The King of Bodybuilding Exercises

  The King of Bodybuilding Exercises

Back in the “Golden era of Bodybuilding” — generally regarded as the 1950s-1960s — the most impressive distinguishing feature was the chest to waist differential achieved by alternating 20 repetitions of the breathing squat with 20 repetitions of the breathing pullover for up to 3 sets before moving on to anything else. At that point, it was even thought that any other exercises were unnecessary — because one could get so “pumped” up just with those two exercises — which is a condition not achieved by most contemporary training programs invariably using low repetitions with too heavy weights — while resting overlong between sets.

The major value of bodybuilding exercises is in the breathing — more than any other aspect. While many thoughts on breathing emphasize the physiology of breathing, what is fundamentally overlooked and ignored is the actual physics of breathing — or the laws that dictate the movement of air — in and out of the body, and once in the body, the movement of fluids within the body in the respiratory/circulatory process. That basic and simple law is that fluids (including gas) move from high pressure to low pressure — always, and that pressure is determined by the volume in which it is contained in. That is why artificial respiration works — by compressing the lungs and heart to produce that flow.

The most visible manifestation of that effect — is produced by the lying pullover. The chest volume expands as the arms are moved backwards, and compressed when the arms move forward — and there is no other movement that produces that extreme of articulation. That is simply what that movement does. Coupled with high repetition squats produces an enhanced requirement for that fullest articulation of the expansion and contraction of the lung function because there is no distraction to any other considerations. That is the breathing function as its purest — expansion and contraction.

Many primitive observations of the breathing movement believe that air movement is determined by the action of the diaphragm — which is only one of the walls that constitute the chest volume. Far more visible and apparent is the rise and fall of the chest — rather than the movement of the diaphragm in heavy, labored breathing. As such, that is why chest compressions are used in artificial respiration — rather than diaphragmic manipulation — if that were more essential for breathing.

But since the heart and lungs are contained within the chest cavity (volume), it is much more convenient to kill these two birds with one stone in the well-placed compression to the sternum — providing both respiration and circulation together — as the present state of the art in that understanding.

Many knowledgeable people have commented on the fact that today’s top competitive physiques do not have the same aesthetic appeal of those bodybuilders of a previous generation — particularly in the chest to waist ratio, and that some present day versions even look “pregnant,” or a bubble gut — because they don’t primarily try to achieve impresssive chest to waist differentials. They prefer to be big all-over — despite the well-established health marker that a waist circumference greater than 32″ is the greatest health risk of all, and if one is not engaging in exercise for this prime consideration, just what is the value of such exercise? — especially for health purposes?

The proven exercise that works is the lying pullover with a light weight that allows for full range of movement for at least 20 repetitions — and there is no downside to doing more — even if it doesn’t allow one to do anything else, or feel the need to. That’s why breathing is considered a practice of high regard in many venerable cultures — along with fasting. The latest state of the art science and medicine are rediscovering those two exercises as its own “Golden Age” of understanding of long-lost wisdom.

Often, the hardest thing to see is the obvious.