The Most Natural Exercise

 The problem with most exercise is that one is usually doing one thing over and over again — rather than all things the body is capable of — to keep it in working order. If one never does these things, then one doesn’t know what they are presently capable of — until one day, when they try to access that capability, realize it is no longer there, or might not have been as proficient as they imagined it to be. Thus the need to regularly exercise those capabilities to ensure that they are still there — and improve them if that is desired. One does not get better at anything by never finding out what their present capabilities are — and not practicing them to get better. The simple cliche is, “if you don’t use it, you lose it.” Or the more positive way to look at it, is just to practice what you want to get better at. Those are also good rules for life.

By that same wisdom, one also eliminates those activities one does not want to get better at — and are actually harmful — leading to injury and unnecessary risks. One doesn’t want to be doing things that predispose them to injury, danger, and even death — thinking that “whatever doesn’t kill them, will make them stronger.” The world doesn’t work that way — or won’t for long, and one of the reasons for any practice, is to live a long, healthy and prosperous life — and not flame out at every chance one gets — in a brief and precarious existence, usually filled with much toil and trouble.

So rather than everyone who takes up exercise thinking they have to become the world champion at it or it is a waste of time, energy and resources, the better approach is simply to realize that one won’t be at their momentary best at anything they do — without the proper warmup, or familiarization with their actual present capabilities — to have a fairly good idea of what they are capable of — regardless of the world record in that event. All they are trying to find out, is what they are capable of — and how it needs to improve for whatever task at hand.

Running may occasionally be appropriate — or jumping, swimming, lifting — but rather than becoming proficient at only one thing, the better strategy, is to be prepared to do anything — or as wide a range of movement and activities as one can reasonably expect to encounter — rather than the one thing practiced to the exclusion of everything else. The obvious example are those who only do the treadmill for hours on end — thinking in doing so, that one is exercising the entire body as represented by the heart — while letting all the other muscles and joints atrophy.

The heart has the least danger of atrophying — and in fact, the greater danger is the enlargement of the heart because it is the only muscle demanded to work harder and faster — while the greater mass of muscle remains immobilized. That is similarly true for cycling: one simple movement is repeated countless times — while the mass of muscles, remain immobilized — even to the extent that the blood supply (circulation) is cut off — by the constant, unvarying tension (contraction) in those muscles frequently causing numbness and nerve damage particularly to the hands and arms.

The remedy obviously is to articulate the movement at the wrists, elbows and shoulders — that vary the muscular state from contraction to relaxation — which restores the pumping effect of the muscles. That will not happen if the muscles remain constantly tense (contracted), or as in most sedentary people — unvaryingly flaccid — no matter how hard and fast the heart alone is working. The evolution of the circulatory system is that it works best when there is a pumping effect at the extremities of the body to work in conjunction with the pumping effect from the heart on out to the rest of the body. Those who complement that design and use, optimize the circulatory effect — which is why exercise works — to keep the body in top operating condition — and improve in its capabilities as evidenced by its growth and development. One does not need to fully understand that in order for it to work. Nature ensures that it will — through millions of years of design and testing.

All one has to do is not get in the way of that natural process and development. One may even have fanciful ideas that the way to make it work even better is to obstruct and impede that process — in the mistaken notion that the best action, is to do the opposite rather than the obvious. Not surprisingly, many people die prematurely, in addition to almost everyone experiencing injuries and calamities along this journey — and predictably, many abandon all efforts altogether — and resign themselves to that’s how life is, inevitably, for everyone — as the “aging” paradigm. But as many more live longer lives, it becomes apparent, that they are not all aging equally. A rare few actually seem to be getting better with age — or at least, aging better — because, and not despite, of all they are doing.

Some things make more sense than others — as well as being self-evident truths. So rather than being focused on the end-results of what one desires from exercise, one is best off not beginning with such presumptions and ambitions — but begin with no preconceptions of what one can do and find out upon awakening — as their warmup to each day. Then once they do that, they can forget about it for the rest of the day — as having met their requirement for getting into optimal operating condition — and go on with thee rest of life unbothered by the aches, pains and other limitations that prevent them from living their best lives from day to day.