Understanding Conditioning 2024

  Understanding Conditioning 2024

The most important exercise, is to understand what one is doing — and why they are doing it. The way exercise is usually taught, is just to do this and do that, and if you don’t like it, then you have to do more of it. So this conditioning is coercion rather than understanding — which is like getting a new toy, and rather than first reading the instructions for proper assembly and operation, one forces the parts together and destroys it in quick order — no matter how much force is applied.

The proper understanding of the human body is to note that the features that distinguish a human specimen from all the others — is the large brain, tool-manipulating grip, and feet that enables an upright posture. All human movements emphasize those functioning and expressions — whether they realize it or not. Some forms, have made it a deliberate study and discipline — which is the forerunner of health and healing (medicine).

Contemporary health issues often manifest at the extremities — where the circulation is poorest — as the most distant from the heart. However, the problem is not that the heart is not strong enough to push the fluids out to the extremities, as it is the muscles at the extremities do not help the heart in the circulatory process (function) by contracting in exercise to pump the blood out of the tissues that makes it easier for the always working heart to pump blood into that vacuum — which is the principle of fluid dynamics, or how fluid moves.  That's also how CPR works: you have to push the air out of the body, to allow atmospheric pressure (fresh air) to enter into that vacuum -- and simply blowing more air into an already filled lung, is not going to do much good.

The heart is only a one pound muscular organ — while the rest of the musculature is 40–50% of the total bodyweight in most people. So the purpose of any exercise should not be to work the heart harder and faster, but to make the rest of the musculature aid in more powerfully optimizing the circulation — particularly in inactive and poorly conditioned bodies in which the skeletal muscles are doing nothing especially useful or productive. In that case, an intelligent and insightful person would ask, what can I do to best enhance my health for all other purposes — and that would simply and obviously be, optimizing the circulation that rids the body of toxic waste products (inflammation) and in doing so, create space for new nutrients to enter and keep the body at its highest health.

Understanding that, one would further realize that the greatest priority for doing so, should be at the greatest assets at the head, hands, and feet — and that doing so, implies the circulation through the rest of the body to get there. But that is not the case, if the focus and objective is merely to make the heart work harder and faster, or to focus on the core muscles closest to the heart. That does not recognize that the weakness of the circulation is at the extremities that in time, becomes the dementia and atrophy of the neck muscles, the weakened grip, the unsteady gait and balance which are the characteristic markers of individuals in declining health.

Any and all amounts of making the heart work harder and faster, or developing the abdominals and glutes do not address those problems — directly and powerfully — and in all probability, diverts those resources from where they would do the most good. Unfortunately, that is the popular paradigm of exercise that naturally fails for most people — no matter how much time, energy and effort they put into it — because it is flawed not to do what is most urgent to do as the priority.

Those are the exercises generally not done — if favor of everything else, that makes much less sense to — and will predictably be abandoned when one could benefit from the proper understanding and exercise most urgently — and beyond that, assure their lifelong highest functioning as long as they live. But that understanding is usually jettisoned in favor of some product or service that is more commercially lucrative as the ticket to health.

For this reason, the ancients were closer to the truth than most modern advice and practices for lifelong health and functioning throughout — in their fragmentation and specialization of exercise equipment and practices that head in this wrong direction. What the ancient observers understood, was that the essential pathways and connections to the center of the body, was the health and functioning at the head, hands and feet — which evolved into reflexology, acupuncture, wing chun, dance, rhythm gymnastics, etc.

Those are the fine motor skills of life — rather than the gross. When individuals maintain those fine motor skills throughout life, they remain productive and capable throughout their lives — while those who only cultivate the gross motor skills, lose those fine motor abilities — and become less able to live independent and productive lives. That is the end-game — and not just the “15 minutes of fame” followed by a prolonged lifelong decline — as the familiar pattern of premature and largely unnecessary aging.

So when one observes that the neck muscles are atrophying, those are the muscles that must be engaged and activated specifically and directly — and not simply making the heart work harder and faster. That is also true for the deteriorating grip strength. One must activate and exercise those muscles specifically and directly — and not do more treadmilling or swimming — or anything else. The same is true for foot and balance problems. One must articulate the foot muscles — and not simply do more bench presses, deadlifts, squats or anything else — thinking to achieve the desired results.

The head, the hands, and the feet, are not simply stumps — used to punch, kick and head butt — but are the primary tools of human expression, functioning, and productivity — whether that be art, dance, writing, music, athletics, etc., but modern life has reduced much of those activities to simply watching television or a computer screen requiring very little movement — particularly of the head. Not surprisingly, the neck muscles atrophy — a sign that the circulation is very poor to those areas beyond that. The brain requires all the resources it can get — to take care of the rest of the body — autonomously (automatically) — just as the heart functions autonomously. That is not where the conscious effort should be applied to.

The conscious (voluntary) effort should be specifically and directly directed to where those movements and actions are not automatic and modern life has made unnecessary. That is where one makes the greatest difference in optimizing the circulation and ensures their greatest quality of life and functioning. Everything else is a diversion and distraction from that greatest purpose.

The Giant Swing

The Giant Swing

In the mid-80s, I ran across a very thin volume in which a doctor from the early 20th century, advised doing the Giant Swing — as a remedy for virtually every major human ill — and so it was hard to take him seriously — in an age of increasing specialization and fragmentation.

Each of the 20 chapters or so, described a health condition in two pages, for which the remedy was the exact same movement — which he called, The Giant Swing. It was kind of maddening to see the same simple exercise prescribed for all the major illnesses of the times — but I was used to hearing eccentric ideas regarding training — often from the inventors themselves, and kept an open mind as to how their insights concurred with actual observations and experiences.

As a still fairly young person, these answers seemed too easy and obvious — or “too good to be true,” that it is easy to assume that they must not be true — because we are conditioned to not believing our own senses but to rely on the “unquestionable authorities” who claim to do all the thinking for everyone henceforth — just because they thought of it first. But real science is always challenging authority — in a quest for a better understanding, and not merely accepting previous authorities as the end-all of what can be known — especially when it fails to solve our age-old problems.

At that point, we don’t stop looking and give up in despair that there can be a better solution and understanding, but find out ourselves what works and what doesn’t — even if only for ourselves. And then if it does, the secret will get out — even if suppressed, censored, edited out by the gatekeepers of information paid handsomely to maintain the status quo.

But the quest for truth and understanding, is a higher calling that eventually overwhelms the narrow self-aggrandizing interests — to lay the foundation for the next level of evolution, which requires the presence of a critical mass of population of first sufficient longevity, and secondly, the healthspan beyond that. Thus, simply a longer life, is not sufficient to define health, but health is now measured beyond mere survival. That sign, would be the ability to maintain their functioning, mobility, and competence to accomplish all the tasks to maintain independence and freedom in life. That is now the new standard for meaningful existence — and not simply the bare vital signs with no willful capacity.

On the other hand, one does not need to be setting world records for their age group — or in open competitions for that matter — to prove they are still viable, and merit living longer. It should be enough to provide for their own independent living — at increasing higher levels of competency. That is already plenty, and accomplished even by a few — including the young and more active. Only a few become wiser with age — while many more become older and simply fall apart increasingly, because they have no way of getting better. The many ways offered by the “experts,” require them to be highly-functioning, to become better, rather than starting from their present state of competency — even if it is barely detectable.

That is the basic level of responsiveness — where any sign of voluntary movement is indicative of the possibility of improvement. Everyone has days like that, and so what is of primary importance, is being able to raise oneself from the dead — as required, this one more time. Or if one doesn’t feel up to doing anything, anymore. The giant swing is a good way to get started — because the movement of the head relative to the torso, produces the alternation of the muscle contraction and relaxation at the neck, to enhance that flow to the most important organ of the human body. But without that specific flow, it doesn’t matter how fast and how hard the heart is working — because that is not the lack — but is the last thing one needs to worry about. But in most conventional exercise with their muddled and even backwards understanding of the value of exercise, they place the autonomic above the voluntary muscular action — which is certainly wrong thinking and wrong understanding of the human body.

There is a reason it is an autonomic (automatic) function and not that one has to reinvent millions of years of evolution because Nature got it wrong in providing so — in every living animal. But the voluntary muscular actions, is what every individual can do to enhance their present functioning, capabilities and development. That is simply inescapable common sense and self-evident truth — that any right-thinking individual can discover for themselves. But unfortunately, that is not how many learn anymore — thinking that the primary way of learning, is to ask somebody else for the truth of the matter. And if all the “experts” are aligned on one consensus, it doesn’t matter that it doesn’t work for anyone — and never will. They are in agreement on what the truth is — despite it being nonproductive and even ruinous for everyone — but they are the experts who will continue to be in charge as these problems get worse — without end.

But if one can simply perform the giant swing that ensures the enhancement of the blood flow primarily to the brain, and secondarily to the muscles (organs) of the torso, one can feel fairly confident that one is engaging enough of the total musculature beyond simply working the heart harder and faster — to do some real good. However, one still has to do that, and not merely think that that makes perfectly good sense — and knowing that alone without exercising that knowledge, is sufficient to obtain desirable results.

The giant swing is more commonly known as the torso twist while looking straight ahead, or the 360 degree head turn — requiring the engagement and activation of all the muscles of the body to achieve. 

Rising to the Challenges of Daily Living

 The chief benefit of all exercise is to direct all the energy and resources to the task (challenge) at hand — and maintain that capability all one’s life. So obviously, if one does not actually exercise that capability, one doesn’t know if one has it, nor the degree to which it can be recruited — momentarily, as needed. That is not dependent on free weights, machines, or any other apparatus — but is the mastery over one’s own body and its functioning. There is nothing magical about the equipment; the major ingredient is the understanding of the challenge and the individual’s response.

Muscles are the means by which we can change to accomplish any task and objective. We do that by contracting a muscle — or relaxing it to achieve the desired effect. When any movement is studied and observed beyond the distractions, we realize that those are the essentials that keep the body functioning optimally — regardless of the activity. Weight-training and machines isolate those movements — which can be performed productively without that equipment, and is probably the breakthrough that enables people to exercise throughout their lives — by DECREASING the resistance to such movements. That is the key to exercising in longevity. Not lifting more weights, but learning to produce those contractions and relaxations — without the resistance or need to accomplish any other extraneous work.

In that way, it is similar to a lot of athletic events that require minimal apparatus — like yoga, tai chi, dance, etc., that have become ritualized in its own way — and become a hindrance to the simplicity in effecting immediate health. It doesn’t take years of study and practice to produce a muscle contraction or relaxation. That is just what muscles do. But exercise (training) makes them do it better — but the capability is always there as the nature of the organ. The user guide is another matter entirely — and unfortunately many, if not all, come into the world having no idea what to do with it — although the child prodigies of movement have a huge head start in this mastery — just as they do in every other, and that is why one is advised throughout life, to discover who they are, and what they were born to do — as they will have great advantage in doing so.

But the simplicity of exercise is the understanding that if one increases the circulation to any organ or area, that maintains its health — as a priority over organs and areas not given that priority. Everything will not develop equally well just because it is the heart’s job to pump blood equally well to every part regardless. Preference is given to what one actually does — and not all one could do, but doesn’t. And that is many things. But in rising to the challenge of one’s own existence and environment, one is shaped in that way — to be more prolific at what one actually does. So it is not enough just to wish one had those formidable capabilities, but actually practice it enough to make it so.

But then we usually get lost in the activity and the competitions surrounding it — until much later in life when we wish we just had the ability to do what we used to do so easily — but took the erroneous path of making it more cumbersome and difficult, and eventually impossible and even injurious. We are encouraged to do so by those who would sell their products with the promise to restore those capabilities — whether it still makes sense to do so or not — as one now has trouble just getting out of bed, or out of a chair — and doesn’t think those are worthy challenges to master but are now their handicaps for life.

Then instructors and therapists will come along and advise them how to make those movements more difficult — to make the simple seem easier. But that just raises the bar higher, and what is indicated, is lowering the bar, so that they can actually do it — and do it easily, effortlessly, and gracefully. And as long as they can do that, then movement is their friend, and not their struggle — but it requires that simplicity of understanding, and not making it more complex and harder.

So the simplicity of movement is that it is effected by contracting a muscle or lengthening it — and the rhythmic alternation of those states, produces the same pumping effect as the heart does unfailingly until the day one dies. As important as its role and function, the heart is still a small organ of roughly one pound — supplying blood for a 100+ body, and the best and most healthful use for all the other muscles, is to assist the heart in pumping the blood out of the extremities at the head, hands and feet where circulation is poorest — back towards the center of the body for elimination, exchange and recycling — or the body simply accumulates those waste products as the inflammation and swelling that undermines this healthful process. That is the kind of exercise one needs in the extraordinary circumstances of outer space of deepest depths of the ocean — or simply getting out of bed each day ready to take on the challenges of one’s daily living.

Once a Week Higher-Intensity Gym Workouts

  If you work out intensely, then it won’t be possible to work out oftener than once a week. That is the general rule — or observation, because that all-out effort can only be done infrequently — and not every day — even by the best. It is like a professional or even college football player playing a big game every day. There is not enough recovery ability and psychic energy to do so on that frequency. If one did, then one would exhaust their recovery ability and regress —rather than progress — but far more common is becoming injured because the body cannot maintain that level of intensity for long — or frequently.

So that is lesson one in any athlete’s training — to discover that point that is not too little, or too much — and err on the side of too little, because one can always do a little more — but if one is too aggressive, is that they will injure themselves, and set them back for weeks — or forever, which is how many swear off exercise for the rest of their lives. You don’t want to be that guy —- that is the worst case scenario.

That’s why anybody who tells you they are training to failure everyday, on every set, doesn’t know what they are talking about — because even the greatest athletes know to pace themselves and peak at exactly the right moment — and then once that is achieved, many often go off the rails — and do all kinds of things they feel they have deprived themselves of to reach that peak condition in that right moment.

Most people however, just want to be in acceptable shape and condition all their lives — rather than the one moment of glory and then die prematurely — or become crippled for life. That greatly explains why a lot of these bodybuilding competitors die early — rather than being the paragons of health up to 100. And that really is the objective for most people — and not whether they can obtain maximal gains at any cost, no matter how briefly. With that in mind, one wants to know what is the sustainable pace of improvement throughout one’s life — rather than the one and done — and then we move on to the next impressive prodigy with short shelf life. We really want to be the first person to 100 who doesn’t look 100 — and not the person who is 100 who looks like they should be dead. Or even 60 for that matter.

The problem with a once a week intense workout is not that it is not productive, but that it produces extreme muscular soreness for the following week that seems to worsen even up to the fourth day and sometimes beyond after the workout, and then finally to show signs of recovery up to the day of one’s next weekly intense workout. So the problem is always that one is recovering from this extreme muscle soreness — that pains one to bend at most joints — if one does not do anything else for the whole week. And so the key breakthrough, was recovering from this extreme and debilitating muscle soreness, so that one can live an enjoyable life — rather than just being in recovery perpetually — even if that is what it takes to achieve maximum muscle growth in the fastest time possible.

Because the bigger objective — in all one does — is to achieve the most enjoyable life possible, and not just the one thing — and being healthy and highly functioning is more important than any single competition — at whatever cost. The wise strategy is finding out how much less one can do to achieve that same effect — rather than how much more one can do — which often results in less of that effect — or diminishing returns for more cost and effort. The medical expression is the smallest effective dose — and not the popular belief that if a little is good, than more must be better — infinitely.

So if one goes to the gym once a week and works out at any intensity, that is already good enough to keep them in the game — all their lives. You just don’t want to go to zero — by overdoing it and getting injured or burned out so that one swears off doing anything anymore for the rest of their life. That is the critical failure. But if one is going to the gym once a week and working out as hard as they want to, that puts them way ahead of most people — including a lot of people who do more — and then stop, because their regimen becomes too difficult to continue.

Lots of people recount how active and even prolific they used to be 20, 30, 40, 50 years ago — but haven’t done anything since — so what matters is what they still do now, and can do better. But a hundred times zero, is still zero. That is also true for 1,000% followed by zero. So the proper intensity, is what one can do — and continues to do — regularly. That is “regular” exercise. Then when one is exercising regularly, the next question to ask, is what is most beneficial to do?

For most people, that would be becoming good or better at what they already do — and not as the exercise experts would have them do — become good or better at what they never do otherwise. Yet that seems to be largely what the exercise experts teach — movements one would not even think to do — while ignoring the difficulties/or pain they are having at what they actually do.

Another word for intensity is “focus” — which means to concentrate one’s energy and efforts to the proper axis of attention — and not have it dissipated and scattered everywhere so one loses that central importance of what is being studied — and its causes and effects. Then one can measure its significance as cause and effect — rather than just being coincidental and correlated to anything — which may or may not be important. Correlation is the beginning and not the ending of one’s studies. Poor scientists and researchers seek to confirm their beliefs by eliminating all the information contrary to it — rather than proving a direct causal relationship in a random population sample.

The importance of that is that a principle will work on anybody and everybody — and not just on a highly motivated self-selected few — who may have very little in common with the average population. It may be that it only works for a special population sample — rather than being a universal truth. But one recognizes the truth that everybody is not indefatiguable — and must rest and recover to some degree greater than others. It is during those times that the body has the chance to get rid of the damage and build itself better — for the next time. But if the next time never comes, that response is extinguished — because the body has more important things to do than maintain a reserve that is never tapped.

As one gets older, they realize that resources are not unlimited but have to be diligently maintained in the best balance — with priority to whatever is most important to do. That with unquesttionably be to maintain the functioning and health of the extremities of the head, hands, and feet, where it is usually noted, that the circulation and development is the most compromised — as the telltale signs of aging. Perfect — because those alternating contractions and relaxations of the musculature of those organs, optimize the circulatory effect of the body — if one were designing the human body as a machine for optimal performance and functioning. Those movements can be performed anytime, anywhere, as needed — to enhance the recovery from the once a week intense workouts at the gym.

Exercising the Brain

  The value of all “physical” exercise is that it increases the flow of blood and nutrients to the part of the body actually exercised — by first ridding the body of accumulated toxins (inflammation) by those muscular contractions at the extremities. In a primitive healthy individual, that is an absolute requirement for survival (fitness) — because that survival is not guaranteed by others (society). Each individual has to provide wholly for themselves — because there is no 911 to call. Or by the time that help arrives, one has already perished. Those are the conditions that humans evolved in — and so those who survived, were best at doing so.

The distinctive features of the human body that place them above all the other creatures are the large brain, tool-making/using hand, and feet that allow for an upright position — so if anything, it would make the most sense to service those organs as the highest priority — because that takes care of the rest. Those are the organs one has the most control over —and can make the greatest impact — whether that is throwing a stone/spear, running, jumping, climbing, and of course, the brain directs it all. But even before that, the first task of the head, is to turn and direct one senses in the right direction. If nothing else, that tells the other — whether animal or human — that they are aware, and not just lost in their own thought — oblivious to everything happening around them.

Even predators notice this difference — and are likely to go after the prey most unaware of their presence than take on the fully attentive individual anticipating their every move. But it is not just enough to possess those capabilities — because one has to actually exercise them to do any good. That means turning one’s head to see whether a car is coming towards them — and it is not enough just to know that they shouldn’t be. That is true whether one is in a car or on a bike — and more important than how fast one’s heart is beating. That is automatic — but whether one turns his head to know that the car is coming and letting the car know that also in that movement — is a critically important accomplishment.

That frequently is the difference between life and death — and so it is a very important movement to practice and cultivate — and not just head fixed straight ahead thinking one can beat any other to that spot faster — if one simply ignores all else. So those head movements, are still critically important skills to ensure the optimal functioning of the brain and body — but contemporary lifestyles often take for granted as unnecessary or makes convenient not to.

Most people’s idea of “exercising the brain” therefore, consists of doing meaningless crossword puzzles or other such extraneous brain games — while ignoring the obvious and very visible fact that their neck muscles are atrophying — in what is called the “turkey neck,” or the “pencil neck” — despite having impressive biceps and “six-pack” abdominal development. That won’t prevent them from suffering the consequences of suboptimal blood flow to the brain — which is the whole point of CPR and basic first aid. Once the brain is gone, it doesn’t matter how many more years the heart can continue to function normally. And that is a major concern and problem in societies today.

In advanced ages surely, but less recognized, is that lack of optimal functioning and blood flow to the brain at any age and condition. I’ve even heard people who should know better, say that the head should not move — nor should one increase the blood flow to the brain — and then, that it makes no difference. Yet they will claim that we have to exercise the brain just like any other muscle — but without movement. If we did exercises for the muscles without movement, the results would predictably be nonproductive and obviously absurd. That lack of obvious movement is the very reason for their lack of muscular development and overall poor condition — because it is the contraction along with the alternating relaxation of the muscles in use, that actuates the flow — and not merely the wishing it would (mental exercise).

Why are the problematical parts of the body (the extremities) not regarded as the proof of the effectiveness of exercise (optimizing blood flow) — but rather, considered the exceptions to the rule for robust health? It should be obvious that that is how one would go about it — if selling machines and supplements were not the primary considerations. Does one really need to make the heart work harder and faster — or would it be better if the hands, feet and head movements were articulated to ensure optimal functioning of those organs as the highest priority and that would empower the rest — but not vice-versa.

That is to say that empowering the bicep first, would not lead to deciding that a better functioning brain would be desirable, but in empowering the brain first, it might decide that a stronger bicep might be advantageous — but not vice-versa. That is the hierarchy of human development — and critical path for determining the ultimate success of that individual. Everything else, is diverting energy and resources from this important work of the body — whether one is 70 or 7. That’s why any body fails — this failure to distinguish the significant from the diversions and distractions of contemporary life.

Beyond Resistance Training

  The calves, forearms and neck muscles are similar in that they are the muscles at the extremities of the body — that respond most to range of motion — rather than resistance. Added resistance merely decreases the range of motion. Regardless of the condition anybody is in, as soon as they turn their heads all the way to the left or right, the sternomastoid muscle of the neck contracts into prominence — whether one is obese or a body builder, but the people most likely to have a pleasing neck development, are the dancers — who cultivate that development — along with the movements of the hands and feet. It is typical for them to point their feet to be in line with their lower leg — while the typical range of movement for most people, is to barely move their feet from a right angle to the lower leg. It is that range of motion that accounts for the fuller development of the lower leg muscles — and adding more weight, further restricts foot movement.

That is the major argument against the thinking that simply adding more resistance to a movement, will produce a prodigious development — when in fact, for most people, just bodyweight alone is already too much weight for them to be able to raise fully on their toes. They may perform their calf raise on an elevation — and then only go up to slightly above a right angle to their lower leg — and then back down to the stretched position. And so their calf muscle doesn’t develop no matter how much weight they use, or how many reps they do — because they don’t do the most productive part of any exercise — which is the full contraction.

The magic of the full contraction is that it physically forces the blood and other fluids to be compressed out of those tissues — and upon relaxation, the heart can easily pump blow into those areas because the compression has created a vacuum that draws fresh nutrients in. A semi-contracted or semi-relaxed muscular state, which is how most people perform their weight-training exercises, does not produce that impactful flow caused by the difference in the greatest contraction alternated by the greatest relaxation — just as the heart works as a pump.

The ideal design for improving circulation, would be to have pumps at the furthest extremities of the body to pump the fluids back towards the heart — but the muscles of the body can voluntarily do that in many productive activities. Unfortunately, the modern paradigm eliminates that essential involvement and places it on the heart rate and core development — while ignoring the development of the essential movements and development of the neck, forearms and lower legs — which is totally backwards and why modern bodybuilders have grossly disproportional developments — that even Arnold finds disturbing.

That disproportionate development does not happen if one exercises from the extremities on in — because that is the natural evolutionary design. That is, the larger muscles develop to support the fine motor movements at the head, hands and feet — and not the larger muscles with no expression at the head, hands and feet — as many conditioning activities do. What is particularly noticeable in older physique competitors, is the glaring absence of lower leg, lower arm, and neck development — despite the overdevelopment of biceps and abdominals.

That is contrasted with the still formidable leg, arm and neck development seen in older ballet performers and teachers. If one does nothing else but develop the lower leg, lower arms, and neck, then the eye extrapolates that the rest of the musculature must be awesome — because it is so traditionally underdeveloped as a yardstick for that assessment. But more accurately, the impressive development of the extremities, implies the greater health of the supporting structures — but not vice-versa. That is, one can have a well developed core muscles — while still having a pencil neck, and pipestem forearms and calves — which is a common sight in many gyms. Aside from the aestethics, the common failure of most aging people, is the deterioration visible at the neck (face), hands and feet as the telltale signs of aging.

So the question one asks, is what allows for the greatest range of movement at the joint one wishes to develop? That would be to assume the Achilles tendon stretch against a wall or chair, and then raising the heel to achieve the greatest contraction (articulation) of that forward push off — rather than rising straight up with a weight on their shoulders because the spine is bearing most of the impact. That is true for most of the exercises one thinks they are doing for the development of the larger muscles of the body. The primary victim is the spine and its compression — often leading to back pain for the rest of their lives.

While the ballet dancers are impressive that they can stand on their toes, for the rest of us, if we can get into that position bearing no weight, or as little weight that allows that full range contraction, we can achieve the same effect. Arthur Jones noted that the strength curve between the fully relaxed position of a muscle to the fully contracted position varied greatly, but dismissed the observation that at the most extreme positions, further attempts to increase that range, produced its own unlimited resistance. If one thinks to increase that range of movement (flexibility), it is usually only in the relaxed position — and not the contracted position, where most simply rest in a bone-on-bone lockout — whether that is a squat, deadlift, bench press or standing press. To go into a hypercontracted position would cause the bar to come crashing down because it is so intense as to be unsustainable. But that is what we want to do with a lighter weight, and in many cases, no additional weight at all — which is what a supercontracted calf raise beginning from an Achilles tendon stretch would be.

That is very different than doing the calf raise off of blocks — starting with a maximum resistance. Then at best, one would only raise one’s feet to level before dropping back down into the lowered position. One has to find a way that they can get into the fully contracted, and even hypercontracted position — even without weights — because it is the range of movement that is paramount, and not the weight lifted for no meaningful change of muscular state that will induce the nutrients for growth. It is not the weight lifted, but the changes in the muscular state from full contraction to full relaxation that produces that flow that maintains and grows the body.

It’s not the lack of effort or resistance, but the lack of the proper understanding of what one is doing — and hoping to accomplish. Then when it makes perfectly good sense, one can’t help but do the right things — because it wouldn’t make sense to do otherwise.

Get Rid of the Inflammation

 Another word for "inflammation" is "swelling" -- which is the accumulation of toxins/waste products in the tissues -- which in the normally healthy body is directed back towards the filtering and purifying organs at the center of the body -- the liver, kidneys, lungs, etc., where it is eliminated and exchanged for fresh nutrients that keep the body alive and even growing.  That process can be impeded in many different ways -- including not eating the necessary nutrients, shallow or ineffective breathing, not producing the necessary muscular contractions that push those fluids (blood and lymphatic fluid) out of the tissues and back towards the center of the body for that recycling, etc.

Those are the conditions humans have evolved in for millions of years -- along with many other life forms.  Until very recently, such movements were required for the very survival of each individual, and favored the most productive in that manner.  Those who were incapable of rising to those occasions with the proper responses perished in those early days of survival.  The "fit" were those who survived.

But as human societies predominated, many more less abled could survive -- and other talents and abilities could flourish -- with even greater survival advantage.  That would be the emergence of strategic thinkers -- who could manage primitive societies into greater civilizations beyond just conquering the other tribe.  Larger synergies gave rise to cities that planned for larger populations to live in relative peace, harmony and cooperation -- we commonly call "teamwork" -- a vast improvement over the winner take all that could be easily overcome by many working in concert.

But individually, the individual human is also designed that way -- to work in concert with all the other parts of the organism -- and not one in primacy over all the others.  Even the brain is smart enough to know it cannot do it alone -- but wants all the parts working in synchrony --  doing the best it can to do what it has to do.  That is what Nature also intended -- and has honed to what it is today.

But sometimes things go out of whack -- and we witness or experience injury, disease and even death -- and that becomes the major preoccupation and challenge of our lives.  Thus many have risen to those challenges because their very existence depended on it -- in the many remarkable transformations that become legendary.  The proverbial "98 lb. weakling" who becomes the World's Strongest Man -- because if he didn't, he wouldn't be here today, or the child with rheumatoid arthritis who doctors pronounced would be crippled as an adult.

They refused to take those verdicts lying down but asked themselves what had they got to lose by continuing on their present path?  Only that certain fate that awaited them, so rejecting that, tried everything until something worked -- and not simply settle for a better explanation of why it wasn't working.  That is the common fallacy of most self-improvement regimens -- that they just have a fancier explanation for why things don't work, rather than a simple and obvious manifestation of what does work -- as self-evident truth.  That is the obvious truth of the present moment -- and must be proven in each subsequent moment rather than what so-called experts say -- and have no way of proving in this, or any other time in life and circumstances.

What most fail to observe is that muscle contractions compress the fluids in the tissues back towards the center -- which steady state muscular states do not.  That is the significance of alternating full contractions with full relaxations -- that mimic the heart movement in pumping blood out to the rest of the body.  The weakness of circulation is that there is no similar pump at the extremities pumping the fluids back towards the center -- which greatly optimizes the circulation in the body -- particularly in those areas that inflammation (swelling) is the problem.

The first resort is not medications to do so, but activating the muscle very deliberately to do so -- as the best thing one can do -- if that is their problem.  And if that is not a problem anymore, the body will have those conditions in which it can optimize its own health -- including for producing greater muscle growth and functioning.  That is the reason exercise works -- and even produces transformative miracles for those not doing it expressly for that reason.  They are simply doing the right things -- and Nature takes care of the rest.  That's how simple and direct life is.

The simplest explanation is the best -- and not the most complicated and complex.  That may win prizes at academic institutions but is not how the world works.  However, in this age of inflated egos and credentials, that's how some people think makes the world go around -- all that hot air creating a vacuum causing the world to spin.

Modern contemporary life doesn't require a lot of personal physical effort to sustain life anymore -- and as a result, many will manifest those shapes and conditions of unexercised specimens -- rather than be fully functional human beings capable of doing what they have to do.  If one hasn't done so before, there's no reason to believe one can do it -- until they actually try.  Many presume they just have those capabilities whether they've actually ever tried to put themselves in those positions -- and the body was not made not to work, but to actually work.

But one does not realize that until one actually finds that out -- by attempting to do so.  And if that first attempt is nowhere close (predictably), then one tries again -- and again -- until they have mastered the movement to achieve precisely the outcome they want with reasonable reliability.  A few will decide they wish to become the best at it -- and that is the basis for sport and competitive activities.  But that is not the driving force behind most practice to improve.  Their fundamental health may be much more urgent and important -- as a lifelong practice.  They want to be masters of their own life and health, and not just win prizes for their 15 minutes of fame and glory -- and not care what happens beyond that.

The challenge of these times is not just how long one can live, but the quality of that lifespan.  If that is good throughout, then one is prepared to go at one's best -- and the rest is beyond their control.  But what they can control, they are their own masters at -- and that is the organizational and driving force of their lives.  That is what they are -- and do -- all their lives, no matter how long.  That's also how they go out.

They don't sweat the small stuff.