Thursday, September 11, 2014

Understanding Conditioning -- Volume Seven

Beginning Life All Over Again

It doesn't happen every day that one can begin life all over again -- which one should welcome rather than dread, and fear.  That is probably the great wisdom of life -- that one can always begin anew -- but only by dying to the old, and being reborn in the new.  We know that other forms of life make this metamorphosis -- to fully actualize their existences.

Probably one of the great distinctions of human life, is that we can do it often -- as many times as we choose to -- when we choose to embrace the wholly new.  Some people make a lifestyle of change, and adapting to change, while others will have an unbroken continuity of repeating the same patterns every year of their life -- and not think that it could ever be different.

They will think that life where they are is perfect, or paradise -- requiring no change forevermore -- which is not how we got here, or can ever expect to stay the same.  People don't change because they want to; they change because they have to -- for their continued viability and fullest Otherwise, they deteriorate and die, and refuse to change anymore, despite their present course not working.  That's why people grow old.  They make a critical decision, and refuse to change forevermore -- that kills them.

The obvious ones are the addictions that speed their decline and self-destruction.  Less obvious are the lifestyle habits -- of excessive consumption of what would ordinarily be healthful in moderation -- as eating, resting, thoughtful risk-taking.  

The milestones for a new beginning, are the rites of passages -- into adulthood, maturity and then seniority.  Those are the well-recognized opportunities for beginning life all over again -- that a few take full advantage of, while most refuse to make the leap.   They do not go on -- but fall by the wayside, to watch those who go on -- trek on to the promised land.

That is the story that has been repeated by every people -- since time immemorial. That is the history and evolution of humankind.  It is also the story of individuals -- and the difference they make in their own lives -- that changes the world.  It's not an abstraction or generalization, but the fact of every life, and what gives it meaning and significance -- the real choices people make and actualize.  That's what makes their life.

That is the significance of "retirement," that many dread -- thinking that it is just the continuation of the life they have lived up to now, but with less money.  However, they should have learned by then, how to live on less money -- as the wisdom of their lives, rather than as many still think, that they simply need more money -- and that they'll never have enough, because it is the thinking that makes it so, all things being equal.

That is how one knows one has grown wiser, and not just older; the wiser negates the older, and failing to do so, is what ages people.  That is the indisputable truth.  People who grow wiser, don't grow older -- but because they don't grow wiser, have to grow older.  Older and obsolescence doesn't just happen; it happens because we fail to grow wiser.  That is the hard truth to swallow -- and so we prefer to believe that growing old is inevitable.  We obviously, have not solved the right problem -- rightly.

The solution to a problem, is not the problem -- but the elimination of it -- totally.  Then one can move on -- rather than solve the same old problem, as the great nemesis of one's existence.  That is just the continuation of the old, and not beginning life wholly, freshly new -- because one realizes a much better life is possible that way.

 Your Health is Your Wealth

Health is not something separate from your life -- but is the summation of all one does and is.  There is no good health in spite of it.  There is good health, and good life, only because of it.

That is to say, that the way one is, is a direct result of what one does -- and not that there is no relationship between one's health and the way one lives it.  People have good lives, because they live good lives -- and have bad lives, because they live bad lives.  People who do bad things to their health, have health problems, and its many complications.

The obvious one is smoking; slightly less obvious, is overeating, and eating bad food choices, and not exercising to keep the body well-conditioned -- so that it can do the many things it might want to do -- instead of always explaining that one can't do that -- which eventually becomes everything.

How is a reasonable person to expect that their quality of life and activities will   be severely impacted and limited -- until finally, one needs an army of caregivers to do everything for them -- because one has long given up doing anything for oneself anymore, and think getting everybody else to do everything for them, is their seniority entitlement.  Those are choices people make to become less competent and able -- just as it is a healthy choice to become more competent and able.  

It is not the same -- whether one chooses to be healthier, or unhealthier.  Such choices matter profoundly, in everything one chooses to do -- in one's life.  It's not just health for health's sake, something only vain and arrogant people do.  It is what every intelligent being does -- choose to enhance their chances for survival, and beyond that, actualizing the greatest life one can live -- as the primary meaning and purpose of their lives.

All one has is a chance -- at life.  There are no guarantees and entitlements of the best life -- but one has a chance at it, and that is as much as one can hope for.  The rest is learning what makes life better, and what makes life worse, and choosing to make it better -- every day of one's life.  As soon as one stops doing that, than there is no reason or hope that things can get better -- because one doesn't no the difference, or care to know.

So things get worse -- and one has long forgotten how to make any difference in their lives -- which is their world.  And so they complain about the world not working -- and not just them -- who they think has no part in it.  They see the many ways to fail -- and no way to succeed.  That is their choice -- the way they see the world, as not working, and only getting worse.  

But obviously, the world is working, or there wouldn't be so many people in the world -- setting world records.  People get better, because it is in their DNA to get better -- unless they choose not to.  They sit on the banks and watch the rest of humanity cross the river because they've decided that they can't go on -- and they don't want to do anything about it.  They've lost the will to change.  They now demand that the whole world change for them.

One Thing Leads to Another


A lot of people are very discouraged by thinking of all the things they need to do -- that they never get around to doing anything at all -- and are exhausted and discouraged just thinking about it.

That's because they haven't prioritize what they need to do most -- and first, and the rest will follow from that.  But that doesn't happen just by doing anything -- or anything first.  One merely has to do the right thing first -- and from that, the next right thing will follow.

That right thing for humans, is increasing the blood flow to the brain -- and then the brain so empowered, will determine where the need is next.  And in that manner, one is soon operating at maximum capacity, firing on all cylinders -- rather than wondering why did one do that?  Then while one is trying to figure that out, their next moment of opportunity passes them by -- as all the mistakes, misgivings and regrets pile up -- and one feels lucky just to survive the day.

And the next day is no better -- but the same nightmare of not getting anything right.  One gets up, rushes into one crisis after another -- before the fog wears off and they have a glimpse of how they hoped the day would turn out -- very different from the mess they are already in, and have no way of getting out, but to hope that time will extricate them from that disaster.

And so people who have observed these things in people and themselves, establish a practice of getting their heads right -- before doing anything else, which often consists of prayer or meditation as the first thing they do to begin each day -- religiously!  But one doesn't have to live in a monastery to see the wisdom of turning on and connecting the mind (brain) to every other part of one's body -- as a daily ritual that makes their life work better. 

One doesn't have to do everything -- all at once, from the very beginning -- but doing the one thing almost nobody does before charging out in the world -- to save the world, is the biggest contribution anyone can make to the world -- and that is in achieving that clarity, before one attempts to do anything else.  It is much like the warmup we see every athlete do, before attempting their best -- rather than just randomly making as many attempts as possible -- often injuring themselves in that way.

That is obviously somebody who does not know what they are doing -- or care to.  Not surprisingly, their outcomes are not good -- though they complain loudly and endlessly about being cheated by the world in this way, and can never figure out what they are doing wrong -- of which they never question.  They will insist that they do everything right -- because they think they are doing everything important to do.

That is a lot like the exercise people do -- what they think is important to do, rather than what makes a difference in their lives and appearance -- that those who look healthy, are those who are healthy -- because they make themselves that way.  Even those who should know better, don't think such a thing is possible -- that what they do, is who they are -- because doing and being, have become disconnected in their minds.  That is not the world healthy people live in -- in which everything is related to everything else, and caused by everything else.

So changing one thing, already makes a difference -- leading to the next -- and not that one has to change everything, before one can change one thing, or anything -- which is how a lot of dysfunctional people think.  So when you asked them to change one thing, they tell you of all the things they cannot change -- as their reason, for doing nothing.  Everything is futile, doesn't make a difference, because they fail to distinguish what does -- before attempting anything.

That is what we call preparation -- before one does anything -- which makes the difference in the outcome.  We do that for very few things, when we should do it for everything we do.  The preparation rather than the single attempt, is what defines us -- even more than world (personal) records, because it is what we do all the time -- regardless of the consideration of success or failure.  It is simply the way we do things -- everything in our lives, and not just one or any other will see.  That is the truth of our existence, our being.  That is the life we live.

Saturday, April 5, 2014

Understanding Conditioning -- Volume Five


What 5% of the Effort, Produces 95% of the Results? 

My good friend Ken Leistner, (Dr. HIT) used to discuss and advocate how to put out 115% effort all the time -- in whatever one does, which seems to work while one is young and seems to have inexhaustible recovery ability, even as one was almost constantly injured and recovering from such enthusiasm -- but there eventually comes a time for all of us to realize that going to the well too many times and exhausting it, comes with the risk that one day, one might not recover, but then go into an irreversible decline until one's ultimate and inevitable death -- which is the old way of dying, rather than the new way of living.

We still see that mentality at work in the thinking that increasing stress, enables us to better tolerate it -- but only up to a point that it overwhelms us, and then destroys us -- because we don't have infinite ability to adapt and recovery, but will succumb as the more appropriate fate.  That is the reason, most traditional exercise and conditioning strategies and regimens, seems not to be effective in the mature human being -- and actually may wear them out faster, reducing their resiliency and recovery.

During the 80s, when many of my friends were well into their careers working with top athletes, and seeing what worked for that small unrepresentative population samples, I got sidetracked in working with the the disabled, elderly and terminal on the other extreme -- which posed a much more interesting question, of not what would work with the most gifted individuals in that respect -- but what would work even among the most hopeless individuals and conditions?

And that was the more important question to ask, as people do not remain young, competitive and combative all their lives, but eventually mature and mellow out, and "age" in that familiar pattern -- of not recovering from their efforts and battles, but then seem to enter into lifelong declines -- that seem irreversible -- despite one's even added determination to give even more to their efforts.  but the results are not forthcoming, as so they abandon those efforts, and give up thinking that anything works, and that life from here on out, is simply a losing proposition -- and they can no longer get ahead, except by deluding themselves into thinking that is so -- and then disappearing from public view as people do when in hopeless decline and deterioration to become mere shells of their former selves they want nobody to witness, as they can sense the horror of those reactions to seeing them -- and the pity it evokes.

That's quite a comedown from those formerly at the peak of their game -- now in rapid retreat from everything in life -- even their own images in the mirror.  The brief moment of glory, is no compensation for a lifelong decline and deterioration that stretches over many decades -- affecting all one does, and can no longer do, and is impaired and distressed at every moment in life.  So is there something one can do, some way one can train -- that keeps one at 95% of their fullest potential, and not 110% -- followed by lifelong, irreversible decline without recovery and respite?

That seems to be the much more valuable, and sensible question to ask.  What keeps one at 95% capacity most of the time, and the excess capacity untapped, goes to building one's margin of reserves and recovery ability -- for a lifetime of unintended challenges a full life will embrace?  It is important to exercise those limits, as the key to one's survival strategy -- and not routinely go beyond them thinking one grows invulnerable by doing so routinely -- losing sight of one's abilities in overestimating them on every occasion.  That's how fatal and debilitating accidents occur -- thinking one grows invulnerable to them, by risking them always.

Many are conditioned to those responses -- rather than fine-tuning the fine-lines that separates success from failure, and doom.  What is the margin of safety and reserve, one must maintain -- and actually increase, so as to enhance one's survival throughout a long life -- thrive, and prosper?  That is the obvious great frontier of these times -- as many live longer, but most don't do it on the terms they would like -- which would fundamentally revolutionize that stage of life, and make it truly a golden age.

"More" and "how much," seems to be the wrong approach -- because it is not working, no matter how insistent they are that what "works" at a young age, works for all ages, no matter what -- when the obvious truth of the matter is that it isn't working as one ages, because it is not the solution -- that fails in time, or there would be no problem -- and one could just continue to do what one has always done before, with the same great results -- but instead, one just gets injured, or dies prematurely, often in an unprecedented rapid decline.

So always a great question, has been what is sustainable for a long and prosperous lifetime -- and not just a one-shot deal that is as quickly extinguished, in every generation of newcomers willing to do anything for a brief moment in that glory and fame?  A few make it, but countless more merely perish -- in vain.  But more importantly, is the feeling that they are still improving, or just an utter failure, with no meaning and purpose of any improvement, and only increasing decline and despair that anything matters anymore -- but then one will just continue to go through the motions -- until one can't.  That's no way to live a life -- or to condition oneself to live.

Better Than Young
 
Is young the best that one can hope to be -- or is there something beyond that that makes the rest of life more meaningful -- otherwise, we are young just to grow old, and old just to long to be young again?

Each stage of life has its own challenges -- and merely wishing to be what one is not, is not a very intelligent way of meeting the challenges at any stage or conditions of life.  In fact, that is the very manner in which people become disconnected from their lives and the realities -- and choose to live in "another world" that others have an increasingly difficult time understanding why it is they are doing what they do.

That is the problem of thought and memory in preference and precedence to awareness of simply what is.  Instead, one superimposes what should be, or what they would like it to be, over how things actually are -- which is what is.  Many people's conditioning -- is entirely of that manner -- preferring to live in their worlds of delusions, fantasies and entertainment -- which robs them of the singleminded focus required to make the best of what they already have.

Always, despite what they have, they want more -- or different, and never what they already have -- and make the most of that.  And if that were not enough of a problem, they blame others, for not having what they want -- and as much of it as they want, while doing little, or nothing, with what they already have.

Not surprisingly, that is also the regard they have to their bodies, health and talent -- that is something only to be taken for granted, and that they should wish for something else -- a better body, features, being young again -- rather than being the best they can be -- at their present age.  The presumption is, that they already are -- but they've never given any thought to where they are, and why they are the way there are -- before wishing it were otherwise.

In order to get anywhere, one first has to know where one is presently, and not knowing that, it is meaningless to proceed along any journey, undertake any task -- and that is why the central feature of any map, is to tell you first where you are -- before telling you about the places you can go.

For that reason, the great advice of wise individuals throughout the ages, has been to Know Oneself -- otherwise, one can have all kinds of delusions about who one is, and what one thinks they are doing, and always, there will be great disappointments leading to greater disconnections from the simple realities of the present.  That has to be the clue to understanding why people do what they do -- even if it is killing them, and causing their problems -- that they just hope, somebody else will solve -- and it is never that the reason for their living, is to make the best of their own lives.

The media propaganda is often that that is not what we should be doing -- but only doing that for somebody else -- their family, their community, their country, and some vague notion of high ideals -- while thinking nothing, and doing nothing of simple acts of execution that actually matter, and make a difference.

They've lost touch with that essential connection -- and so it is not entirely surprising, that they become increasingly disconnected from their own bodies, and what is required to maintain their essential health and well-being -- and what they concern themselves with, have nothing at all to do with the task at hand, but is only a diversion and entertainment, from applying all that thought, energy and time, to what would make a great difference -- and that is a greater awareness of what things actually are -- and not just their wishful-thinking, of what they would like them to be.

That never works.

Life is Very Simple

However, many people think the objective in life, is to make it very complicated -- but life itself, is very simple.

the objective of every life, is to be the best you can be.  That doesn't mean being the best one can be for somebody else -- or by any other standards but only the best by one's own standards, and how one actualizes them.  That is the meaning of life for everyone -- how well they live up to their own best actualization of it.  It doesn't matter what most people do -- or what everybody else is doing -- as long as one is following one's own path of discovering their own best actualization of life.

That gives meaning to the survival of the fit -- and the fittest.  If one doesn't do it for themselves, then nobody else will do it better for them.  It is something each has to do for themselves -- as their calling in life -- beyond all the other concerns and problems of their daily living.  It might be a job, but it is much more than that.  It is their total being -- in everything they do.

And that is what conditioning ultimately is all about -- preparing one for those attempts to be one's best.  But many have never learned to think that way -- of being at their best, because they were convinced they didn't matter and had no competence to think about such things for themselves -- but should follow some master plan thought up by others -- who know better, or presume they do -- when even they have not thought about anything for themselves, but merely went along, because that's what everybody else was doing.  

But if one is lucky in life, one gets to actually think for oneself -- on the many things others offer to do one's thinking for them -- invariably for their own benefit/advantage, and not necessarily one's own.  That too, is what they believe, "everybody does."  And so one of the great quests in life, is to find those who point out the truth of the matter -- and not just because it is to their advantage to have everyone else think so -- and become confused on the difference.  They may start out knowing the difference, but with practice, end up believing their own lies -- as the truth, and find themselves powerless to abandon that path -- that they have invested and dedicated their lives to.

Because that would mean starting all over again -- which they believe is the worst thing that can happen to a successful person in life -- rather than realizing, that the truth is always beginning all over again, because it is not dependent on tradition and conformity to make it so, but can be proven by every individual, in their own lives.  It is not the truth, just because many, or "everybody" says so -- but can be discovered anew, by a fresh and simple mind.  That is the attentive mind capable of infinite learning -- because it has no preconceived notions, of what the truth is.  It is an unconditioned mind.

 How can we get the mind into that state of openness so that it can learn the truth?  That is why it is important in doing one's exercises -- to rest -- as much as it is, to put out a maximum effort -- because it is the movement from from one condition to the other, that is the power to change, and know that difference.

Most people's conditioning, is to do only one thing -- either to put out the effort, or maximize the relaxation -- and not move easily from one to the other, which is the power to change.  And so they are only reinforcing the way they are -- instead of being able to change, into whatever is appropriate and suitable to the challenge.  Sometimes maximum power is desired, but also recognizing when to yield in the face of much greater power, conveys greater survival value -- which even the "king of beasts," must often do, if they wish to remain so for long.  

One need look no further than the instruction of the heart -- to know that its effectiveness and value in life, is that it simply moves from one state of complete contraction to the state of complete relaxation -- and back relentlessly, as the optimal way every muscle can be conditioned to function, and endure.  In no case, would one want that muscle to fail -- yet that is what many think is desirable to do -- produce muscle failure, and fatigue -- rather relieve it!  That is what one one's conditioning should desire instead.  How does one condition one's muscles not to fail?  That is the question.

And the answer to that is very simple -- alternating a full contraction with a full relaxation -- rather than a constant effort until the muscle fails.  And then to completely relax until one recovers again -- to produce muscle failure again, etc.  But simply lowering a weight is not resting -- as most people think is true, whether doing a bench press or squat -- because one is still putting out effort enough to support that weight, or the weight will crush their chest or cause them to collapse.  

So essentially, they are maintaining a near maximum effort (contraction) throughout the duration of that set (exercise), and then require a prolonged rest period to recover before they often repeat those efforts -- instead of finding a way they can continue (prolong) the movement, by alternating the rest and contraction -- that requires them to take a much lighter weight that allows them to feel relaxed, while finding a way to attain a maximum contraction without using an overly heavy weight -- that has very little to do with a peak muscle contraction, but everything to do with a sustained muscle contraction until its inevitable failure.

And that is why the body (muscles) fail -- rather than succeed at remaining vital for the duration of one's long life -- even in those who were "successful" in that way for a brief time much younger in life.  They ultimately have to fail in that way.  Nothing else is possible -- in that manner of training.  So one has to devise a new (different) way of training that takes into account that insight -- which is a very obvious and simple thing to do.  That changes everything.

What Makes a Difference

As a person who has observed "exercise" all his life, one asks, what is one trying to do in all these movements -- and theories/explanations of what works best?

Why this particular movement, rather than something else?  What makes it "work?"  What fundamentally, is the objective of all movement?  And what is so important to move?

Many will say the weight -- or even the body -- but the only movement of significance and importance, is a particular blood molecule -- making the round trip from the heart, back to the heart -- and not being clogged/impeded somewhere along the journey.

The circulation process, is what keeps a body healthy and alive -- and not just one part of it, frequently at the expense of all the others.  That would be counterproductive, because the strength and integrity of any system (organism), is limited by its weakest link -- which is different in different individuals.  With Achilles, it was his heel, although he exhibited no other weakness; but that rupture was enough to immobilize all his other strengths.

And so it is with many people -- living today's contemporary life, that often do not actualize and engage all the parts of their bodies sufficiently -- to ensure a healthful (maximal) blood flow to all areas of their body -- to keep it functioning even at its lowest level, and thus succumbing to disease -- because it is not part of the healthful flow.  In order to achieve this, it is not necessary to increase the heart rate alone, but optimize the circulation -- by creating a circuit, with as complete a cycle of contraction and relaxation -- by which liquids and gases flow -- to the greatest extent possible.

And the greatest extent possible, is the furthest extremity to which blood can flow, before returning to the heart again.  That requires movement at that furthest extremity (joint) -- at the head, hands and feet -- where most people do not think to move, but rather focus on the relatively strong parts of the body -- which are not where the human body begins to fail, that is not obvious except to the most observant.

That's why hands hang limply, and feet barely articulate while walking, and head movement (and facial expressions) has all but ceased -- so as to make one a great danger in driving, and not being able to look around -- easily and routinely -- as the quintessential human movement.  One often makes the right moves, just because of that awareness -- of what is going on around them, requiring such moves.  Otherwise, one can only move by memory and thought -- rather than in response to real time exigencies, and such conditioning, has real survival value -- and not just arbitrarily doing what one has been conditioned to think is important to do -- whether it is appropriate or not.

That is the question in much of life -- one can become good at something that is not necessary to do (although one may win prizes at it), while ignoring those things that are important to do -- but think they have no time to do it, because they are so busy doing all those things -- that are not important and may even be counterproductive, or injurious to do.  It is no accident, that the leading cause of injuries, is people thinking that they are injury-proofing themselves against that possibility -- until they are inevitably injured, and can do it no more.

For unfortunately many, that is the end of all further activity, as they no longer want to risk the inevitable further injury -- while ignoring the many other ways around doing just that.  It is their very conditioning, that has taught them there is no other way but that -- and that is the variations on the theme that more pain and difficulty, is the answer.

They cannot think of an easier and better way -- because that has never been part of their conditioning (education) to think so.  Their entire education (conditioning) has only been to make everything harder, more difficult, more complicated -- as objectives in themselves, as though overcoming them, made that right.  To such people, anything easy and effective, seems to be wrong -- because it seems too good to be true, and therefore cannot be.

But the best things in life, are easy, and as straightforward as that.  That is the obvious and the logical -- rather than doing the opposite, which is the very definition of dysfunctionalLife wants to make it easy -- but one has to be conditioned to go with that flow, rather than to fight it at every opportunity -- making everything, and all their lives, very difficult, because their teachers tell them, that is how they must be -- in order to win their approval.

But as the years pass, those who have learned only that conditioning -- realize it doesn't take them very far past that education -- when they have to earn from their own lives and experiences, what actually works for them.  At that point, many already begin to lament that they are growing "old," and the world they were prepared (conditioned) for, is a constant frustration rather than fulfillment of everything they know and thought to be true.

But certainly, it should be easy to understand that only working one muscle of the body harder, faster and tirelessly, won't get the superior results of working all the muscles nominally -- which is really what is required to maintain peak physical condition and responsiveness throughout a long and versatile life -- capable of doing the many things, and not just the one.

 The Future Will Be Different

History doesn't just repeat itself -- as many unobservant people think.  Life is always changing, and never staying the same.  How that life changes, has not been predetermined -- but is the reason for our being and living -- and not despite all our efforts.  That is what makes lives meaningful -- and not simply the dysfunction and despair many think it is.

Human beings "age" when they fail to adapt -- but continue to make the same mistakes that aren't working, obviously -- and then think they always have to be that way.  And so their problems and difficulties become irresolvable -- rather than the focus of all their efforts -- to get better, to overcome their problems and difficulties.

But if one is always learning, trying new ways, and not just repeating the same ways that aren't working, there is a chance for an entirely different outcome than their present course.  Yet their conditioning and habits, makes them do the same things -- that aren't working, and that is their dying to each day and new opportunity for change.

That change of understanding, is the difficult part of conditioning -- not just for once, but for everyday of one's life -- and that is what keeps one young and vital, sensitive and responsive -- and when one no longer is that way, decline and deterioration will set in.  Life is the choices one must make.  Dying is the thinking that one no longer can make those choices that affect one vitally.  Many live that way -- their entire lives, and so that end, is unavoidable.

The future will be different, if one makes it different -- in the very thinking of it, but can never do so, thinking the same and simply repeating what one has always done before.  One doesn't improve by simply doing MORE of what one has done before, but in doing it BETTER, than they've ever done it before.

Thus it is the movement itself that is important, and not the resistance to such movement -- done increasingly badly, that one should not be reinforcing -- until ultimately one fails in the various ways -- injury, disinterest, and the lack of favorable results.  Conditioning doesn't have to be all those undesirable side-effects -- with little or no positive benefits.  Yet many will simply do what they have done before -- even without the hope of any improvement, simply because that is their conditioning -- to simply repeat regardless of the outcome.

One can be conditioning wrongly, as well as rightly, and not that any and all conditioning, is good.  Obviously, that is not true -- and that is the difference one experiences in the world and life.  So first, it is important to discern and discriminate such differences, rather than follow the advice of those who do not know what they are talking about, except to claim to be the "experts" on such matters.

Inevitably, we find out that they have no idea of what they are talking about -- despite repeating it mindlessly all their lives.  They've never questioned that authority -- as their condtioning -- to get beyond to the truth of that matter, and find out it can be different from the only way they've been told, and unfortunately taught, by poor teachers and the culture of those environments.

They go on that way until it is "too late," and they can no longer change.  They are simply resigned to their fate -- that they can no longer get better, but now and forever more, can only get hopelessly worse.  So while one is young, or at any time in one's life, one must recondition oneself to the thinking that one can change -- fundamentally and thorougly, and not just the hope that they can change only one thing, while everything else remains the same.  That is not how change works; real change, changes everything -- so much so, that one doesn't have to change everything.  It produces its own momentum and life of its own.

But most people don't want real change, or change enough, to produce such a profound movement -- and that doing, is their very being -- the form they express and exude, and not simply how they wish it were different.  If one is observant in the gyms, and in the schools, and in all the activities of life, one sees these forms manifested in all the behaviors as well as the forms they take.  Form confirms function.  What one sees, is what one expects.

So if one can see without these preconceptions of what they think they are doing, one sees the truth of the matter, of simply what is happening -- and not just the propaganda of what they think they are doing.  Those are the few that break through in any field of activity -- to attain the truth beyond, and that is what is important, and serves them well all their lives -- regardless of the field of their specialization.  That is the universal truth recognized in all.  That is what rings true.

Otherwise, one thinks there is a different truth for every different occasion, even if it seems totally at variance with every other truth one has learned in life -- and so only the different experts in such fields, can know that.  But the truth is not like that.  It is recognizable to those who haven't been indoctrinated in all that propaganda to accept it wholly.  It can be recognized in any part of it -- because the truth is always in the whole, and never in the half-.

But many say, "I'm not ready for the whole truth, tell me just the half-."  And so what they know, is a collection of half-truths, not adding up to any whole -- and so nothing makes sense, or is expected to.  They simply repeat what they have always done before.

And thus they age -- badly.  

Making the Most of What One Already Has

Most people think that all their problems will be solved if they just had "More" -- of anything and everything, never realizing it could be a double-edged sword that is killing them.  Thus despite being morbidly obese, they think they need even more food -- and more time sitting and watching tv -- as the answer to their problem, if they even realize they have a problem.  

Many don't -- and think it is everyone else who has a problem, while they are as perfect as one can imagine themselves being.  To remain in such company, requires one to distort all their other perceptions, in order to comply with their insistence that they are the only one who is normal, and there is something wrong with everything else in the world.

At that point, many people move on -- because of the tremendous drain of energies required to support, and be supportive of such a world view -- in the light of everything else saying "It just isn't so."  So in order to maintain such illusions and delusions, such societies and circles have to become more exclusive, eventually and inevitably isolating such individuals from the joy of shared experiences and fullest participation that is the hallmark of life in society and civilization.  

Among the old, they may no longer have any contact with anyone else anymore -- except for an army of professional caregivers to enable them in their stubbornness to live life their way -- on their own terms, without any acknowledgment or compromise with any other reality -- because now that they are old (senior), it's "their way or the highway" for everybody else, because one thing for certain, is that they will not change -- for anybody else, but even more importantly, for themselves who stand to benefit the most from doing so.

Unfortunately, one observes many lives being lived that way -- apart and insensitive to what is actually going on in the world -- always as a war of that individual, with everyone and everything else in the world.  That is the conditioning they've assimilated, which makes everything they do into a battle, and unnecessarily a hassle -- in everything they do, and so of course they are worn out and beaten down way before their time.

That is the obvious difference between successful living -- and unsuccessful living, which prematurely ages one.  Most people are not just innocent bystanders in the outcomes of their lives.  Everything they do, has made it so.  When one realizes that, then everything one does, takes on a tremendous significance -- and will not say that nothing matters anymore, or can make a difference -- because everything that individual does, makes a difference.  

That is more than just wishful-thinking -- but in seeing the connection, between one thing, and everything else -- and recognizing that it is the proper balance of one thing to every other, that is the proper relationship (ratio), that makes things work -- or fail, and not just indiscriminately "more."  That rarely solves anything, much less the problem one thinks that is the solution for -- and so despite their "more" effort, sweat and pain, the results are not forthcoming, or obvious -- to anyone else.

That is the difference between those who are changing (improving), and those who aren't -- it is strikingly evident to everyone else as well -- and not just one's private fantasy and delusions that they have in fact, conquered the entire world, and now the universe -- while everyone else is deluded, in not agreeing that that is so.  Quite commonly in fact, one threatens to do bodily harm to any and all who do not agree with what they are telling them -- as proof of those truths.  It may be to drop down and give them 20 pushups to show their obeisance and compliance with that as the unquestioned truth.

That is conformance to authority -- and not the truth, that doesn't require the suspension of every other truth to consider.  In fact, every other truth and authentic experience, will conform and confirm the new -- if it is valid.  It is not just a learned and remembered truth -- having no validity in fact and experience -- which so much thinking and writing is about.

The critical faculties of the human body are contained and effected at the extremities -- where the senses are acute for those purposes -- but most lose that sensitivity rather than hone them, largely through disuse, neglect, and taking them for granted that they don't need to be maintained, nor can they be improved.  Yet that is what is most important to improve, as milestones for the measure of quality of life -- which is the bottom line in every human life and experience.

The quality, implies the right quantity -- while no gross amount of quantity, can ensure quality.  It doesn't matter how much of the wrong thing one does; they will not get the right result -- that even a very little of the right thing, will.  That is what one should understand before doing anything -- and not just think that doing anything, is sufficient to get the right result.  The world doesn't work that way.  One should pay attention and observe, listen, and when the understanding is clear and complete, then it produces its own right action -- and not that one has to try something extraordinary to achieve it. 

But no amount of not paying attention, not observing, and not listening -- will do them any good.

Sustaining Lifelong Growth

 Life seems to be great -- as long as we are growing and have our whole lives ahead of us; it becomes less so, when we feel that growth is behind us, and every day now just evidences further decline -- until we are no more.

Even the great world champions, begin to experience this decline beginning around 30, and in some activities, one is considered "old," if one is 20 -- and isn't the world champion, or is no longer the world champion.  It's not the end of the world, but the end of that lifespan for that involvement in that activity -- and they have to be prepared to move on to the next phase and challenges of their lives.  They cannot just remain -- doing what they've always done before, and expect to remain on top -- forever, even by their own standards.

But those are the things one learns in life -- to grow more fully, and redefine life throughout the stages -- and varying challenges.  For most these days, that is a rapidly changing and evolving world -- and keeping up with it as our greatest challenge, which doesn't mean just keeping up with the young -- but the whole of life, in all their challenges.  Then, it is not so much that one is no longer young, but that one is no longer only young, but conscious of being middle-aged, and even old too -- so one is all of life, and not just the young -- or the old.

That is what the young must do -- but also the old, if they are to remain vital and relevant -- and part of the game of life, and not just a victim in the game of death.  For most, that means learning to do what we've never done before -- and not simply doing what we've always done before.  That latter, is really a sign of stagnation, which is decline and death in a always-changing world.  Still, some will insist, that the world never changes -- but always stays the same, because they refuse to grow in their outlook and consciousness of what is going on beyond their own thoughts and memories.

Such people then, willingly cut themselves off from the vital flow of life and change -- so it is not surprising that they are no longer vital, responsive human beings -- but are forevermore, battling only the demons of their own mind -- which everyone else, can only guess what that might be.  They are no longer inhabiting and responding to the world that most healthy, "aware" people distinguish their facility at.  That is what is meaningful and relevant to others -- and bonds them with the universal humanity and common purpose.

On the playing field or in the workout, high levels of performance frequently results in overtraining and burnout -- because one has been successful at obtaining their training objectives -- and that is to become more efficient and effective at what they are doing, and thus doing the same or more, becomes too much.  That is not an indication that one needs to train more, but actually less -- and with that decreased frequency, duration and load -- one will experience unforeseen resumption in growth, rather than the familiar stagnation leading to burnout, injury, indifference.

That indifference, is always the beginning of the end -- because it is not caring, and no longer thinking their actions make a difference, so they become increasingly random and erratic -- because it doesn't matter.  Eventually, it doesn't matter so much, that one has to have others care about these things for them -- rather than that is what healthy human beings do.

In this, as with anything else in life, the greatest difference, is the difference between zero and one -- and not one and any other higher number, so not surprisingly, what is the minimum frequency of stimulus required to be considered "regularly" occurring -- and that would be one per cycle, whether that is daily, weekly, or monthly, etc.  Zero, on the other hand, cannot be detected, or measured.  That is the difference that one has to be capable of expressing -- fully and definitively -- as the vital signs of life, and beyond that, viability and proficiency at whatever one does, and still attempts to do.

These are vitally important considerations, but particularly when one reaches a stage in life when there is nobody else to tell them what to do anymore -- either when one has reached the top, or the highest seniority -- which is to be in full control of one's own life.  That is the greatest responsibility and challenge of every individual existence -- to finally get to the day when one is pulling one's own strings, determining their own fate, and not just being a pawn in everybody else's game.

That is what it means to have fully arrived -- at being the person one is.  One is self-defined, and not simply defined by everyone else's agendas, self-promotions and manipulations.  What then does one do?  That is what it means to be the world champion of being who you are -- and it is that realization and attitude, that makes lifelong growth sustainable and possible -- more than the rules, of what everyone ought to be doing.

One's own doing, is proof that it can be done.

To Be One's Best

The only real reason for "exercise" (practice), is to prepare one to do their best -- in the many activities that humans do, including all those daily activities many think are not important -- and to do well, which of course, forms the base for all their subsequent thoughts and efforts.

It is like the preparations athletes do preparatory to making a personal or world record attempt.  The preparation brings them to that point -- and not that they can just jump out of bed, and can perform their best "in their sleep."  In fact, many great athletes have to do extensive periods of warm-up, just to feel "normal" again -- recovering from a previous day's hard "practice," from which it may ache, just to move at all.

Therefore, one must have a way of at least getting back to normal -- let alone attempting one's best.  Many just abandon any notions that they should be even considering their best-- as the worst is all they have come to expect anymore, and are just grateful for modern medicine for the extraordinary efforts that keep them alive -- though in a hopeless deteriorating and terminal condition.  That is what they consider normal "aging," rather than premature aging that their lifestyle and behaviors condemn them to. 

Heretofore, that has been considered normal -- and deviations from that normal, impossible and incredulous.  Thus the thinking that anybody who doesn't exhibit those signs of premature aging (wear and tear), must be because they are rich and can afford endless plastic surgeries to remain so -- rather than that lifelong health, is as nature intended.

Injury and disease, is the way of maintaining the natural balance of ensuring the fitness of a species -- in challenging each to deal with those, and eventually learning to avoid those hazards -- while still maintaining a viable and engaging life.  As such, life always hangs in the balance -- requiring constant adjustment and improvement to better prepare oneself for even greater challenges.  Obviously, that won't simply be doing the same things one always has done before -- but evolving to meet higher levels of challenge -- that is the trigger for growth.

People don't grow because they want to; they grow because they have to -- because they have little control over how those challenges may come.  It could be wars, floods, famines, mechanical failures, human error, as well as congenital conditions, etc. -- the determines the course of one's life -- in their responses to them.  

Sometimes it is appropriate and beneficial to meet force with a greater force -- unless that force is a speeding train, of which no amount of great human strength is going to overcome -- and one must be nimble and quick, and preferably not in the position of vulnerability in the first place.  As always, the response must be total -- balancing the options on many planes, and not just the singular consideration of applying more force or less -- on a single track, of a one-track mind incapable of shifting to any other perspective.

That puts them at a tremendous disadvantage -- in resolving the many challenges of life -- especially if their own response, is one that makes the problem grow larger.  That would be the case of one taking increasingly greater risks, leaving no margin for error, instead of increasing their margins for safety -- and error, because that has more advantages for survival, and that is what fitness is ultimately all about -- increasing one's survival advantage, and beyond that, to live an evermore fulfilling life.

For life to get better, it has to begin on the most basic level -- of how one shifts from sleep, to one's greatest level of responsiveness -- and not that everyone can hit the ground running at top speed and greatest awareness as soon as they get out of bed.  It may even take a while to even get out of bed -- as many with arthritis and other crippling conditions, have known all their lives.  Most, however, cannot shift out of that condition -- but remain so all the rest of the day -- that becomes the totality of all their days.

That is fundamentally the challenge of change -- shifting from one state to quite another -- and that ability, carries over to the many other challenges one encounters in their day and lives.  Not to think that is possible, is quite a depressing prospect and prognosis for one's future -- and the cause of hopelessness in the present.  So one asks, what is the smallest increment of change one can effect?  That is what is meant by the journey beginning with a single step -- and not the despair of thinking one can make a difference without ever taking a single step.

So they think that somebody else will cure them -- or make them better -- and not that that is the primary task of every individual to do for themselves, using the knowledge and tools of the collective human experience and intelligence.  One's uniquely own understanding and contribution, is the summation and integration of all previous human experience actualized in their "reality."

That is who "we" are.  We are what we actually do -- and not what we want everyone else to believe we are.   The condition we are in, makes that obvious to everyone else -- particularly to those taking in all the information.  Some people are just listening to the words -- and if they seem familiar.  But that is seldom the whole truth.

To take in the most information, one has to heighten their senses of what is going on -- as perceived by the organs at the head, hands and feet -- which have evolved for those purposes, as well as to express a response.  That doesn't just happen because one's vital signs are in order.  Those end responses and expressions, are the very meaning of every movement and behavior -- and not that life is meaningful just in prolonging the heart beat and breathing for as long as possible, while ignoring those cognitive actions, for certainly, it is the latter that makes life and fitness meaningful.

That is the quality of life.  And so rather than being ignored and neglected, those are the very organs it is most important to ensure are functioning at its highest levels of possibility by placing that circulation as a priority -- rather than simply working the tireless heart more, and harder.  that is not the deficiency -- as the voluntary movements in the organs at the extremities of cognition, expression and greatest articulation -- which most conventional and traditional exercise fails to address, and thus we have the problem of mental deficiencies and dementias, weakening of the grip, feet too weak to maintain one's balance and stability.  Without those heightened faculties, life becomes very perilous -- and not that the non-responsive and non-functioning individual in those respects -- is in great danger of losing their vital signs.  

It is at the head, hands and feet that humans differentiate themselves from every other animal -- and express their skill at being consummately human.  That is what art, music, dance, athletics, writing, speaking, "looking," are all about -- while the heart and the core is what most animals have in common, and need not be concerned about -- not even the highly intelligent gorilla or dolphin.  It just works unfailingly -- by design and evolution.

The difference though, is the expression and articulation of what the feet, hands and head do -- and how some do it better than others.  But they have to move first, and in doing so, connect the extremities to the core -- because that is the design of the musculature, and how the human body must work to maximize its leverage.  One cannot begin a movement at a joint closer to the core and think they will have a more favorable leverage.  That is simply not possible.  But if the fulcrum (axis of rotation), is as far out as possible, a little bit of force, can have a mighty effect.

That is the intelligence of the human body.  Exercise it.

Learning from the Heart (and Brain) 

Every moment is the pinnacle of every other moment that came before it.  That is what evolution, progress, and ultimately, life is all about.

Life is not random -- but moves in the direction one opens to it.  That is probably the greatest fallacy of the 20th century -- that everything in life is random behavior, when assuredly it is not.  There is a reason why things happen -- why the right arm is developed, and the left withered.  Random behavior would dictate that it doesn't matter -- everything comes out the same, no matter what one does.

That is the thinking many have accepted of the futility of movement -- that no matter what one does, results will be the same.  And so it is asserted that there can be no such thing as "targeted efforts" and "targeted results" -- but only "equal" results, because the heart does not establish direction -- and so the flow (circulation), must be equal in all directions with every heart beat -- rather than understanding that such flow can be directed and optimized in the specific way one desires to.  Thus they claim, there cannot be any such notion as "spot-reducing," or developing one part out of proportion to every other as is commonly seen in gyms --  rather than the aberration.

That's why heart beat doesn't tell one the whole story -- of one's fitness level.  The measurement has to be taken at the extremity -- to ensure that is still functioning -- by exhibiting range of movement at the furthest point of control.  That implies the rest -- but not vice-versa.  That is the presumption -- that just moving at the core (heart), is enough to ensure full-range of motion throughout the body, but vice-versa is always true.  That's how the body declines -- first from the furthest extremities where circulation is poorest -- the head, hands and feet inward.

So the strategy one takes, is to ensure movement at the greatest extremity from the heart -- and not just the heart working harder and faster -- against the resistance of fluid that is not moving.  The flow has to actually be measured at the extremity to be meaningful, because it is that flow, that maintains the health of the body -- in providing nutrients, and removing the waste products (toxins).  That simple process, optimizes that life's potential -- whether they know it or not.

Knowing something, and actualizing it, is two different things.  What one "knows," is not necessary how things actually work.  Most of the time, it is because they have never thought things through -- but only accepted and repeated what they have been "taught" -- as the truth of the matter, and forced others to accept it also.

And so there is a widespread belief that only the action of the heart matters -- rather than the action of all the other muscles in the body that accounts for why one is developed in the specific one is.  The presumption that just because the heart beats -- and beats faster, automatically ensures that the flow in and out of the extremities must be occurring -- is misinformed.  It is dependent on the muscles at the extremity, producing a contracting action that pushes blood and fluids towards the heart -- with the realization that the effectiveness of the heart, is its characteristic regularity of a full contraction alternated with a full relaxation producing the characteristic effect of a pump -- which is how any other muscle in the body could be conditioned to function to optimize the circulation and health of the body -- particularly in conditions affected most by that low level of functioning and "disease."

Optimized circulation not only provides growth, but prevent diseases due to this lack of circulation -- like arthritis, weakened grip, weak foot control (balance), and of course, all the functioning of the head, including brain functioning -- thinking that nothing more can be done, except to increase one's heart rate -- but not moving specifically at the head, hands and feet, as what makes the difference.

The body is a system, a whole, and not just isolated bodyparts -- functioning in line with all the specialties and specialists -- each operating and unrelated to every other.  That's not how the body is  designed to work -- and in fact, is the prescription for how it doesn't work -- and is taught to work against every other part of the body, as though that was the height of knowledge.

A well conditioned athlete or performer, does not use one set of muscles against every other, but uses all the muscles in concert with every other -- either all contracting simultaneously, or relaxing simultaneously -- and not just to cancel out each other.  That is not how the healthy body works -- but is probably how the unhealthy body works -- against itself, including what is considered "normal aging."   Such people beat up on themselves relentlessly -- convinced that that is what an intelligent person would do to make life as difficult as possible for oneself -- rather than the realization that the most intelligent thing to do, is to make life as easy as possible for oneself as the preferable survival strategy.

That doesn't mean atrophying -- so that eventually, every effort and action becomes supremely difficult or impossible to effect -- land then one can have an army of caregivers to do everything for them -- as many misguided people think.  No, one wishes to become the consummately independent and competent person -- capable of recruiting their total resources for any task or challenge.  Job number one would be to quietly take in as much information of what is happening -- before reflexively launching into one's course of action, or overreaction.

Seeing that water runs downhill -- is not necessarily bad, and something has to be done about it.  That is simply what one has to work with -- rather than against, no matter how valiant one's efforts.  That would be of course, foolhardy.  What would be the most intelligent thing to do?  Seldom would it be to exhaust oneself unnecessarily -- or to produce muscle (systemic) failure -- at any time.  One needs to retain something in reserve -- for an even greater challenge than one anticipated.  Those who live constantly on the edge, perish prematurely in tempting fate in that way.

The most fit, show a lot -- but also have a lot more in reserve.  That reserve is built up in muscle mass -- as a reliable indicator that the body is in growth and not in decline and deterioration.  If that growth can be sustained, then the body is not aging, but still in growth.  That is just the simple fact -- as proof of optimal circulation -- not only from the heart, but back to it as the function of skeletal muscle contractions -- often associated with work and exercise, but seldom intentionally to produce that effect.  But more than anything else, that would be the most beneficial effect to achieve -- in and of itself.  That is more important than lifting a weight, or running any distance -- because that is the essential work of the body to optimize its health.

We've never thought in that explicit way before -- because we were never certain what produced that specific result -- especially when the body began a prolonged decline in its capabilities.  Most just accepted that as normal aging -- rather than the process of deterioration that doesn't necessarily have to characterize growing older.  But that requires a better understanding of why deterioration seems so inevitable otherwise.  It is the decreasing circulatory effectiveness associated with decreasing quality of activity and movement -- denoted by decreasing range of movement, most notably at the joints of the extremities of the head, hands and feet -- which are also the markers of aging in the human body, more than any other organs.

To those who work with the aging and terminal, that is overly obvious -- as to be the given.   But it is thought to be the end result, rather than more accurately, the cause of premature failure of the human body.  that is what needs to be exercised more than the heart (which is always working), or the core which is largely meaningless without an ultimate expression at the head, hands or feet -- as in hitting or throwing a ball, writing, hearing and seeing -- while communicating that effort to others.  That is not all taking place in the mind -- but in the visible and verifiable actuality.

Some see those movements more clearly than others -- because they have movement (neuromuscular) intelligence greater than most -- while most will be oblivious to those fine distinctions and movements.  the gifted will be able to mimic those movements exactly -- just seeing them once, just as musical prodigies can, or prodigies of every activity make them gifted at.  To them, it is the obvious.  It is, what is -- and not merely some theory that needs more funding to study -- of the many things that are irrelevant but people can be convinced are so important.

Once we establish that blood flow can be directed expressly to one area over others, then the question is, "Where would one's priority be?"  Some people would say, "Washboard abs," but more reticent and thoughtful people would say, "The core," or "the heart," failing to recognize that the heart is the only organ guaranteed to get all the blood flow anyway.  The really insightful and intelligent person would recognize that if there is one critical faculty, it is the brain -- that regulates all the others -- and thus should be serviced as the priority of all one's efforts in this respect of securing the optimal blood flow.  That would be indicative of movement at the head (neck, face) -- and its muscular development -- which is also the result of that optimized blood flow.

However, prodigious muscular development and the robust health it conveys, is rare to see in those above the age of 60, or 50, and even 40 -- and that startling decline is in fact, the greatest indicator of the general health and functioning of that individual -- and all individuals.  That is not a result simply of increasing heart beats, but of increasing the range of head movement -- the lack of which becomes especially noticeable in those with declining mental functioning -- as well as the rapidly decreasing movement throughout the body.

Such "failure" becomes critical with increasing age and impairment -- compounding and cascading on one another -- until ultimately, total failure is achieved -- but not necessarily death, which become the modern horror -- of outliving one's faculties.  At that point, it becomes a minor matter that one has outlived their money, or friends -- because there is little cognition of the difference, or any differences anymore.

Thus the priority of exercise to increase circulation, should be directed expressly and primarily to the head (brain), and thusly empowered, it has the capacity to take care of the rest of the body as what it is designed to do -- rather than the countless decisions and dilemmas of the mind not so empowered, and to which every consideration now becomes a "crisis" situation requiring extraordinary efforts just to get through each day, and to do the simplest things.

What Matters

There is no end to what people can consider to be important -- and relevant, and so one has to determine for themselves, what most matters and makes a difference.

One cannot prepare for all contingencies -- so one must prepare for those outcomes most likely to manifest, as the wisest and most productive use of their time.

That is particularly true for those who could do anything -- because they the have resources and leisure to re-create their lives in whatever fashion they think is important to do so.  That doesn't have to be running a marathon every day -- or the equivalent of it.  No arbitrary measure such as that, has ever been a "requirement" to be fit.  One is "fit" by the challenges and tasks they want to master -- which can be as simple as one's own genetic limitations and defects -- which every individual uniquely has.  It's not the same for everyone.  That should be obvious by now.

Yet daily, we are bombarded by what some "expert" thinks "everyone" must conform to -- even if it is for all to run on a treadmill for at least 30 minutes each day, or to stand up as much as possible -- when doing so, would be intolerable pain and torture for many.  Such experts will insist that everyone can -- from age 7 to 70 -- and beyond.  What of those who can't?  They should at least try -- and failing that, they should try harder -- until they can, the bromide continues.

In that way, one can get all others to do something they would not ordinarily do in a lifetime -- if not so advised they must, and is essential for their well-being -- despite it not addressing the most critical problems of that individual, and in fact causing them.  One doesn't have to throw a ball 100 mph all one's life, or lift the heaviest weight possible at every opportunity as testimony to their fitness, or to survive; one can do things more important and meaningful to do.

In every case, that would be the most intelligent thing one can do -- rather than the most difficult thing one can think of doing -- that they would not do otherwise, if someone didn't convince them that was what they have to do.  Usually, that is simply the fad of the moment -- rather than some great enduring truth -- that their teacher was the first to discover thousands of years ago.

But the truth can always be discovered in the present moment and circumstances -- especially by an unprejudiced mind -- not too full of their own knowledge to consider that any other truth can be known.  For most though, their truth is simply what confirms what they already know -- and so no new information does them any good, but merely strengthens their resistance to knowing any other -- because that is also a part of their conditioning -- and probably the greater part of it.  That dooms them -- rather than makes them more fit to discover the unknown.

And so the first time they do encounter the unknown, they are among the first to perish -- because they have no provision for dealing with the new -- as the new, and not simply a repetition of the old, in a new guise.  That can be a fatal or irrecoverable mistake -- rather than a greater opportunity it presents -- sometimes killing the messenger before learning that they are free -- distrustful of outsiders as they have become.

So the advice that one must do anything only a certain way -- without the presentation of underlying reasons for that choice, and any other alternatives, should be reason for caution and inquiry before proceeding much further -- particularly if they aren't working, for the teachers themselves.  That is usually the first indication, that an idea has merit and some validity.  Otherwise, the morbidly obese, anorexics and atrophied, would know all the ways that do not work to achieve robustness -- rather than always be striving and losing their battles to achieve it.

Understanding Flow

Probably the key to understanding the universe and life, is the principle of flow -- or movement; life would not be possible otherwise, and when that flow is impeded in the many ways, it creates the disruption that is the source of disease and poor health and functioning.

Most people know that the heart is the organ responsible for pumping blood through the rest of the body, but most are unclear of how the rest of the body, pumps blood back to the heart -- as though that was something that needed to be thought about at all.  But that is how people are not created equal -- as those who are the healthiest, are the most skilled at doing -- even if they are not aware of that up to now.

When people become aware of this simple principle of why and how there is movement, then life itself takes on a whole different meaning and purpose -- because one has this control of their essential well-being and functioning to a greater extent than they ever thought possible.  It's not something profound that should not be discussed except by the great philosophical and physical Masters, but something every person should learn as early as possible -- as their basic understanding of life.

Atoms and molecules move from where there is a greater concentration (pressure) to where there is less; blood flows not because the heart is pumping, as the greater principle that it expands and it contracts to create pressure differences in the direction that allows it.  Once the blood and nutrients are at the extremities, they do not just turn around and return by the same path they came, but by the network designed for flow (movement) only back towards the heart.

We know it -- if we distinguish the difference at all -- as the arterial and the venal systems -- that operate distinctively differently -- and largely determines the differences in people, and in individuals themselves -- when they are operating at their best (in the flow), and when they become diseased and dysfunctional (blocked).  The ancient people had all kinds of explanations for these blockages -- and how to restore those passageways -- so that one returned to health -- or suffered an untimely end.

They are more effective because of the better understanding of the principles of flow -- and how they better effect that flow, rather than subvert and impede them -- both deliberately and inadvertently.  In athletic competitions, performances, events, behaviors, that is the unifying objective -- to get into and achieve that flow which is the success of any undertaking.  Not to, leaves a sense of incompletion and dissatisfaction that all did not go well -- and something was missing, even when they aren't sure of what "it" was.

Many even condition themselves to the struggle -- and not the flow, until it is too late to learn anything else.  By then, their bodies may be totally exhausted or compromised, and becomes the cause of their own demise.  It might be the dementia from breaking too many bricks or boards with their heads, catching too many punches with their heads, absorbing too many blows on the football field, or professional "wrasling" -- convinced as they were, that what didn't kill them, made them stronger, rather than increasing their exposure and risk to self-inflicted permanent disability.

Thus, people a hundred years from now, will regard as mind-boggling, that people now inflict injuries upon themselves thinking that is making them healthy, instead of directly understanding how to restore the flow to the area of their lives needing it.  That's why postures don't work, or holding a contraction for as long as one can -- because both work against optimizing the flow, in preferring one state over the other, when it is both that are required to maximize the flow -- just as the heart does with its rhythmic alternation.  That is what the heart does unfailingly -- at its end of the bargain.  It would be doubly appreciated, if that is what the muscles of the rest of the body did, to optimize the flow, and therefore health, of the entire organism.

That is ignored, and often placed off-limits by the specialists who believe that is their exclusive province to administer -- as though God gave anybody that exclusive domain over all the others.  But even if God doesn't, men will conspire to claim those exclusive rights for themselves -- through some exercise of power and exclusivity -- as though they knew with certainty about such things.  But theirs is just their own understanding -- and not necessarily the truth, unless one chooses to believe it so. 

Many are convinced that if they just lift enough weight, or run a certain distance, that will optimize their health for life -- rather than that it could harm it prematurely. The greatest cause of injuries, is from people hoping to become more fit -- whether in the gym, track or football field -- until finally one day, they realize they are past the point of recovery.  So in designing a program for lifelong well-being, there should be minimal risk of injury -- instead of producing them, as one will do in activities seeking to push themselves beyond their present limits.  A better practice, would be to learn what one's limits are -- and not to push beyond that, jeopardizing one's well-being and readiness, if not life itself.

That is simply "knowing oneself," rather than "becoming" what one is not -- however greater one might think to be.  That is a very key understanding -- that the greatest achievement is knowing the person one is -- rather than all the illusions and delusions of  another one wishes to become.  That is the simplicity of understanding -- out of which life flows.

 Just Do the Warmup

Many people think that a lifelong conditioning program should be an extreme sport as an end in itself -- rather than just the warmup and preparation for our real life activities.  So, frequently, they risk life and limb -- thinking if it doesn't kill them, it will make them stronger -- rather than dead, crippled or otherwise impaired.  That should be obvious as counterproductive -- yet still, many get lost in their shortsighted objectives -- to miss the whole point. 

One wants to be prepared for anything --  or many things, and not just one thing, because seldom does one's fate lie only on the outcome of one event.  The successful life is actually a series of events -- that we have to do mostly right, and not perfectly, or as a world's record -- and then we don't have to do anything else but rest on our laurels from here on out.

Of course in anything, the greatest difference is the difference between zero and one -- rather than 110% -- and then nothing forevermore.  90% in most things, is enough to be an extraordinary individual.  Even for the world champion, the warmup that prepares them for a world record -- is mostly what they need to do.  They don't have to go over the top -- risking serious injury or death, to go where no one has gone before.

There are the obvious injuries -- but less obvious, are all the ways one can undermine their overall health by throwing all caution to the wind, as one might have to do in a once in a lifetime situation -- but doing it daily, merely increases their chances of a short life.  No organism is designed for a life of all-out struggle for survival on a daily basis -- not even the caveman.

In all probability, those who weren't faced with daily extinction -- are the evolutionary survivors.  They figured out a way not to have to fight for their life -- in everything they did.  That is the bigger picture -- and not the brief short life of those constantly embroiled in life and death struggle -- as though their lives depended on it.  Those are not the people who ultimately survive.

But that means being prepared to meet most of the challenges of everyday living -- rather than being increasingly disqualified from even doing that -- which is merely caring for oneself -- all the days of one's life, as a meaningful and purposeful existence.  One doesn't have to do anything heroic to justify living their daily lives as best they can -- which is the quality of their lives.  That is the average of all they do -- and not just one thing -- to the exclusion of everything else.

Certainly the money is important, but that is not the only thing in life, nor is the amount lifted, or distance run, the pounds lost or gained.  It is the greater totality that matters -- that one is firing on all cylinders, and not just the one.  Along the way, one may even need help -- to overcome an obstacle too big for just any one to achieve.  But if one is conditioned to believe they are always in competition with every other, they may undermine all the others -- thinking that the only way for them to win, is for everybody else to lose.

That's how they think the game is played -- rather than the common purpose of preparing everyone to do their best -- and that is sufficient, for all practical purposes.  

 It's the Range, Not the Average

Few people have ever pondered the question, "What am I conditioning myself for?"  Is it the range, or the average -- that one hopes to excel at?

Obviously, just doing the same thing over and over again without breaking new ground, is not the way anybody is going to become the world champion at what they do -- but is merely reinforcing their mediocrity of experience and achievement.  And so a vital part of any conditioning program -- is that one wants to program into their conditioning activities, increasing the range of their motion and activities -- so that ultimately, they can do what they previously thought was impossible to do.

That is conditioning to get better -- and not merely to stay the same, or at best, just slow down their deterioration rate for as long as possible -- which is merely prolonging the hopeless.  That's no way to live a life -- in thinking that one's best years are behind them, and not ahead -- which is also the difference between those who are aging, and those who are still growing, and finding out all they can do.

for most people, that can easily be accomplished by moving a little farther in the safe range of movement possible -- and not having to do anything reckless and foolhardy, as most people are conditioned to think.  Rather, the objective of every movement and repetition, is to extend the range of that movement -- far beyond just doing the same limited range, with more resistance.  And in fact, the more resistance one adds to a movement, the more that movement is actually constricted and constrained -- to prevent one's injury.

Every weightlifter knows that -- and that is why they are obsessed with developing economy of motion -- as the genius of what they do.  But movement does not require resistance to effect -- and is actually capable of being achieved best without resistance, or very minimal resistance at best -- because that allows safe movement beyond the range that supporting a heavy weight would make dangerous -- and danger should not be a requirement of any safe and proper training regime -- as many diehard advocates practice -- until they die hard, or injure themselves permanently -- as is inevitable using that training style and philosophy.

They are invariably the caveman types who believe that human civilization and progress is only possible through brute force -- and destroying as much around them as humanly possible, as evidence of their power -- always to destroy, and never to build anything, and particularly, their own bodies, lives and livelihoods.

So their contests are invariably about who vanquishes the other, who owns the other -- rather than a collaborative effort to create an outcome greater than all the individual contributions -- working in isolation and opposition to one another.  That is the valuable skill one hopes to produce in oneself -- and inspire in others, and not just the zero-sum game of who has vanquished all the others, and gets to be the king of the hill --pushing back all the others who want to be in their place.

That is the problem of conditioning strategies rooted in a more primitive time -- that the objective is not to kill or be killed -- or even for that matter, compete ruthlessly against one's self, thinking that is a more enlightened form of the game.  Still, many people still think that the objective of their muscles, is to oppose all the other muscles -- rather than work synergistically for optimal effect.  That requires a different world view, than the one of everything against everything else in the world -- because evolution and progress, favors those that are most compatible to the environment of their times.

Most people are unaware that up to 50 years ago, the prevailing though is that one used information to compete against everybody else -- until someone got the bright idea that information was even more powerful if it was shared among the greatest number possible -- rather than as a weapon of advantage to exploit all the others.  That is a very limited world -- dominated by the imperative to exploit, or be exploited by others -- that made world wars possible, and even inevitable.

As such, hundreds of millions of people lost their lives in such wars -- believing it was necessary to provide for their own well-being and security, never thinking that with cooperation and collaboration, they could produce vastly more for virtually everybody.  Now the world is awash in goods and services -- and many think that is the problem, and so they even try to create scarcity in a world of plenty -- in a competition for the winner to take all, thus creating the many losers of everyone else -- as though that was some kind of a virtue and honor.

That is the characteristic thinking of those who think that the purpose of anything -- is to make things harder, more difficult and complex than it has to be -- which discourages many from accessing the benefits in the universal impulse for greater simplicity and economy of effort in all one does -- and in the way of nature and its development.  That leads some to believe they should not avail themselves of the latest medical products or health information -- thinking they have to be beyond and oblivious to such considerations and advances, and return to the most primitive ways and manners, -- as the mystical height of human understanding and achievement, when life was brutal, short and nasty -- as the world they are preparing (conditioning) themselves to live in, and prosper.

Instead, such manner of conditioning, will take their greatest toll on such individuals themselves -- their shoulders, elbows, knees and backs -- thinking that is how humans are most productive, instead of at the head, hands and feet -- where the human body is best designed for movement.  They should move what is best designed for movement -- and honor those joints best designed for stability and support, rather than vice-versa -- despite all their complaints of the obvious.

The meaningful and productive range of movement -- occurs at the axes of the head (neck), wrists and ankles -- than is dependent on deadlifts, squats and bench presses to do any meaningful work.  Doing the most dangerous and damaging movements with increasing loads to predispose inevitable injury and disability, is not going to enable one to continue to perform them throughout life -- but one should recognize those movements that actually define one's daily functioning, and increase the range of those movements that reduce the occurrence and disability of the most common and frequent injuries at the wrist, ankles and neck -- that imply the proper functioning of all the movements and capabilities of the body -- but not vice-versa.

It is the range of movement at the neck (head), hands and feet -- that are the defining indicators of health and functioning in the human body -- over the usual and obvious yardsticks people are used to observing and think is important to articulate and maintain.  If it hurts only when one does that, one should stop -- and find out what movements don't, and are productive to continue and increase the range (possibilities) of lifelong mastery.

Remembering Larry Scott
 
One would like to believe that simply exercising all one's life is enough to ward off the ravages of aging -- but something happens beginning around 35 for most, and even seeming to accelerate the aging process -- as we've witnessed many dying who we thought would live forever -- as well as the many others who shock us with their much too premature deaths.
Around the mid-80s, I drifted away from the bodybuilding world into the world of those dying horrible deaths from a mysterious disease called AIDS, as well as more traditional ways of dying because with the absence of world wars commencing with the latter half of the 20th century, many more were dying of age-related diseases -- because they were no longer being killed off in that manner anymore.

One of the striking things I noticed about those with dementias (Alzheimers) particularly, besides the lack of brain function and connectivity to the rest of the body, was that there was a noticeable lack of movement -- at their head, often evidenced by the atrophying of the neck muscles, and so rather than exercise for the purpose of the core muscles of the body, it seemed that the far better strategy -- was to ensure the movement, flow and development of the head, hands and feet -- at which the body's circulation is poorest.

That is the characteristic weakness of elderly bodybuilders that makes them look less than robust -- even if they continue to maintain a fairly strong core development. They are invariably atrophied at the neck, forearms and calves -- out of proportion to the much easier to maintain core muscles closer to the heart. That's seldom the problem -- as much as even the great champions of their youthful age -- begin to show this characteristic signs of aging at the head (neck), hands and feet -- that should be the highest priority in ensuring the highest functioning possible throughout life -- but which most people though they move everything else, do not move.

One of the most distinctive qualities of Larry Scott, was that his arms were particularly impressive -- mostly because he had one of the greatest ranges of movement at the wrist -- that effected the contraction of all the other muscles, that most people are not usually aware of. But he did not exhibit that range of motion at the head so much in his later years -- as he did in his peak years -- when the range of his head movements were also impressive, as well as his neck development. Arnold, Zane, and most of the former great champions, also have very limited head movement -- and thus have no means of developing the "old man's neck," as well as hands and feet, which in most people are merely as stubs -- rather than the proper focus and the design of the human body to move meaningfully and productively, and thus they age and deteriorate because of this lack oof effective movement and circulation -- despite how hard their hearts are pumping.

This is what I broached with Arthur Jones at the height of the acceptance and popularity of high-intensity training around only one axis of rotation while the rest of the body remained fixed -- and why I brought to his attention that when there was "muscle failure," it seemed to actually be "brain failure" -- caused by the lack of oxygen to the head forced to remain fixed, instead oof allowed to followed through naturally. And this is the form of movement practiced by most bodybuilders -- as well as exercisers of nearly all conventional movements -- of not moving the head, hands and feet as the primary objective, in achieving and maintaining the optimal functioning and health of the human body, which is the natural development of the human body, rather that the arbitrary form it has taken with more massive development (size) of the larger core muscles beginning with the retirement of Larry Scott as probably the culmination of the old time physique men -- who were usually relaxed and fairly normal looking until they pumped up, and transformed themselves in this ability to change -- that contemporary bodybuilders seem to lack, which is predictably very stressful for the body to maintain -- at all times.

Curiously, in reviewing some of the Iron Man videos, I notice that publisher Balik exhibits a range of head movement not usually seen in others, and for that reason, has a well-developed sternomastoid muscle, which keeps his mind sharp -- and I would think, is the solution for the notable age-old problem of lack of circulation and health at the extremities of the head, hands and feet that fail people as they age. That is the most important parts of the body to build and maintain -- as the key to longevity and health in the 21st century for aging Baby Boomer bodybuilders.


The Golden Age

As recently as only one hundred years ago, it was considered quite an achievement if one reached the age of 65 -- and those who did, felt that they could "go" at any time.  

And so twenty years later, when the Social Security program was founded, it was still thought that it was financially sound to think that most would not live beyond a few years to collect their annuities, and those dying years would be spent in freedom from poverty and greatly diminished capacities to provide for themselves.

It was never suspected from such humble beginnings, that it could actually become the beginning of life for many people -- if one could reach that age, with minimal damage to their essential life force -- as we are only beginning to witness now, as the transformation of life to an unprecedented new level of fulfillment and actualization that was only imagined possible for a rare few in their time.  that of course, would have been the kings and privileged throughout history -- and never the prospect for the average person -- whose life was expected to be "short, brutish and nasty."  

And so the conditioning of the past, was largely that -- of the struggle for supremacy to be that One -- even if it meant vanquishing all the others to get there.  Never in their dreams, would it have been thought possible, that the life of kings, could be the life of the average person, only a hundred years later.  But that is the way history and progress played out -- so that even the least in society, also has access to the abundance and productivity of the world -- even if they have to shop at the thrift stores and yard sales for the excess accumulation everybody else has.

First there is the "more," and next, there is the "better," and ultimately, there is the "best," that it takes a self-designated few to recognize -- even if they have to create it themselves, because it never existed before, but they knew, that is what the world really needed -- even if most could not even imagine that possibility.  That is how the great inventions and innovations come into being -- while most are convinced that such a notion, is impossible, and even the thought of it should be illegal, or at least suppressed.  

For that new idea and way of thinking and living, would so change life, that most conditioned in the present status quo would be so lost in the new world (age), that they would have to unlearn everything they had ever learned in life -- as though that could not be a lifelong, continuing process -- instead of the "one and done" they expected to last their lifetime -- and forevermore, as they thought had been the norm throughout history -- as people thought a hundred years ago, and that they could not change, and embrace an entirely new way of living.

But increasingly, that is the world those who are living now, have to adapt to -- and their success is dependent on.  It is a world that requires them to first take in the new information as the "new" -- and not as the same old information, simply called the "new," and to be treated as though it were the old.  In that way, they will fail to gain any advantage of the truly new, but are limited only to the familiarity of the old -- which probably didn't work as well, and may have be the self-perpetuating problems of the past -- like light bulbs that continually have to be replaced, that never produced high quality light in the first place.  But that was what people were used to -- and thought the ideal, natural, and God-given.

Thus the old world (school) conditioning, was to persist doggedly at only one thing, doing it the one way -- so that the only outcome could be more (of the same), and not better (different).  It was even widely-thought, that simply "more" was "better" -- and not that better, was in fact, vastly different -- and even transformative -- and might change life, and the world, completely, as has been the case in these last twenty years.

It's hard to even imagine the world of twenty years ago -- anymore.  That was the world of books, newspapers, land lines, and other wired equipment.  People became untethered -- and free to roam about -- without penalties and incurring additional charges.  Individuals could now be an entire industry, and enterprise.  Everything one thought, could be recorded for posterity -- or for one's own convenience.  Ultimately, one was, the person they could imagine themselves to be -- and manifest, as proof of the soundness of that way (brand) of living.  That is reality -- and the actualization of their being.  That is who they are.

That is the Golden Age of our times.