled first, for the new to come in -- because that is the environment that life on this planet evolved in.  Nature will not allow a vacuum to persist in this ecosystem.

In ancient times, it was thought that the important part in breathing was to draw the air in -- rather than as we realized, the compression (contraction) creates a vacuum which Nature in the atmospheric pressure will fill.  But in the old understanding of breathing, one was instructed to blow more air into a lung that was already mostly full -- but since the air must follow a fixed and systematic pathway, the old air never gets out.  And so one was better off just eliminating the mouth to mouth breathing disrupting the chest compressions in Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) because chest compressions is the movement of air in and out he of the body (breathing) -- rather than trapping the air within the lungs -- which is counterproductive to what one hopes to be achieving.

So once we have a clear understanding of what is healthful and productive to the body, it is a simple matter of designing exercise to achieve those desirable effects. It is the full range articulation at the joints furthermost from the heart -- rather than closest to it that is the most healthful and productive -- which includes the critically important organs of the head, hands and feet which people famously fail at as the notable signs of aging specifically.  I suspect, for most, it does not matter that they can still finish a marathon -- if it looks like they should be dead -- or are in pretty good shape for a person who looks so old.

The reason they look so old is because of inadequate (suboptimal) blood flow to their most telling organs of the head, hands and feet -- in not addressing those problems directly -- and easily.  But it doesn't matter if one still has washboard abs or peaked biceps -- if the circulation from and to the most telling organs of the body, are not accounted for as the priority of where the circulation matters the most.  As for the heart, it doesn't need to be consciously programmed; it has evolved to work perfectly -- automatically.  

As a scientist, one tests the variables -- and not the constant -- and in that manner, knows how to make the biggest difference directly and expressly -- and not just hoping doing any ol' thing, will get them the desired results.

Manifesting Reality

 People are shocked to learn that with proper weight-training, they can see results immediately — but with improper weight-training, they might not see results ever — and so the key difference, is this “proper” weight-training — rather than time, or any other factor. In this case, “proper” is what causes this instant and immediate transformation. This is particularly true among the top bodybuilders/physique competitors — who all come in looking pretty athletic looking, but in pumping up, differentiate themselves. That is the unique gift of bodybuilders — but can be observed in the most untrained and out of condition people as well — once they know how to contract their muscles — to put themselves in the shape they want to be in.

The easiest illustration of this, is asking a person to turn their heads to the left as far as possible, and then back to the right as far as possible. With each extreme range of movement, the sternomastoid muscle on the side of the neck will pop out into prominence — usually best seen on the ballet dancers who invariably have their photos taken in that position — so they always look good. However, I’ve never seen it fail to manifest even in people in the worst condition — and is even more important for people who never move at all, and are perceived as ‘unresponsive.” Among such people, even the slightest movement would be encouraging — as a sign that they still are interacting with the world and those around them. Otherwise they sit like motionless statues all day, or lie in bed motionless and so have to even be turned over not to develop bed sores. And they can even live on for years in that manner.

That is the opposite end of the spectrum of movement and activities. But if you can get that person to turn their head all the way to the left, and all the way to the right, those resulting contractions are causing a flow into the head, and beyond seeing results from a workout, one is actually bringing one back to life — or in Biblical times, raising the dead. That is much more spectacular then losing weight and making a muscle.

Eventually, that is important for every one of us — but on the normal part of the life curve, muscles are the organs that produce change — from one state to another, and that alternation, is what produces blood and fluid flow — with the heart at the center, and the rest of the voluntary musculature at the extremities. While the heart is always likely to be working, it frequently is the case in contemporary life that one does not activate the muscles of the rest of the body — which is how the system was evolved to work, and provide for the health of that individual.

But the lack of movement, particularly at the axes (joints) of the neck, wrists, and ankles are the sites where the human body familarly breaks down first — as arthritis of the hands, feet, and brain (dementias) because of that poorest circulation there. That’s the simplest and most basic understanding of the body and movement. Movement enhances that flow — and so there is no movement at those critical axes, the body breaks down, or fails to develop properly and optimally. People who manifest “results,” are those who know how to effect those changes the best — including immediately in some action or transformation in appearance. This ability actually is observable in all animal species and forms.

More often than people suspect, just looking big and formidable might spare them the need to have to prove it in an actual fight — which saves a lot of wear and tear to fight only the battles that absolutely must be fought — and not as the juveniles do, by engaging in every push to establish their rank in the pecking order. That’s the connection we all still have to primal life. That is the survival of the fitness.

So that capacity to manifest instant results are part of the standard capabilities; unfortunately, most have never learned how to manifest these capabilities — rather than actually having lost it. That is one’s basic survival kit — and the importance of distinguishing proper (productive) exercise and improper (nonproductive — and even counterproductive) exercises and conditioning, That distinction makes a huge difference — manifesting instantly and immediately — as needed.

Being in shape is mainly a function of how well one can produce those changes — from as relaxed as possible, to as contracted as possible — to access the power to change. Many experts don’t manifest this ability — and so they claim it will require a few months to see any changes — when that is the whole nature of muscle — that it produces instant and immediate change. If it takes a year to see any change, probably nothing is happening — and is likely to remain that way for years to come. That is the plight of those who will never change — no matter what the results, or lack of them. Still, they will persist in believing they are doing everything “right” — despite not manifesting any difference, or change, and so predictably, they get discouraged — thinking exercise can’t work, although some have shown “results.” It should be obvious that they are not doing the same thing as that other person — although they may think they are.

Thus Arthur Jones created the Nautilus machines to ensure that all trainees were on the same page, “Foolproof,” he claimed. Those machines provided “variable resistance through the full range of movement around a single axis” — starting with his Pullover and then Hip and Back machine to focus movement at the hip and shoulder girdles. However, those movements only optimize the muscles up to those axes of rotation — but as age plays out, the atrophy and deterioration begins beyond those axes to the hands, feet, and head. You want to design movements for the axes of the extremities to benefit those vulnerabilities of the human body for a long, productive and healthy life.

Those changes are not a function of time — but a measure of doing the proper thing — like turning the head as far as one can. That immediately contracts the neck muscle — and the resistance at that point, is in increasing that range of possibility. The movement itself produces resistance — especially at the most important extremes — the beginning and the ending. That is what most people don’t do — preferring instead, a narrow midrange movement — even holding their breath to achieve it.

Some people have the ability to pump up to impressive size and appearance. That is a “result.” If there is a qualifier that it must be “permanent,” then no condition is. Life is always changing, and all we know is the present moment (now). Doing is manifesting reality.

Are Bodyweight Exercises as Good as Weights?

  The presumption most people make is to think that bodyweight is zero — when in fact, many beginning exercisers are obese or overweight, and so at a great disadvantage doing only bodyweight exercises. The simplest example is doing a pullup; nine out of ten untrained people cannot do even one pullup — and so that exercise becomes prohibitive to them. But also, nine out of ten of the world’s strongest men competitors also cannot do even one pullup.

So in that simple case, a bodyweight exercise of this type, would be useless to them. The great advantage of weight-training equipment is not that one can add more weight, but can adjust the weight DOWN in that movement to whatever their present weakness is — and build up their strength from there by doing the movement properly, rather than doing it improperly and dangerously from the get-go, and not only not getting any benefit from their exercise, but dramatically increasing their risk for serious injury, or even death.

A few people can do bodyweight exercises productively — because they are genetically gifted in that way. Those are the gymnasts who have exceptional builds for it — but they are not the average person. Those people have a greater than normal power to weight ratio — just like the dancers who can stand on their toes — but everybody else would break their toes or necks attempting to do so.

Those are the prodigies in every human activity, and why it is important for every individual to find out what they are designed and built for — to have this competitive advantage in their undertakings and life. Finding that out accurately and honestly, requires one to lower the bar to where they can perform such movements expertly — as many times as they have to, because it is the precision of form that is the mastery no matter what the resistance and circumstances.

That’s why the world champion lifters will start off with just the bar — and if they do that precisely, will go up in weight — but it is counterproductive just to slap on more weight doing who knows what, and wonder why an injury puts an end to that manner of training/activity. In weight-training, the most productive parts are the beginning and the ending positions — which are avoided by most trainees because that is the truly hard part to get right. That is the full relaxation changing into the full contraction — instead of maintaining a midrange contraction and leveraging the weight up and then letting gravity lower the weight down. We know gravity works very well.

But what we really wish to know — is the state of greatest muscular relaxation, and the state of greatest muscular contraction — that only the heart muscle must act in that way, and because of it, performs the critically important work of pumping blood out to the extremities. When the skeletal muscles act in that way, they pump the blood and fluids back towards the heart — and that rate of flow (effectiveness) is determined by the difference between the relaxed state and contracted state.

When lifting overly heavy weights (including one’s own bodyweight), the muscle has to maintain at least that level of contraction — and if there is no relaxation phase, the muscle will fail rather than persist indefinitely sufficient to complete a task. That is the value and manner of work — and not just one and done, in as sloppy a style as one can get away with. And though many will think it doesn’t matter precisely what one is doing, in everything, that is all that matters — and distinguishes success from failure.

Thus the importance of using as light a weight as one feels comfortable to enable relaxation — is that they can go into complete relaxation, and then extend the range of that movement beyond the normal limits of the bone on bone lockout — that also cannot be accessed unless the weight (resistance) is light enough to allow that extended range of movement. That is largely what differentiates the prodigy from everyone else — their range is unparalleled, rather than their effort. In fact, they make every movement seem easy and effortless — rather than looking as hard as possible. That is the way one is conditioning to be — all one’s life.

For that reason, bodyweight exercises are usually prohibitive — while extremely light weights allow the fullest range from contraction to relaxation — and why the eccentric contraction (lowering the weight slowly) will result in increasing muscle soreness — because thee muscle is not allowed to relax — but maintains its contraction while necessarily holding one’s breath. This does not allow work to be performed aerobically (with breathing), but causes premature failing of the cardiovascular system rather than a neuromuscular failure. That is, one stops because one no longer has sufficient air to continue — because one has disrupted the breathing pattern that allows air to move in and out as required/needed.

Competitive bodybuilders frequently pass out by maintaining constant contraction — which constricts breathing, and looks tense. Most physique photos are taken in this hyper-contracted state — whereas in earlier times, muscularity was expressed in the relaxed muscular state — as idealized in the sculpture of the ancient Romans and Greeks. Muscles convey this natural flow and development.

Understanding Flow

 There’s nothing magical about weights and equipment; the magic is in understanding how the body works — and not unceasingly more effort with the wrong understanding — in the thinking that brute force is what works. That is why things break — rather than work better.

So the critical understanding in why exercise works is that optimizing the circulation optimizes the health and functioning in every living being. In mammals that revolves around the constant pumping of the heart to effect the blow flow out to the extremities — but the problem then is that when the capillaries are already full (occupied), the heart cannot simply force the flow through. At that point, it requires the assistance of the muscles at the extremities to contract as the heart does — to effect the flow back towards the heart and central purifying/recycling organs of the body — and when it does that and then alternates a relaxation of those muscles, it has created space (vacuum) for the blood from the heart to enter with new nutrients for new growth. That is the reason muscles and their supporting systems grow, maintain, become healthier, and more proficient.

In the early days of evolution, life required movements to sustain life itself — but now with modern conveniences, it is quite possible for many people not to have to move at all — and so the blood and fluids don’t have these contractions that push the fluids out of the tissues — and so we see the common occurrence of inflammation (retained toxic waste products) that remain in the tissues and that buildup, destroys the nerves — in the peculiar neuropathies notable particularly at the extremities of the hands, feet, and head.

That commonly used to be called arthritis of the hands and feet, but also is noticeable in the atrophying of the neck muscles indicative of a reduced flow to the most critical part of the human body (the brain) — which most people think nothing can be done about it but to succumb to the inevitable aging process. In fact, when I pointed out this lack of head movement in those with dementias, I was told that the head can’t move — which of course is a huge part of the problem, because the head, hands and feet are made for moving — with its fine bones and intricate muscularity. That is what we don’t move in contemporary life — and why people come down with inflammatory diseases.

But the human is designed also with the capability to maintain and improve its health — by design. Muscles contract when the insertion (distal) of a muscle moves towards the origin (proximal) of that muscle — and never vice-versa, so that any contraction by its very design, will push the fluids in that muscle towards the heart and not away from it. But if one is only effecting that contraction at the shoulder girdle or the hip girdle, no contraction (movement) will take place beyond that axis of rotation (movement). That is why “cardio” will only make the heart work harder and faster — while doing nothing for any other muscle, and it shows in those who only do that, in the pipestem arms and legs, and pencil necks — no matter how much they cardio. The problem is not (never) that the heart is not working sufficiently hard — but the rest of the skeletal (voluntary) muscles are doing nothing — most, if not all the time.

The circulation is automatic at least to a minimal (life-sustaining) extent, but intentional and deliberate exercise (movement) at the furthest axes of the wrists, ankles, and neck — will optimize the flow to the most important and critical organs of the human body — and naturally have to develop the rest of the body in its natural predispositions and proportions — because nothing else is possible. That is not true of exercise and movements that immobilize those movements — and focus only on the heart, biceps, and abdominals.

While that is not so problematical with people in good health, it is nonproductive and even aggravates the problems of poor health — particularly in the senior, disabled and terminal populations. Having taught exercise from world class athletes to terminal, one notes that what works for the terminal, will also work for the world class athlete, but not vice-versa — because those are the general principles of physics and physiology that must work for everybody — and not just the exceptional one. That is the mistake all my friends made in designing exercise programs for the exceptional — rather than for everyone — beginning with what is most important to develop in every human being. And then beginning with this universal basics, the exceptional will rise above the crowd and display exceptional aptitude. That’s how it happens.

One will note that the furthest range of movement at the wrists, ankles, and neck — will engage and activate all the supporting muscle structures back towards the center of the body — along those meridians ending at what the ancient Chinese health practitioners called the “dantian.” Increasing the range of movement at the ankles, wrists, and neck triggers the supporting muscles back towards this center next to the heart where all the muscles are anchored. Understanding this interrelationship of all the muscles and how it is possible to effect a contraction in all or most of the muscles at once, is essential to obtaining the maximum benefits of circulation (movement), and how it can be practiced in outer space and other extraordinary conditions — because the conditions that keep one alive internally, are still intact.

The resistance is the fluid in the body — and that is what has to be moved, or life will cease. If it is optimized, then life and health will flourish — beyond the metrics by which it is often discussed, because beyond the weight, reps, distance, that is the bigger picture — over an entire lifetime, and not just the one moment of glory. So that is all one needs to understand to formulate their own effective and productive health regimen — effecting maximum contraction alternating with maximum relaxation so that the entirety of the muscular system works like the heart — rather than against it.