The "Failure" of Understanding

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.