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.

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.

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.