Weight training or Cardio?

 It is best to focus on weight training AND cardio for OVERALL fitness. You never know when you might need one or the other — and can adjust accordingly and appropriately. That is true for most of the real life situations one is likely to encounter — in every aspect of life. That is what we mean by “fitness” — being able to rise to the challenge of that particular instance, and not simply to go about our business no matter what. That is the very definition of “unfitness” — and one who is not long for this life, or basically doesn’t want to know what is going on. Instead, they will blissfully listen to their playlist and record for their Instagrams while the world is crumbling around them.

It is usually implied in these discussions that strength and stamina are two different qualities — rather than one and the same — dependent on a third variable, which is oxygen, or aerobic capacity. There is nothing inherently anaerobic in weight training; it can be done aerobically — which is at a rate that can be sustained indefinitely — as required. Otherwise, one does a single lift, and has no capacity for sustaining further efforts — just like running a 100 yard sprint. One can’t simply decide that they will run at that pace for a mile. It just cannot be sustained — at that level.

In most activities, one has to determine how much to leave in reserve — and not just exhaust oneself by the end of the first quarter. Championship teams have this ability to pace themselves properly for the entire duration of the game or effort; that means remaining in the game. It’s like going for a cross country bicycle ride: one can ride as fast as one can but after a mile, the legs have cramped up so severely nothing else is possible, but after a prolonged rest, they decide to slow down and see how much further they can go — and that becomes the cadence they know they can persist. That is not a formula but the trial and error of learning one’s actual capacities. That is what one is learning as one does it — and not that they’ve read some academic study — and so every outcome is assured, and then one just goes through the motions.

The best way to do cardio is by weight training because one is developing the rest of the musculature — and not just demanding the heart work harder, so one has an enlarged heart, and pipestem legs, arms, and neck — characteristic of a corpse. Hopefully, one is aiming to develop robustness obvious on sight — and not that we have to go to obscure measurements to know that for a fact.

Every effort raises the heart rate — but whether it produces meaningful and productive work is another matter entirely. As long as one is going to make the effort, they might as well build up the musculature — which is the storehouse of that capacity. Productive exercise in this sense is enhancing the flow (circulation) that builds by removing the waste products and providing nutrients by which cells grow and function well. That happens not because one wants it to — but is the very principle by which life works — and that makes a difference.

So when people say they exercise daily and get no results — that is not possible, because I’ve never seen it not work in anybody — training properly and effectively. Most of those people train improperly, and would be well-advised to seek out competent instruction — rather than continuing to do whatever they’re doing, which is usually playing with their phones — as their “exercise.” That’s what got them into the poor condition and shape they are — and will persist no matter what new theories they entertain. And that is what it is for them — merely more entertainment to waste their time, energy and money.

Even longtime exercisers are not immune from this — which they invariably attribute to “age,” rather than no longer doing it with the same attention they formerly gave to it — in their most productive years. If one compares the video of 50 years ago to how they train presently, it is quite obvious they are not doing the same thing — but now getting no results just like everybody else training in similar fashion. That’s not because they can’t lift heavy anymore, but because of noticeably restricted range of motion, inadequate repetitions, and overly generous rest periods recovering from improperly done movements.

If they’ve been conditioned to believe that the weight they are using is the most significant measure of productivity, they will think that anything less is unproductive — rather than realizing that the objective and measure, should be on the difference between the contraction and the relaxation as the indicator of flow — which is the given in how the heart works as an effective pump. It has to fully contract alternated by a full relaxation — but no voluntary (skeletal) muscle works that way unless consciously and deliberately worked that way. Otherwise, it will just remain at rest — and thus fluids will accumulate in the tissues — because of that lack of strong pumping action from the skeletal muscles. In some people, it is worse than others.

The remedy is not making the heart work harder and faster — but in producing similar pumping action at the extremities to optimize the circulation (circuit) by contracting (compressing) the residual fluids out first — so then the tireless heart, has space to pump the blood into with as little resistance possible. Otherwise, the stagnant fluid is the resistance — that prevents new nutrients from entering. In this way, weight training complements the work of the heart for its greatest effectiveness and health — and not that one OR the other is sufficient.

Age is No Excuse

 Age is No Excuse

Sarcopenia is described as muscle atrophy due to age — but nobody is getting younger with time, while many suffer muscle atrophy at any age — due to lack of the proper exercise. So sarcopenia explains nothing — while seeming to explain everything. That doesn’t do anybody any good — but makes a lot of self-styled “experts” very proud of themselves — for knowing something that doesn’t explain anything, or make any difference.

Even champion bodybuilders will explain their lack of present results due to age — rather than improper training methods. If methods work well, they prove themselves to be the exceptions — and not the same old things that aren’t working for everybody else — with a different explanation, or excuse. And then we just multiply the explanations and excuses — rather than find a way that actually works.

Many still think that the major rationale for exercising is simply to burn as many calories as possible — as though that were a good in itself. It’s also the reason people buy a car — thinking that the objective is to burn as much fuel as possible — or a bicycle for that matter. Then they wonder why they now have to deal with expensive repairs for excessive and premature wear — always missing the point. The objective of every effort, is to produce a desired result —and not simply, any results — that often leads to further problems and complications.

The expressed and intentional reason for exercise is to prevent malfunction and dysfunction as the primary objective — and not as an afterthought — after meeting the arbitrary objectives of random activity. A lot of people get lost in thinking that everything else but the deliberate intention to improve one’s health and functioning — is the greatest purpose, and not the competition and performance. That is to say that what matters is not doing it for the sake of any one else, but solely for one’s own benefit. Otherwise, one will stop doing it as soon as the instructor is not there to tell them to do it — for their approbation — which invariably happens as we get older, and are left to our own devices.

At that point, some people just fall apart and stop caring as soon as they are no longer the center of attention. That eventually happens to all of us — some sooner than later. The problem is not the health care system — but the self-care structure and environment each person builds throughout their entire lives. That’s the main difference between those who thrive in their later years, and those who disintegrate as soon as there is no one there to tell them what to do. That is the role of the coach, teacher, pastor, spouse, boss, or any other significant other — but the most significant, must be the individual themselves.

That is the importance of exercise and discipline; that is one’s categorical imperative — or basic drive and orientation in life. That makes the most difference. That’s what shows — in everything they do and are. There are no guarantees for eternal life and youth — but they do the best they can at every moment because they know the cause and effects, and not just the randomness of being. Those are two very different types of people: one believes that nothing matters, while the other believes that everything they think and do matters — and makes a difference.

It doesn’t matter what one can’t do — or no longer can do. What matters is what one can do — and does it, and the results are the proof that it works — or not. If not, one has to discover what does work — even if it takes the rest of their life. What more important thing is there to do — for oneself surely, but for everyone else as well. That’s how great discoveries are made — even if it was just to find out for oneself — the truth of the matter. One doesn’t know and then confirm what one already knows. No, they find out what they don’t know — but presume they do, as the fallacy for why it doesn’t work. It would be an easy thing to simply conclude, it doesn’t work so it must be age — and feel quite satisfied that one has explained everything there is to know.

But even now, a few people are emerging who are unlike everybody else we’ve seen before — not because they are young, but because they reach unprecedented levels of health — that even young people don’t achieve. So rather than age explaining everything, it really explains nothing — but we presume to know. It’s not just the longevity experts who are making these discoveries, but everyone manifesting it in their own lives — as the proof of what they know. That is how the new reality comes into being.