People won’t want to hear this — but walking on a spot (in place) is SUPERIOR to actual walking. The greatest advantage is that one can do it in the comfort of one’s own home (controlled environment), rather than the much more perilous random conditions one is likely to encounter walking around most cities — and particularly hazardous now that public officials don’t enforce safe and drug-free environments, in addition to treacherous sidewalks.
The key thing that makes the step in place superior as an exercise is the range allowed by tailoring the conditions to optimize safety and performance. The extreme is the knee-lift that can be achieved by marching in place. That is contrasted to the much more limited range of movement in barely lifting one’s feet — as most people do — in walking. That is the essential movement — repeated over and over again so it becomes conditioned automatically. That is the purpose of exercise — self-conditioning — rather than being conditioned by everything else — much of it extraneous.
Increasingly with years, is the realization that one can’t be doing things that aren’t working — for the dwindling remainder of their lives. At some point, they hope for a resurrection to their best selves. That manner of thinking can be programmed into all the moments of our lives — but obviously not what got us to this state. Then one is shocked into the realization that everything they do matters.
Strength Training or Cardio: Which is Better?
There are no exercises one can do that will not elevate the heart rate — while one can elevate the heart rate without a corresponding actual movement or productivity. That of course, is a reaction to a stressful or emotional situation which one can do little about — that takes a toll on the body resources nevertheless. Understanding that, it is meaningless to talk about doing only cardio exercise to manipulate the heart rate (and of course sell all the paraphrenalia) associated with that concept — that the heart is unrelated and unconnected to all the other muscles and functioning, and requires conscious and willful efforts to get the heart pumping.
Voluntary muscles require that conscious and willful efforts to operate — but not the heart. The heart is an autonomic function — which means it is hardwired to function as it needs to, and not because one wants to achieve a “target” heart rate. That is the greatest misunderstanding in the fitness world — because it leads people to believe they can obtain all the benefits of healthful exercise and activities just by manipulating the heart rate to measure as certain arbitrary number — rather than in thinking that all activity has to conform to the limits of heart functioning — or that there will be that critical failure.
Thus the wise course, is to condition to that natural limitation — rather than naively thinking that anything is possible — if one simply believes in it ardently enough. That is why many bodybuilders die prematurely — as well as marathoners — including the original legendary runner who inspired that race. At some point one has to recognize one’s own limits — and not just think that the body will respond to any demand placed on it — infinitely. That’s not the real world, and the whole point of fitness activities, is to prepare oneself to function optimally in whatever challenges and conditions one has to, and not unilaterally demand that reality must bend to one’s own will — despite the realities of the situation.
Such conditioning (education) is useless and counterproductive (injurious), and likely to produce a premature ending — and the whole point in life is surviving, and optimizing the conditions for doing so. That always begins with discovering one’s own unique limitations and possibilities, and not just assuming that the universal “average” is one’s own. That is partly what one is here to find out — the actuality of the matter, and not just the academic and theoretical. In this, one is greatly aided by their own senses and sensibilities — and based on that information, one proceeds further.
The main difference between strength-training and “cardio” exercise is this testing of reality as opposed to theoretical abstracts of an arbitrary ideal determined by “correlation” rather than “causation.” That is to say that the bodybuilder knows what movements produce a verifiable and visual pump in the muscle addressed, while the cardio effects cannot be detected in the here and now — but is taken as a matter of faith that one is doing the right thing — because certain self-designated experts say so.
That is to observe that when lifting a heavy weight, the heart rate will surely elevate in doing so, but simply elevating the heart rate will not ensure the success of a monumental effort — because the focus is misplaced to the heart rate — rather than more properly, in the muscles involved and coordinated to achieve that effect. The heart function simply takes care of itself — automatically, because that is how it is designed and evolved to do — and not that conscious effort and attention to that, will guarantee a favorable outcome in the performance of anything else.
The Importance of Neck (Head) Development
The most important organs of the human body to deliberately maintain are the head, hands and feet — which are precisely where responsiveness begins to fail first, because as important as they are, they are properly placed at the extremities to maximize their effectiveness. But that means they are furthest from the heart as well — which is an autonomic function rather than a voluntary ones we control consciously. There is an ancient wisdom that goes, “Let me change what I can change, and accept what I cannot change, and give me the wisdom to know the difference.”
People who fail spectacularly at everything they do, lack that essential wisdom — and will put out unlimited energy, time and resources to change what they cannot change, and zero into those things that could make a huge difference — and all the difference in the world. So first we need to have this basic understanding of how exercise is essential to any part of the body — because it enhances the flow of nutrients into it, and removes the accumulated waste products of cells that break down and need to be repaired and replaced. That is the cycle of life at its most basic understanding. Life and health require this constant flow — and exercise is the program we adopt to optimize that development — to our greatest priorities.
Although many exercisers will insist that the head and brain should not be a top priority — in favor of rear deltoid development (sic), etc. — to most thoughtful individuals, that would be their top priority — even if they don’t consciously realize it. For many young athletes, it becomes a moot point beyond learning the gross motor movements — while for the child prodigies of every activity, those extra movements (gear) are the gifts few others have — and can be identified by equally gifted coaches. This is appreciating movement at its highest level, but is equally relevant to every functioning level, and particularly the dysfunctional and deteriorating.
What can we do about it? — or can nothing be done about it? When many of my cohorts were beginning to wonder why they no longer got the same results they did when younger, I was introduced to and noticed that it was even far more dire for those disabled, aging, and even terminal — and wondered what was the exercise (movement) they could do with the greatest immediate impact — beginning with that forlorn look of hopelessness and helplessness that made them sit like statues all day — seemingly completely unresponsive to life anymore. And while it was clear what they couldn’t do, the only relevant question was what could they do? — to change that whole reality.
That was head movement: the simple turning of the head all the way to the left, and then back all the way to the right — increased the flow to the brain — and that had maximum impact on every other functioning of the body. Why wouldn’t the body respond in that critical way? That is literally the integration of the mind with body. As the head moves, that is awareness of one’s surroundings — and the world we must respond to — beyond all else. That simple awareness, is what is required to be “all there” — at the most critical times. As has been said, “Some people make things happen, some people are aware of what is happening, while the vast majority wonder what is happening?”
We’ve forgotten how to use our own senses to gather information — and that is why the cave man was more fit than today’s sedentary beings — wholly dependent on their smartphones to tell them what to think. Thus they never need to move their heads anymore — and so the flow to the brain diminishes — because flow is the function of that movement — just as it is with all the movements of the human body. The same process that develops the biceps, also develops the brain — it would be stupid not to. That’s how Nature works — even for the creatures that never went to college. It would develop the blueprint for all of life.
It is not that the head cannot move, or is impossible to improve, and the atrophying of the neck muscles are inevitable signs of deterioration and decline. The movement of the head is actually the best indicator of the vibrancy of that individual — and of all the others. The 360 degree side-to side head movement requires the engagement of all the muscles of the body — in addition to the neck muscles, which many exercise authorities think cannot be effectively exercised — because they misunderstand the simplicity of movement. It does not require elaborate machinery to provide resistance; it is the understanding that every movement eventually produces its own resistance — against further movement. At this point, the muscle contraction has cleared space for the heart to pump blood into that vacuum — rather than the naive notion that a 1 pound heart will be able to force all the fluids around in addition to being the motive force for 500 lb lifts.
The genius of exercise is in realizing that all the voluntary (skeletal) muscles can be recruited to optimize the circulation in this manner — and particularly to areas deemed as a priority in attaining peak readiness and performance for its purposes.
Better Than Running
As people get older, they often lose the ability to run -- or just don't like to do it anymore -- for various good reasons. The usual culprits are the high impact taken by the foot, knees, hips and back, but lesser recognized, is the feeling of being winded -- and the reason for this is the high impact on the torso, knocking the wind out of the body from that jolt as the foot hits the ground with at least half of its bodyweight.
Absorbing that shock/jolt/impact will force air out of the lungs causing one to breathe shallowly, erratically and rapidly -- rather than deeply and slowly. It forces the breath to conform to that striking (impact), rather than conforming the movement to adapt to the breathing rate -- or rhythm. And it is the breathing rhythm that ultimately determines the aerobic efficiency that enables one to persist in that movement/effort tirelessly.
That is the very definition of what it means to be aerobic -- or exercising with breathing, as opposed to not breathing, characteristic of anaerobic exercise. Very simply put, aerobic exercise is that which can be sustained for extended periods of time because there is a good supply of oxygen provided by optimal breathing -- while anaerobic exercise and effort, does not expect or require those efforts to continue beyond the single great effort. As such, it doesn't matter if the body fails entirely after that one great effort.
The problem arises if that one supreme effort does not accomplish the objective -- and requires a subsequent great effort, etc. At that realization, one has to recalibrate their strategy for whether that requires a greater supreme effort, or whether lesser persistent efforts would be more effective. In more cases than not, the smaller effort persisted as long as it takes, is much more suited to accomplishing most objectives than the one and done supreme effort -- beyond which it does not matter if one lives or dies thereafter.
The well known saying, is to live another day -- to accomplish what one has to -- as long as it takes. That is very convenient for those planning to live a long life anyway. To those in a hurry, it is now or never -- with no practice or improvement possible -- or necessary. That manner of operation is usually not a good idea -- because it does not allow for the use of time -- which is one's greatest ally and asset throughout life.
The key question to ask is whether doing less might result in more -- and not simply more unquestionably? At what point does fast-walking overtake slow-running? Or more to the point, can race-walking beat jogging as a better fitness activity -- for most people? The superiority of race-walking is that it requires the engagement of the upper body as much as it does the fullest articulation of the leg joints. That is to say, that it is by its very nature a whole-body exercise -- and that is what gives it its peculiar articulation and expression.
The rules of its performance, require one to do it properly -- with no further instruction necessary. There is no vertical lift off of the ground -- and so no impact on the body. That is obviously how the body is designed to move -- and could -- for as long as it has to. It's not the fastest -- but it is the fastest that can be sustained for as long as it has to be.
Most people don't walk or jog with their arms -- but they should to get a full body workout. Those movements are even more constrained on a treadmill or stationary bike. They've just been led to believe that only the heartrate matters -- and if the heart is beating maximally, it must be forcing the circulation through the inert parts of the body -- which anybody who has done prolonged distance cycling knows is not true. The hands will go numb -- as well as other parts of the body no matter how hard and forcefully the heart is working.
That is true even with walking without the active engagement of the arms -- often experienced as the swelling in the hands even after a long walk. The proper and effective circulation requires the active engagement (articulation) of those muscles and joints -- and not just because the heart is working maximally. That is why such people even become atrophied in parts of their body -- while becoming overdeveloped in those parts that are actually moved.
And so for a well-developed, proportioned physique, it would behoove a person to actually move the parts of their body they want to develop -- including and especially at the cognitively important head., hands and feet -- which conveniently, are the easiest parts of the body to move. And in doing so, one will note that that has a profound effect on the movement, functioning and development of the musculature proximal to those distal joints. That is how the circulation is effected and optimized -- from the extremities back towards the heart, rather than as erroneously thought, from the heart to the extremities.
That is the major reason why exercise conducted with that understanding fails to achieve the desired results. It is like pouring water uphill and wondering why it will not flow.
