Designing Exercise with No Preconceived Notions of What It Should Be

 What distinguishes the human above all the other animals is the large brain, opposable thumb (grip and manipulation), and upright posture (balance) and gait — which is the head, hands and feet. Everything else is supportive to those objectives — including the heart, lungs, digestive tract, etc. Maintaining the optimal health in those areas (organs) is far more important than biceps and six-pack abs — but fortunately, the health of those extremities implies the health and functioning of the underlying health and functioning — rather than vice-versa.

And that is the problem of longer contemporary lives — that the heart and lungs go on functioning long after the brain, hands and feet do — as kind of a living death. So we really want those organs particularly to be the priorities in any fitness (exercise) program — rather than simply making the heart work infinitely harder. In fact, the best understanding of exercise, is to recruit the entirety of the muscular system to aid and enhance the circulatory effect — which it does by contracting and relaxing at the axis of rotation of the extremities — resulting in the maintenance, development and growth of those muscles above all the others — because of their primary importance.

Yet that is not what is exercised conventionally — and because it isn’t, has limited impact on one’s quality of life in longevity. The observation by even the most casual observer, is those are the sites where people reveal their age most — and prematurely — along with the lack of articulation at those joints. Instead, we see the characteristic swelling of the neck and face, bloated hands and feet, indicative of the pooling of those fluids in those areas as edema, lymphedema, lipedema (inflammation) — of which many of the pioneering researchers on longevity and disease, recognize as the universal cause limiting optimal health and functioning.

Most think there is nothing they can do about it except hope for some miracle drug to make them feel better — rather than realizing that those are the axes of rotation that make the most difference and matter — rather than the six-pack abs or biceps — or for that matter, even the heart which is autonomically hardwired to take care of itself. But that is not the case with the voluntary skeletal muscles — that have to willfully be activated and engaged. That’s what active young people do without realizing or thinking about it — and why those who are more active in this way exhibit better health and development.

But as we get older, we tend to make less of these movements — and contemporary popular exercise ignores these movements of the head, hands and feet completely — because one does not need machinery and equipment to exercise them. That is because it does not require resistance but is activated by range of movement alone. That is the provision for ensuring that health — that evolved for millions of years, but has been precluded by the sedentary lives of our times. It is not so much that the sitting is bad, as it is that the head, hands and feet are immobilized while the screens provide that feedback. That is to observe that it is not necessary to turn one’s head to see and hear better, but one merely turns up the volume. Thus people are much less aware of their surroundings and vulnerable to the perils around them — which lowers their fitness for survival.

In that manner, all the senses of touch, feel, balance, awareness — atrophy, because the movements that dictate that optimal circulation, have been disengaged. And that is the characteristic decline and deterioration of most people as they age — most visibly at the neck, hands and feet. But exercise instead, is focused on the heart — which is obviously still beating, and does not need to be directly increased. Rather, it is the movement at the axis of the extremities at the neck/face, hands, and feet that have to be articulated because that action pumps the fluids (inflammation) back towards the heart and other recycling organs. That is how the health is maintained — and can be optimized — but contemporary life thinks is not important, and so we increasingly see the premature failure of the human body beginning at those extremities.

Observing and understanding that, one would create movements that provide those movements explicitly, and in doing so, will realize that the full range contraction (and relaxation) at those axes, require the activation of the underlying supportive muscular structures as well, and as such, is the most efficient and effective way to obtain those health benefits of optimizing the circulatory effect. And that is the greater objective — and not simply making the heart alone work harder — while the head, hands, and feet remain immobilized — as is the case with the treadmill, stationary bike, and style of diverting the flow to less important areas of the anatomy — at the expense of the most critically important organs of the body! At that point, it doesn’t matter how formidable the physique is “at the core” — if the critical functioning at the extremities have ceased to remain viable and vital. That’s how the human body fails — with age.

But that is also how the human being can ensure its health — beginning at those critical areas traditionally renowned for their “poor circulation” — as though nothing can be done about it to alter that fact. Once we properly understand that the most important work done by a muscle contraction is the movement of blood and fluids back towards the heart and central organs, we quickly disabuse ourselves of the notion that all that is required in exercise is just to make the heart work faster and harder — because that is the easiest thing to measure, but not necessarily the most significant. The atrophying of the neck, hand and feet muscles are far more indicative of that individual’s fitness, health and condition to live a quality existence.

The group of people who exhibit these movements best are those whose primary exercise is dance — because as a spatial exercise, they have to turn their heads a lot to orient themselves where they are, while maintaining fine motor expressions of the hands and feet — to a range most people think are simply impossible. But most people, even if the worst of conditions, are capable of moving at the head, hands and feet joints — even if it is not possible or easy to move at any other joint (axis). And that is the key to understanding movement that is productive and restorative no matter what present condition one begins at — to higher states of functioning, development and growth.

That is what is not clearly understood by even all the experts. But understanding, before even exerting any effort, pays off much more highly than applying any amount of brute force attempting to obtain the results one desires. Then the results just come because that is the natural and logical outcome of what one is doing — simply because one demands that it be so. That’s not how the world works. Instead, one has to up the understanding first — and then the results are inevitable, because nothing else is possible.

In this manner, one can sustain exercise all throughout their life — and never have to give it up because it is too hard or dangerous to do — particularly when they need it most.

The Significance of the Nautilus Machine (Cam)

The genius of the Nautilus cam was to provide variable resistance throughout the full-range of a movement around one axis of rotation -- with the understanding that in moving from one extreme to the other allowed one to access the full momentary capability of that muscle. That was the design of every exercise and machine incorporating that principle -- with the objective being to fully exhaust the muscle -- by eliminating the weak points that didn't allow the muscle to be fully worked in the full contraction phase.

But what was overlooked was that a muscle can do two things -- and not just the one.  That is, the muscle has to be able to contract -- but it also has to relax as well, and alternating those states, produces a pumping effect -- just like the heart does in pumping the blood out towards the extremities (capillaries).  But by that design, the heart cannot also pump the blood (fluids) back towards the heart -- because the very objective and design of the capillaries is to slow down the speed of fluid (gas) to optimize the exchange between the tissues and the fluid.

The best example of this branching design and function, is where the respiration (breath) exchanges gas with the capillaries in the lungs, and how breathing and circulation intersect to enable life.  Breathing alone doesn't get the job done; circulation alone does not get the job done.  It is these two processes acting in concert that is the magic of life.  One without the other, does not work.

Likewise, in the action of the muscles, contracting alone is not enough.  A muscle also has to be able to relax to get a job done.  The opposite of a muscle contraction is not gravity -- but relaxation, or the lengthening of the muscle, which is the opposite of contraction (shortening). 

This alternation of contraction with relaxation can be achieved in the absence of gravity (resistance) because it is not dependent on the external forces but the internal forces generated.  What is being moved, is the blood and fluids within the body -- because when they don't move as they are capable of doing, the fluids stagnate rather than circulate to maintain the health of the body.  

Thus we have the problem of "inflammation" which is the buildup of toxic waste products that do not properly get out of the body through the filtering, purifying and eliminating organs designed for that function.  And if the old is not expelled first, it leaves no room for incoming new nutrients -- and the body operating in that manner, simply accumulates and never eliminates -- which makes room for the new.

Predictably, such people grow to monstrous size and weight -- as the more toxic they become, the more water they will retain to dilute that toxicity.  Along with that, they are not producing the alternating muscle contraction and relaxation characteristic of exercise as we recognize it -- and so the muscles become increasingly flaccid and undefined.

The original design and use of the Nautilus machines did not recognize the importance of its ability to move into a greater range of movement because of the greater relaxation that could be attained when the resistance moved to zero -- and the training style adopted by even the most familiar with the underlying principles, was actually to make that relaxation prohibitive -- in making the relaxation phase (eccentric) harder -- rather than as it should be, easier and even to zero if possible.  It was thought that in contracting and then contracting even harder on the relaxation phase, the muscle would exhaust that much faster -- when the conditioning desired, is to increase the endurance rather than induce premature failure.

In no human task, would failing prematurely be desirable -- because that might be a critical failure when one needed it most.  Instead, one would condition themselves to be indefatigable as much as possible -- so as to be the last man standing -- rather than the first man out.  That is true whether that is "musical chairs," dodgeball, high stakes poker, or the high jump.  The advantage goes to those still in the game -- and not the many lying by the wayside incapacitated by one thing or another.

The Nautilus machine was not designed to lift the most weight once -- or decreasingly fewer times, but actually to enable one to continue the execution (repetition) until the movement could not be sustained any longer by natural fatigue caused by the buildup of cells firing to produce energy and the resulting waste products that result in failure to respond even with no added resistance (load).  

Obviously, achieving that with maximum weights is impossible because the quit point leaves a lot of capacity untapped.  Failure is that point in which one cannot move even with no resistance on that particular muscle -- and must cheat by employing all the other muscles in the body to effect and complete the movement.  That attainment would require the body to adapt very dramatically and significantly -- because of that very strong directive to improve one's capabilities.

That was what the inventor of the Nautilus machines and concepts intended -- but seems to have gotten lost in the execution.  The original intent was to perform as many repetitions until one quite naturally and predictably failed -- and not simply to produce failure before executing any full range movements properly -- which is the training style exhibited by most experts training with these machines.

The objective is not to lift the most weight possible for five very limited range repetitions -- and then rush to the next preloaded machine for another five repetitions under cardiovascular duress so that one can hardly breathe and catch one's breath -- but actually to use as light a weight that makes the fullest relaxation possible -- because that is the actual limit on the performance of that fully-articulated movement.  Meanwhile, on the other end of the spectrum, a too heavy weight prevents the muscle from attaining its fullest muscle contraction -- that is also only possible with a minimal resistance.

It is the range of movement that is the greatest resistance and limit -- in both directions, and working to extend those extremes, is the exercise and practice -- which doesn't put extraordinary demands on the cardiovascular system to fail preemptively and prematurely -- but executed with proper full range breathing, allows one to build up the capacity to sustain the effort -- for at least 50 repetitions as the benchmark that it could be sustained indefinitely.

Achieving that number of repetitions seems to be key in developing the confidence and competency to do any movement -- that one or two repetitions is not sufficient to reinforce and build muscle memory.  Then it is simply a movement one feels competent to do at any and all times -- rather than a position and movement one conditions oneself to move in and out of as quickly as possible.

The valuable part of any movement -- is extending the range of that movement -- and not simply using more weight in a very limited range of movement -- with the muscle not changing states but merely rebounding while the muscular state hardly changes.  At that point, one is merely using leverage to lift and lower the weight -- while the muscle changes very little, but the effort feels maximal because not changing muscular states indicates that one is not breathing -- which requires both the full exhalation (contraction) and full inhalation (relaxation) to effect.

That is ultimately the measure of the effectiveness of one's exercise -- because it is impossible to achieve the fullest contraction and the fullest relaxation of any muscle in isolation from all the supporting and connected muscles that are dependent on each other to achieve any maximum attempt.  Those are positions achieved, and not a measure of weight used while largely avoiding getting into those positions at all.  

That's why such movements are not productive, and in fact, may even be counterproductive -- because they are doing it for all the wrong reasons -- mainly, limiting one's range of movement.  It always begins with understanding well what one is doing -- even if it was not with that intention and perfect understanding of what one is doing.  The awareness and learning is the most important part.

The great danger is the tremendous stress placed on the heart to do all the work -- which rightfully, should be spread among all the muscles of the body to optimize that functioning (circulation and respiration) and resulting health effects.  That makes it possible for a person of 100 to exercise as easily as a person at 20 -- just as productively -- in the safest possible manner.  The objective is not to make movements, exercise, practices as difficult, problematical, and dangerous as possible (resistance) -- but to make it so sensible that one couldn't think of doing anything else.

Rather than being the ultimate machine for lifting weights with a favorable mechanical advantage, the cam by design nullified that requirement for leverage and momentum and inadvertently, became the ideal device for increasing the range of motion -- when used in this manner with nominal resistance.  Like many inventions and discoveries of the past, it served a purpose far more valuable than it was originally conceived for -- which is exhausting the muscle worked even in a constrained range.

The huge advantage for this, is that training with attention to increasing the range focused (measured) on a single axis of movement also affects the state of all the muscles -- because nothing else is possible!  That is simply how muscles work.  Whether putting the shot or lifting a maximum weight, it would never be advantageous to limit the contraction to only one muscle while not engaging the adjoining supporting and interconnected muscles -- which includes the heart in that supportive role, rather than the primary intent machine sellers promote.  

What is easiest to measure is not necessarily what is most important or significant to measure.  Any increased effort will raise the heart rate -- but simply raising the heart rate, will not necessarily increase the productivity of the effort -- and as such, actually decreases the productivity of every effort.  This is particularly disastrous when the heart works increasingly harder -- with no complementary effort by the skeletal (voluntary) muscles to pump the blood back towards the heart -- which is the focus of one's concerns in adopting a healthy exercise to empower productivity and enhance growth.  That is what the heart is hardwired to do -- to support every other function in the body, and making that the primary and only measure -- makes everything counterproductive.

And that is the reason so many bodybuilders die of heart problems -- of their own self-infliction.  They need to make the rest of the muscles work harder -- and the heart will take care of itself -- as it is designed and hardwired to do as the strength of that muscular system.  The last thing one wants, is to design training strategies for it to fail prematurely -- and unnecessarily.  

Obviously, Nautilus machines are nearly the ideal machine for older people and people in poor health to build up their strength and range of motion -- when used with light weight (resistance) for 50 repetitions.  And as Arthur Jones, inventor of the Nautilus machines confided, those same effects can be achieved if one simply understands the Nautilus training principles well enough.

That is the game-changer.  Advantage to the older and wiser -- particularly the wiser.