Why Are So Many Fit People Dying?
The obvious culprit is “cardio exercise.” The heart doesn’t need to work any harder. It always is the hardest working and most reliable muscle of the human body. It is the other skeletal muscles that frequently languish — and they play the most significant role in optimizing health, functioning, and continued well-being. There is even the legend of “John Henry,” who was a hard-working man who thought he could outwork a steam engine — and of course, his heart exploded with that effort.
Similarly, a lot of the “World’s Strongest Man” competitors suffer from and even died of the great exertions required by their event. Additionally, it is a well-recognized fact that many of the top competitors in the Mr. Olympia and other bodybuilding contests experience heart as well as all other kinds of vital organ failures — thinking that it is enough just to push their bodies and organs to their limits for the body to adapt to those demands — rather than attaining critical failures — as with most things in real life.
Brute force is not going to make one invulnerable — especially from self-inflicted abuses — whether from exercise or from illicit drugs, and in many cases, both. So these untimely ends are not entirely unexpected and unprecedented, but are well-proven, and despite that, many go into denial about these obvious realities.
I’ve long pointed out that the heart has little effect on enhancing the circulation in the body — because it is the CONSTANT and not the VARIABLE — and in every experiment and experience, it is the variable that accounts for any significant difference and not the constant which is immutable. That is to say, that the heart is what it is, and nothing will change that, but the action of the rest of the muscles in the body, is what greatly impacts the effectiveness of circulation — particularly to those axes (joints) actually moved.
Otherwise, the heart has no idea where to prioritize that flow of blood and nutrients — but more importantly, it is those contractions of the skeletal muscles — that account for the propulsion of the blood and other fluids (inflammation, edema, lymphedema, lipedema, etc) back towards the heart — while creating space for the new to enter by virtue of the always working heart.
But for grossly misinformed people to think that all one is trying to accomplish in exercise is to work the heart infinitely harder, is the reason they are more likely to cause the heart to fail completely, rather than achieve the much more intelligent objective of using the entire musculature of the body to optimize the flow — and not just require the heart to work infinitely harder as the prescription for a longer and healthy life.
That is particularly the problem of the dementias — that the heart and lungs continue to function for many years after the circulation to the brain, hands and feet have ceased to remain vital functioning parts. It is a seriously flawed understanding that does not bode well for prolonged lives in continued good health and functioning — and therefore, all is lost.
A Paradigm that Explains it All
Exercise in the traditional sense (gravity) and sweating are not the indicators of health most think they are. The proof of that is that people continue to live in zero-gravity space because the human body is a closed hydraulic system — which accounts for the health and functioning and not the resistance to the environment. That’s why SCUBA divers can also maintain their health and functioning under water as well — and you don’t see sharks and whales floundering around like jellyfish because of their environmental conditions. Instead, they each try to optimize their survivability as best they can — which is what makes them healthy and fit for that environment.
The outer space conundrum is helpful in discussing the actual requirements of life and how to enhance its functioning and development — apart from how we are used to thinking about these things. The value of exercise and functioning, is that we can access the life-sustaining environment, so that our own organism can survive and flourish. To do so is not about lifting weights, sweating, getting the heart rate as high as possible, moving our bodies in space, but the movement that occurs within the body — or what we call respiration and circulation — which is the ABCs of life-restoring protocols.
A would be checking the Airway to see that there is no obstruction or blockage preventing one’s access to the environment (air). Then when that is assured, the primary importance is getting the air to come into the body and then be expelled — so there is the effective exchange of the life-giving nutrients, and the removal of the accumulated toxins in the body. But it is not enough just to get it in and out of the lungs; it has to get into the blood for further circulation throughout the important parts of the body — and particularly to the brain and neuromuscular tissues.
That movement is caused by pressure differences within the cardiovascular system as well as the branching structure of the lungs. The characteristic of that design, is that one large vessel, branches and continues branching to the finest possibilities until a single air molecule or blood cell can pass — which is optimal for the exchange of gases. At that point, the autonomic provisions for that movement diminish, and the voluntary exercise of that movement back towards the heart and lungs take on primary importance — and that is the importance and significance of those voluntary movements we call exercise.
Those who produce more of those voluntary movements, achieve much greater functioning and development because that is what optimizing the circulation supports — while those not in the habit of making those voluntary skeletal muscular movements and contractions (compression), are not likely to have the optimal circulation to function and grow further. That is why muscles and other organs grow healthily — they are given every resource to do so — by optimizing the circulation of the body — which is automatically done by the heart and lungs, but is modified and enhanced greatly by the contractions and relaxations of the skeletal muscles — particularly beginning at its furthest point from the heart — which is where the circulation is poorest — resulting in the characteristic deterioration beginning at the neck, hands and feet — noted in older people.
This deterioration is particularly pronounced in those who no longer move their heads, hands and feet — even if they may spend hours each day making their hearts work tirelessly harder and even enlarge (weaken) — which may serve the heart well enough, but at the expense of the lack of circulation to these very obvious sites of deterioration that even those with the most plastic surgeries cannot hide, but should be obvious to any observant person, that is where the deterioration and weakness is most obvious. So it is not surprising if they have no grip strength or foot strength not to topple over, and obvious deterioration of the neck area, is already a sign of what is happening in the brain as well — because of that similar lack of optimal circulation.
That circulation, is what makes the body healthy and well-functioning — but is grossly misunderstood by all the experts including the cardiologists and brain surgeons. Those organs are not operating in the manner they were designed to self-maintain themselves in optimal conditions — which is the head turning, the hands gripping, and the feet levering against the ground to provide locomotion. But one doesn’t need the ground to provide that contraction and relaxation that occurs when the joint is moved through its full-range of movement. That is to note that contraction is not a function of resistance (gravity), but must occur because of the articulation of the fullest range of movement at that joint — because that is how it is designed to work.
So when it works in the fullest expression of that possibility, all the other good stuff also must happen — but in the absence of that observation and understanding, no amount of effort will produce those same desirable results. The resistance is not against gravity but the body’s own resistance to move those fluids throughout the body effectively. And if one is intelligent, one would devote the entirety of their efforts in ensuring the health and functioning of the most important organs at the head, hands and feet — over the development of the biceps and the six-pack — which is the emphasis that makes so many older bodybuilders look comical — because particularly, it is accompanied by no development at the neck, forearms and calf muscles indicative of a well-developed and proportioned physique.
And those who exercise their hearts to the exclusion of all the other musculature, have that characteristic look of the atrophied body dying to make it to the finish line — rather than a robust look. So now, not surprisingly, many who adhere to the belief that one can’t work their heart hard enough, seem to have a shocking number of their numbers dying “young, fit and healthy,” for mysterious reasons. It’s the wrong paradigm because the preferred understanding, is the realization that one can devote and use every muscle of their body to do the one thing that maintains and enhances the well-being of any individual — and that circulation is not just the exclusive function of the heart, but of every muscle in the body to ensure that exchange in its own localized area.
A person understanding that intelligence built in to every life form, will obviously get much more out of life — than those caught up in a struggle against everything they know to be true in life, and work against it tirelessly all their lives.
Whether an exercise is “aerobic” or not, is determined by the manner in which it is done. The original concept was to establish at what levels exercise could be done by people with heart problems — so as not to unduly stress the heart, and not as it came to be distorted as — the minimal thresholds for exercise. Obviously, when a person hits 101% of their maximum theoretical heart rate, there is imminent danger of death.
And so the benchmark for determining this, was whether an activity could be conducted while continuing to carry on a conversation — which is a very low threshold. That makes an activity “aerobic” — because it is dictated by the cadence of normal breathing — rather than forcing the breathing to catch up to the activity or effort, which is best exemplified by maximum weight reps of 3–6 — often done with no breathing at all, or very shallow, forced breathing because the resistance is so heavy as not to allow any relaxation between reps.
A good example is the proxy for pushups of the bench press. When a weight is heavy, no proper breathing can take place because a minimal amount of chest pressure must be maintained at least equal to the weight of the bar, and one has to contract a minimum above that in the characteristic bounce off the chest. No competitor would begin their lift from a completely relaxed position — which is the hardest thing to do — but resulting in the greatest change from the complete relaxation of a muscle to its fullest contraction. That can only be done with extremely light weights — making deep and thorough exhalations and inhalations possible — which is the primary purpose of any exercise for health purposes.
The primary focus should be on the breathing — and once that is effected — circulation can be directed specifically to those other areas exercised with beneficial results. The effectiveness of breathing is determined by the change of chest volume housing the lungs. The objective is not to breathe faster, but more deeply and more thoroughly — so that the residual air that remains in the lungs is exhaled as completely as possible, thus creating space for new air (oxygen) to enter. The completeness of the exhalation is particularly important because of the structure of the lungs — which means branching tissue so that the last molecules out, are the first to be replaced — and if only the air in the top portion of the lungs is expelled, the deeper (residual) air remains — producing an anaerobic condition because there is no effective breathing until one can exhale fully again — when the load is removed, and one can carry on a normal conversation again.
A better exercise for aerobisizing the body is the bent-armed or straight-armed pullover done with a fairly light weight for 50 repetitions. More than any other single exercise, it focuses on the action of the breathing — and as such, was the foundational movement for bodybuilding in the ’60s along with the breathing squat with light weights also done for 50 reps. Those two movements alone accounted for the transformational developments of those times — and were highly recommended by the two most popular bodybuilding magazine publishers of the time, Bob Hoffman and Perry Rader. That was the characteristic development of bodybuilders in the ‘50s and ’60s — notable mainly for their ribcage development and differential between the chest and waist measurements.
An activity can be sustained indefinitely if it is performed “aerobically” — with this attention to breathing as the limiting factor, and if not, is terminated by the inability to breathe properly as when occurs in limit lifting because the breathing is constricted and not by true muscle failure. True muscle failure occurs when the muscle itself gives out before the lack of breathing forces them to stop — which is actually cardiovascular failure. That is anaerobic exercise. It can be attempted briefly and infrequently — when one’s life depends on it, but is not the preferred conditioning modality otherwise — because the organ most susceptible to a lack of oxygen, is the brain — and its neuromuscular functioning.
Invariably, this style of training will result in the absolute cessation of all movement activities because of its cumulative damaging effects overwhelming the decreasing benefits one achieves exercising in this manner. There is no net gain but an acceleration of the anaerobic effect. But at this point, most people don’t know how to exercise any other way — and so they just stop, otherwise they might go on indefinitely exercising in the manner that increases their aerobic capacities.
All in One
A better question is which one movement requires the activation and engagement of all the muscles of the body to achieve?
That would be rotating the head 360 degrees from left to right, and back again. A hundred years ago, a doctor recommended this movement he called ”The Giant Swing” — as the cure for all common ailments — because it enhanced the circulation throughout the body — beginning with the head.
One of the great afflictions of modern times is the problem of the dementias — which is the condition of the brain becoming disengaged (dysfunctional) from the rest of the body, so while the heart and lungs may continue to function (automatically), all the other cognitive and responsiveness of the body has ceased — increasingly for ten, twenty, thirty years or more — requiring many other lives to sustain that one. Of course that is not a sustainable course for the future because we can’t have increasingly many caring for the one — who is incapable of doing anything for themselves — or we’re back into the more primitive times in which everyone was a vassal sacrificing their life for the Pharoah or chief — who upon their death, took everybody with them to continue serving them in the next life.
Hopefully we live in more enlightened times — in which each individual is empowered to be all they can be — and not one part overruling every other — but integrating the whole as the summation of every action. That genius of evolution can also be noticed at the other extremities of the body where the critical faculties are. Those are the movements most advantageous and beneficial to do so — at the extremities of the head, hands and feet — which are ultimately the movements of articulation and expression — and not the six-pack or core muscles, whose main function is to support and stabilize the movements occurring at the hands, feet and head.
Anybody with any smattering of understanding of physiology knows that to produce a desired work, the insertion (distal) of a muscle must contract towards the origin (proximal), which in turn, is attached to insertion of the anchoring muscle — so that a contraction from the most distant (distal) point, triggers the contraction of every proximal muscle back towards the center of the body close to the heart, and thus even the ancients recognized it as the center of power. But that power can only be triggered from the most distal insertion back towards the origin — and never vice-versa.
Naturally, that is the only way to engage most of the muscles with an economy and efficiency of movement — or one has to work out each muscle in isolation individually (660+) which is a very laborious process resulting in the disproportionate development of so many exercisers — and most egregious among the many novice bodybuilders who develop their upper bodies to the complete neglect of their lower bodies, and then to every disproportion imaginable because they are not exercising with this balance and integration foremost in mind.
And thus in their older ages, may still have impressive six-packs and biceps, but are no longer capable of moving their heads — and all other head functioning as well, which of course, include one’s cognitive functioning. This is particularly striking if one ever has the opportunity to visit a place where all the people there are suffering from this lack of cognitive functioning — and every other expressions we’ve come to regard as distinctly and uniquely human — for lives we no longer recognize or are responsive.
The same goes for these people who shuffle along each day thinking the objective is to walk or run a certain amount with no discernible foot movement — when it is only the articulation of the foot that really matters. That’s why high jumpers can jump; they have to use their foot as levers to thrust them high — and no amount of shuffling their feet, is going to get them off the ground. In throwing or batting, one has to turn the wrist — for any meaningful result to occur. That is the construction of the human body and how it is designed to function, maintain, and optimize their abilities — and not to prematurely self-destruct and abuse by doing all the wrong things so that we need replacement parts — which again, can be endless.
So that is the question we really want to be asking — how to develop this greater whole — including the brain, touch, balance — to be firing on all cylinders, and not just be one more lop-sided developed person in the world thinking the part is the whole of the universe. That’s not how it works.
The Optimal Exercise (Movement)
Any variation of the pullover would be the optimal exercise — for young, old, dying, world class, most sedentary, skinny, obese, beginner, lifelong exercisers, etc.
It used to be the foundational exercise of bodybuilding in the ’50s and ’60s — when most of the people doing it were doing it to build up their health foremost — often from a 98 lb. weakling to surprising physique champions. The classic case was Tommy Kono — who got into it to help cure his asthma, and then went on to become the weightlifting champion as well as Mr. Universe. Other big proponents of the pullover were George Eiferman, Reg Park, Steve Reeves, Pat Casey, Freddy Ortiz, etc.
Unfortunately, that exercise has gone out of style — which largely accounts for the fact that most people who train don’t achieve the muscle pump and immediate transformations most of these guys would exhibit from their training sessions. The magic of the pullover is that it focuses the attention on breathing — and when one has optimized that oxygenation of the blood, circulation becomes transformative in a way not possible if one has not first optimized the oxygenation (breathing).
Instead, that is what people supposed they are getting by doing “cardio” or “aerobic” exercises and breathing faster but more shallowly. For this reason, it was highly touted by the strength magazine publishers Bob Hoffman and Peary Rader — with light weights and high repetitions as the introductory exercises for any other exercises to follow — or not. People were amazed at the gains they achieved from one set of breathing squats followed by light pullovers to enhance that circulation through the upper body. Thus it was no accident that Arthur Jones made his first Nautilus machine the pullover movement — to prove the validity of his Nautilus principles. His second machine, was the Hip and Back — which is more like the Yoga Bridge (lying hip lift) — because he recognized that in order to activate the large muscles of the glutes and back, the femur has to be moving backward in this manner rather than terminating in a bone-on-bone squat finish which doesn’t produce this severe glute contraction. That is also the problem with the Deadlift — or any other traditional exercises claiming to be the best for this development. The finished position, is a resting position, and so the muscle is not engaged.
One of the great tenets of his “Nautilus Principles” was to provide variable resistance through the full range of movement — which became corrupted by the attempt to use it in the standard manner to lift as much weight as possible — thereby undermining its value. One can only achieve the greatest range of movement by having the resistance go to zero — not in the relaxed position but in the fully contracted position. The resistance prevents attaining the full range of movement possible — because increasing the range, increases the resistance — because one cannot contract infinitely.
An easy example of this is simply turning one’s head as far to the left or right as possible. No matter how little the resistance (or none at all), the head will not continue to move infinitely further — but the muscle will be so powerfully contracted, that it will provide the resistance against any further contraction. Most never realize that because as they increase the weight (resistance), they shorten their range of movement — to make it easier, or even possible. And so the effect of a heavier weight, is to prevent the muscle from achieving its fullest contraction — and the importance of this, is that the contraction is what is pushing the fluids out of the tissues and creating the space (vacuum) for new nutrients and oxygen to enter — because the heart cannot achieve this flow by itself — through miles of capillaries which design is to slow the flow down so there can be efficient exchange of waste products for nutrients.
Thus the proper concern is to use a weight (resistance) that allows one to achieve the greatest relaxation possible — which is obviously not going to be their one rep maximum — and claiming they’ve exercised to “failure.” Failure is that state achieved when one has so totally fatigued and exhausted a particular muscle, that they can’t perform the movement with no weight at all — and at that point, require all the muscles of the body to assist in completing that movement. Thereby, that becomes the ultimate recruitment of all the muscles available — to move even a negligible weight. At that point, the body has gotten the signal (message) that it has to greatly improve its present capabilities — which is the stimulus for growth and strengthening.
If it can do a bench press, squat, deadlift, or anything else easily — why should the body have to improve? It can do everything it is called on to do already — easily. That’s not “failure.” Failure is when one is doing everything one can, and it is hardly sufficient — so these people who are claiming to do 5 sets until failure, have no idea what they are talking about, because one set of 50 is all you can do — and may require a week to recover from that exertion. Thus the further admonishment that High intensity exercise must be brief and infrequent is an actual requirement — and not asking if they can work out to failure every day — let alone doing 5 sets?
Rather, the movements one should be performing are movements with no weights just to move from one state of contraction to relaxation in relieving the muscle soreness from that single high intensity workout — that may take a week to fully recover from. But one is understanding that the objective is to use one’s skeletal (voluntary) muscles in that characteristic way that produces a flow — out of the tissues and back to the heart and recycling organs of the body. It’s not enough just to make the heart alone work harder; the heart is always working, and is the hardest working muscle in the body. It is the other muscles of the body that aren’t doing anything — and why they atrophy because there is no flow of nutrients and removal of the accumulated waste products by the voluntary (skeletal) muscles.
That is why we’re trying to optimize the breathing function as the primary improvement that makes that difference. That has been recognized by the Ancients as the reason for focusing on breathing and circulation mindfulness as the key to health. And we know that is a huge problem of simply living longer lives — in declining health. Even as much as we devote our lives to much exercise and practice in the traditional and conventional manner of thinking about these things. Obviously, we need to change the paradigm and not simply put more energy, pain and effort into what hasn’t worked so well before — because the science and thoughtfulness is not there. It doesn’t make any sense but hopes to achieve miracles through opposite thinking — or denial.
Recognizing this, one asks, what would be the optimal exercise of our faculties to achieve the life (condition) never actualized before?
That would be, lying on a hard mat preparatory to doing the hip raise but beginning with the arms straight back and then bringing them forward and pressing into the mat and then commencing to lift the hips up — to engage all the muscles of the body with a single exercise. If one does not believe that it is the further extension of the contracted position that optimally fatigues a muscle, then I invite them to load the barbell with their usual weight in a bench press, and in the usual finished position — begin to press up the bar even further. Failure will be imminent — and that tels the body, I have to get stronger. But not so much if their “finish” position is a bone on bone lockout requiring no muscle engagement as is usually seen in the conventional bench press, squat, deadlift, press, etc. One has to extend the range of both the relaxation as well as the contraction.
In looking around at my peers in the gym, what is obvious to me, is that the oldest and most disabled are so because of their limited range of movement — rather than the lack of weight (resistance) in their exercises. I’m not impressed with those who load up a barbell with great weight and proceed to do very little with it. I am impressed with those in advanced ages who even with no weight, have a greater range of movement than most everyone else can even imagine doing. That is also true for young athletes beyond the level of their peers —they exhibit a much greater range of movement (articulation and expression) than others even think possible.
One set of 50 repetitions is the best scheme for most people because they lack the attention span to persist in anything for that long — and not because it is too easy they will get bored and need to get back to their smartphones or some other diversion/entertainment — and why their workouts are unproductive. Then the magic happens — because there is a sound basis for doing so — just as Nature and Evolution intended.
Eliminating the Pain for the Gain
As people get older, they usually report experiencing daily bodily aches and pains — which is an indication that they need to do more contractions alternated by complete relaxations to increase the flow of the fluids (blood, inflammation, swelling, edema, lymphedema, lipedema) from the tissues back towards the heart and other purifying/recycling organs at the center of the body. That was what a normal, healthy lifestyle used to be before all the modern inventions made any unnecessary movements necessary — which is the problem of sedentary lives in which major parts of the body are no longer exercised, and so becomes merely redundant bodyweight.
Otherwise, the waste products from normal cell functioning accumulate with no enhanced push back towards the center — and the nerves are destroyed by those prevailing toxic conditions — which the body has minimal provisions to deal with them. However, exercise greatly enhances that effect by providing the muscular contractions that propel fluid more forcefully and vigorously back towards the heart — which the heart cannot do alone no matter how vigorously it pumps because it runs into the resistance of the miles of capillaries that slow the flow down as much as possible so there can be the efficient exchange of oxygen and other nutrients to the tissues, while exchanging it for the waste products.
That happens naturally with an active lifestyle requiring those contractions and relaxations that produce a flow. That is also why the heart works. But that same circulation, is also the primary responsibility and function of all the voluntary (skeletal) muscles of the body, and why those who exercise those parts, develop higher degrees of functionality and health. That is particularly important to optimize that development at the head (brain), hands (grip), and feet (balance) — and not just stop at the biceps and abdominals.
When muscles “fire,” they release energy along with resulting waste products — which under normal healthy conditions is removed effectively, however, not all individuals have that same degree of efficiency and activity. In fact, there is the rather common phenomenon of “venous insufficiency” which is most prominent of people suffering from “varicose veins,” but everybody has this tendency for insufficiency — particularly if they misunderstand this vital role of all the skeletal (voluntary) muscles in this greater scheme of defining the ultimate limits of the circulatory effect.
This is particularly important in light of the most common afflictions of modern life — which is this notable deterioration at the head, hands and feet — even as the heart and lungs continue to function for another 20 years beyond the responsiveness at the most distinctive and critical parts of the human body — in the head, hands and feet (neuropathies). That’s where any intelligent life form would prioritize as the most significant markers of fitness and health — over biceps and abdominals — but in doing so, also derive those benefits as well because they have to be engaged in a supportive (anchoring) role by evolutionary design.
That must be how it works — and it is not optional dependent on what one wishes and theorizes it is. That is simply the fact of the matter — despite what the self-proclaimed experts develop more jargon and buzzwords to explain away their lack of any scientific underpinnings. For them, the truth is anything they want it to be — and they are the “science.” Even if it doesn’t work, and only needs infinite more funding for further studies.
It is indeed true that one can provide extreme muscle soreness requiring a week to fully recover from — producing sustainable growth indefinitely if that is the only consideration — but that is seldom the only consideration in life — for most people who live more balanced lives — and that balance is paramount in what defines fitness and health. Lots of people will go out in a blaze of glory — if they think that one thing is the “only” thing. Sometimes a person has no choice but to go “all in” this way, but for most situations, something less is “optimal.” How much less then becomes the significant question.
Ideally, one does not want to awaken each day to unbearable pain (extreme muscle soreness) but if they do, want to be able to rectify that situation so by the end of day, they have fully recovered and restored their abilities — even if they awake the next morning with a similar or even worsening soreness — but they know there is something they can do to improve. That is simply alternating the contractions and relaxations from the extremities back towards the center of the body to flush the body of that inflammation which is the source of pain and dis-ease, and that is the trigger for increasing health and responsiveness (fitness). That is the recovery ability so few understand — but is key to sustaining health and fitness for as long as one lives.
Then once a week workouts to exhaustion (failure) should be enough for most people — along with daily “freehand” movements for 50 repetitions articulating the full-range movements at the neck, wrists, and ankles to produce those alternating full contractions and full relaxations that optimizes the flow to the circuit activated in such manner. What won’t work is merely increasing the flow to the heart itself — in what is called cardio exercise — because that is what we were all blessed with starting out by virtue of being born.
The difference is how effectively one includes that circulation to even the remotest areas of the body by activating those contractions back towards the heart — creating the space (vacuum) for the new nutrients to enter, and in that contraction (compression) removing the fluids tending to accumulate otherwise as the inflammation and swelling of the tissues until they are no longer functional and responsive.
That is the greater meaning of health and fitness — if we hope to live longer lives in as good a condition as Nature intended and allows for. We don’t have to reinvent the wheel — or even the pulley.
Is 20 Minutes of Exercise Enough?
I workout 20 minutes a day — just to recover from the aches and pains of juvenile arthritis/old age, and to lubricate my joints for subsequent movements throughout the day.
However, once a week I go to the YMCA a half-mile uphill and workout for an hour with light weights for 50 repetitions of each exercise — focusing on extending my range of motion in both the contracted position and the relaxed position as the primary objective. There are plenty of older guys “lifting” weights but I noticed with most — including Arnold and these former/older bodybuilders that their range of movement is quite restricted, and they don’t spend any time in the most productive positions — which is the extended ranges of contraction and relaxation, but are merely moving the weights through a limited mid-range, and therefore, hardly changing muscle states at all.
The importance of this is that in fluid dynamics, the rate of flow is determined by the difference in the pressures created inversely by the volume — which is also how the heart works. Pressure is inversely related to volume, and so as the heart contracts, the pressure increases — and moves into an area where there is less pressure.
This also happens when the skeletal muscles contract and relax — producing the flow from the tissues back towards the heart and recycling organs of the body. Otherwise, the veins conducting the flow relies on the valves to prevent a backflow but no powerful push as when a muscle contracts (volume gets smaller). In most people, and particularly those who never produce these muscle contractions in their inactive and sedentary lives, this can cause fluid buildups in the tissues — as is familiar in edema, lymphedema, lipedema, swollen ankles, swollen hands, sluggish brain functioning. This is a circulatory problem determined by the lack of regular voluntary muscular functioning as most humans have evolved for — causing the most vigorous and productive, to development greater capacities and efficiencies — while the immobile would largely die off because they could not fend well for themselves — just as we see of the runts of the litter in every species.
The more vigorous get most of the food, while the weak and incapacitated are eliminated in this way. Those are the conditions which life evolved — over millions of years — and what each has to work with as the fact of life. Once we see that clearly, we can simulate (exercise) those conditions that favor our survival, while eliminating those actions that are counterproductive and undermine those purposes — including eating as our only activity — which some have taken to the level of constant eating, as with the advice to eat and drink as much as possible — as an end in itself. Instead, one could devote that time to optimizing the circulation and respiration as a better use of one’s time, energy and focus — as even the ancients have recognized for centuries.
So where these people get the idea that 20 minutes of intentional movements (exercise) for this enhancement is a bad idea is a truly remarkable reversal (perversion) of what Nature intended. Nature wishes life to succeed — but one must do so on those terms — and not just eat, drink and be merry — while not taking exceptional care of what has been provided us as what we have to work with. When we have that fundamental understanding of reality, then it doesn’t make sense to do anything less — to ensure the success of everything else we subsequently do in our lives — because it is all dependent on this basic operating conditions.
That is to be functioning on one’s highest levels of possibilities — and not simply mindlessly doing everything equally and arbitrarily. In order to get one’s head into it, one should place as primary importance, the actual movement of the head — otherwise, there is very little difference from a head that cannot move, and eyes, ears, and brain that can no longer function and take in the information the body needs to respond effectively.
As people age and become less capable, the neck muscles are the first to go — resulting in the atrophying of the neck muscles with the characteristic turkey neck. That doesn’t happen with people in the practice of moving their heads (think dancers) — because it follows the same principles of the development and maintenance of every other organs of the body. It is dependent on the blood flow (circulation) to those tissues, and that is what makes them function well and grow — and not by all that mumbo-jumbo trying to sell heart monitors or whatever is the new gimmick of the day.
Some even go further down that path in insisting that one cannot spot-reduce or spot-develop particular bodyparts they wish to — and that the only thing that matters is elevating the heart as high as possible — which is to suggest that all phenomena is random. That’s not the world we live in. People actually become good at what they exercise and practice, and it shows in their development. That should be a well-known fact by now — but we have academics who now rule the roost proclaiming that they are “the science” — and everyone should not trust their own lying eyes, ears, and brains — but listen only to their certified lunacies and propaganda — that don’t work, and if 20 minutes is not enough, then 40 minutes would be better, etc.
It depends on what one does, and how one does it — and not that they will get the same results doing anything — depending on their calorie expenditure and highest heart rate sustained — because life and the world is random in that way. The problem is seldom that the heart is not pumping and one is not eating enough — but the skeletal (voluntary) muscles are not working — which explains how the marathon runners have enlarged hearts with very little muscular development otherwise. One cannot assume that just because the heart is working at its hardest that the circulation through the other muscles (organs) are optimal — and that is the problem of the dementias and neuropathies (arthritis) at the extremities of the hands, feet and head. That is what needs to be exercised for at least 20 minutes every day to achieve and maintain optimal functioning and development throughout life.
Optimizing Health and Functioning
The meaning and purpose of life comes down to this: if one dies in the process of achieving it, then that is life -- but in the meantime, each does their best to actualize what that can be. That is the simplicity of living. It's easy to get side-tracked and blind-sided by all the trivial considerations at the expense of the greater, ie., seeing how much one can bench press before it crushes them, or how fast they can go before crashing, or how much one can get away with before somebody stops them, etc.
Understanding this, is called balance in life -- weighing each thing carefully against everything else -- and achieving that optimal balance -- and not just the one thing at the expense of everything else. For these indicators and measures, the most important are at the critical faculties of the head, hands and feet -- rather than just development of the showy muscles of the biceps and abdominals -- or achieving the highest heart rate ever -- before succumbing to it. That is not the objective of all these activities -- but to function as well in as many daily and ordinary challenges of living -- which increasingly, seem to be about increasing pain and immobility in all its manifestations and guises.
That seems to be an increasing fact of life -- and the reason we get "older." Until then, we expect to increase our capacities -- even if just a tiny bit more, because it is this direction of change that signals appropriateness and progress over an entire lifetime -- and not just any particularly short-lived glory of the moment. That is how lives are built -- each small thing after another -- so at the end of the day, the world is a different place, and better than before. That is the story of civilization when all the lives are put together -- and not just the zero-sum game many academics proclaim their one thing explains all the others -- even to the suppression of everything else.
Nobody has that monopoly on truth -- and so all are empowered to test it for its validity -- and in that process, discover the many other things in life which might matter even more. Science is more than just confirming what one wants to believe but recognizing when one thought was all that could be known, was just an unquestioned and unexamined premise -- and the truth lies beyond. Until then, the future looks like a dead-end -- with only the end in sight.
But once we regain the right path, the possibilities seem endless again. Life goes through such cycles -- as does every living thing. We see both individuals and societies in decline and a few rising from the ashes and rubble to go on to unimaginable better lives because of it. They have figured out what the problem is -- and not just know the solutions without even asking the right questions. Unfortunately, much of that passes for our present education and conditioning -- and why the problems are interminable. It is not enough just to have the "right" answers, but to know what actually works -- and not just more elaborate explanations of why it doesn't -- despite all one's "knowing."
Knowledge like that is life's greatest handicap -- knowing what doesn't work, and defending that ignorance to one's dying day. Of course such people cannot change their outcomes. They wouldn't know how to begin. They no longer or never had the ability to distinguish "better" from "worse," and were taught instead, that there is no difference -- and anything is just as good as any other. In fact, the good is only what "they" say it is -- beyond all review and recrimination. It is because they say it is so -- and questioning it is forbidden.
That has been the story since time immemorial. New worlds were forbidden to be discovered -- because it would upset the old apple carts entrenched in their favorable spots -- to collect the tolls from all who were forced to pass. It was always the straight and narrow.
But life is not that way: it is the wide and vast -- which no one person or group can monopolize forever -- even the young or old. Now we know that what works for the old, works for the young and everybody else -- and not that if one still behaves as the young, it will prevent them from becoming old. One has to understand what makes the old "old." It is the failing at the head, hands and feet -- that should be prioritized over the development of the biceps and six-packs they exhibit so proudly in their unflattering tank tops and leisurewear -- while gesturing unnaturally to emphasize those developments. They've become caricatures of stereotypes rather than the picture of robust health and vitality -- which can be obviously seen at the neck, hands and feet.
Hands and feet weren't meant to be just clubs and stubs -- but are the very impressions unique to human beings. Particularly characteristic of declining cognition and mental functioning, is also this distinctive lack of head movement -- which is the physical manifestation of the lack of awareness of what is going on around them. That is how traditional humans took in information -- from which they could react appropriately to all the challenges they had to adapt to. Now, they can just ignore it all -- because they have devices that tell them what is going on -- on the other side of the world! But that kind of knowledge and information is virtually useless for responding to the requirements of their immediate environment.
Not surprisingly, they become increasingly disconnected to their actual realities, and all the people in it. To hear effectively, requires directing all one's attention to the source of the sound -- and not just having the best headphones possible. That's a very truncated and fragmented version of the world. It is much like the conditioning of the classical dancer who has to be fully aware of the space of their performance, and not simply focused on what it is they do -- like the few who think that an entire weight-room exists for their exclusive use, and everybody else does not matter. Such athletes make very poor teammates, and usually are locked into their own performance and world as though it is the only thing that matters -- which is a very distorted and unbalanced view of the world that can lead to many problems and conflicts -- and particularly to the damaging perspective that they are perpetually in competition with every other.
That precludes the much greater power in realizing the advantage of cooperation -- which magnifies the effectiveness of any one individual, no matter how formidable. We've all seen the videos by now of how even the King of Beasts cannot prevail over a pack of hyenas or wild dogs, but even two, resumes the advantage in their favor. Then when the numbers are equal, the rout is on. That is frequently how the leadership changes -- beyond the one on one. Thus the leader is not only the one who is the strongest but also skilled at mobilizing the collective force as well -- which requires awareness beyond themselves.
The less successful frequently have this tunnel-vision, or lack of awareness of anybody but themselves -- as though that were sufficient to achieve any worthwhile task, let alone achieving a monumental undertaking. It requires more than just the sum of the parts -- but is a comprehensive greater whole, and life is firing on all cylinders -- and not just the one -- which then is an uncontrollable explosion, which then become our disasters.
So in our training style, we want to develop not only power, but also patience, persistence and endurance -- for the long haul so we are still there at the end when everybody else has passed. That is the last man standing -- and often, that is what it requires to be successful -- just showing up. Merely that, is the survival of the fit -- to still be in the game.
Is Exercise Necessary?
A healthy life is movement (exercise) — so why would one not do it? Only if they were totally disabled — which would not be a healthy life. So to be healthy implies being all one can be — and that means exercising all their faculties fully. That is what life is all about. Does one think one could enjoy not moving, or never being able to move again — as some kind of nirvana?
But in order to ensure everything is still in good working order, one has to actually use those capacities — and not just imagine one still has them, or could access them easily. By then, it is usually lost forever — if one has never exercised them before. Those possibilities shrivel up and die — for lack of that stimulation that keeps those pathways alive.
So rather than exercise being the “extra-ordinary,” it should be regarded as the “ordinary,” and among the things one must do to maintain optimal health — like proper breathing, circulation, nutrition, elimination, hygiene, dress, balance, proportion, symmetry in all things. That’s not “extra” — so one can play video games all day while gorging on pizzas. Survival at the highest level of possibility is the objective of all life. It is the categorical imperative. The problem is that many make that hard rather than easy — and natural.
All that is not necessary — but some insist it is so — usually as part of their own money-making scheme. If people could listen to their own bodies and senses, then what would be the need for such “experts” to tell them what to think and how they feel?
Exercise is the expression of their capabilities; they don’t exist otherwise. We all have the same basic equipment as members of a species, but what some can do with them, is what they practice to be proficient at. If that is to look robust and healthy, that is what they do. There is that connection — and not just brains existing in space apart from their physical manifestations. A person capable of doing something, will look the part. That is the world of reality.
It is very important to know when a question is only theoretical — and has no basis in actuality. Exercise is the manifestation and embodiment of health — and doesn’t exist apart from it. But health is not the manifestation and embodiment of exercise — which is something else entirely, and why so many people go astray. In a cause and effect universe, we have to have the right order of things — which is lost in a world of correlation and coincidences as the ruling principle of that alternative universe. Correlation is not causation. Lives do not exist coincidentally to what one is doing, but is the direct result of what one is doing.
Making Time
The value of exercise is that movement causes an increased circulatory effect at the joint actually moved — because a contraction causes compression of the residual fluid in the tissues which is inflammation — the source of all disease and aging. When those toxins are compressed out of the tissues, new blood and nutrients can enter — which produces health and growth. That is the reason why muscular contractions (exercise) are so beneficial — and not just for burning off (wasting) as many calories possible so one can eat more.
There is no problem in sitting or lying to do those exercises, because if when thinks about it, many movements can be done sitting or lying — however, all those considerations that people equate with exercise are also not important, like working up a sweat or raising one’s heart beat. There is no exercise or activity that will not raise the heart rate at least to the 60% of the theoretical maximum heart rate, which is the imminent danger of failure. However, because of the competitive nature in most thinking, many interpret the maximum heart rate to be the new minimum — while all the other skeletal/voluntary muscles remain as dormant as possible — often referred to as “cardio” — in that the only muscle contraction, is made faster, while the voluntary muscles continue to be unactivated as much as possible.
The real need is not for the heart to work increasingly harder — but for the skeletal/voluntary muscles to optimize those circulatory pathways in contracting at the most important organs of the body — which is the head, hands and feet — above all else, and don’t worry about the biceps and the six-pack. If the brain operating at its greatest capacity thinks that is what is necessary, then that is what it will do but usually it is far down the list of most important things to do, enable and optimize. It will choose to prioritize the blood flow to the brain — foremost, because that is the critical path of neuromuscular functioning. That is why humans have the largest brain in the animal kingdom, and with that, they have a grip that allows them to make tools, and unique feet that allows them upright locomotion — so they can see, hear, smell, taste the world around them more advantageously.
At least, that is what humans used to do, and the challenges they evolved for — which are almost unrecognizable in contemporary life. In fact, those are the areas most telling and indicative of the state of health — the pencil/turkey neck, the swollen hands and feet that haven’t been articulated in ages — which is the inflammation that exacerbates in the downward spiral of aging and disease. Those are the markers of those aging badly.
There is nothing inherently wrong with sitting or lying — or prohibitive for any exercise program. One simply moves what is normally never moved — but should have the highest priority and attention, and the bonus is that because a muscle contracts from its furthest insertion activated back to the origin — which then is inserted into the underlying proximal (supportive) muscle, it is quite possible with that understanding, to exercise all the muscles of the body beginning from those insertions at the extremities. But you see, modern life no longer requires those movements at those most critical organs and features of the body.
What that is doing is driving all that inflammation out of the tissues back towards the purifying/recycling organs at the center of the body — which is really the whole point — and nothing else. That creates the conditions for optimal functioning and health — and everything else, is an added bonus. That person is operating on all cylinders — and looks it.
Yoga is done while lying, and most of the weight-lifting machines are done seated — as well as the bicycles. The problem with the treadmills is that there is very little foot articulation, and virtually none at the wrists and head — which means that the circulation is being diverted to where there is actual movement, which is at the hip joint — but not to the greatest range of that possibility, and so many report feeling that the blood has pooled even more in their feet from their walk — and hands, even though their heart rate has increased.
That shouldn’t be the objective and concern, because while lying in a hospital bed and presumably dying, is a wonderful opportunity to reflect on what is most important in life to empower — and that would be first the brain, then the hands, and then the feet — and in doing that and really understanding the mind/body connection and the meaning of that, one can rethink what it means to survive and then function at one’s highest level.
With that understanding, one can exercise beneficially anytime, anywhere, under any conditions, with or without any equipment — making do and the most with what one has — or think of one reason after another, for why one can’t. That is the difference between those who do — and those who can’t. Circumstances will never be perfect enough to do what they need to do — and make the impossible seem more improbable with each attempt (repetition). Life is a practice — and that is how people become better at what they do, and are.
One Set of 50 Repetitions
One set of 50 repetitions will approximate “muscle failure” — for all practical purposes. No amount of weight or added resistance — will compensate for a movement performed poorly. So before one undertakes to attempt a one rep maximum, they should check to see that they are performing the movement sufficiently well with as little or no weight possible — just to check that they are performing it properly.
It’s like a ballet or gymnastics — you don’t get any points for performing any movement poorly. But if you can perform the movement precisely, then one has perfected a motor-control far beyond what one thought possible starting off — and that is the progression one should be mindful of, and not simply slapping on more weight, to do something that is so unrecognizable as a meaningful, thoughtful, and productive movement. That work is making one the person they are.
Many lose the connection of the cause and effect of anything — thinking that nothing is related to anything else, never has, and never will be — but that is the evolution and progress of any individual. It is not just a random crap shoot — and then you die a miserable death. You really are creating a life. And like sporting activities, dance, skill, it takes practice, practice, practice — and 3 reps and done, are not going to do it. For these people, it is a full time preoccupation — but what is not unlimited, is recovery ability — and so those who have tried it earnestly rather than the countless many who dismiss it as being “too easy,” that’s where the rubber hits the road, and one discovers reality.
And that is what we ultimately want to know — the person we are and can be — and the only way to know that, is by the doing — and not simply the “thinking” one can. The greatest common denominator between the weakest and the strongest, is their ability to do 50 repetitions — of any movement well. If they are smart, they will start off with the lightest weight that makes that possible — but if they choose to begin with as heavy as weight as possible, they will progressively deload until they end up with the lightest weight (resistance) possible — which is true neuromuscular failure — rather than the familiar cardiovascular failure that causes them to quit prematurely — because they are afraid and don’t want to go there.
That is a frightening prospect for nearly everyone — to go to one’s point of failure and learn what lies beyond. That means breaking new ground for anyone. One won’t get there staying within their familiar boundaries — and always quitting before those supreme tests, and that is what is valuable to know — throughout one’s life. It is as much a mental (psychological) barrier as a physical one — and that is what conditioning should entail, and not just the humdrum of meaningless repetitions performed mindlessly. That’s not good conditioning — for anything.
Of course the bottom line is the results one is getting. If one is attaining excellent results, they should continue on that path — but as so many rightly question, why am I not getting the results I think should be forthcoming? That answer is obvious — in observing what they are actually doing, which is usually resting “between” sets of a low number of repetitions, so that their hour of working out, actually amounts to less than five minutes of actually doing anything. But with a person doing 50 repetitions, they are actually exercising most of the time — except for a brief rest to recover for the next exercise to “virtual failure.”
That is the elephant in the room — that those who do multiple sets of few repetitions, are spending the vast majority of their time in the gym resting — and preventing others from using the equipment productively. No one has a problem with a person actually exercising with the equipment; the problem arises when a person is not actually using it, and is preventing everybody else from using that equipment as well. And a rare few, will actually do supersets or supercycles in that manner — thinking that everybody else showed up just to watch him — just like the people in the media.
In this age of unlimited distractions and diversions, many people have extremely short attention spans — rendering them incapable of doing anything requiring a sustained and persistent effort — which is an absolute requirement in accomplishing anything of great skill and merit. Many just assume that they could — even they really wanted to, or had to — but that is seldom the actuality, and that is an important lesson and discipline in conditioning oneself for the better life. You find out what it really and actually takes — and not just wish it were so because of “magical thinking.” That never gets one there.
And all that is what one is doing in learning and conditioning oneself to be better — and the true meaning of fitness — for meeting all the challenges of life, and not simply doing any one thing — regardless of whether it is the right and appropriate thing to do at that moment. That is like polishing one’s nails while the house is burning down. That is the challenge of being human — of determining what is the right and appropriate response at that moment and circumstances, and not to get lost in all the distractions and entertainment, eating as much food as possible, or seeing how much they can lift before suffering an injury — needlessly.
Instead, one is trying to build up further reserves for even greater challenges — including just living longer in unprecedented good health — and not simply living longer in declining and poor health. That should be the challenge for everyone in the long term and not just the short term one-off. It only makes sense to live longer when one can do it in good health — rather than dragging down the rest of society to keep one alive one day longer. That’s not a calculus that makes any kind of sense.
So with one set of 50 repetitions, one can attain the intensity sufficient to stimulate long-term adjustment and growth — while sustaining it long enough for the body to recognize it must. And then when one achieves that intensity of stimulus, only one exhaustive workout per week is required, and the rest of the time is spent recovering and building up that recovery ability — rather than simply exhausting it for no good reason. The older one gets, the more precious those resources become — and not that one is burning off as many calories so that one can eat unlimited more, and waste as much time, energy and resources — as though that was an intelligent thing to do at any time, under any circumstances.
High-Intensity Training Frequency
A once a week session of high-intensity exercise is the standard for what most people will thrive on.
But with weights, one can first envision the movement that requires the change in muscular state from fullest relaxation to fullest contraction — which is made prohibitive by using TOO MUCH weight. While many muscle heads will insist that one can never use TOO MUCH weight, the limiting factor in full range movement from 0–100% contraction, is that when the weight is too heavy, the muscle is not allowed to relax fully at any the point — or for example in the bench press, the weight will crush their chest. And that was the whole reason for the argument for varying the resistance through the full range of movement — that it went to nearly zero at the beginning, while maximizing at the other extreme of that movement.
Otherwise, one could just do an isometric contraction for as long as possible — which tended to elevate the blood pressure levels and heart rate well past the hypothetical safe maximums of 220 - (one’s age) — which greatly accounts for the dangerous condition of enlarged, weakened hearts in strength athletes in particularly, and those who exclusively work the heart muscle over every other. A much more sensible approach, would be to recruit all the other muscles of the body in enhancing the circulatory effect — which invariably happens whether people realize it or not in any muscular activity. However, if we’re going to be scientific about it, it can be done deliberately and primarily to achieve that effect — to maintain one’s fitness on a space shuttle or even a cross country bus ride.
Under those circumstances, it is conventionally presumed that one cannot “exercise” productively — resulting in circulation problems for those most vulnerable — when in fact, there are many precedents for exercise with minimal movement, sweat, increase in heart rate and respiration in the examples of yoga and ballet, people actually well-known for their greater range of movement than the average. The distinguishing characteristic of older people is their decreasing range of movement rather than persistence in a limited and constrained range — that progresses until there is virtually no movement — particularly at the head, hands and feet which are obvious indicators of expression and animation (vitality).
The efficacy of that is that muscles contract from the most distal (distant) axis of joint movement back towards the proximal (center) — and those contractions produce the compressions that move fluid (waste products) back to the heart and other purifying/recycling organs of the body — to obviate the inflammation resulting if that process is not enhanced in this manner. Exercising primarily to enhance these processes should be paramount in the exercise of older people and not for achieving personal records, and lifting heavier weights, or even getting bigger — which merely increases the downside risks of doing so.
That is the reason older people often abandon exercise entirely — recognizing the risks greatly outweigh the rewards, rather than rethinking healthy exercise entirely from scratch to accentuate only the positives and eliminate the negatives. But in the usual backwards thinking, the experts may even advocate accentuating the negatives to make movement harder, more difficult, and more dangerous. It doesn’t have to be that way. That is the exercise of the future.
How Life Works
What distinguishes top bodybuilders from the average is the extent to which they pump up immediately from their exercises — but most people have that ability to respond to a very visible extent. When I used to conduct the “Scientific Weight-training” class at the Boston YMCA in 1974, it was to test if the assertions of Arthur Jones and his Nautilus principles were true, and the results of his “Colorado Study” could be duplicated — and the surprising thing was that every person from young to old, well-trained or not, displayed a drastic transformation from the beginning of a six-week period to the end — but at the end, they had learned how to effect that radical transformation in a single workout.
In that manner, it was obvious that the effects of a bodybuilding workout could be manifested immediately — and not only after six months or a year. One knows from the very first workout that it is having that very detectable and obvious effect. That is why no competitive bodybuilder WILL NOT pump up before going onstage — and most do so using only light or even no weights at all, but obviously know how to contract their muscles without those aids. That can even be a modality of exercise — as was promoted by people calling it “dynamic tension,” or simply, posing (postures). The problem with many modern bodybuilders, is that they are always contracted, and never allow anybody to see them relaxed — both on and off the stage.
Muscles can either do one of two things — contract or relax — but some disciplines think that muscles can only contract, or only relax — rather than it is the alternation (change) in muscular states that is the magical power. That is also the health benefit — of directing the flow (circulation) to those areas specifically exercised, and not as some “experts” claim, that one cannot develop muscles specifically, but that the heart will pump the blood equally to all tissues indiscriminately. That is obviously not true or many people would not exhibit the grossly disproportionate development of their upper bodies to their less exercised lower bodies, and vice-versa. Such experts will tell you that there is no such thing as “spot-reducing,” so that the only thing one can do is exercise the heart harder and lose weight equally throughout the body — whether one wants to do that or not.
Unfortunately, that is what passes for bro-“science” — by those who have never tested anything themselves and are incapable of distinguishing any truth in any matter. They simply repeat unquestioningly, what some self-proclaimed authority tells them is the truth — and that is why it is so important to run the test themselves and see if those results can be duplicated. That is what science is — what anybody can test to be true, and not simply which authorities are to be unquestioned and unchallenged. That is not science but merely authoritarianism.
Granted, many people exercising improperly and unproductively will not show any obvious signs of change for months, if not years, and will never begin to question all they believe that has led them astray. Journalists and media celebrities are particularly prone to go along with the crowd and popular no matter how untrue it might be. So-called health practitioners rely on this faith and instruct never to believe in what one’s own body and senses are telling them — even to the bitter end — but that is largely the reality we live in, and why each has their own brain, muscles, intelligence: to distinguish these differences immediately.
Of course if one is doing nothing productively, that will show too. But staying the course for six months, a year, decades, will not miraculously manifest at some point in the future. Along the way will be measurable changes and landmarks that one is proceeding in the right course. That’s how life works.
What's the Difference?
What is important to note is that the greatest health benefit of exercise is that it promotes and optimizes the circulation (flow), and when one recognizes that, that can be one's primary objective and focus, and not as we have been conditioned to think -- of running faster, jumping higher, lifting more weight, or making the heart work harder.
The weakness in the circulatory system is the lack of push back towards the heart, and not the lack of push from the heart -- which is the problem of sedentary lives that produce few muscular contractions by the voluntary (skeletal) muscles -- but the heart works unfailingly autonomously. So it behooves one to fix what isn't broken -- while continuing to ignore what actually needs working (fixing). That's why things don't get better.
Instead, such people are sent off an endless wild goose chase — expending as much time, energy and resources as an end in itself, and so they use these arbitrary measures and landmarks to keep them on course — even to the detriment of their lives and health. Still, they will be cheered on to do anything as equally good as any other — which is seldom the case.
Usually there is a difference but one has to discern (discriminate) those differences and not proclaim the “new equity” — that one should ignore all differences and results as “empirical” correctness. Thus it doesn’t matter what one does, or what results one gets — because they are all the same — and one should be blinded for seeing any differences. Sadly, that is what the world is coming to — if present trends continue.
But since the beginning of human consciousness, there have always been a few who see through the haze into the next realm of human development and evolution. That is not a matter of trying harder and effort in the ways that aren’t working, but observing the truth in the false, and the false in the truth — and not equating and denying those realities. Those few make significant gains and advances, while the vast majority think they are doing the same — but not experiencing those same results. The first thing to ask themselves is, are they really doing what they think they are doing? That might explain a lot.
Many think it is enough just to mimick the actions — with no understanding of why they are doing so — as though that were enough, while the far better course, is to first develop as good an understanding of what one is doing — and why. But most are just told to do this or that — arbitrarily, as though that will make a difference. Even if they do the “right” thing, it may be at the wrong time — or place and circumstances — because they lack this greater comprehension of what they are trying to “effect.” A few will even think that the reason to exercise is that they can eat more — and instead, gain even more weight. A better exercise for that, is to fast. No amount of exercise will “burn off” those calories fast enough; that’s just not how any life form is built — or has survived.
Meanwhile, a superior understanding always trumps any amount of brute force — in the accomplishing of anything. Unfortunately, brute force has been the only hammer used in many people’s toolbox. Tools exist to amplify those innate human movements — at the head, hands and feet that account for what we know of human expressions and creativity. Yet that is precisely what we ignore in the design of most exercise programs — the most important and essential organs of the body, and lament when those faculties decline prematurely in the “normally” aging people. Is that normal — or simply what is deliberately not exercised? — in favor of all the wrong things?
But while the former implies the latter, it is not true that the latter implies the former — and that is cause and effect — and the proper understanding of it. One precedes the other — and they are not co-equivalents. But in the understanding that one thing is equal to every other, such chaos and anomie reign — and one hardly begins to know how to extricate themselves from an eternal merry-go-round. — at the end of which, their time is merely up — for better or worse, one does not know the difference.
High or Low Weights, High or Low Reps
What a lot of people misunderstand is that light weights become heavy — the more repetitions you do. Light weights don’t remain light, the more repetitions one does. So if one does light weights, they will eventually become heavy, and then the muscle will progressively fatigue until it fails.
Meanwhile, if one takes a heavy weight, they will quit rather than risk failing — and being crushed by the heavy weight. In order to avoid that, they will require many spotters to prevent that disaster from happening — which then wastes a lot of manpower because the spotters end up doing most of the work — while the trainee quits way before their muscles are fatigued, much less fail.
The definition of failure is the inability to move even with no weight — at which point, one is making a supreme effort with all the muscles of the body — to help the intended muscle of focus, complete any semblance of the movement. When that failure is breached, the body has to adapt and get stronger, whereas if one can still easily do a repetition and even quits many repetitions before breaching that threshold of failure, there is no need for the body to adapt to a higher level of challenge. That’s why such people don’t change — and show any progress — because what they are invariably doing, is resting — and playing with their cell phones.
They are not actually exercising most of the time — but actually resting 90% of the time, and it clearly shows. That is the argument for high repetitions — even with low weights — because actually performed, they will become heavy weights — while those performing few repetitions — even with heavy weights, are usually resting. And it is that resting, that allows them to do heavier weights — for a few poorly executed repetitions, and it is the movement itself, done properly, that is far more important than weight handled poorly.
Even the world’s strongest weightlifters, always begin doing the light weights — in the proper form, or they do not add more weight, because, as in any sport or accomplishment, it is execution, execution, execution — and not simply who can make the most noise dropping the most weight. Precision, efficiency, and economy of movement is what one is conditioning oneself to do — and that is the objective, and the ultimate measure — and not how big one can get and how many calories they can consume, how many pieces of equipment they monopolize, etc.
So when I hear these “experts” claim that if the weights are light, they can do infinite repetitions (theoretically) because they have never tried — or they would know that is not true, and have no idea what muscular failure is. A properly performed movement for muscle growth consists of changing the muscular state from 0 to 100% contraction — and that difference determines the rate of circulatory flow through that muscle — just as the heart works as a pump — alternating a 100% contraction with a 100% relaxation — or it fails!
Muscles worked in that manner, grow become that is how the circulation in that area is increased — to optimalize health and beyond it, to grow. Without that improvement in circulation, the muscle remains the same, and even atrophies in time. Movement directly effects the circulation to those areas actually moved — because it is the skeletal muscle contractions that produce the force back towards the heart and creating the space for blood coming from the heart. But the heart does not force the blood into the capillaries and back towards the heart as many people think — if they remain full but simply causes the heart to work harder to no avail and purpose.
One does not raise the heart rate to hit a homerun, but hitting a homerun will raise the heart rate. Correlation is not causation. Work causes muscle fatigue, and eventually failure, and then one needs rest to recover, and not as many believe, that they need to work out even more frequently — or can. High intensity exercise needs to be brief and infrequent, but a lesser intensity will actually help the recovery from the resulting muscle soreness by producing the contractions that reduce the inflammation, and can be done as much as desired or needed.
The key in all this is extending the range of the movement from greatest relaxation to greatest contraction, because that is the change in muscular state from 0–100% — and that is what one is practicing and exercising their ability to improve. That will keep them healthy as much as it is possible to do — which is by far the most important objective. Some people will exhibit much more dramatic results — but you don’t know which one will until they actually do everything right.
Most people add weight but shorten the movement — and may actually obtain much less benefits in doing so, because the ultimate objective is to increase their range of movement. That will require a sufficiency light weight, practiced many times to achieve that proficiency — rather than cultivating the mentality that they just want to get it over with as soon as possible — so they can get back to resting and checking their cell phones.
The usually productive people in the gym, are usually to be seen actually doing repetitions, rather than resting overly long with the bars loaded up as much as possible.
Making Exercise Possible (The New Science of Movement)
A favorite tactic of (exercise) instructors is to demonstrate a maneuver that is impossible to do for most except a few, with the encouragement that if you remain with them indefinitely, you too will be able to do that -- which of course, discourages most from coming back. Yes, if one walks in a handstand for 10 minutes every day, one would theoretically be in excellent shape at 100 -- but most would break their necks (or some other part of their body) first. That is typically what passes for good advice -- so one must begin now, and never give up trying -- until the day they die, or give up trying. Smart people will always opt for the latter -- but a rare few will go out trying.
So is it any wonder that so many people have been turned off by exercise by the teaching of it? And if one even questions that pedagogy, one must be punished by doing 100 pushups immediately -- because that insolence cannot be tolerated by bureaucratic control freaks. That is the challenge to authority -- and that discipline must be maintained above all else. That was a time and place in which brute force and coercion was the answer to everything. If the television or car didn't work, one simply had to bang it hard enough -- and that would make everything all right.
But then in the electronic age and solid state microchip world, we come to appreciate that things either work well -- or they don't work at all, and several bangs won't change that. More often than not, it's easier, cheaper and better just to buy a new one -- than try to fix anything old and obsolete. In like manner, one can't make a difficult exercise easier -- but one can devise an exercise easier that makes it possible for the greatest number to do -- and immediately derive those benefits in the doing. Otherwise, "exercise" remains something one hopes to do someday -- before one runs out of time and life.
Of course that sounds absurd -- that one hopes to do something else other than what they are practicing in the moment, and becoming better at. One wants to be the champion, without first discovering what it is that one is good at -- because on that level of competition, those who are gifted for that activity, have an insurmountable advantage of the many who would want to be other than they are. So the great training venues, do that right off the top -- and just weed out the future world champions because they are familiar with those qualities that one cannot master in a lifetime of practice and exercise.
But does that mean everybody else should just give up and resign themselves to a life of obscurity and mediocrity -- or are they more productive ways they can spend their time and energies discovering their own unique set of skills and talents? Most champions don't become the champions of the first sport they choose -- but actually wash out at a fairly formidable level until they finally find their niche. So we have the martial arts champion who really wanted to be a ballet dancer, or the weightlifter who became a bodybuilder -- because that was what they were more gifted at.
The most important thing was that they found out -- who and what they were, because there were no instructions at birth, on what that person would become. Those ultimately deemed most successful, were those who ended up far from where they began -- and even went through several life-altering transformations to break new ground for others to emulate.
In exercise, that has conventionally been to weed out the gifted, rather than to empower the weak and undeveloped -- in the thinking that all they lack is the will to prevail, rather than that there is a common denominator by which all can benefit -- from the strongest to the terminal (dying), and even conveying greater benefit to those least capable and incapacitated. That's the game-changer, and not merely making the strong, stronger. In fact, the strong are usually better off, becoming smarter than stronger -- to increase their fitness for ultimate survival.
That's because the well-balanced life is the greatest predictor and guarantor of fitness to survive and thrive under many challenges and circumstances. It will seldom be just along one measure that the fate of individuals and outcomes are dependent on -- ie. whoever hits the hardest, runs the fastest, jumps the highest, etc. They have an event that tests many skills -- but still it is not the total responsiveness all individuals are capable of -- and particularly at the end of life that comes prematurely for far too many.
Then one feels powerless to advise a person lying motionless and seemingly unresponsive, and hopeless because they cannot do what the healthy presumably should -- to restore their vitality in the conventional ways. At that point, most are at a loss of what they can do -- as those instructions are met with unresponsiveness and even frustration. However, if you ask them to move their head to the left and the right, most are capable of that movement -- and that movement, enhances the circulation to the brain and its functioning, which affects the functioning in all the rest of the body. That is the central nervous system.
The bad thing about the modern sedentary life is not that we sit or lie so much, as it is that we don't produce the muscle contractions at the head, hands and feet the human body was designed for. It's not so much that we don't have impressive biceps, pectorals, or six-pack abdominals -- as it is that the extremities characterized by dementias, weak grip and foot strength undermine the unfit life. When one thinks of it, there is no requirement that one cannot exercise seated or lying -- as well as standing -- if one does nothing else but look at the machines, but even the machines are not a requirement.
Rather, it is the understanding that varying the state of muscular contraction in any particular muscle effects the blood flow (circulation) by the laws of fluid dynamics: contraction increases the pressure within a volume (space) -- while relaxing reduces the pressure so that higher pressures produced by the heart have the space open to it. If there is no change in muscular states, there is no flow -- especially if one always relaxed (doing nothing). Thus, it is easy to understand why some muscles are more developed than others -- but less easy to see why the unmoving head, hands and feet don't automatically receive those benefits as the most critically important destinations of the body -- just because one hopes that were so.
But if one works with the senior, disabled and even terminal populations, that particular pattern of deterioration is key to understanding what course of muscular contraction should receive priority intentionally. It may not be the most dramatic and cosmetic, but it is the action that makes the most difference in overall functioning -- even, and especially in former champions of their activity. Those are their vulnerabilities -- the proverbial Achilles heel -- that signal that one is no longer invulnerable and invincible, and can take their health for granted, and unlimited self-abuse.
The head was meant to turn, the wrists to flex, and the feet to act as levers against the earth -- movements regarded as redundant in the modern sedentary life -- even as they move and develop everything else but the most critical organs of the human body. There are no prohibitions against their development -- but it is just not done -- but doing so, would develop all the other underlying supportive structures that enable fine motor coordination at those uniquely expressive organs -- and not vice-versa. Fine motor coordination implies the gross motor coordination, but the gross motor coordination (brute force), does not imply fine motor control -- which is the ultimate expressions of the head, hands and feet.
When that is lost or diminished, that should be a cause of concern, and not written off as something one has no control over. It is like the larger muscles -- that can and should be exercised -- to optimize as the priority in one's activities -- especially if the objective is to retain that functioning throughout longer lifespans. The circulation at the extremities will be the first to go -- quite predictably, otherwise. But if one can optimize that flow through the extremities, the flow has to go through everything else on the way -- but not vice-versa -- including simply making the heart work harder.
That's not the problem of circulation. It is servicing the most notably poor areas of circulation -- at the head, hands and feet. And those contractions at the axis of rotation of the extremities (neck, wrists, ankles), are where it is most important to exercise and develop range of motion -- as the significant measures of vitality and functioning -- particularly in the elderly, disabled, terminal. That's usually the only places in which movement is still possible -- and from that, one can resurrect the rest of the body. That is the ingenuity of human design and evolution. Those are the conditions which we evolved for millions of years -- and not simply to consume endless entertainment while hardly moving anymore. That should be obvious to anybody paying attention and responding to the world around them. That is what it means to be fit. Appropriate.
Commenting on the Soleus Pushup
Many people claim to be the expert on "training to failure," but in watching their videos, it is obvious they have not the slightest idea of what they are talking about. They think it is enough just to quit at any point and to call that "failure" -- when none of the prerequisites for true failure have been attained. Foremost, that is the requirement for full range movement -- which means articulating the fullest range of the contraction AND the fullest range of the relaxation phase of any muscle under focus. Instead, what many will do, is shorten the range of motion so that fullest contraction and fullest relaxation of that muscle is never attained -- but rather just a midrange contraction is maintained throughout their "movement" -- which is mainly caused by repositioning leverage rather than muscle change of states.
That's why the simple "lifting" of a weight is deceptive as a measure of how much work the muscle is doing, or more importantly, how much change of muscle state is occurring -- and the importance of this, is that the change of muscular state, determines the pumping effect of that muscle -- just as the heart must do to do its share of the circulatory effect. But the heart does not act alone in this process -- because the actions of the rest of the muscles of the body, also play an even greater role in this when one is "exercising." One simply is not aware of it -- although it is the primary reason people manifest greater muscle development where they actually move -- and not that there will be equal development everywhere just because the heart alone accounts for it.
Obviously that is not the case, or there wouldn't be so many disproportionately developed physiques in virtually all the gyms. But of course, those people will exhibit their most disproportionately developed muscles -- while hiding the underdeveloped muscles, and hopefully, one has enough aesthetic sense not to increase these disproportions -- in favored of a complete, well-developed musculature with no noticeable weaknesses, and not simply be another one of these "freaks" with arms as big as their legs -- who call themselves "bodybuilders." The rationale for bodybuilding, has always been to produce that greatest balance of proportion and symmetry -- in recognition of the fact that one's vulnerability will always be through one's weakest link -- and no amount of increasing that disparity, is the proper remedy.
Although the "experts" will have a lot of convoluted explanations of why their ideas explain everything, the most obvious and self-evident, should be one's first resort. As regards human functioning, that would simply be the most basic functioning of essential life requirements -- which is the effective circulation of blood to any area, and how that is achieved -- whether consciously and deliberately or not. That approach will probably not increase the sales of supplements and exercise equipment -- especially in the light of the realization that such activation does not require any of it -- but is the action available to everybody who is simply aware of it, and knows how to effect those changes.
What happens in any full range movement is that the muscle changes state from fullest relaxation to fullest contraction -- and the objective is not to lift more weight by shortening the range of movement, but to increase those ranges at the extremes -- and in doing so, one has increased the range of movement in that particular action and possibility -- as the measure of what is meaningful to measure. The obvious indicator of aging and poor health, is the decreasing range of movement exhibited -- until there is very limited movement and activity at all, and that limited range of movement indicates the muscles' ability to contract strongly enough to push the blood (fluid) out of the tissues, and so they become stagnant and inflamed, and over time, damage the nerves responsible for activating those contractions.
But again, rather than just increasing the apparent movements through a constricted range of motion (movement), the effective strategy is to focus on increasing the range of movement particularly at the extremes -- which is not what most people do. Instead, they will tend to shorten the range of movement even more -- even while claiming they have increased the workload -- but that is not a positive payoff for what is "compromised." A movement poorly done for countless repetitions, does not transform into a well-executed movement achieved just once. That is to say, that no amount of anything, becomes something else, just because there is a lot of it. It has to be the right thing from the start -- and then one is not wasting their time, energy and resources just on accumulating more of the wrong thing -- thinking it will eventually transform into the right thing.
That's not how the world works. And what one wants to know, is how the world actually works, and not simply bend it into one's explanation and theories -- to rationalize why they aren't working. Like everything else in life, it should be self-evident when something actually works -- and then no further explications are necessary. One hopes to live in this world of self-evident truth -- rather than in the world in which truth has to be interpreted by these self-proclaimed experts -- while the situation and problems just get worse.
That is the familiar quality of life as many know it now -- that the truth is arbitrary to favor whomever pays for that information to be widely disseminated -- rather than that it rings of any truth that can become foundations for which one can build any successful endeavors and enterprises -- including one's health and well-being, which one hopes to be the core of their being. Then, whatever new marketing idea or gimmick is currently popular, one will remain steadfast in knowing they have built their own temples on solid ground.
The steady state muscular contraction will result in a cardiovascular failure rather than a neuromuscular one -- because not allowing the total musculature to fully relax while fully contracting -- results in no breathing, or at least efficiently enough to sustain an effort. One of the important things to note is the interdependency of muscles all to be fully relaxed or fully contracted -- and not that only one muscle can be contracted in isolation, while the others remain relaxed. That is not how the musculature is designed to work. Either all the muscles are fully relaxed, or all the muscles are fully contracted is how they are designed for maximum efficiency.
And was recognized even in the earliest days of observation, that must begin with the breathing -- as well as the limit on the upside. When one is out of breath, no further effort is possible, so the proper exercise will be dependent as well as in synch with the breathing -- when it is properly recognized as the manner in which one benefits from exercise. One desires to optimize the respiration and the circulation throughout the body -- and particularly to areas thought most important by their actual articulation -- at the head, hands and feet implying the rest. That is to say that when those critical areas and organs are addressed, the supporting structures will be adequate and empower those capabilities -- but not necessarily vice versa -- which is the conventional wisdom and training style that shows no such overwhelmingly effective success in addressing those well-known weaknesses of circulation and functioning, particularly in the elderly, disabled and terminal.
That is obviously where exercise needs to be explicitly directed -- and not to the unlimited other parts that then detract from those resources and intentions. That is the failure of contemporary exercise to address the most critical challenges of life in these times. It has to be redesigned and reconfigured to deliberately address those well-known weaknesses and vulnerabilities -- rather than simply doing what the young people do in their infinite foolishness that they never need to manage and cultivate their resources to the problems and challenges of their own living.
Principles in Designing an Effective Exercise Program
1) The rationale for exercise is to improve the circulation to any part of the body actually articulated (moved). Circulation is what brings healthy nutrients to every cell in the body -- while removing toxic buildup. Optimizing that circulation provides the greatest health to that body -- and therefore optimizing that functioning while enabling further growth.
2) The parts of the body particularly noted to poor circulation is predictably at the extremities of the body -- where the blood vessels are smaller -- for a very good reason. The blood vessels get smaller to increase the surface area and exchange potential of the passing blood cells with the resident cells to sustain their life-giving health and well-being.
3) The design of the human body favors the articulation (movements) at the head, hands and feet -- most importantly. Such mastery is noted in most human expressions -- in work, play (athletics), art, dexterity, etc. As people age, or decline in health, what is particularly notabe is the deterioration at the neck, hands, and feet -- though that is incidentally addressed in most traditional as well as "state of the art" exercise modalities -- hence the widespread belief that there is nothing -- or very little that can be done about it. Instead, the focus shifts to other areas of the body that are much less important and critical to maintaining the health and vigor.
One will note that movements at the extremities at the head, hands and feet MUST be supported by the rest of the musculature structures -- while it is entirely possible to overlook and override that development in focusing and measuring movements (changes) at the core of the body -- particularly the heart -- which is actually the CONSTANT in every individual. That is to say, that one's heart is unique to every individual -- and what they need to learn to do throughout their lives, is to adapt appropriately to those capabilities -- rather than push it beyond its limits to remain competitive with others.
In this respect, all hearts are not created equal -- nor are all brains for that matter -- or any other body parts, so to treat them as such, invalidates the whole basis for making it a "competitive" activity. That is probably the greatest error in the understanding of human physiology and kinesiology. The only meaningful measure is one's individual performance measured against their own baseline performance -- as the measure of anything significant.
4) When one strips away most of the erroneous and fallacious presumptions about exercise, it is a rather simple matter to design and effect a productive course of practice for every individual -- beginning with their uniquely own baseline -- rather than prematurely to world record standards -- or the the theoretical "average."
5) The major advantage of exercise equipment is that it can be adjusted down as well as up -- and not as usually thought, that it should always and inevitably be adjusted up -- even to the point when the movement is unrecognizable from the beginning baseline movement -- which understandably, must be the unimpeded free-hand movement throughout the greatest range of that articulation. That articulation is made possible by the changes in state of the muscle that provides that movement -- from the fullest relaxation of that muscle, to its fullest contraction.
6) The change in muscular state, is what physically and physiologically controls the rate of flow (circulation) to any particular area of the body -- and is particularly important to effect in any desire to improve the health, functioning and well-being of that particular region (organ) -- as noted in aging and people of declining health -- including those in presumably good health because their biceps and abdominal muscles are still impressive -- despite declining abilities at their head, hands and feet -- where it should be obviously more important to measure, and implies the underlying supporting health of those "core" functions.
7) Thus with the misplaced emphasis on all the wrong things and areas of the human body, it is understandable to note that exercise seems to have a tenuous relationship to health, longevity, and functioning than one would assume should be more direct and clearcut. That happens when one looks at all the wrong things -- as one who is unfamiliar with any (sporting) activity and doesn't understand the rules and objectives of the game. Is it to kick the ball the farthest -- or most accurately? Or both?
8) How often is enough? Actually, once would be plenty -- if it is the World Record -- but most have to practice a lifetime to achieve that, and many practicing a lifetime, will never achieve that. But even for the world record holder, how often do they have to do that? Once would be sufficient.
But many in every activity of expressions and possibilities, are naturally gifted as prodigies in their activities -- whether they want to be or not. That is not a matter of desire or drive -- but genetics, and the person they were uniquely designed to be. That is why it is so important in life for every individual to discover what those talents and abilities are for themselves -- as well as their weaknesses and vulnerabilities -- and adapt to them as best they can, for a happy existence. Trying to be something or someone other than one is meant to be, is the surest programming for disaster and unhappiness in one's life and everything they do.
9) While the effort and exercise is important, just as important is the proper recovery -- or one merely and prematurely depletes themselves because they are not a sustainable organism. All individuals and organizations are governed by those economies -- and as such, must develop the proper balance between all things, rather than than a lopsided development of only one thing -- in disregard or at the expense of all the others. Life does not work well that way -- with any kind of disproportion and imbalance. It will inevitably and predictably trigger an opposite and counterbalancing reaction -- usually beyond one's control.
10) Life is a process of finding out. There are no golden rules or ten commandments -- other than what each individual discovers for themselves. They can use the guidelines as simply what others have thought before them -- but they are not the end-all, and be-all of human knowledge. That is what each must discover in their own lifetimes. That was the original intent of all these exercises and practices -- to discover the person and the world and their relationship to one another.
In this discovery, those who remain humble and are constantly learning and relearning everything they know, are to be regarded much more highly than any claims of exclusive certainty to any knowledge. The wise will advise to find out for yourself -- which means first, knowing oneself -- and that is the key to understanding anything else.
How It Works
If you want to maximize muscle growth, you should do one set of 50 repetitions of any exercise — because effective blood flow is mostly related to the number of repetitions performed — rather than amount of weight lifted once. That is how the heart works — beating the same amount faster or slower. When the heart enlarges, that is not a good thing but a bad thing — because it is inversely related to its strength — but is unfortunately, what many competitive athletes do that cause them to die prematurely of congestive heart failure particularly, but all the other heart failures as well.
The way to get around this, is to use the contractile/relaxation function of the skeletal (voluntary) muscles of the body to aid in this circulatory process because it is well-noted that when one works a certain muscle specifically, those particular muscles tend to grow — while those not worked as much, or even at all, languish — despite the many bogus claims (studies) that one cannot spot-reduce/enlarge any muscles in this way because it is only dependent on the heart action alone for this flow.
Obviously and evidently, that is not true — no matter how many bogus certified fitness (aerorbics) instructors claim that is true. What accounts for this is that the skeletal muscles by their contractions/relaxations dictate the flow to these areas — specifically and directly — rather than just the heart equally to all areas (muscles) of the body, or the marathoners would be the most heavily-muscled and proportionately developed — instead of ending up with enlarged hearts but scrawny muscular developments.
Most people do NOT do 50 repetitions because they choose to do for that reason but because they realize how difficult it is to do 50 repetitions of any exercise in one set (without resting) — but that is the requirement for achieving exercise intensity, and thus is claimed by those who understand high intensity training, why it must be done infrequently as well (once a week) — because of the rest and recovery required that is necessary for growth, and more importantly, sustained growth throughout life.
This is particularly notable among the aging populations — that very rare individuals can perform 50 repetitions of any full range motions — and it is maintaining and even extending the range of movement that is paramount, and not the many former competitive athletes who can no longer raise their arms — much less for 50 repetitions. But if they can maintain that ability for 50 repetitions even without any weight at all, they are already in a class of their own — and really want to maintain throughout life rather than a limited range of movement once — with innumerable rest periods between attempts.
Properly done full-range movements produces muscle fatigue and ultimately failure — because of the repetitions performed — and NOT because of the weight on the resistance that rests on the bar. Many obviously are confused by that, and think it is enough to just load up a bar and leave it resting for however many sets they call it. But only the muscle actually being engaged is what is causing the muscles to be exercised — and not the rest in between, called and justified as “sets.” It doesn’t matter if one does 50 sets of any movement. What makes the most difference, is whether one can perform 50 repetitions of the properly performed full range movement.
It is the movement itself that is more important than any resistance to that movement — that prevents its proper execution.
