Understanding Conditioning -- Volume Fifteen

It Doesn't Matter How Much You Know that Isn't True 

Many think that simply knowing a lot is good -- but it only matters the little one knows that is actually true that one tests and discovers for themselves.  Probably 95% of what one "knows" may not be true, and be actually harmful -- and that is why simply knowing more, may not help them, but actually hurt them -- and be the cause of all their troubles.  But they think that is all despite of what they know -- than because of what they know that isn't so, and never think to question the validity of.

That is most of the "knowledge" in the world -- and everyone's job in life, is to find out which is true, and which isn't.  Nowhere is that more apparent in one's own health and well-being.  If everything one knows is not working, there is a problem with what they know -- and not the rest of the world's perception -- of whether they are right or wrong.

One's actual results and experiences are not just "anecdotal" but the reality of their own lives.  It does not matter how many others made it across the river without being attacked by the crocodile.  For the one that is, it is a total disaster, and not just the one in a thousand of being "mostly" safe.

That is the deception of large numbers -- when all that matters, is the one actuality one experiences.  Until then, the statistic may be 90% true -- but that is not the reality for the 10% for whom it does not apply.  Theirs would be a total disaster -- or impact.  The ultimate test of anything, was what one experiences in their own test -- and nobody knows that with any certainty beforehand, and often, afterwards even.  Sometimes, what one thinks is the reason something works, is not the real reason it does -- and that is the necessity of having others do the experiment also, and then they can compare notes.

More often than not, the truth is not what one expected to find -- while some people don't care, because they will continue to believe as they do regardless of any outcome; they just want to be "right" -- regardless.  They're not interested in finding out the truth of any matter -- for themselves certainly, and for others, if they don't have answers that work.  Some will insist that nothing works -- but what they know -- even if the results are always disastrous.  It merely confirms everything they "know."

In the field of exercise -- especially in aging people -- the obvious observation is that they have a difficult time with even formerly easy movements, and seeing that, why would a sane person construct even more difficult movements for them to do -- unless they just liked the feeling of making others feel worse than they already do?  The enlightened thing to do would be to discover those movements they could do with ease and grace, and encourage that mastery as the foundation for further gains -- rather than to frustrate them from the get-go.

But many fitness instructors lack that sensitivity -- in wanting to feel superior and all-knowing -- probably for the first time in their lives -- when provided a captive audience.  It's not unlike the basketball player who will never let the others touch the ball again once it is passed to them.  It's not much fun for everybody else -- although for the one so self-absorbed, they think all the cameras are rolling, and the applause is only for their ears.  Of course such people never go very far -- except in their own minds.  In their own minds, everybody else just showed up to see them.

Likewise, it doesn't take a genius to create a movement everybody else cannot do -- or is difficult to do -- but does take a genius to discern what anyone can do -- but doesn't think to do, and because of that, is their disability and dysfunction.  The most obvious, is simply turning one's head -- as far as possible, to ensure one's safety before proceeding out into traffic.  A few will claim that they didn't -- simply because they didn't think to do so, rather than as a well-conditioned action.  That is like our basketball player who once he gets his hands on the ball, never looks around at what is happening, and others are doing -- for the easy basket.  They think making the most difficult shot, scores more points -- when it's not that way at all, and they totally misunderstand the rules of the game -- and what everybody else is trying to achieve.

It's not competition that determines who is most fit -- but Nature.  That may seem to change from time to time -- but it is really all the same adaptation to changing circumstances, and how one is well-prepared to respond to them.  That is baseline health -- and not just one isolated measure of it as though it is the whole story.  There is an even bigger fish behind it.  So rather than requiring 100 pushups at age 100, it is sufficient and more meaningful to ask, who is the best-looking person at 100? -- and dispense with further tests and measurements.  That implies health and all its other attributes.  In that condition, one is ready to go at any moment also -- at the top of their game, and not only after decades, or even a century of decline.  They simply go out on top -- whenever that happens.

The worst fate is a prolonged decline into unrecognition as a viable human being.  Way before then, one hopes to have learned a few things in life to avoid that condition and be that proverbial wiser person.  Presumably, that's what life is all about -- growing older and wiser, and not just older horribly -- and drag one's tortured body across some imaginary finish line.  We've already seen plenty of that kind of action.  Health defies aging, but is more than just the foundation for all the other accoutrements of a life well-lived.  That includes personal hygiene, dress and grooming, refined and graceful movements -- and not everything sacrificed for only one thing -- that only results in hideous disproportion.  It is the symmetry that is the whole greater than just the sum of its parts -- but all too frequently, only one part to the diminishment of all the others.

That's why older bodybuilders stand out grotesquely for that disturbing disproportion -- of only developing the biceps, while looking like they can barely hobble on destroyed or neglected hip, knees and feet.  Yet they have biceps.  More than ever, it should be apparent that symmetry and proportion is the whole point -- especially at the ages at which one should know better.  But very obviously, they don't -- and it is not a matter of having lost it, but never attaining in the first place -- and that is what makes them fit to go out on top -- whenever that is.  That is inevitable, and not like the rich people of today think, that if they have enough money, they can simply live forever -- even if it is in a perpetually declining state.  But Nature doesn't allow that to happen.  That would upset all her plans for an evolving better life -- and not simply prolonging the disabled and dysfunctional as long as possible.  There is no room for that in the grand scheme of things.

And so life goes on -- despite every attempt to impede its progress, and evolution -- and keep things as they are permanently.  That is the backdrop in which we live our individual lives -- yet think from time to time, to make a breakthrough and reset the course of humanity.  That obviously, is not simply repeating history -- from time immemorial, to whatever future they wish to control.  It is something far more powerful -- the search for reality.  That always lies beyond the known and familiar.  How it is likely to manifest is only a guess -- of putting it all together in a much greater way than envisioned previously, and even presently.

It is more likely to be the bedridden exercising in bed, and the sedentary exercising in their chairs -- than it is for all 100 year olds to finish a mandatory marathon -- no matter how late into the night they finish, and even how many die along the way.  But the prototypes already exist -- in the most universal postures of yoga from which all subsequent movements derive.  What has been lacking up to now, is the realization that those postures can be effected by a muscle contraction as well as a relaxation -- and it is the alternation of the two, that produces a pumping effect -- just as the heart moves blood throughout the heart -- and as far as there is space to do so beyond it.  

But it can't force the blood to move out of the way -- because that is not how it is designed to work.  For the circulation to be optimized -- particularly to any specific part, the muscles at the furthest extremity activated (articulated), must push the blood back towards the heart -- to create that space for the new to enter.  Lacking that critical understanding, makes that effectiveness impossible -- because the heart can't pump hard enough to push blood through miles of blood vessels.  

There has to be a motive force coming from the other side -- which uses the venal blood system to complete the circuit.  That is the most misunderstood concept in all of exercise -- the thinking that heart rate alone is sufficient in optimizing circulation.  The heart already does its part, unfailingly -- but not so much the muscles of the extremities, which contract and connect back towards the center of the body approximately at the heart.  How ingenious, and clever by design.  One couldn't have planned it any better -- but one did not have to recreate the wheel to benefit from these millions of years of evolution.  One simply has to understand it.

Then the relevant question of how one optimizes the health and circulation to the heads, hands and feet to keep them from failing becomes an easy question to answer -- and doing so activates and ensures the health of all the regions in-between -- simply because it is connected in that obvious fashion.  So the question, "How can I exercise when I can't even get out of bed?" becomes obvious, one doesn't have to get out of bed.  All one has to do is simulate the movement at the extremities beginning with the fulcrum (axis of rotation) at the neck, wrists, and ankles -- to achieve and attain most of the benefits derived from the much more demanding activities of those same articulations.

Any activity can be simulated in that way -- and doing so, enables the much more difficult version of it -- whether that is ballet, running, jumping, pushing, pulling, lifting, rowing, etc.  Those movements can be maintained in whatever condition one is in -- and understanding that, is the best exercise one can do.  Failing to do so, will require much pain, time, and effort -- without anywhere close to the same results.  That is the critical understanding necessary for movement (exercise) to be productive throughout life -- rather than mysteriously failing throughout one's life, and inevitably abandoned at the point in life at which it would be most beneficial -- if they only had that better understanding, rather than the same information that hasn't worked for anyone else.

Everything You Know, You Learned in Kindergarten

And haven't learned anything since.

That is unfortunately true of many people -- that the first things they learned, were also their last.  That used to be adequate for when things changed slowly, and new information took a lifetime, and even generations to finally win out.  And that same cycle, would repeat for another few millennia -- until someone created the wheel, or invented fire.  Then, everybody who had attended kindergarten, had a Ph.D.  So it is not surprising that now, people with a Ph.D., think that is all there is to know, and can be known -- and not that it is just the beginning rather than the end of their quest for useful information.

That is not more elaborate and contrived explanations on why everything goes wrong -- but are the right answers that eliminate those problems -- and humanity can move on.  That's when we realize we're on to something -- and are not hearing the same or even different excuses played over and over again -- while learning from those mistakes, are forbidden and suppressed.  And so we spend more money while the problems get worse, and explode out of control.

That's not unlike what is happening in many of our major population centers now -- as they spend increasingly more money on problems that continue to get worse, and often explode out of control -- while wishing it were otherwise.  That's not going to make it happen -- but is merely wishful-thinking -- as though there is no difference, and telling the difference, is now illegal and prohibited.  That is not unlike the cities that are being sacked by vandals and lawless -- in the hope that they will stop.

Those are the people we need to build fences against, because they don't respect our boundaries -- and further inviting their incursions, won't make them come to their senses.  We have to.  That is the unfortunate truth of life -- that some people need to be reigned in -- because they don't have that self-control, and only those who do, can transcend to ever higher levels.  That's especially important when one is "retired" and there are no others to tell them what to do.  What will a person do?

For a few, it is to indulge their lifelong dream to dissipate themselves in whatever manner possible -- in binge eating, binge drinking, binge watching, binge recklessness -- until somebody else cares enough to tell them to stop.  But they're not going to do it themselves, and for that, one has to lay down rules -- because an honor system does not work with those who are dishonorable.  Their objective is to get away with anything they can.  So one has to make this distinction -- between the honorable and the dishonorable, and not assume they are playing by the same rules.

Those are the people who have no compunction about preying on the innocent, gullible, trusting, unassuming elderly and vulnerable -- whenever they're allowed an opportunity.  Most people are not so disposed, but a few are, and that is the need for this ability to distinguish the wolf in sheep's clothing -- lying among the lambs.  That is what the good shepherds do.  That is doing one's part -- in any society one operates in.  They don't just lead the lambs to the slaughter -- ruthlessly as some would have us believe.  They've earned their place at the banquet.

Many people now do not see the connection -- between one thing and every other, and think that everything is merely arbitrary -- according to the story of the day, which everybody is beholden to copy as their own, and "edit" for greater clarity -- which often turns out to be another story entirely.  In that manner, they can claim it as an original -- as though they thought of it themselves -- but is just the story line repeated throughout every journal.  Nobody would know the original authorship -- and so much the better -- in the new improved "journalism."  Rumor is as valid as facts -- until the readership becomes weary of being misinformed and misled -- for a few clicks more.

In this manner, many promise to deliver, but never get around to it -- and send whatever they have to sell, regardless of what the customer wants, and dares them to return it.  It's not a good way of doing business -- but they got their money, and obtaining value for it, is your problem.  That is now the experience of many in the marketplace who are unwary -- but that is the risk one takes, to receive favorable exchanges -- and knows how to recognize them from the fraudulent and unscrupulous.  They sell you the sizzle, but not the satisfaction.

Fortunately, as time goes by, one needs to buy less and less -- while returning to reliable and trusted sites.  That in itself, is worth something.  Thus the rich get richer, and the fly-by-nights move onto the next scam and multi-level marketing opportunity that will soon be included in the Dow-Jones averages.  Thus the rich get richer, and the poor have no idea what they are talking about.  Everything they know, they learned in kindergarten -- and stopped learning anymore.  It never occurred to them that knowledge should work, and make a difference -- or is worthless, and not worth repeating.  But for these victims of the learning wars, repetition is all they know -- even if they are useless and futile.  They think if they simply repeat it often enough, one day it will come true -- and not that it should be obvious from the get-go, each and every time.

That's how divorced many have come from reality.  They think "virtual" knowledge is good enough, and often, as all there is.  And so the world of reality escapes them -- and they suspect nothing.  They may say that reality is anything you want to believe it is -- and give Ted talks on it -- to a proudly undiscriminating audience, who knows what they want to hear.  They are no longer "bothered" by the truth.  In that and any other universe, there are still the few who are bothered -- and know it makes a difference.  They have never been everyone, or even the majority; often, they have been only one -- who stood alone, and stood their ground -- despite all the intimidations to conform.

Those are the great individuals and ideas that have stood the test of time -- as much as the mob-mind tears that notion down.  There are no such individuals they will insist; all have caved to the popular opinion -- or suffered the boot.  At least that's what they'd like us to think.

No Amount of Doing the Wrong Thing, Will Get You the Right Results

That is the hardest concept to get across -- especially to those who cannot tell the difference (discriminate).  That's what discriminate is -- the capacity to tell the difference.  Unfortunately, at the present time, in many societies it is banned, censored and suppressed by the hierarchies of the orthodoxy (defenders of the status quo) -- because it is the only thing that works, and would destroy the very cause of the problem upon which it is premised -- and provides their continued employment and positions.  They are fully-invested in perpetuating the problem -- as the only thing they know to do.

While ostensibly working to solve the problem, everything they do perpetuates the situation, and makes it grow out of control -- whether that is the homeless situation or disease.  They don't want better health; they want more healthcare -- which, obviously, is exactly the opposite.  Likewise with the obesity and diabetes problem; the solution is not to give them more food and insulin -- but less!  The lack, is not the problem.  It is the abundance.

That's why Intermittent Fasting and a low-carbohydrate diet works wonders in such people -- but the powers that be refuse to have it -- because that would end the disease epidemic -- and there would go their industry.  That is of course, to end the problem of most of the diseases -- and even increasing their numbers and new afflictions -- endlessly.  

The problem is not that we are too healthy; the problem is that we are not healthy enough -- to not need increasing health care -- and even intensive care to live our lives.  Yet that is what has presently transpired.  Some would call it the ultimate nanny-state, but it is the cradle-to-grave control of every aspect of our lives -- that has become fully acceptable and tolerable with the promise that one will never die -- even at 90 or 100.  One continues to live -- but is not allowed to do anything else -- for fear that it would engender increased risks.  It is the ultimate risk-averse society -- but is it worth living?

Might one be better off if they increased their risks -- by doing more?  That is the overlooked question.  That means venturing outside one's house -- and safety and comfort zone -- to explore more of life's possibilities.  Does that entail unacceptable risks?  Or is that what living is all about -- calculating and taking the appropriate risks?  Every animal does that.  Some invariably get hit by a car, or eaten by another animal, or even injured by a lesser foe.  But it gets to find out what those realities are -- and that is life, and not merely living in the bubble for all eternity -- even if such a thing were actually possible.

Of course, the rich man's bubble is larger than the poor man's bubble -- and what they are used to.  The rich man has a lot of accumulated assets to live off of, while the poor man has no margin for error -- and needs to work for their sustenance daily.  Forbidding them from doing so, will not make them equally rich -- nor live any longer.  It will simply make their lives more difficult and unbearable -- all in the name of progress and enlightenment.

Some are fortunate enough to have the advantage of accumulated wealth and assets -- while many others do not, when the wheels of the world stopped -- and all had to be frozen in place with only what they presently had -- indefinitely and uncertainly.  That is the present crisis in the world -- when faced with the threat of nothing greater than the ordinary risk of dying from anything -- as always.  There is no time when the living will never die -- as a few rich men, hope to now live forever.

It's not very different from the pharaohs of old -- taking their entire households with them when they did pass on -- to comfort and continue to serve them in their next life and world.  There, they would still maintain their advantage -- of having it all, and being well-provisioned into eternity.  But is that life, or merely a delusion of what it means to live?

Is the greater life about length -- or depth -- which can be lived in each moment?  Certainly more is better -- but up to a point, where quality of living takes precedence -- but that entails taking slightly more risk for that bigger payoff.  To live forever in poor health, or to live slightly less, but robustly until their end?  For virtually all, the latter is their resounding choice, and not simply forever with no quality of life and experiences.  The virtual human vegetable -- kept alive as long as their resources can afford, and beyond that, everybody's resources can afford.  Those are serious and profound questions to consider on the verge of these possibilities and choices.  At what point is it proper to give up -- so that the rest might go on to greener pastures only possible without them?

There comes a time for everyone to make that choice -- while they are still capable of making those choices -- while young as well as old.  It's not something we usually talk about, and many have forbidden others to talk about as well -- thinking that is enough to make it go away.  But death will not go away -- even for the son of god.  It has to be gone through -- for the greater life -- and the greater good.  That is fair enough, and long enough to live.

But now, some people are foolish enough to say and believe that "even one person dying, is one too many," -- just because the mortality rates have never been lower -- but that doesn't mean that nobody will die anymore.  They'll die according to their "fitness" for living -- in those times and circumstances -- which is not just about who can do the most pushups, or who is still racing at 100 -- even if they look like they should be dead.  No, fitness is much more than that -- and is everything, and not just one thing -- or everybody would own the monopoly on that.  It is even beyond the known -- because it is Nature that determines that, and not anybody thinking they are "first."  No one ever knows with that much certainty what the criteria will be this time.  More often than not, it is being at the right place at the right time, or not being at the wrong place, at the wrong time.  That is the art of living, and surviving.

And then God decides.

Larger Than Life

Even Jesus didn’t win them all — because winning isn’t the ONLY thing. The main thing is that we know the difference —between the true and the false. That goes beyond what the media (Pharisees and the Scribes) say is true — and the only way to think about these things.

Yes the media would like it if we all bought into what they are selling — but as the wise have always noted, the majority is usually wrong — and not that “might makes right,” so we all have to chant and repeat only what we are instructed to — and not that we should think for ourselves anymore.

We need to be MORE discriminating rather than less. The ability to discriminate is the the antidote for Prejudice and Bias — but if we cannot tell the difference (discriminate), then we go along with the mob — and that is what all the great literature and wisdom warns us of. It comes in different guises each time.

Yes, it would be nice if everyone recognized the truth — but what matters, is the few who do — in every generation and circumstances, and remain steadfast in that truth — by living it. They eventually Inherit (change) the world — as truth stands the test of time, while the false come and go with the regularity of arbitrariness and capriciousness, and the indoctrinations of the present moment.

Making the critical discriminations is what life is all about — and not simply trying to be only on the “winning” side — because there is a reward greater than we have been “conditioned” to value as the only thing that matters. We see the truth play out — and not that is what others tell us is so.

Invariably, it is that they own the monopoly on "truth" -- as though that was what God intended -- as the last word on all things, and get to enforce as ruthlessly as necessary -- as their exclusive right.  It is the same with every generation and society -- and not merely some fable of some distant time in memory -- which they now supplant, as the way it has always been for time immemorial.  That's why we have historians -- who tell us it is not so -- that things weren't always the way they tell us it must be.  Life is change -- and by that mechanism, always getting better -- because nothing else stands the test of time.

That's why the present reality is the truth -- and not only what a self-designated few, tell us is so -- despite what our own senses tell us is so.  If that present "truth" is not working, then one should be free to explore alternative ways of looking at the problem -- because the problem is in the present solution (adaptation) -- and not that the world is inherently flawed, while their understanding is "correct."

Knowledge is useful when it conforms to reality, and not that reality must be distorted to conform to that explanation.  Then, all kinds of mischief becomes possible -- and the truth becomes anything one thinks they can get away with.  That doesn't make for a happy world, let alone a world that works, and makes sense.  That is the "scientific method," as opposed to a world of "authoritarianism," that claims it is following the science -- but that science can't be disclosed to anyone else -- but those already in authority positions.

Fortunately, we still are allowed fields in which one can find out the truth of the matter for themselves -- as the only thing possible.    Those are the matters of personal choice -- which makes the real difference in outcomes and people's lives, and not just that everyone must conform to the "averages" -- and nothing else is possible.  That is the failing of the liberal arts curriculum -- that everything is merely a matter of opinion, and how many one can get to agree with them -- usually without thinking very deeply about it themselves.  Instead, the microphones are thrust in front of them for their "expert" opinion -- as though that is "science," or an intelligent response at all.

That quality of thoughtfulness now becomes absent in all discussions -- and there are no second chances unless one is doing the editing, and then one has unlimited chances to do so until they come out perfect -- while distorting every other viewpoint to gibberish -- just as the editors of old had the chance to do before final publication.  But now, even that can be erased and tampered with -- by the unscrupulous.  And so one has to retreat even further from those engagements with those who have no interest in investigating the truth of any matter -- but have already made up their minds as to what the answers must be -- because somebody has already paid them for that conclusion.

So it is up to each individual to reward themselves in that way -- by discovering the truth of that matter, because that is what really makes a difference -- and not that they can simply live in their delusional world of unlimited "likes" -- and no one can tell the difference.  But a few can -- and those make a difference, and go on and enjoy a richer, deeper life -- a life of authenticity.  Those are the rare few not afraid to find out the truth -- and are blessed by it.  They don't need to be rewarded by others -- and that phony currency of other people's opinions.  They go straight to the heart of the truth.

You can fool some of the people all the time, and all the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time -- because time eventually reveals the truth.  The truth is timeless in that way; it is what is.  What that is, varies from individual to individual -- depending on their ability to process the information -- and integrate it with all they know to be true.  That is what it means to be truly "fit," and not just one measure among the many that might not even be the right measure for that moment.

Heart rate, or pounds lifted, is not sacrosanct -- but depends on what larger aim needs to be accomplished -- and if that is health in longevity, health is paramount, while longevity is moot.  It doesn't matter for most how long one lives as a "vegetable" -- or otherwise similarly impaired human being.  Far more important is "quality" of life, and length is a by-product of that -- while simply existing with no cognition of life, has no meaning -- except for those who can profit in some way.  And undoubtedly, there will always be people like that -- who make a handsome living on people's continued and prolonged misery.

They don't solve problems, but merely exploit them -- as the only thing they know how to do.  Eventually, they become their own greatest victims -- because that's just the way the world works.  That is cause and effect, karma, religion as well.  In the end, everything is made right -- that is guaranteed.  So we each only need to worry about the short term -- and do the best we can with what we know.  That's what we are responsible for -- and not the ultimate fate of humanity -- as though we knew.  It is seldom sufficient to know only one thing, and think it is everything.  The uncertainty is what drives us to find out -- while certitude discourages us from even questioning anything -- and that is the unexamined life.

That is the real dividing line in consciousness across the human race.  The best is yet to be discovered.

The Greatest Difference

The greatest difference in the world has always been the difference between 0 and 1 -- and with that ability to discriminate that simple and fundamental difference, it is possible to derive very complex answers -- that would have seemed like finding a needle in a haystack, or one in a million, otherwise.  Attempting to identify the one in a million, seems like an impossible task unless one goes about it systematically -- first distinguishing with certainty, what is not -- from what is, and in this process of elimination (discrimination) -- arriving at an inevitable answer.  That is the fundamental strategy of information processing -- done once, or a million times -- to get it right.

Any evolution, also plays that same role -- of doing something over and over again, until it gets it right -- but then, the game doesn't abruptly stop there, but continues indefinitely refining the answers.  Where anyone is in that process, nobody knows with absolute certainty -- and wise and intelligent people, do not presume as much.  We can only get that much closer to being right -- but not necessarily for all time, and all circumstances -- for sometimes, everything we know, can change -- and that which was first, will now be last, and the last, will miraculously be first!  So any truth, is not a permanent thing -- but the truth of the matter now, for the best that we can determine presently -- and can proceed with that confidence, which is not to be mistaken for absolute certainty, and an eternal truth.

In most cases, the truth of the moment, is as good as it gets -- and what we have to work with -- but each moment, builds upon the previous -- and that is why we practice, and eventually become better -- at what we actually do.  If it is the wrong thing, then we get good at doing the wrong thing -- which obtains very different results from practicing the right thing -- and that should be obvious.  No amount of doing the wrong things, will get one the right results -- and should never presume they are doing all the right things, but getting the wrong results.

The world (universe) doesn't work that way.  Those who are most certain they are doing all the right things are seldom as successful as those who begin with uncertainty and seek to find out a better way each time.  For such people, every effort is not simply a repetition of one thing -- whether it is right or wrong -- but the practice of improving, and changing their world in that real and meaningful way.  They don't just live in their heads and in virtual worlds, but in their bodies -- integrating what they know as the manifestation of their being.  That is the real meaning of health -- being as whole and complete as possible -- and not fragmented in all the ways conceivable -- as though that was a good thing.

In this way, each individual is the manifestation of reality -- as best as they understand it.  When everything seems to go wrong in their lives, that is not a manifestation of perfect knowledge -- but the need for improvement in one thing or another.  It is not productive to conclude that one had no input in their outcome -- and bad things merely happened, despite anything they could do.  Always, they could have done something better -- and that would have made a difference.

Anybody who has ever brought about change in their lives -- knows that is true; it makes a difference what one does -- and not that the situation is hopeless, so why bother?  That is the perfect prescription for despair, not caring, and not being able to tell any difference -- so why bother?  The little things, make as great a difference as the big things -- if that is all we can do -- at the moment, but that changes the possibilities for the next moment.  Even the smallest change can lead to the biggest difference -- persisting in that manner.

That's how people become good at what they do -- by doing only one thing right -- and then going on to the next.  Nobody is asking them to set a world record from the start.  That's not how great things are done.  They begin with doing the simplest thing well -- whether that is getting out of bed, or writing a simple sentence that becomes a great thought.  That is the difference between 0 and 1.  You only have to do the one.

That becomes the foundation for everything else one does -- whether that is just getting out of bed, or a chair, or out of the house.  For many people, that is how they have to restart their lives -- from the dormancy of the past year.  They don't have to make giant leaps -- but are better off taking baby steps in the right direction.  Don't even think about marathons -- as they may be entirely unnecessary and even counterproductive.  They rightfully should start all over again -- as though they know nothing, and discover anew what has value, and what is merely rote conditioning -- and let it go at that.  That which is useful will be rediscovered, while that which is useless, need not be remembered -- but it is not necessary, to purge those memories; they will simply fall away.

That is the new economy -- doing only what needs to be done, and forgetting all the rest.  That was last century, or even last year -- and we just need to pick up and move on.  You make the best of the present situation -- and not fight the battles and the demons of the past.  It is a golden opportunity for those who recognize it -- as their time -- because they are born anew.  That is the Promised Land.

You don't need to rewrite the past; that has already been done.  One needs to write/live the present -- which will become the future.  Everyone starts from where they are -- and measures that progress.

Making Movement (Exercise) as Easy as Possible

  It's easy to design exercise programs nobody wants to do; that's never been the problem.  The genius is in devising movements (exercises) that people want to do -- largely because they are easy to do, and actually creates the capacity to do more because it gets easier.  That is quite contrary to how exercise is taught -- but makes sense early on, and particularly late in life -- when one thinks any movement or effort at all, is painful, unpleasant, and impossible to do -- or so they not only don't do it anymore, but also rule out all future thoughts on that matter.

Obviously, that is the beginning of a long downhill slide into disability and eventual oblivion.  Unfortunately, that is what many consider "normal aging," rather than the dysfunctional model -- of being a victim of one's own bad choices, and how they accumulate over time.  So it is not time or age that is the culprit, but one has done with that time.  If it is every kind of dissipation, injury and abuse one can imagine, than the results will not be happy ones.  But if everything is done with increasing thoughtfulness, life simply gets better, and everything makes greater sense in time.

It's not because governments mandate it so and the media enforces the conformity to the correctness of thought, but that ideas come to reflect reality, and thus actions, can be more meaningful and productive.  Otherwise, it is merely wishful-thinking -- expecting reality to fall in line with what one hopes it will be.  While it is good to nourish one's ambitions, one should not forget that every other person also has their own plan for how they would like things to be -- and if they are in competition and conflict with every other, everybody's efforts merely cancel out everybody else's.  That is the folly in designing competition at the heart of all one does -- rather than the more insightful notion that efforts can be complementary and cooperative -- accruing to every other, now and in the past.

In that manner, it is observed that one generation benefits from the efforts of the past -- and not merely canceling them in an endless zero-sum game and society.  That is the kind of society in which only one, or a few benefit, and everybody else is expected to labor mightily -- to no benefit of their own. And in many cases, whatever advantages they have accrued, will be taken away from them -- and so it is pointless to desire to better themselves -- unless that is the motivating force in their lives.  A rare few are constructed in that way -- to relentlessly persist even when there is no hope for benefit or gain -- because they otherwise wouldn't know what else to do with their time or life.  Those few are blessed indeed.

Most however, don't have such inherent specialized advantage -- and find themselves beginning from scratch in most of the things they do, and would appreciate and be greatly encouraged if everything could be made as easy as possible -- to begin, and then to stay with for the rest of their lives if it proves such a great advantage.  Ease of movement and exercise, would certainly be high on most people's lists -- because they all seem to know that proper exercise keeps them functioning at their best -- as the self-evident truth of their lives.  When they are not at their best, a lot of bad things can happen -- more frequently than not.

Yet knowing that, a lot of advice by people who should know better, doesn't reflect this intelligence -- but instead, pride themselves on their ability to make everything harder for everybody else -- probably as a misguided sense of competitive advantage, so that they can always win.  In this sense, winning isn't everything -- if it is the wrong race to win.  Many invariably get side-tracked in this way, and find themselves on the wrong track -- to where they don't know where they are heading anymore.  So life then becomes a treadmill -- on the road to nowhere, and merely wearing oneself out as the only goal in life -- until it is no more.

Meanwhile, many obviously practical achievements are ignored -- as though it must be too easy to be beneficial, when those fundamental abilities are the necessary building blocks for all subsequent attainments -- even as basic as still being able to get up off the floor easily.  That doesn't have to be made more difficult -- but always easier, so it is always possible.  That is the genius of doing it that way.

However, for a short period of time, one can make anything seem as difficult as possible, until eventually, it becomes impossible, and after that, unimaginable and unthinkable.  But is that the healthy course of life -- to become more disqualified from more and continued participation? -- or would it be more desirable to make it endlessly possible?  I think most would think that it makes a lot more sense -- and is the culmination of living longer lives -- to live those lives better, longer.

So I find it perplexing that movement specialists would design a fitness test around doing things the hardest possible way -- as their definition of "fitness," rather than arising to those challenges using every possible advantage one could think of -- whether that be lifting weights, moving faster, or just lifting oneself off of the ground -- with all the appendages and leverage they have available to them -- rather than nullifying those natural advantages.  That is actually a stupid way of living, moving, doing anything -- much less conditioning oneself to think that way.

Naturally, such people have problems in their lives -- because they make everything into a problem, instead of realizing the circumstances they are in, and making the best of them -- everything at their disposal, especially their wits.  That is not "cheating," but the intelligent way to do things -- always.  Fitness is not just one-dimensional with one hand tied behind one's back -- but the total response of all the capabilities -- firing as one.  That is the human being and potential -- to do more and better, with everything they have -- and not just with two hands tied behind their back, and their brains disconnected as well.

Thus we have the great inventions of civilization that eliminates unnecessary effort and labor -- enabling us to do much more, with very little brute force required.  In fact, that brute force applied unthinkingly, will break whatever mechanical advantage someone thoughtfully designed and built for all subsequent generations.  So brute force becomes an ever-diminishing contribution to the total effort and gain -- and can be applied directly to greater advantage to where it does the most good.

From what we know of human functioning and performance, that would be to prioritize resources to the brain -- for our greatest survival advantage.  We don't have to increase the circulation to heart as much as to the brain, and to increase the circulation anywhere, requires the specific instruction to do so -- in the actual movement of the head -- where the distinguishing characteristic in contemporary in declining people -- is to display that atrophy and immobility first.  Second and third are the extremities at the hands and feet -- where the circulation is poorest.  Meanwhile, at the heart, blood is going in, as fast as it is going out -- because it is just short-circuiting because there is no pumping of blood out of the extremities so that fresh blood can replace it.

That is the simple physiology of exercise -- and why it works better in some people than others -- not necessarily, and even counterintuitively to brute force -- of which that impact will be experienced most forcefully at the heart.  Not surprisingly, a lot of the strongest men in the world succumb prematurely from heart failures from overtaxing it too much.  Legendary John Henry succumbed in that fashion -- maybe the last time a human heart thought it could compete with a combustion engine.  It doesn't matter how much heart one has -- because that is not the whole equation.

We've come a long way in these past fifty years -- in which most of what we thought to be true, has been proven otherwise -- particularly in diet, exercise and lifestyles (behavior).  Now we're seeing the divergence of those who held fast to all that was true then, and those evolving their thinking beyond that -- in the first wave of Baby Boomers.  Many never grew beyond the '60s; for them, those were the halcyon days -- to be revived and celebrated yearly immemorially.  In their memories, they live forever -- as they were as adolescents.  Only a few, as always, move on -- and actualize the 21st century prototypes.  That's when the "old people"  move easily and gracefully -- without the aches and pains -- because they can.

Two Critical and Essential Movements to Understand

The first two machines Arthur Jones thought to embody and exemplify his Nautilus Training Principles into foolproof machines -- were the Pullover and the Hip and Back -- the latter which never caught on as well as the former -- because for many bodybuilders, let alone less enthusiastic trainees, the lower body is almost a foreign concept (and alien appendage) -- which eventually comes home to haunt them.  Thus bodybuilders who still compete after their 70s, are notorious for having grossly disproportionately underdeveloped lower bodies -- even while still maintaining impressive biceps and abdominals -- and in many cases, that is all -- even if they have great difficulty climbing the dais to claim their trophy.

The rationalization is usually that what could one expect? -- having damaged their knees from squatting and their backs from deadlifting -- the standbys through which they hoped to develop those particular areas, but rather, have destroyed them.  Obviously, those two movements that eventually result in these disabilities, are exactly what one should not do -- but in the Opposite Universe -- one will do them until one no longer can -- and that will be proof of their effectiveness and value.

The genius in his selection of the Pullover and the Hip and Back reflect the understanding of the two essential power producing fulcrums of the human body which engage the most and largest muscles of the human body at the shoulder and hip girdles.  During the '50s and '60s, the most commonly employed exercise to build up the chest was not the bench press but the pullover -- in the recognition that it would directly expand the ribcage -- or breathing capacity, because that particular movement is the best breathing exercise -- let alone, muscle developer.

As the upper arms move back towards the head and beyond, the chest volume increases, and when the arms come down towards the hips, chest volume is decreased -- and it is the alternation of the chest volume that moves air in and out of the lungs, and why manual chest compressions are helpful in achieving this effect in those who have stopped breathing.  This is also noticeable as the chest rises or falls with normal breathing -- particularly when one is breathing only through the natural passage through the nose.  When the mouth is closed, it forms a perfect seal through which the only passage in and out is through that opening -- and the pressure caused by the alternating chest volume -- working in an atmosphere of about 15 lbs per inch.  Nature will not allow a vacuum to exist without instantly seeking to equalize those pressures.

Thus one does not need to practice proper breathing as a separate function -- but is optimized by the change in chest volume in the pullover movement -- which is also engaging the most, and largest muscles of the torso concurrently.  It is the most effective way to make breathing the critically and essential movement to get better at -- throughout one's life.  When one stops breathing, the consequences will be disastrous, if not fatal -- and in better circumstances, is the key to optimizing the highest capabilities of the upper body as well as its entirety -- obviously.

That movement can be performed lying on a bench with a light dumbbell or barbell -- with a straight-arm or bent arm -- for 50 repetitions -- focusing on increasing the range of motion in both the backward and forward positions, rather than increasing the resistance.  Increasing the range naturally and automatically increases the resistance -- even while using a light weight.  The reason light weights are often unproductive, is because no attempt is being made to increase the range of movement -- which is the whole point of that exercise, and not adding more weight while hardly moving, or shortening the movement so one can handle the heavier weight.

That is the reason many people can presumably increase their resistance while showing very little in increased muscle gain and strength in moving to greater ranges.  In every case, it is the athlete or performer with the superior range of movement that impresses, rather than those who load up the bar, and do nothing significant or recognizable with it.  The legendary strongman at the turn of the 20th century, almost without exception trained with extremely light weights, doing many repetitions -- and so even halfway through the 20th century, many older YMCAs still had these wooden shaped dumbbells that many up and coming bodybuilders wondered why were these here?

That's how people used to exercise -- using those props in their movements (calistethics) -- if they did that.  That kind of movement, was capable of achieving and maintaining those impressive physiques of their time -- not unlike those of the sculptures of the human form of antiquity.  That would still be impressive by today's standards.  So once we understand how that can be achieved with the more familiar upper body, we can take a deeper dive into the proper understanding of the requirements for lower body development -- and why it is something other than we've come to think of it -- that bypasses the destruction and limitations of the knees and back, and why the Nautilus Hip and Back was the superior movement -- although most could not get used to the novelty of the position it placed them in.

You cannot engage the gluteus by moving the femur forward; the femur has to be moving backwards -- but it is not enough just to move it inline with the torso -- because its range of movement is much greater than that for the fullest contraction to occur.  The contraction of the gluteus muscle only begins from a straightline -- and then back, which is exactly what the Nautilus Hip and Back machine did.  And then when the glutes are engaged, then the back muscles that form the arch in the small of the back, are also activated -- and the deviation from that characteristic and structural integrity, is the cause of back pain -- and rounding of the back.  That is how the back is injured -- when it contracts maximally into a rounded spine -- rather than an arched one in which the back muscles must be contracted strongly and thus provides strength.  In the rounded lower back, the muscles must be relaxed -- and thus afford no such protection -- even while a person may lift a higher weight.  And that is precisely the back position we see in people attempting heavy squats and deadlifts -- that eventually catches up with them.

But now that Nautilus machines are generally unavailable, the closest simulation, are the traditional yoga positions called The Bridge, and Upward bending Bow -- both directly resulting in the arched back strengthening.  It is also commonly performed in the gym with a barbell held on top of their legs with a bench supporting the upper body -- but whether that is an improvement over no weights with increasing range of motion is again questionable -- because the increased resistance only rationalizes decreasing the range of movement that happens whenever the resistance is increased.  The tradeoff is counterproductive and eventually injurious.

For that reason, many people think that lifting weights don't work -- and that is the reason it doesn't, and makes one justifiably weary of doing more -- as they are encouraged to push prematurely until they are definitively injured.  But a light weight used as a prop for achieving greater ranges of movement, is another matter entirely -- and in fact, manifest instant results as the self-evident truth.  The more one increases the range of movement in the direction of its proper contraction, the stronger that contraction is manifested -- immediately and actually.  It has very little to do with the weights.  It is the manifestation of the proper understanding that is instantly actualized.

Optimizing Health is the Best Defense

While much has been made about what the whiz-bang experts say should be done -- usually by not following their own example -- most of what every individual can do to improve, enhance and maintain their quality of life, lies entirely within their own hands and jurisdiction.  In fact, that has always been the point of life -- and living -- to do best with what each has -- rather than pining for how they wish things were -- first, before initiating any actions of their own.  Of course, that has never been a good prescription nor formula for success -- and happiness -- but to the contrary, ensures the opposite -- and renders one vulnerable and susceptible to all kinds of assaults, infections, misfortunes, etc.  Invariably, that is a disaster waiting to happen.

Ironically, that often happens despite one being extremely active and tireless -- doing all the wrong things, and solving all the wrong problems -- while the real problems, simply get worse, and are regarded as a hopeless situation.  So first, there must be right perception and right understanding -- before there can be right action.  That is the essential teaching of Buddhism -- and real awakening, and enlightenment.  It is not some far off goal of perfection in the far distant future or another life, but the here and now in every moment and possibility.

That is the Great Awakening -- and not all this silliness of who is righter than anybody else.  One is righter relative to their own understanding and being -- and that is the proper study and focus of every significant life -- understanding their own, and not presuming to know better than others.  That is obviously the distinction of those without any understanding -- usually of anything at all, and so they delight in whatever takes them away from themselves and that mindfulness.

 The world is what it is -- for good reason.  It is like the novice approach of market values in which one is led to believe that only they know the true value and price of anything -- and they are led to the slaughter, never knowing what went wrong -- because they knew the truth, and the rest of the world was only fooling themselves.  So one must first allow, that maybe everybody else could be right -- and maybe they are driving on the "right" side of the road -- rather than the new and improved enlightened way.

And then if that presumption proves more damaging than helpful -- one can then ask, Might there be a better way, and what are the alternative explanations -- that make more sense, but more importantly, work -- regardless of one's previous knowledge and experience?  That is how new worlds are discovered -- and the unknown become known.  It is not that everything was already known -- but lost and forgotten -- and the only quest in life is to rediscover that.  That is a very small view of the universe and its possibilities -- and truth and wisdom lie beyond that.

It is nearly impossible to save one on their death bed, or the bed they have prepared for themselves -- all their lives.  It may begin with successes but end in failures -- if they have not learned to deal with both.  Success is a greater challenge than failure -- and so, many deconstruct their successes so they can rebuild from failure -- rather than taking success to the next and subsequent level.  And that is why so many undermine their own success, and sabotage their lives -- including and especially the great athletes, and great success stories in every field.  They never learned to make a good thing better -- even if it was only themselves, which is the most important to do -- and not compare oneself favorably or unfavorably with everybody else -- constantly and incessantly.  Of course we recognize that instantly in social media and every media of our own making -- and why many spend more than half their lives deleting and canceling everything else they did previously.

Obviously, that is not any way to build foundations for any future successes and endeavors, but always has one starting from scratch -- or worse, with tremendous and growing deficits -- until everything seems futile and hopeless.  Chief among that, is one's own health -- which should not just be thrown away, as many talk about it.  That is the life of endless and unceasing dissipation that many literary characters seem to think was all there was -- and the point of their whole existence.  We recognize such characters today as the "dysfunctional" personalities that we hope to learn from their mistakes -- rather than repeating them ourselves as the only model possible.

That is the advantage of learning from other people's mistakes -- as well as our own.  But if we just cancel out everybody else and delete our own, we predictably never get anywhere -- have nothing to build on, develop no fortifications against the travails and challenges in life.  That ultimately, is what life is -- everything, and not just one thing, or only those things we wish to acknowledge.  That is not good enough.  And if one solve problems that don't need to be solved, while ignoring those matters of great urgency, then life will predictably be short, brutish, and "unfair."  One would expect nothing else.

So for the novices of every beginning, they should learn from everything -- not just to immediately emulate them, but to know of that possibility -- among many others, and once one has seen enough, can make intelligent choices -- and not merely try to become more intelligent, diligent or thoughtful on a path that may be totally misguided.  Those choices have to come at the end -- when they virtually make themselves -- rather than choosing prematurely, and then never deviating from that path although it is the cause of all their difficulties.  Trying harder, is not the answer to their problem that may be something else entirely.

So to ask, how can I do more, without first inquiring whether one should be doing any at all -- is beginning on the wrong foot, and asking the wrong question -- that some even demand that others must answer for them, and will tolerate nothing else.

As long as one regards Time as a friend, it will be a powerful ally -- in achieving what one desires, but if one regards Time as an enemy, then it is an indomitable foe.  Unfortunately, too many are conditioned to think that way -- and so set the indomitable forces against themselves -- as their worthy adversary, not realizing they are way out of their league.  In this, patience is one's best counsel -- so cultivating that talent comes back frequently to aid them in the new.  Good things take time to unfold -- just as bad things -- but the impatient, demands that results be instant -- or they don't want to waste their time.  But time is what we all have most equally. 

We all have twenty-four hours in each day -- and some make the most of it, while many others fritter theirs away -- never seeming to find time to do anything important and beneficial -- and all the time in the world will not make any difference.  However much they have, they will waste.  But if one is in the habit of making each moment precious, it seems to beget more, of ever increasing greater quality.  That is the self-evident truth of optimizing one's health as their first line of defense -- and from that foundation, to launch one's offensive actions -- while those in steadily declining health, are rocked further back on their heels with every subsequent attack.  Everybody seems to know better -- but many feel powerless to do anything about.  They know they should take better care of their own health -- but find some excuse for not doing so.  Eventually, it is too late -- and the windows of opportunity are closed.

It is seldom that one never had any chances -- for even the most destitute and unfortunate, will lament endlessly about all their wasted chances.  Somebody else was supposed to do something -- and then everybody else -- before they could act on their own behalf.  So lacking that improbability, their lives were lost.  All one can do is try their best -- but that's not the same as doing nothing -- and calling it their best.  Some will know the difference, and call it out -- but the most important person to realize that, is each individual for themselves -- that they could have made that difference.

Age is what separates the winners from the losers.  Use it wisely.

High Intensity Exercise (and Peak Performance)

 "No amount of low-intensity exercise will produce the same effects as a very brief and infrequent amount of high intensity exercise." 

Those were the words expressed to me in the summer of 1969 at the Teenage National Championships held in York, Pennsylvania, conveniently at the YMCA -- making it one of the great gatherings of people interested in such matters back then.  Virtually all the people known as the "golden era of bodybuilding" were staying under one roof, and one person in particular, introduced his ideas on revolutionizing this activity for anyone who would listen -- but unfortunately, few were so inclined, and those who did, chose to argue rather than listen to new ideas.

If one actually chose to exercise with such high intensity, they could not last more than ten minutes without throwing up, or the body completely shutting down in revolt for such a full-on assault -- self-imposed.  But I said I would give it a try, and pass on that knowledge to everyone else who might be interested in unprecedented fast and dramatic results -- if they were willing to endure that tremendous discomfort (trauma) which the body then would adapt to -- for as long as one persisted in that manner.

And so the notion of pain as the stimulus of gain, began to supplant the convention of moderate and painless exercise -- to largely maintain the status quo of maintaining the condition and movement one presently had.  Most of the people taking up exercise up to that time, were often doing so because of illnesses or genetic defects -- that made them feel the necessity to.  More normally developed people were not so inclined -- to waste their time in that manner.

People did not suspect that one could actually achieve remarkable transformations in just five minutes -- if one were willing to go all-out and deliberately produce that effect.  Needless to say, it is very stressful on the body to do so -- or one would be doing it all the time, but as originally forewarned, it had to be very brief, and infrequent -- or the body would simply break down, and not recover -- until forced to do so by its own innate intelligence.

Initially, they were just principles that could be applied to any manner of exercising or activity -- which were later incorporated into the Nautilus exercise machines -- so that they would be "foolproof."  But the inventor underestimated the extent to which fools could undermine the wisdom of the machines -- and defeat its intents and purposes -- and thus created a need for personalized supervision of every repetition to ensure that they were done properly.  That was an admission that the machine was not foolproof -- and what was really lacking, was the proper understanding of those principles.

As originally presented, one could achieve the high intensity effect, using any equipment -- or none at all, because what was required was simply to exceed one's momentary ability -- and that created the stimulus for the body to adapt to this higher level -- over time, in recovery.  Thus this recovery ability became as equally critical factor -- as the breaking down process that makes room for the new.  It was not enough just to exercise as much as possible -- or all the time, because it was equally important to provide adequate rest and nutrients to rebuild at a slightly higher capacity -- anticipating the next challenge to one's capabilities.

That is how one programs themselves to improve -- and not simply annihilate oneself -- at an inappropriate time and circumstances.  The challenge must be great -- but manageable given one's present resources -- and not merely taking on a freight train believing they can conquer anything if they only put their mind to it.  Thus it has been observed, that "the spirit was willing, but the flesh was weak."  Meanwhile, true fitness and survival, is knowing one's capabilities and limits, and utilizing them appropriately in the right time and circumstances.  Many people get these qualifiers wrong -- and think only in the absolutes -- that all-out, or 115% rules the day.  Instead, one may never recover from that miscalculation of abilities to the challenge.

So one must always allow for a margin of error that one could be completely wrong, overmatched, or misreading the situation -- as when dealing with an unfamiliar life form (foe) and assuming one has seen it all, and compares it to everything else they have experienced before.  Who knew that the crocodile wouldn't take kindly to being patted on the head?  So in anything one does, it is best to approach it tentatively -- and then taking it a little farther to familiarize oneself with the possibilities and territory -- to find out the the truth of the matter.

In that exploration and learning, one has already become a better person -- and not that they were born with perfect knowledge and so must never admit to not knowing anything, because that realization, is the awakening of intelligence.  That is high intensity exercise for the brain -- which then exercised through the neuromuscular structures -- produces growth in one's total being.  Such people, we say, are firing on all cylinders -- because they are not just thinking with their brains, but every cell, tissue, and organ in their body.  Such highly charged states, do not have to be practiced for hours, day after day, but is enough to experience for even one second -- to have a transformative effect on the body.

It is the highest level of attainment achieved -- and predictably, cannot be sustained or duplicated -- but at that point, one has achieved what they set out to -- that momentary highest level of achievement.  That then becomes the prototype for all one's future attainments.  But no amount of mundane, routine, boring activity -- has that same magical, transformative effect.  One must be entirely "there" -- as the template for which all the cells henceforth, will be rebuilt to adapt to.  

Obviously, that is taking life to a higher level -- which is actually what every life form has been preprogrammed to do -- and why we have evolution and progress.  That is the integration of all that has come before -- in the synthesis of the new, more powerful life force -- or there is disintegration -- the breakdown into greater disorder, anomie, atrophy, and entropy.  Greater life force is increasing orderliness and adaptability at higher levels, while disintegration inevitably leads to increasing probabilities of disease, injury and death -- because it doesn't learn from its own living -- to get better.

So when the leading edge researchers describe "high intensity" training, it is this qualitative effect they are alluding to -- and not merely more of the same and familiar (quantitative) -- that isn't working, no matter how much of it one does.  Those limits can be breached no matter what present condition one is in -- and that is particularly important to note -- because it depends on breaching one's momentary levels of ability and not merely personal or world record bests.  That is meaningful because those are the most severe challenges one is likely to encounter in life -- when they can turn their fortunes from utter vanquish to feeling whole and well again -- in an instant.  Some call that "resiliency" (recovery ability).  Like people who have made a fortune and lost a fortune, those in supreme health, know how to change their own fortunes -- and that is what the early pioneers of bodybuilding and the greater health movement, blazed the path for in that they were often willing to risk their health and lives for a brief moment of glory -- and no rational argument would stop them.

However, many died prematurely by overtraining and overstraining their own organs to failure -- beginning with the heart -- which does not have unlimited capacity for work and overwork.  Something has to give when demanding 200% effort day after day.  Usually the body informs them in some way that that cannot persist for much longer -- and most voluntarily quit, before they have a tragic medical episode.  That's all part of learning -- just like why it is inadvisable not to drive at full throttle whenever one can.  Most hope to outgrow it.

The problem of intensity is similar to acceleration -- one is either increasing -- or decreasing, momentarily.  But the only thing that matters is the peak -- and not that it has to be sustained indefinitely in order to be effective, and once attained, already produces an unprecedented stimulus for desired growth no matter what stage or age one is in.  But like any powerful force in life, it has to be managed prudently -- or it can be one's undoing.  Too much of a good thing can be damaging.  Too much food, too much money, too many drugs, too many influences, etc.

The proper dose makes the medicine/poison.

Changing Whatever Ails You

When one has a lifelong problem that just seems to be getting worse, one might ask if there is another way of doing things -- and seeing what happens.  It frequently is the case, that how one thought to solve a problem, actually caused the problem -- rather than being the ultimately best solution.  Nowhere is that more true than in the simple act of cleaning up -- after making a mess, and resulting in an even bigger mess -- which then seems the least of one's problems and difficulties.

One of the great crises of last year, among many, was the great toilet paper shortage of 2020 -- which caused many more to consider abandoning altogether -- for technologies that made better sense, and eliminating many of the problems that cause people to require caregiving for these vital functions of elimination and cleanup.  Most don't give that much thought -- until it becomes a major preoccupation for many elderly -- as an increasing reminder of their growing incompetence and diminishing dexterity.

But need it be so -- or could one adopt new technologies and ways of doing things that make the formerly problematical, a non-issue? -- which I think the switch from toilet paper to the state-of-the art bidet attachment represents.  It seems like such a simple matter -- that has profound implications and consequences -- particularly in eliminating the chances for infection from the two major sources of contamination and toxicity.  One need not be a most highly esteemed doctor to realize that such a simple switch would make a major impact on world health and hygiene -- and eliminate many of those problems resulting from that primitive treatment of it -- to a new standard of hygiene in this regard.

That is also symbolic of many other great technological advances that we will not embrace simply because we were conditioned in another way -- and remained the only way we thought possible.  However, in the last ten years, or even five, the whole world of these possibilities have become available to us -- to transform life as much as we can imagine it to be so -- including that we do not have to be victims of our own bad health due to the poor choices we were conditioned with initially -- and are now the source of most of our health issues.  

Chief among them is the notion that we need to remain totally preoccupied on when our next meal is coming from -- rather than the better, more appropriate response of these times, to increase one's time not spent eating -- creating much more time and energy for other more productive activities.  I think that is greatly what it means to move into a 21st century life -- from the past's preoccupation with scarcity in all things, as the basic struggle of human life.  The problems now, are likely to precede from too much, rather than too little -- and those who cannot exercise that prudence and responsibility, can see their lives go off the rails irretrievably -- resulting in all the problems of human evolution and civilization.   That is of course, every manner of communicable and self-inflicted disease -- at its most problematical.  That is, how do we dispose of the waste, that left unattended, becomes increasingly more toxic?

Obviously, this has to begin at the most rudimentary level, and doing that, gives hope for further rectifications.  Those are what we are likely to take most for granted: air, water, sunlight -- as the basics of what has produced life as we know it.  If we truly understood only these three things -- and learned to optimize it, we could create a whole new universe of possibilities and opportunities.  Instead, some would propose that we block out all sunlight -- as though that was an intelligent thing to do.  That shows no understanding of life in any of its forms -- much less proclaiming oneself as its highest manifestation of intelligent life, not only here, but throughout the universe.

There's a reason things are as they are -- but better is always possible.  That is the story of evolution and civilization.  Those shifts are not merely arbitrary but that which stands the test of time.  Otherwise, one is likely to live a life full of regrets -- from hastily jumping on every bandwagon that comes by -- not only fearing to miss out, but even claiming to have thought of the idea originally.  Then weeks later, disclaiming and deleting every association with such wayward thoughtlessness -- while those monuments remain of how misguided and destructive those thoughts and actions were.

One only needs to tour the downtown areas of many cities to see the end result of such "enlightened and progressive" thinking -- for which future generations will wonder, "What were these people thinking!?"

Finding Out for Yourself

Before asking another for the answer, one should always try to see if they can answer the question for themselves -- as that is more likely to be the truth of the matter for themselves, rather than a generalized other.  That is to say, if it works for you, then it doesn't matter that it doesn't work for anybody else -- because you are the person you are, and not some theoretical or average other.  That's probably the hardest lesson to learn.

Likewise, if it doesn't work for you, it doesn't matter how many others it works for -- because the reality is you.  So in asking what is the best program of conditioning, it depends on who you are -- and that is why finding out who one is, is critical to asking any other question.  Thus, all the wise, have advised to find out who one is -- and that is the key to understanding anything else, because nobody else can answer that better.

That is true whether the subject is diet, exercise and lifestyle choices.  It should come as no shock that each of us is different -- and so what is best for any specific individual, may not be best for any other -- and we usually discover that by slow increments rather than leaping to extremes.  A little bit more weight might make one stronger, while a lot, may crush you -- and more importantly, discourage you from finding out your own "optimal."

Every individual lies somewhere on the spectrum of all the others.  Some are tall and some are short; some are quick and some are slow -- and both have their unique strengths.  There are degrees of improvement with a certain range -- but the runner will not likely be the gymnast because both require different strengths -- the latter upper body, while the former lower body -- and those traits are not reversible and interchangeable -- and so one is better off finding out what one is, and work with those natural born advantages -- especially if they are competing among those who are truly gifted for that activity.

It might be that one creates their own category -- and of course, will be the best at that.  The problem and difficulties arise when someone convinces everybody that they should only play and compete at their game, favorable to them alone -- while convincing everybody they are starting equally, and having an equal chance at all the prizes.  Of course that is patently unfair -- as in everything in life.  One always begins where one is -- and understands about the whole of life.

Just one leg doesn't get one there.  It's got to be the total package -- leaving nothing behind.  So from the very beginning, one wants to ask the right question, and not merely have all the answers to the wrong questions.  That won't do.  That's why people don't get the results they think they ought to.  They overlook the details -- in preference for the generalities -- that may or may not be an accurate approximation of the realities.  The idea is not the thing itself.  

 But in an era in which most of what they know has been taught to them -- rather than what they learned on their own, the idea becomes more real than the realities.  There are fields in which those differences are more manifest: athletics, finance, writing, speaking, health, attitude, emotional intelligence, etc., but that is not the be-all, end-all of human possibilities -- but simply the beginning of each individual's development and explorations.  Most of the world is not known but unknown -- which is hard to believe for many -- especially those who have been taught in the manner that what they say, is all that can be known -- and so any quest for truth beyond that, is illegal, and prohibited.  In earlier times, that was called "taboo" or "kapu" -- where one is forbidden to go, even on the punishment of death -- and beyond (fear).

In that  way, we have never come that far -- from those who threaten, "My way, or the highway."  Which means to say, there is no other game in town -- and beyond that, lies only treacherous seas, before falling off the edge of the world into the great abyss.  Naturally, that deters a lot of folks from ever finding their own way -- much less, any other way -- and one has to try many ways before finding that one that works optimally for themselves -- but if they never embark on the quest, then they are doomed to whatever fate someone else determines for them -- and never knowing the difference.

In every time, that was the hero's quest -- that defined such lives -- even in a mass media culture demanding total obedience to the meme of the day.  Literature is replete with countless tales of trials and tribulations of such individuals -- or there would be no stories to tell.  The noteworthy individuals were invariably those who had to find their own way -- and in doing so, blaze the trail for many to follow the better way.  But we don't know that before embarking on the quest -- and many never do, so ingrained are they in their knowledge that the one way -- is the only way, and will be forever more.

It is easier to see in more primitive societies and cultures -- but this desire for absolute certainty in the most insecure convinces them there is only strength in numbers, and never standing alone.  But such individuals are the only way any significant leap in knowledge has been achieved -- and why it is so important to find out the truth of any matter for oneself, which does not preclude learning from everybody and everything else -- but the self-designated experts.

There is just not one person who knows -- but many, and putting all the knowledge and information together, is the essential work of every individual, in every time and place.  That is the quality that distinguishes the most modern person of any time and circumstances.  "They have it all together" -- and not merely fragments and pieces, amounting to nothing.

The Significance of Failure

50 repetitions will usually get one to muscle failure — which is obviously what most people don’t do because they spend nearly all their time “working out” just resting between sets — instead of actually performing any exercises, and particularly when it gets hard (fatigued), and so the body doesn’t have to adapt to do what is easy to do.

That’s why Eugen Sandow was able to build a legendary physique — using light weights for 50 reps. When you take a light weight and articulate the fullest range of motion, that fullest of contractions — requires all the muscles of your body to be contracted because it is not possible for only one muscle to be contracted in isolation to all the others — because one of the major functions of any muscle, is to recruit as many of the other (larger) muscles to assist it.

One of the primary objectives of exercise, is to increase the range of movement — particularly in the direction of the contraction, while most people using heavier weights, do so at the expense of shortening their range of motion to compensate for the added resistance. In that manner, even their full contraction, is actually a resting point — rather than a maximum contraction that extends beyond that.

Most people will experience that range of motion as a muscle cramp — because the contraction is so severe — and can be achieved in the first 10 repetitions before fatigue sets in (lactic acid buildup), and by the 50th repetition, it takes every muscle in their body just to complete that repetition in the worst possible form — but it is everything one has at that moment.

That is “momentary failure” — and what the body now has to adapt to — in the next few days, so those high intensity sessions should be brief and infrequent — most often, once a week, while continuing to do your daily routine of stretching and flexing to prevent the onset of paralyzing muscle soreness (DOMS) from setting in — while the muscles are recovering and growing.

In this manner, it is possible to continue muscle growth even after most people think they can no longer achieve it anymore — because they don’t understand the relationship between the stimulus and the recovery ability — and do a lot of low-intensity exercise thinking that is enough to stimulate muscle growth. It is a brief amount of high-intensity with sufficient recovery time, and daily light stretching and flexing, that makes it possible, and not any amount of low-intensity exercise.

So the body is not responding to amount of exercise -- as it is to the quality of that exercise -- which means expanding the range of that expression. That is true of every activity -- that those most valued, are because they do whatever they do, with greater articulation, or expression -- rather than simply doing very little -- a lot. No amount of doing something badly, will accomplish doing something very well -- once. All human performance is set up with this appreciation uppermost -- but not everyone can appreciate it equally -- and so hopefully, we have "judges" who can distinguish those differences. But long before the public performance, each practitioner hones their skill -- because they must know the difference, and not simply hope to fool the judges, or the media covering them.

Eventually that happens when one breaks not only the records for previous achievements -- but breaks from the conventions one has come to expect in that activity -- and reinvents that sport henceforth. That is the root meaning of sport: an individual exhibiting a sudden deviation from type beyond the normal limits of individual variation usually as a result of mutation especially of somatic tissue.  

On such occasions, there is tremendous uproar and confusion, as the new supplants the old -- in this cataclysmic way.  There is no other defense against the new and unpredictable.  And while this inevitably happens in sports and athletics -- it is also the feature of individual lives that continue to evolve -- and not just by calling the old, "new and improved."  It will be something entirely different.  

Those are the leaps that a few individuals actually cultivate -- to get where they haven't gone before.   Otherwise, one could only repeat the past -- endlessly, and never grow beyond it.  But as tirelessly and repetitively as one practices, it is always with such an intention that one hopes for a breakthrough -- often, just because one is at the right place, at the right time, doing the right thing, with the right people.  Conversely, bad things are likely to happen being at the wrong place, at the wrong time, doing the wrong thing, with all the wrong people.  As such, outcomes will not be the same -- no matter how much one thinks it should be so.

Unless one acknowledges these critical differences and failures, one will be lost in a sea of worthless opinions -- allowing them to proceed on the road to folly, and never knowing the difference -- until their predictable, premature demise.  Long before that untimely end, one hopes to have learned from all their failures -- and become better for it.  That entails actually doing something -- and not just thinking about it -- as though that were the same, and equally productive.  In a world of virtual reality, quite a few have difficulty maintaining those distinctions, and boundaries  -- and think the rules should not apply to them -- because they are entitled to favorable outcomes above all the others.

Even the King of the Beasts eventually have to learn that lesson the hard way -- along the road to getting there, and eventually on the road back.  No one is "entitled" to getting there, nor staying there forever.  All one can do is make the best of whatever circumstances have presented to them -- and not waste them all, assured that there will be many more.  When it ends, it ends -- just like that.

In the meantime, one hopes to have cultivated many other skills and attributes -- that provide them with a few other opportunities, when their primary avenue is cut off.  That is having a backup plan -- and building increasing reserves for the bad times -- and if they do not manifest, so much the better -- as their capital builds.  And if disaster strikes, it was all part of the plan they were preparing for.  They had a sufficient margin for error -- that they could be wrong.

That is what a wise few are preparing for -- the best of times, as well as the worst of times -- and in that way, make the best of times at every time of their lives.   That is just not the young years, or the middle and prime, but until the very end -- and going out on top, whenever that is.

One begins near -- to go far.