Doing the Right Thing(s)

Many people have been advised by those who have no idea what they are talking about -- that doing anything is the same as doing the right thing(s) -- to achieve successful outcomes, because they have been sold the belief that the only thing that matters is how much energy (calories) are expended (consumed), and beyond that, there is no difference.  Thus they come to the conclusion that going as fast as they can while driving a car is the only way to go, and lifting the heaviest weight is always what is required -- including building a house, garden, meal, body, anything worthwhile.

So the productive person realizes it is not enough simply to expend random energy and effort, but to achieve the greatest economy and efficiency in what they are doing -- or hope to do -- and that's what makes the difference.  However, that is not what is usually taught by those who should know better -- who fail to make those distinctions.  And so they are exasperated that they never achieve the results they hope for but then get lost in the efforts as the end in itself, and thus they come up with measurements that are purely arbitrary -- as though they meant something.

Then they will come up with pronouncements like everybody must do a minimum of 10,000 steps a day -- or hang from a chinning bar for 5 minutes -- or they won't see 100 -- to say nothing of the agony and injury they might endure in trying to achieve those "objectives."  They'll even  insist that if one can't even hang from a bar for even a second, one should keep trying until they can -- instead of merely and intelligently advising to do something they can do -- presently.   It is much more productive to do something one can do,  then to "try" to do something one can't do -- because it is entirely possible that even the strongest man in the world will not be able to stand on their toes -- without breaking all of them (as well as their neck) -- and suffer a crippling injury that will disable them for the rest of their lives.

Yet people are ill-advised to do such maneuvers under the blanket generalizations that "everybody can," -- and that the only ones that can't, have no chance for survival -- or fitness  by those standards, and so now the only commandment, is to be able to get off the floor without using one's hands -- because not using one's hands is the new commandment -- and only those who can kip up, are indicative of a long and healthy life.

And those who can't?  They should keep trying because everybody can -- if one person has proven it possible, as though everybody is on the same trajectory of possibilities and improvement.  That is not to say that some things are possible for virtually everybody, while others are just possible for a few -- and one should "discriminate" those differences that matter -- from that which doesn't.

Things happen for a reason -- and merely demanding that they don't doesn't alter the reality, but intelligent design and thought should align with those realities -- to be useful, and productive.  Simply doing whatever one wants to, is not going to get them the same results as that which invariably produces better outcomes -- which for every individual, is a healthier, better functioning existence.  That is what we are all here for --whether we realize it or not.  That is what drives all of life.

That which doesn't think so -- or behaves that way, is not around for long.  That is the primary drive in life and not whether one looks good doing so. It is the health that is primary -- and not the illusion of it.  One takes care of the other -- but not vice-versa.  That is the difference between causation and correlation -- and why one should not mistake one for the other.  Correlation doesn't care which came first -- or caused the other, and it is knowing that difference, and being able to tell that difference, is why some are successful while others just go through the motions wondering why they never achieve those successes.  It is not just a matter of doing it long enough that it must work -- but learning the significant difference that makes all the difference.

Those are the "right" things -- which is very different from any amount of the wrong things that do not matter.  That difficulty in understanding is the et the same results they got a barrier keeping most from achieving their own health -- in favoring of demanding everyone but themselves to produce it for them.  That's not how evolution works.  Individuals get better because they achieve it for themselves -- and not that the think-tanks in far away places have figured out the winning formula -- and winning lottery ticket, so that the rest of us know how to "game" the system. with life "hacks."

The hardest thing to see are the obvious -- but that plays out every day in every gym across the world.  The people in worst shape choose the worst exercises in the worst way.  It is no secret why it is not working.  They have come to the gym to do more resting -- and cell phoning -- like they do everything else in their lives -- with never any full attention to anything they do.  That is particularly true the older they get -- and that is why they don't even get the same results they got as a younger person.   They're not even doing that anymore -- because the weights are too heavy to allow them full-range movement.  But rather than lower the weights (resistance) to allow them full amplitude of movement, they keep the weights that now make those movements prohibitive -- and it is the full-range movement that makes them fit, rather than any amount of weight that restricts that articulation.  

And so it goes until they lose even further range of movement -- until finally they virtually immobilized -- not because they cannot move, but because they have forgotten how to move -- since they no longer express it, or know how anymore.  That's how they lose their movements -- but is an easy thing to maintain and improve -- as long as they do sufficient repetitions of it -- which is not five or ten before resting for ten minutes.    That is what got them into their present condition.

The human body is designed to optimize movement at the head, hands and feet -- and if those movements are maintained and practiced, the prognosis for the health of the rest of the body is excellent -- but not vice-versa.  You don't want to be the person whose heart is still beating for 25 years long after the head, hands and feet have stopped moving and responding.  Yet that is the pattern for all those people living in those places where the prognosis for recovery of those faculties are nonexistent -- who are prescribed movements and exercises for improving every other part of their body but those specifically.  It would indeed be miraculous if they worked.

The Problem with Most Exercise

One notices that when one goes to a gym these days, there is very little exercising actually taking place -- but what most people are doing, is resting -- or playing with their cellphones -- just as they do with much of their other time that got them into their hated sedentary shapes.  Yet they are perplexed that they are not getting into the shape they think (hope) they should be in -- despite spending countless hours "at" the gym.  I've even seen caregivers drop off their clients at the "aerobics" machine and then do nothing while they go off and use the swimming pool or hot tub, and return an hour later -- and presume that their clients were exercising all that time -- in a classic case of wishful-thinking making it so.

Of course they rationalize that they were free to do whatever they wanted and could not be forced to do anything they didn't want to do -- and out of sight, was out of mind, and no longer their job (responsibility) to do anything beyond that.  And so it spirals into a worsening of condition -- while being totally mystified that it should be so -- because the wishful-thinking surely must have had precedent over the actual reality in the virtual reality they inhabit.

The invariably, the more involved exercises they are advised to do, are even more problematical to do -- usually producing pain in addition to the boredom of treadmill activities.  So quite predictably, they get very little benefit for the "time" they put into such activities -- while they could be doing what is most beneficial to do.  That would be simply moving at the critical junctures of the head, hands and feet -- if nothing else, because the entirety of productive movements, is expressed at those points.

All the other musculature supports the movements taking place at the extremities -- and if movement is not effected at the extremities, very little productivity can be achieved.   That would be the actual movement of the head from left to right, and up and down.  The feet moving to raise the heel, and conversely, to raise the toes.  And the hands (grip) to flex and extend -- as the major movements needed to maintain one's capabilities.

Those are obviously the critical joints at which movement is designed for -- the smaller, multiple bones activated by multiple muscles, while the larger bones are best suited for support and stability -- and not vice-versa.  That is important to consider because in designing meaningful exercise movements, the tendency is to focus on the movement of the larger muscles and bones, rather than as nature intended, the fine motor control -- that actually makes the critical difference.

That is true in every athletic and performance movement (metric) -- whether throwing a football, baseball, hitting a tennis ball, baseball, throwing a javelin or shot put.  If the wrist is not activated and fully engaged, the movement is basically meaningless -- and that is the design of most modern movements that instead focus on moving mainly the largest muscles of the body -- with little or no regard for the fine motor movements and control that make any movement actually  productive and/or expressive.

But it is well known that the obvious markers of decline in human health is the attenuation of the grip strength, foot balance, and head movement (cognition) -- that should be the focus of any movement therapies and strategies -- that is overlooked as "normal," while it can be most greatly impacted by intelligent and thoughtful exercise and movements.  Those are the capacities one wishes to maintain and enhance above all the others -- and failing that, it doesn't matter how long the heart continues to beat while those critical faculties are unresponsive.

And that is the kind of people we're producing -- who have long outlived their effective usefulness.  That is clearly avoidable -- but it is not enough just NOT to shake one's head in agreement -- but those very movements are indicative of the further functioning of the head apparatus.  Otherwise, how do we know it is still working?

The same is true of hand and foot movement -- even while the heart will continue to beat unceasingly until it doesn't.  Most people in sedentary lives are not conditioned to move at those very important joints of the wrists and ankles -- even while they may tread for miles on a treadmill shuffling their feet and immobilizing their wrists.  

But that is the very source of the problem -- of the lack of effective circulation resulting in the buildup and retention of fluids at those areas notable for poorest circulation.  That is what has to move -- at that axis of rotation because that contraction is also the compression that causes the flow back towards the heart, while the alternating relaxation allows for new blood to flow into those tissues.  That keeps the body healthy.  Not to effect that flow, allows the toxins and waste products to accumulate in the tissues as the inflammation that causes disease and deterioration.  But there is a mechanism for dealing with that.  That is producing the flow -- with the proper understanding of that process.  The heart plays its role -- unfailingly -- but the other muscles determine where that flow goes to -- in clearing that space first.

The helpful precedent for understanding this process is how cardiopulmonary resuscitation works.  The effort has to be made to empty the cavity of air and fluids by compressing the space -- and on relaxation, the atmospheric pressure will fill the void -- while simply forcing more air and fluids into an already filled spaced, will simply provide resistance for doing so.  The evacuation (contraction) must occur first -- or further effort (compression) will be ineffective.  One must precede the other -- in the proper order.

Then one can do whatever one wills -- because then it doesn't matter.  But unequivocally, the proper order is to engage the smaller muscles that engage the larger as part of its own functioning -- but it doesn't happen vice-versa because the larger muscles, doesn't need to activate the smaller muscle -- but that is what is most important to do -- if the ultimate objective is to produce and maintain a fully functioning human being throughout the full span of their lives, and not simply prolong the heart long after its critical responsiveness has disappeared.

That is the best one can do -- but is still no guarantee of immortality.  That might entail living in a test tube.

Does Intermittent Fasting Work?

 The quick, simple and obvious truth of why intermittent fasting works is the realization that excessive weight gain is caused by eating all the time. and that if one simply restricts the time one will allow for that activity, that is at least half the problem. That is particularly true in exercise — of people who think they have to eat before they can do anything else — especially exercise, and so a good practice and habit is to exercise before eating rather than thinking one can only do so after a meal — at which point, exercise becomes further deferred, if not forgotten altogether. But together, they are the ideal diet/exercise combination.

Many morbidly overweight people will rationalize that if they don’t eat before doing anything else, they will “starve to death,” but humans like any other species, have evolved to do well without eating for prolonged periods — and that is Nature’s plan for keeping one healthy — because then the organism will “eat itself” — which is a good thing, because it realizes that the prudent thing is to burn off the oldest, weakest most diseased and excessive cells in the body in the purging and renewal process to maintain its health and viability. That is what every life form does — rather than going into starvation mode first. It is the last and unavoidable last resort — when one has run out of choices and options.

But if one’s priority is always to eat first and foremost — above all other considerations — that will be disastrous when food is always abundant and available, and so one should devise a schedule to reduce those opportunities. That is just common sense — aligned with millions of years of evolutionary wisdom to derive higher beings. If we ignore that wisdom, we create a lifetime of problems for ourselves — which the ancients have warned us against, but foolish people think they can simply cancel what they want. And so things don’t work right — and they haven’t a clue.

A good place to begin is to do nothing — and see if things get better or worse — including not eating. It seemed to work so well that wise people throughout the ages and across cultures have recommended it highly — as the beginning of wisdom, insight and mindfulness — that makes everything else possible. That practice has even become the cornerstone for many religions — as well as health modalities and cures. It might have been that they were intolerant to some foods — so abstaining from further consumption was the obvious and simple cure. To such people, consuming more is not the answer — but the problem.

They often have no idea — but think that if a little is good, more is always better. And of course, unlimited more is the ultimate achievement. But nothing works that way — and instead, there is a fine line for obtaining the proper balance in all things — for optimal effect and results. In a world of scarcity, it would be advantageous to eat at every opportunity, but in a world of abundance and prosperity, a better strategy is to practice restraint, and focus on more pressing priorities — and make the most of those other opportunities. Then one is a complete and well-developed human being — rather than one doing too much of only one thing — to the exclusion of all their other opportunities and abilities.