The Magic of "50"

Most people who train with weights or other resistance equipment have never done 50 repetitions of any exercise -- being told to keep their repetitions around 10, and as they handle more weight, lower that even further -- until they're down to 1.  And then they spend most of their time at the gym -- resting up before their next 1 -- and then they wonder why they aren't getting "results."  

They are getting results from all that "resting" their doing.  The movement -- not so much, and there even seems to be a prohibition against being aware of what they are actually "doing."  They show up at the gym, and do as little as possible, and wonder why they aren't getting the results they think should be automatic -- just by their showing up, and finding ways to distract themselves from the unpleasantness of the workout.

The magic of 50 repetitions of any movement, is that it requires a sustained effort -- and not "one and done," which quite predictably, will have very little lasting impact on their fitness levels.  Even among the heavy lifters, very few can perform 50 repetitions with even the lightest weights -- because their bodies are not conditioned for such sustained effort, which is adapting to fatigue -- which causes short-term as well as long-term adaptations, while a one-off does not.  The body is right to assume that such demands will be infrequent and when well-rested, and so no higher level of readiness is necessary -- as required when it knows that that effort must be sustained indefinitely.

People have frequently and invariably noted that those who lift heavier weights are not usually those with the largest muscles -- which is stored energy readily available for any demands and challenge of the moment.  As the muscle is "fired," it releases energy, as well as waste products -- of which a large part of one's conditioning, is to train the body to deal with -- or it fails.  The accumulation of junk without elimination causes toxicity and the body to shut down -- until that situation is corrected by time, rest and recovery -- because in the absence of oxygen and other nutrients, the body has to preserve itself by not locking up -- and thus becoming vulnerable to every threat and demand a highly-functioning person would want to be in -- most of the time.

So while understanding that the body's response to such failure is to improve longterm to overcome it, in the short and immediate term, it lays one vulnerable to an inability to respond momentarily -- until with time, rest and recovery, they can be restored to another maximum challenge.  Thus like any other medicine or therapy, one wants to determine the proper dosage -- for that optimal effect.  While pain-killers are often desirable and necessary, one doesn't want to be entirely anesthetized or incapacitated -- most of the time, as is often necessary in terminal conditions.  

But sometimes, that little bit, is just what is necessary to revitalize and optimize one's greatest capacities -- over a lifetime.  Again, on the other extreme, one can run into the problem of the overdose that kills -- with medicine, therapies, food, and other resources necessary in their proper doses -- but deadly in their abuse and overkill.

What those proper balances are, is what each individual is finding out for themselves -- as they live, discover, and manifest their lives.  There are usually helpful guidelines and authorities to aid them in the proper ranges of tolerance and responsiveness.  The prodigies of every activity and arena, are one in a billion, and simply doing what they do, is not going to make those less inclined and talented, like them.  It is necessary to understand that from the very beginning -- so that one is not trying to emulate an impossible ideal, while understanding that improvement is possible for every living being -- from Day One to the last day of their lives.  That is what life is.

When life no longer can improve, then that life is on its way out -- and the prognosis is not good.  But when improvement is still possible, that is the beginning of the possible -- in all its infinite variations.  Exercise is fundamentally this discovery -- of what is possible, and from that beginning, one can go further and beyond.  But when one gives up all hope and doing, nothing but a dire outcome is assured.  So we hope never to get to that point, anytime in our lives -- and it is not like it is forever.  Even the prodigies, great as they are, will not live forever -- and certainly, not at their peak condition and performance -- but something is still possible no matter how low life ebbs until it is no more.

And that lengthy but not infinite span of time, is most intelligent people's concerns -- which is enough to fill and fulfill any life.  It doesn't have to be forever to be worth living -- though others have come before, and others will come after.  Everybody lives their own life -- in their own time.  That's worthy enough.  One doesn't have to be immortal -- only that they live a good life, in their own time and place -- doing the best they can, and knowing that difference.  That makes it all worthwhile.