Rising to the Challenges of Daily Living

 The chief benefit of all exercise is to direct all the energy and resources to the task (challenge) at hand — and maintain that capability all one’s life. So obviously, if one does not actually exercise that capability, one doesn’t know if one has it, nor the degree to which it can be recruited — momentarily, as needed. That is not dependent on free weights, machines, or any other apparatus — but is the mastery over one’s own body and its functioning. There is nothing magical about the equipment; the major ingredient is the understanding of the challenge and the individual’s response.

Muscles are the means by which we can change to accomplish any task and objective. We do that by contracting a muscle — or relaxing it to achieve the desired effect. When any movement is studied and observed beyond the distractions, we realize that those are the essentials that keep the body functioning optimally — regardless of the activity. Weight-training and machines isolate those movements — which can be performed productively without that equipment, and is probably the breakthrough that enables people to exercise throughout their lives — by DECREASING the resistance to such movements. That is the key to exercising in longevity. Not lifting more weights, but learning to produce those contractions and relaxations — without the resistance or need to accomplish any other extraneous work.

In that way, it is similar to a lot of athletic events that require minimal apparatus — like yoga, tai chi, dance, etc., that have become ritualized in its own way — and become a hindrance to the simplicity in effecting immediate health. It doesn’t take years of study and practice to produce a muscle contraction or relaxation. That is just what muscles do. But exercise (training) makes them do it better — but the capability is always there as the nature of the organ. The user guide is another matter entirely — and unfortunately many, if not all, come into the world having no idea what to do with it — although the child prodigies of movement have a huge head start in this mastery — just as they do in every other, and that is why one is advised throughout life, to discover who they are, and what they were born to do — as they will have great advantage in doing so.

But the simplicity of exercise is the understanding that if one increases the circulation to any organ or area, that maintains its health — as a priority over organs and areas not given that priority. Everything will not develop equally well just because it is the heart’s job to pump blood equally well to every part regardless. Preference is given to what one actually does — and not all one could do, but doesn’t. And that is many things. But in rising to the challenge of one’s own existence and environment, one is shaped in that way — to be more prolific at what one actually does. So it is not enough just to wish one had those formidable capabilities, but actually practice it enough to make it so.

But then we usually get lost in the activity and the competitions surrounding it — until much later in life when we wish we just had the ability to do what we used to do so easily — but took the erroneous path of making it more cumbersome and difficult, and eventually impossible and even injurious. We are encouraged to do so by those who would sell their products with the promise to restore those capabilities — whether it still makes sense to do so or not — as one now has trouble just getting out of bed, or out of a chair — and doesn’t think those are worthy challenges to master but are now their handicaps for life.

Then instructors and therapists will come along and advise them how to make those movements more difficult — to make the simple seem easier. But that just raises the bar higher, and what is indicated, is lowering the bar, so that they can actually do it — and do it easily, effortlessly, and gracefully. And as long as they can do that, then movement is their friend, and not their struggle — but it requires that simplicity of understanding, and not making it more complex and harder.

So the simplicity of movement is that it is effected by contracting a muscle or lengthening it — and the rhythmic alternation of those states, produces the same pumping effect as the heart does unfailingly until the day one dies. As important as its role and function, the heart is still a small organ of roughly one pound — supplying blood for a 100+ body, and the best and most healthful use for all the other muscles, is to assist the heart in pumping the blood out of the extremities at the head, hands and feet where circulation is poorest — back towards the center of the body for elimination, exchange and recycling — or the body simply accumulates those waste products as the inflammation and swelling that undermines this healthful process. That is the kind of exercise one needs in the extraordinary circumstances of outer space of deepest depths of the ocean — or simply getting out of bed each day ready to take on the challenges of one’s daily living.

Exercising the Brain

 The value of all “physical” exercise is that it increases the flow of blood and nutrients to the part of the body actually exercised — by first ridding the body of accumulated toxins (inflammation) by those muscular contractions at the extremities. In a primitive healthy individual, that is an absolute requirement for survival (fitness) — because that survival is not guaranteed by others (society). Each individual has to provide wholly for themselves — because there is no 911 to call. Or by the time that help arrives, one has already perished. Those are the conditions that humans evolved in — and so those who survived, were best at doing so.

The distinctive features of the human body that place them above all the other creatures are the large brain, tool-making/using hand, and feet that allow for an upright position — so if anything, it would make the most sense to service those organs as the highest priority — because that takes care of the rest. Those are the organs one has the most control over —and can make the greatest impact — whether that is throwing a stone/spear, running, jumping, climbing, and of course, the brain directs it all. But even before that, the first task of the head, is to turn and direct one senses in the right direction. If nothing else, that tells the other — whether animal or human — that they are aware, and not just lost in their own thought — oblivious to everything happening around them.

Even predators notice this difference — and are likely to go after the prey most unaware of their presence than take on the fully attentive individual anticipating their every move. But it is not just enough to possess those capabilities — because one has to actually exercise them to do any good. That means turning one’s head to see whether a car is coming towards them — and it is not enough just to know that they shouldn’t be. That is true whether one is in a car or on a bike — and more important than how fast one’s heart is beating. That is automatic — but whether one turns his head to know that the car is coming and letting the car know that also in that movement — is a critically important accomplishment.

That frequently is the difference between life and death — and so it is a very important movement to practice and cultivate — and not just head fixed straight ahead thinking one can beat any other to that spot faster — if one simply ignores all else. So those head movements, are still critically important skills to ensure the optimal functioning of the brain and body — but contemporary lifestyles often take for granted as unnecessary or makes convenient not to.

Most people’s idea of “exercising the brain” therefore, consists of doing meaningless crossword puzzles or other such extraneous brain games — while ignoring the obvious and very visible fact that their neck muscles are atrophying — in what is called the “turkey neck,” or the “pencil neck” — despite having impressive biceps and “six-pack” abdominal development. That won’t prevent them from suffering the consequences of suboptimal blood flow to the brain — which is the whole point of CPR and basic first aid. Once the brain is gone, it doesn’t matter how many more years the heart can continue to function normally. And that is a major concern and problem in societies today.

In advanced ages surely, but less recognized, is that lack of optimal functioning and blood flow to the brain at any age and condition. I’ve even heard people who should know better, say that the head should not move — nor should one increase the blood flow to the brain — and then, that it makes no difference. Yet they will claim that we have to exercise the brain just like any other muscle — but without movement. If we did exercises for the muscles without movement, the results would predictably be nonproductive and obviously absurd. That lack of obvious movement is the very reason for their lack of muscular development and overall poor condition — because it is the contraction along with the alternating relaxation of the muscles in use, that actuates the flow — and not merely the wishing it would (mental exercise).

Why are the problematical parts of the body (the extremities) not regarded as the proof of the effectiveness of exercise (optimizing blood flow) — but rather, considered the exceptions to the rule for robust health? It should be obvious that that is how one would go about it — if selling machines and supplements were not the primary considerations. Does one really need to make the heart work harder and faster — or would it be better if the hands, feet and head movements were articulated to ensure optimal functioning of those organs as the highest priority and that would empower the rest — but not vice-versa.

That is to say that empowering the bicep first, would not lead to deciding that a better functioning brain would be desirable, but in empowering the brain first, it might decide that a stronger bicep might be advantageous — but not vice-versa. That is the hierarchy of human development — and critical path for determining the ultimate success of that individual. Everything else, is diverting energy and resources from this important work of the body — whether one is 70 or 7. That’s why any body fails — this failure to distinguish the significant from the diversions and distractions of contemporary life.

Get Rid of the Inflammation

Another word for "inflammation" is "swelling" -- which is the accumulation of toxins/waste products in the tissues -- which in the normally healthy body is directed back towards the filtering and purifying organs at the center of the body -- the liver, kidneys, lungs, etc., where it is eliminated and exchanged for fresh nutrients that keep the body alive and even growing.  That process can be impeded in many different ways -- including not eating the necessary nutrients, shallow or ineffective breathing, not producing the necessary muscular contractions that push those fluids (blood and lymphatic fluid) out of the tissues and back towards the center of the body for that recycling, etc.

Those are the conditions humans have evolved in for millions of years -- along with many other life forms.  Until very recently, such movements were required for the very survival of each individual, and favored the most productive in that manner.  Those who were incapable of rising to those occasions with the proper responses perished in those early days of survival.  The "fit" were those who survived.

But as human societies predominated, many more less abled could survive -- and other talents and abilities could flourish -- with even greater survival advantage.  That would be the emergence of strategic thinkers -- who could manage primitive societies into greater civilizations beyond just conquering the other tribe.  Larger synergies gave rise to cities that planned for larger populations to live in relative peace, harmony and cooperation -- we commonly call "teamwork" -- a vast improvement over the winner take all that could be easily overcome by many working in concert.

But individually, the individual human is also designed that way -- to work in concert with all the other parts of the organism -- and not one in primacy over all the others.  Even the brain is smart enough to know it cannot do it alone -- but wants all the parts working in synchrony --  doing the best it can to do what it has to do.  That is what Nature also intended -- and has honed to what it is today.

But sometimes things go out of whack -- and we witness or experience injury, disease and even death -- and that becomes the major preoccupation and challenge of our lives.  Thus many have risen to those challenges because their very existence depended on it -- in the many remarkable transformations that become legendary.  The proverbial "98 lb. weakling" who becomes the World's Strongest Man -- because if he didn't, he wouldn't be here today, or the child with rheumatoid arthritis who doctors pronounced would be crippled as an adult.

They refused to take those verdicts lying down but asked themselves what had they got to lose by continuing on their present path?  Only that certain fate that awaited them, so rejecting that, tried everything until something worked -- and not simply settle for a better explanation of why it wasn't working.  That is the common fallacy of most self-improvement regimens -- that they just have a fancier explanation for why things don't work, rather than a simple and obvious manifestation of what does work -- as self-evident truth.  That is the obvious truth of the present moment -- and must be proven in each subsequent moment rather than what so-called experts say -- and have no way of proving in this, or any other time in life and circumstances.

What most fail to observe is that muscle contractions compress the fluids in the tissues back towards the center -- which steady state muscular states do not.  That is the significance of alternating full contractions with full relaxations -- that mimic the heart movement in pumping blood out to the rest of the body.  The weakness of circulation is that there is no similar pump at the extremities pumping the fluids back towards the center -- which greatly optimizes the circulation in the body -- particularly in those areas that inflammation (swelling) is the problem.

The first resort is not medications to do so, but activating the muscle very deliberately to do so -- as the best thing one can do -- if that is their problem.  And if that is not a problem anymore, the body will have those conditions in which it can optimize its own health -- including for producing greater muscle growth and functioning.  That is the reason exercise works -- and even produces transformative miracles for those not doing it expressly for that reason.  They are simply doing the right things -- and Nature takes care of the rest.  That's how simple and direct life is.

The simplest explanation is the best -- and not the most complicated and complex.  That may win prizes at academic institutions but is not how the world works.  However, in this age of inflated egos and credentials, that's how some people think makes the world go around -- all that hot air creating a vacuum causing the world to spin.

Modern contemporary life doesn't require a lot of personal physical effort to sustain life anymore -- and as a result, many will manifest those shapes and conditions of unexercised specimens -- rather than be fully functional human beings capable of doing what they have to do.  If one hasn't done so before, there's no reason to believe one can do it -- until they actually try.  Many presume they just have those capabilities whether they've actually ever tried to put themselves in those positions -- and the body was not made not to work, but to actually work.

But one does not realize that until one actually finds that out -- by attempting to do so.  And if that first attempt is nowhere close (predictably), then one tries again -- and again -- until they have mastered the movement to achieve precisely the outcome they want with reasonable reliability.  A few will decide they wish to become the best at it -- and that is the basis for sport and competitive activities.  But that is not the driving force behind most practice to improve.  Their fundamental health may be much more urgent and important -- as a lifelong practice.  They want to be masters of their own life and health, and not just win prizes for their 15 minutes of fame and glory -- and not care what happens beyond that.

The challenge of these times is not just how long one can live, but the quality of that lifespan.  If that is good throughout, then one is prepared to go at one's best -- and the rest is beyond their control.  But what they can control, they are their own masters at -- and that is the organizational and driving force of their lives.  That is what they are -- and do -- all their lives, no matter how long.  That's also how they go out.

They don't sweat the small stuff.

Effective Exercise Has to Be Very Specific and Directed

 The value of movement and exercise is that it directs the body to where the effort and resources need to go -- to achieve maximum results.  That means if one needs to throw a projectile at a specific target, it won't do just to run off somewhere else --no matter how far and long.  It won't accomplish the task at hand.  Likewise, if one wants to condition the midsection to be as fit as possible, one has to actually engage and activate those muscles and movements -- and not do everything else but that.  Yet that is the muddled thinking used by most -- and particularly the "experts" -- thinking that if they do enough random movements, something might work -- and many waste their whole lives that way.

That is the unfortunate consequence of not being able to "discriminate" anything important and significant -- from every other thing.  And that is what a scientist does -- or any person who becomes proficient in anything.  They have to differentiate which among the many considerations -- is most important, and not that everything is equally important -- because there is not enough time and life in the world to pursue everything randomly.

That is true whether they are participating in athletics, personal financial management, rocket science, brain surgery, etc.  You have to exclude most things, to focus one's energies and resources on what one thinks is most important -- even if it means learning otherwise.  Then one can move on -- and higher because one is no longer consuming all their time and energy on everything -- equally.  So one must have this fundamental understanding of reality to be successful at understanding anything particular and specific -- unless of course, they want to be successful at wasting as much time and resources (their life) as an ideal in itself.

We recognize such people as being dysfunctional -- and thus wholly out of touch with reality -- as their objective, and it is futile to argue with that.  They don't want to be led to greater clarity and  understanding -- but wish to drag as many down with them as possible, and so the wise, avoid them as much as possible.  That's not entirely difficult to do because they overrun predictable turf -- that most but the police and emergency responders learn to avoid.   That is not their job to have to deal with -- at 4 am in the worst part of town -- where most of these bizarre events occur.

However given enough tolerance, it soon spreads to every other aspect of our lives.  One thinks that it is enough just to do anything -- and even to waste the most time, energy and resources -- as the "secret sauce" to life, success and prosperity -- because unfortunately these days, nobody teaches them any other -- and they are merely encouraged to "let it all hang out."  And so many get into trouble, and have no way of getting out -- but to do "more of the same."  Predictably, it doesn't end well -- but way before the final outcome, one can see the signs that all is not well, but are powerless to do anything about -- because they run out of time to get it right.

And so that is the imperative to get it right -- by practicing and perfecting it, and not just thinking that if one shoots enough balls, one is bound to go in.  As absurd as it sounds (hopefully), that is the way many think about exercise -- that it is enough just to burn as many calories as possible or to raise the heart beat as many as possible -- rather than to achieve a specific -- which is the whole purpose of any living being -- to optimize its chances for survival.  The health of any individual, is the best predictor of those prospects -- and why it is the primary imperative of every living entity.

Those who live closer to the edge for survival are required to be fitter to rise to those challenges -- much in the manner of more primitive times.  They literally have to be "looking over their shoulder -- while those in more comfortable environments, may never have to move their heads at all -- and even their "fitness" activities, do not require any movement at these critical junctures -- which is the movement at the head, hands and feet -- where it is universally recognized as the weakness of the body because circulation is poorest and even nonexistent -- to the point where they even have to be amputated -- but usually before then, have become immobilized, and merely repositories of toxic waste products and inflammation.

And so the obvious good of any exercise, would be to address those vulnerabilities -- and even turn them into one's strengths -- in enhancing the circulatory effectiveness by creating muscular pumps at the extremities to rid these impurities -- and in that process, creating the space to accept life-giving new nutrients.  There is only so much space in the body -- particularly after one reaches full growth so that one has to get rid of the old, weak, diseased cells to make room for sustained health and even growth.

That part of life hasn't been figured out successfully -- and so we have the inevitable age-old problems of deteriorating conditions impairing the quality of life and living.  Some think it requires infinitely more funding to discover -- while many more are working on such discoveries in their own lives.  Many more discoveries will undoubtedly be made with many more people working on it -- rather than just the ones claiming exclusive jurisdiction of the territory -- since everybody gets older, and should not be precluded from finding out what works in their own lives -- especially when the remedies of the experts have been expensive failures. 

To my mind, the obvious markers of the condition of any individual, is the form and function of the neck, forearms, and lower leg muscles -- that modern lifestyles no longer require to engage and activate -- unless one deliberately does so.  That is not a difficult thing to do -- but is the easiest exercise and movements anyone can do -- if they just think about it, and exercise that understanding and possibility -- even while lying in bed, sitting, or standing.  That's where the human body fails -- and most people, even the "experts," think nothing can be done about it.  But if one just does that -- that ensures the body is firing on all cylinders because nothing else is possible.  You have to go through the rest of the body to activate it at its furthest extremities -- but not vice-versa if all one thinks is necessary is to make the heart alone work harder.  That paradigm obviously doesn't work.

Designing an Exercise Program

 The value of exercise is that it directs the blood flow specifically to those parts of the body in which the muscle is contracting — which is how it lifts weights and does work. Conversely, when it relaxes, gravity moves the object to its lowest level, and the only resistance required is just enough to keep an object from breaking. The alternation of muscle contraction with relaxation, produces a pumping effect — just as the heart is specialized and dedicated to doing — in the direction towards the extremities of the body. But once at the extremities, the body relies on the muscle contractions at those extremities to produce the compression of fluids back to the center of the body — and those that do that more often and effectively, develop greater health and the musculature that an enhanced blow flow enables.

That is not simply making the heart alone work harder and faster, but the recruitment of the skeletal (voluntary) muscles to enhance that effect very deliberately and specifically. Those who do that best are self-described “bodybuilders,” because their exercise is to produce that effect — while in all other activities and events, that is a secondary, adjunct consideration. So if one considers the amount of weight lifted as primary importance, they may not achieve as impressive a bodybuilding effect — as it is to one who places “the pump” as their primary concern. The older weight trainers were very clear on this difference and distinction.

In present times, those distinctions and differences are lost, and so, many will exercise long and hard without achieving their desired ends — if they are even clear on that. Most people want to be the biggest and strongest ever, without considering that many others also wish for that, and many, like in every facet of human activity, are just more gifted genetically to be successful at it — because that is the way it is with everything in life. There are the prodigies — and everybody else, but that does not preclude them from doing what they truly love to do above all else.

However within their potential, there is considerable room for improvement — and that is not nothing. It can also be its own calling in its own unique way. Except for specifically prescribed competitions and protocols, there are all manner of ways one can define their own success. Many of the legendary strong men were motivated to overcome their handicaps and poor health as their motivation for breaking their own limits of what was possible — and ultimately to set the standard for many others to follow.

One does not know for certain what the ultimate actualization of that potential is — unless it is articulated and developed. Nobody comes into the world completely developed. That is a process of time and growth — and the adventure of every life, is discovering what that will be. Many think that the feet, hands and head are designed to support the rest of the musculature, when it is the other way around. And so they are “conditioned” not to move their feet, hands and head but instead immobilize them while moving the larger muscles as though they were the prime movers.

But anybody familiar with anatomy knows that a muscle will contract from the insertion (most distant) towards the origin of that muscle — and never vice-versa, and when a joint is fully articulated, it will activate the larger muscle supporting it. In this manner, it is possible to engage all the muscles along the five meridians (pathways) back to the center of the body so that the body develops commensurate strength throughout — instead of the disproportionate development working each muscle in isolation — beginning with the largest — and invariably running out of time and energy to exercise the most important muscles at the extremities.

But then in later years, that mistake reveals itself in the muscle atrophy occurring from the extremities back towards the core — in the conditions of edema, lymphedema, lipedema, arthritis, neuropathies, infirmities, and dementias. That is no accident and coincidence. Over the long history and evolution of human societies, the hand, feet and head is what put the human at the top — but because of the conveniences of modern life, we no longer have to move those parts of our body, and movement is what determines the blood flow — and so to immobilize them in exercises is a fatal error — because those are the critically important organs to maintain and develop above all else.

The cardio machines are notably bad for immobilizing the head, hands and feet — while maximizing the heart rate. But the heart is not the weakness of the body as much as it is that the skeletal (voluntary) muscles are unexercised and unengaged. Throwing a rock or spear, requires that flick of the wrist to ensure any kind of accuracy -- whether shooting a basketball, throwing a baseball,  hitting a tennis ball or baseball. Without that wrist activation (contraction) that movement is largely meaningless  and unproductive. Yet those movements have largely been eliminated in many popular conditioning activities — and so seems to have little or no effect on the increasing dysfunction and malfunctioning of those body parts — while thinking one is getting the proper exercise — as defined only by heart action. But what about exercise for the rest of the body? — pumping the fluids back to the heart and cleansing organs of the body.

Where is the atrophy and deterioration most obvious in aging — and all those aging-related diseases? At the extremities. And their usual manner of exercising seems to be less successful at preventing it — much less producing gains. Obviously, they need to renew and emphasize the flow to those areas as their priorities — and not continuing to ignore that development with such disastrous results. It is even more obvious on the former legendary bodybuilders as they age — and are in a panic because all those efforts seem to be futile now even if the gains came easily when they were younger. Their own bodies are telling them what needs to be tended to — but then they go and do something else instead.

That time is up. Now they have to do what they really have to do — as their urgency. That was the normal course of life until the modern conveniences made no such demands on them to assure their usefulness and health. Watching television all day does not require head movement, grip strength and foot balance. They can just as soon do it in a wheelchair. Predictably, they become less able — even if they get out of their chair for a half-hour of treadmill (cardio) — requiring no articulation and movement at the head, hands, and feet.

That’s the heart’s job, right? The heart is a one pound organ that can’t be expected to be the only working muscle in the body. What about all that other muscle mass? What are they doing? And that is the problem — nothing useful — if anything at all. One doesn’t even know what they’re there for. Thus even the bodybuilders will eschew working the neck, forearms, and calves as non-productive exercises because they don’t know how to use them properly.

The range of motion itself produces a contraction and a relaxation — from the furthest muscular insertions of the body and is thus the most effective and efficient way to improve the circulation throughout the body — that maintains it health — beginning with its most critically important organs at the extremities where they are the most useful. But if one never uses them, they wouldn’t know that.

The Proper Performance of the Squat -- or any other Exercise

 The “problem” with squats — or any exercise for that matter — is that people make the movement harder and more unnatural than it has to be — when the whole point of exercising (practicing) a movement, should be to make it easier. That is particularly and especially true when one needs to access those capabilities the most — as they grow older and more incapable of all movements.

Obviously, a helpful person advising them is not going to prescribe a manner of performance that makes it much more difficult, tortuous, torturous and even impossible to do it at all — or that elder person will never get up again if they fall, because their “genius” coach will devise a way to make it even harder yet. And it is also not helpful to encourage them to keep on practicing what is difficult, impossible, and even dangerous, on the promise if they keep on trying, they will eventually (a year from now) be able to do it easily — because that person who cannot get off the floor will have long since perished.

So any advice, has to be helpful and meaningful as one is in the moment — but learning the techniques that make such movements possible under the present circumstances and abilities. Then with practice, one simply becomes more effective and efficient at it — and not that the impossible becomes possible because one always attempts the impossible, and makes it so by imposing one’s will over realities.

The proper understanding of all leg exercises is that its primary objective is to move the foot — retracting the toes, and pushing off on the toes — and by that range of movement, one is able to walk, run, jump, dance, play games, lift weights, etc. Simply bending at the knee has little use otherwise — and will greatly stress the knee —but that is what most people do in usually constraining the leg action to just the movement at that joint.

The preferred and noninjurious leg movement, is to hinge at every joint involved — which means the knee must move as far forward as possible in a squat, rather than only moving at the knee joint — as must happen, when foot movement (dorsiflexion) is not allowed — not because nature does not allow it, but because of the manner of advice that is wholly misguided. When the knees are allowed to move forward as one squats — rather than more stress placed on the knees — actually less stress occurs on the knee, because increasingly more movement occurs in the plantar fascia (foot) as well as the tendons and ligaments of the ankle — the tightness and inactivation of which causes a limited range of motion and the problems of balance because the foot muscles are not activated.

Much of exercise advice and performance nullifies the importance of movement at the critical organs of expression — which is the hands, feet and head. That is what the entire musculature is supporting and enabling. Much less important to the body, is how much weight one can handle in the squat, deadlift, bench press — because those movements deliberately disable any movement at those end joints —or insertions of the muscles.

So while one may “burn” slightly more calories working only the large muscles, it is really the fine muscles, that make the difference. Try running (or even walking) without any articulation of the foot movement. That performance is familiar as the shuffling of the feet in old people — and doing so for miles, is not going to do them much good as simply articulating the foot movement — regardless of the more familiar gross movement of the hips and shoulders — if that.

Fine motor control is what people lose most with disuse and age — commonly expressed as the familiar markers of “grip strength, foot strength (balance), and cognition (ability to direct their senses). Awareness is largely this ability to turn one’s head towards the incoming information to determine the appropriate response (action). Many caregivers often point out that the problem of the hard of hearing, is that they don’t direct their attention (head) to the person speaking — which makes listening problematical. That is also the problem with drivers (cyclists) who do not turn their heads to see the conditions around them — but are insistent that it is every other person who needs to be aware of them — and ensure their safety.

Squats are an important movement to do because it can exercise all the major hinges (joints) of the lower part of the body — if allowed to do so rather than prohibiting that free play on those possibilities. It is infinitely more important to have full range movement around all the joints — rather than seeing how much weight one can handle in a constricted and constrained movement — until one is eventually and inevitably injured by that overload and overuse. Many will have long abandoned such movements before it reaches that point of no return and recovery.

What is most important to a long lifespan, is retaining all one’s capabilities through that duration —- rather than sacrificing everything for their “15 seconds of fame” — and then merely reliving those memories for the next 50 years because one no longer can. The squat is not so much an exercise or movement as it is a position one can attain in articulating all the joints of the lower body and rest (remain) comfortably and do whatever they have to in that position. It most definitely is not simply rebounding out of that position as quickly as possible — so one is never comfortable maintaining that position. That is what most people’s rendition of a squat is — a rebound out of the low position, rather than the maintenance of that low position that stretches all the ligaments and tendons of the legs that are the excuse for not doing a properly maintained squat position.

Contrary to common belief, maintaining the knee behind the foot is infinitely more stressful on the knee in the squat movement because one is immobilizing all the other joints that would normally come into play — to minimize that stress on that singular joint — instead of dissipating that stress among as many joints as possible. That is the danger posed in any movement in isolation — because the well known phenomenon of muscle action, is actually to recruit as many other muscles as possible to help in the task. That is to say, that the body always wants to make it easier on itself than harder — and never impossible, or to failure.

The objective of any conditioning, is not to fail, but to succeed. The categorical imperative is to find a way to win — and not condition oneself to fail time and again — as though that were a good thing, and that the opposite will happen.

Making Something Out of Nothing

 In a world full of options and choices, one doesn’t have unlimited time, energy and resources, and must develop priorities — in order of what is most important to do. In a time of scarcity and dearth of that abundance, that might have been eating, drinking, travel, entertainment, bodybuilding and weightlifting without end — just because we could. However, even the most prolific practitioners often culminated in premature deaths, injuries, and health problems — and so one has to question whether just getting as big as possible, running as far as possible, lifting as much weight as possible, are productive ends in themselves.

If one could truly develop any aspect of their bodies and lives, what would they deem most important? The intelligent answer would be those qualities that make humans above all the previous iterations of life forms — which is the large brain, tool-making hand, and feet that enables an upright posture. That would be obvious to the anthropologists studying the evolution of species over time, and was particularly the topic of JJ Bronowski’s “The Ascent of Man.” From there, he describes the further evolution and development of humankind and what the ideal can be.

That brought us to the 20th century in which people like Abraham Maslow, inquired what is the ultimate “human actualization?” — and writers like Heinlein, Rand, Orwell, et al fleshed out in their literary creations. The underlying question was what is the ultimate human form and expression — of every individual life, which is the underlying theme of Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land. That was the story of a human born on Mars and had no preconceived ideas of what the ideal form should be — and so he manifested it, or made it flesh.

There is a widespread belief that the heart pumps blood equally to all parts of the body — but obviously, more so to those areas actually exercised — which is the reason some people only manifest upper body development, while their legs languish. That would not be possible if the heart pumped that blood equally — even to those muscles and organs not used. Instead, the blood goes more to those muscles that are contracted and relaxed — just as the heart moves fluid. Where there is no such articulation at that joint, the blood and fluids remain in those tissues — and will immediately increase that flow, when it is exercised directly. That’s why people who do cardio exercises have small, atrophied muscles. Their hearts work harder and faster — but the rest of the musculature largely is inactivated.

That is the advantage weight-training has over most conventional exercise — it can be directed to develop the part of the body one thinks is so important — like the biceps and abdominals, etc. But the most efficient and economical way to enhance the flow (circulation) is to activate the joints at the extremities of the body — because that pushes the blood back towards the heart at that axis of activation. Those are the places where aging is most visible — even in aging bodybuilders. That’s where most of the aches and pains are experienced first — in the arthritis and neuropathies — where the circulation is the poorest, and not health-sustaining. Those are the casualties of disuse and aging.

It doesn’t have to be. One can activate all the muscles of the upper body by simply bending at the wrist. Likewise, one can activate all the muscles of the lower body by raising the heel or toe as much as possible. It doesn’t require weights to produce those contractions. The movement itself, is a contraction — and the farther one expresses those extremes, the more it engages all the supporting and connected muscles back towards the center of the body where all the muscles converge. The ancient Chinese called it dyantin — or simply, the center of the body — conveniently located next to the heart.

Nature is very smart in that way. It makes things economical and efficient — because it really wants us to live, thrive, and evolve to higher possibilities, rather than favor disfunction, disease and extinction. That is ultimately what “fitness” is all about — and not just doing what we’ve always done before with the predictable end results. It’s not that lying, sitting, standing are bad in and of itself — but there is no movement at the wrist, ankle and neck — that implies the rest. But if there is no movement beyond the shoulder and hip girdle, all those areas beyond it, don’t receive the exercise effect.

Knowing this, one can design an exercise program with heel raises, wrist curls and the turning of the head all the way to the left and right — and most inactive people will come alive in doing so. That is the easiest way just to get up in the morning. One does not need resistance or to make these movements any harder. The (lack of) movement is the resistance. It’s not that one isn’t moving their head to the left and right with 100 lbs of resistance — but they never move their head at all. That is most obviously true in what passes for the typical cardio exercise — the head and hands never move, and the feet shuffle as fast as possible — with little articulation. The proper foot articulation would be to raise the heels as high as possible — just like the ballet dancers — men and women. But all one needs to do is hold on to the back of a chair or countertop and merely raise their heels up as high as possible and down — as the superior leg movement. No special equipment required. No need to make the movement harder, or add more weight and resistance. The movement itself is exemplary.

It’s not that the calves, forearms and neck are the hardest muscles to develop — but that most don’t think to move at those joints — at all. But in so doing, unlike the disproportionate development many have because they concentrate on core muscles to the exclusion of the extremities, exercise seems to have no preventive effect against aging, atrophy and deterioration. It seems to be the obvious way to design a 21st century exercise program for health in longevity. You don’t want to lose your most valuable parts of yourself — while the heart is still the only muscle still ticking for decades longer.