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.

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.