First Things First

  I had the good (mis)fortune to be diagnosed at a young age with childhood (rheumatoid) arthritis — for which the doctors said I would be crippled as an adult — “but then they could operate.” So I asked innocently if that would make me well — and the doctor replied facetiously, “No, but then they can operate.” So early on, I realized I was on my own — at least until I was old enough for them to “operate.”

When one is “old,” it does not much matter if one’s arthritis is the cause of being too young — or too old, because all one hopes for, is to be functioning at the highest level possible — all the rest of one’s days. Many of the greatest transformative legends began with such modest but realistic goals — just to be able to breathe without fearing one can’t. Two of them, Tommy Kono and George Eiferman, went from being scrawny asthmatics, to having strongman performances including blowing up hot water bottles til they burst — as well as being acclaimed as the most perfectly developed physical specimens of their time.

That was before everybody realized how effective exercise could be in producing such great results. But these original pioneers weren’t doing it for such spectacular results — but were starting to just get up to normal — and derived all the great benefits beyond. Those were the bodybuilding stories in the first half of the 20th century — before the hype took over, and everyone was sold to believe anybody could have similarly great results.

The truth of the matter was that nobody knew for certain who could and who couldn’t achieve such remarkable results — except by actually finding out for themselves — in the doing. In that way, they would remain grounded in their own reality — limitations and potential. That is all one can ask in life — that it is uniquely and personally their own experience — and not just the average as the truth of that endeavor for everyone. That is the primal lesson in life.

That is also what “science” is — testing out the truth of that matter for oneself, and not simply relying on the “experts” to tell them what the truth is — regardless of whether it works for them or not. And then if it doesn’t, the next question is to inquire why it didn’t — and refine a better solution. Otherwise, one is trapped in the conundrum of doing the same things over and over that doesn’t work — expecting a different result, no matter how fanciful the explanation. Therefore, the greatest motivator, is testing whether an idea works in the present reality — and not only after a year has passed. If it takes a year to manifest, you’re uncertain what worked — because a lot can happen in a year.

But if it manifests immediately, one can have more confidence that what one just did — is probably the reason for the difference (change.) The simplest and most direct understanding of the body and how it moves, is manifested at the extremities of the feet, hands and head — and as long as those organs are functioning well, the rest of the body is less important for ensuring lifelong health and functioning. As easy as it is to say, most older people lose their movement at these most distal joints — which defines the possibilities and limits of that functioning — including the arthritis at those joints and the brain fog at the head.

That is totally predictable and likely. But if such individuals do nothing else but keep their head, hands and feet looking youthful and fully functioning, there’s no easy way to tell how old such a person is — because the telltale markers are absent. That won’t change with more movement at the hip or shoulders — while remaining unmoving at the neck, wrists, and ankles. It is at those distal joints that movement has to be articulated — which implies the engagement of the supporting muscular structures — because that is how the body actually is designed to work — and not by short-circuiting the movement and circulation to the proximal structures — that does nothing, or very little for beyond that movement.

That is the most misunderstood part of exercise — that makes it far less effective and unproductive — but with the proper understanding of the whole design and objectives of the human body, the ultimate objectives can be achieved and manifested immediately. That goes for beginners or advanced — and puts everyone into the game — without the torturous path to it. You simply do what the body immediately needs and will benefit most by, and the body fills in the rest. Otherwise, the efforts and resources are diverted to the lower priority needs — at the expense of the higher. It’s like considering the brain alone. All things being equal, what would one choose to develop most? Then do it first.