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.

Both Sides Now

 A muscle can do one of two things: it can contract (shorten), or relax (lengthen) — and in concert and coordination with all the other muscles of the body, can produce the myriad of movements possible to the (human) body. Many ancient understandings and disciplines thought that muscles could only relax — or only contract — as their singular function, most exemplified by yoga on the one hand and competitive bodybuilders on the other extreme.

It is the alternation of one extreme to the other, that is the most efficient and beneficial — just as the heart functions for its critical role in circulation. It is not enough for the heart to just contract — and never relax (again). Or for the heart to relax and never contract (again). It is the alternation of one state to the other, that is the life-giving property of the heart — and the heart either contracts 100% and relaxes 100%, and if it only does 50% each way, one has major problems — if not imminent death. Hence, that is the significance of the heart rate, because one knows exactly what the quantity is as a constant — and not a variable.

Realizing this, the limit of any muscle is in its weakest position — rather than its strongest, and that was the rationale for varying resistance along that curve — if at all possible. While a weight (resistance) may remain constant, one uses all the muscles to orchestrate the minimal amount of load to any one muscle exclusively. That is to say that a major function of all the muscles, is to protect any one muscle from exclusively bearing the load — rendering it vulnerable to injury when contracting forcefully in its weakest, most vulnerable position.

The classic example is doing a standing barbell curl with too heavy a weight — causing a rupture at the biceps (tendon) insertion. In that variation of the exercise, the adjoining muscles are not in position and activation to protect the biceps — as they would be if the “finished” position was rotated so that rather than the elbow hanging down, the elbow is rotated to point towards the ceiling — resulting in a maximal contraction of the biceps because its supporting muscle is contracted as well.

All the muscles of the body are connected in that same way — that the contractile state of any one muscle, is dependent on the state of the muscles adjoining it. In knowing that, one can then conceive of the most efficient and effective to effect that state in all the muscles simultaneously, rather than have to do one specific exercise for each muscle — to say nothing of multiple exercises as well as sets for each muscle. The impracticality of that is that there is not enough time in the day to get to all one’s muscles to ensure full muscular development and a well-functioning body.

Fortunately, in understanding that the muscular state of any one muscle is dependent on the state of all the others, it then becomes a simple task to produce that one state or the other — rather than 600–800 different states of contraction/relaxation coordination throughout the body. Not surprisingly, the position of the head determines the muscular state for the rest of the body — which is the easiest to overlook, and with modern conveniences, unnecessary to move at all. The obvious downside of that is that movement dictates the flow to and from the heart. Those are the gates governing fluid flow through the body — particularly problematical in the well-known deterioration of the body beginning at the hands, feet and head — due to the inflammation caused by venous insufficiency in the return to the heart and central purifying organs of the body.

That is what muscular contractions from the extremities do — quite naturally, from most forms of traditional, productive, necessary movements — and why people who do them a lot, tend of be better developed, and more robust than those who seldom perform such movements. That essential “fitness” is hardwired into the evolution of every species — but modern conveniences have obviating their necessity over the last 50 years especially. That is the downside of labor-saving machinery — coinciding with the devolution of human health over that time period — when obesity and metabolic disorders have become the prime threat to human health in longevity.

The other side of the coin is just as bad — in those who remain hypertense all the time. The most extreme example of that are bodybuilders who remain contracted all the time — and never allow themselves to ever be seen “relaxed.” Relaxation is just as important as being able to maximize effort — and switching from one to the other as appropriate, is the healthy response to life — rather than the psychopaths constantly at war with everybody else — for no good reason. Predictably, they too live short, nasty, brutal lives — exacerbated by their behaviors and conditioning. The switch can be instantaneous.

Most conditioning is not done that way — instead thinking there is only one way to be — either all force, or all relaxation, and it is the ability to switch appropriately from one to the other, and all variations in between, that has the most survival value (fitness) — and how one wishes to condition themselves to be.

Easy Does It

 The worst advice on exercise is to make it harder all the time -- aiming for a point beyond one's present capacities, and never being satisfied with one has actually done.  That kind of "negative" conditioning will cause one to abandon all efforts -- when just a persistent modest effort, would make a huge difference.  That becomes a huge factor in later life -- when one is often defeated and discouraged before one does anything at all -- and falls further into despair and hopelessness as their fate from here on out.  Why does it have to be that way?

Few have asked that right question because they;ve ben conditioned from the start to accept that Commandment -- as though it embodied some truth, or great wisdom -- rather than headinng in the right direction in seeking the path of least resistance -- which is the better way,  Why would one voluntarily take the most perilous and laborious path -- when it would make more sense take the easy and safest route -- in just about everything?

So we have been conditioned in the wrong direction and least rewarding and productive path -- as though it was some kind of wisdom and great virtue.  Why shouldn't we pick the low hanging fruit first -- and then only if necessary, and driven to it, would be to climb the most precarious branches -- even as impressive as that may be.  In this manner, we have been conditioned wrongly -- by people who don't know any better, to take the difficult and impossible path, rather than the easiest to ensure their success and rewards.

Such a strategy is particularly important the older one becomes -- and how difficult every becomes.  They want to know the easiest and most productive way to do anything -- and particularly, the momentarily impossible.  It is by making the impossible possible, that one becomes more skilled, and not the impossible, even harder - at every turn.  That would be sheer madness -- and the problems of aging.

Hopefully, one learns all those lessons throughout life, which is their meaning in life -- and not to forget everything they once knew, and learned 50 years ago.  They want to live their best now -- and not 50 years ago, or in 50 years to come -- when they are no longer.  Things have to make sense right now -- and in every present moment.  Otherwise, one may never know, or can tell the difference.

The classic case is instructing a person who has fallen on the ground, how to get up.  On hearing this, a lot of exercise instructors tell one how not to fall or be in that condition in the first place -- as though that were helpful.  Classes that instuct one how to get up off the floor are actually readily available as beginner Yoga classes.  But if one is too weak for doing even that, how would one begin?

I do that most mornings by just moving my head as far to the left and then as far to the right -- while wondering how I'm going to eventually get up.  But shortly, I don't worry about it anymore, and move on to activating and articulating my hands to enhhance that circulation and feeling.  Finally, I articulate the full range foot movement from the pointed toe to the retracted -- which some exercise researchers have named the Soleus Pushup -- thinking that function is peculiar and unique to those muscles, rather than the characteristic of all muscle function in its role to keep the body healthy.

It's not optional, and good if one has the time and leisure -- but is the "categorical imperative" for every living being.  It's not just for when they are young, or can win accolades for it, but essential to their very being -- all one's life.  That is the future generation beyond just making it to that age -- in poor and deteriorating condition.  Even to get to that age in any condition used to be a milestone -- but now we know better -- that an unprecedented quality of life can still be actualized.  Just good enoiugh is no longer good enough -- or enjoyable for that matter, and we now think we are entitled to enjoy life -- and not just endure it for as long as we can hold out.

That was yesterday's story.  The future is making the best out of life in every moment one can -- including waiting for the microwave or washer to stop.  Or waiting at the bus stop.  Those are opportunities -- and not just wasted time -- unless making it so.  That is the easy way to do it -- rather than deciding what priority it should have over everything one hopes to do in that day -- and how to manage our time, energy and resources to achieve it.  Some even believe there is no other way but the strict adherence to schedule -- with no exceptions and deviations from the one true path -- for everyone.

But the beauty of life is that we all get to find out -- for ourselves, what is true -- and then share that knowledge to as many as are open to it.  That is particularly true if what one is doing, is not working -- and no amount of additional effort seems to be the answer.  One encounters that frequently in life -- that the answer is not the right answer that actually works.  And rather than arguing over who has the right answer, we need to find out what actually works -- and discard everything else.  Knowledge that doesn't work, is useless -- unless all one wants to do is claim to know the most -- whether it is true and actually works or not.  Many people are satisfied in that way, having all the answers -- but nothing works as they should. They think it is because they don't have enough "likes," as though it is just one big popularity contest, or who is in power to tell everybody else what to do or think.

Some leaders are even thinking that those who "wrong-think"  must be locked away from the public for the rest of their lives.  We thought that those were just the Dark Ages -- but it could be at any time and circumstances.  It's that kind of world -- playing out daily.

So the key observation I come away with is that mental functioning seems to come about because of of the poor neck development produced by the lack of circulation that comes with not turning one's head to use optimize one's awareness.  That distinguishes those who know what is going on around them -- from those trapped in their own thoughts and show no such proclivity to be aware of their surroundings.  Then that world further shrinks and implodes.  That is increasingly the fear of old age -- and everything it entails.  But how not to be like that equally obvious -- with the perspective of evolutionary time.  We are the way we are for a reason.

Understanding that is human nature and the way we work.  That is the key to living and aging well.  Without that simplicity of understanding, no amount of effort will produce the desired results.

Creating the Ultimate Stationary Bike

Whether designing an exercise program for a world-class athlete -- or the senior, disabled, even terminal -- the most important consideration is the design of what it was meant to do, and how best to optimize that functioning, and with this understanding of what it was meant for, achieve its best performance and maintenance (health).

Without this proper understanding, any amount of effort is likely to be unproductive and discouraging -- rather than the key to health and vitality -- for as long as they live, and not that they suffer a catastrophic event or injury, and swear off exercise for the rest of their lives -- with predictably disastrous results.

Exercise is the process by which one keeps their body in its optimal health and functioning -- and with seniors particularly, we see the lifelong impacts of what they've done -- good, bad, and indifferent.  It doesn't take a rocket scientist or brain surgeon to see this.  Most people do in the ordinary course of their day.  It's obvious even to the untrained and unindoctrinated -- which people are healthy and which people are not -- and if they are predatory and exploitative, they select the least able as their targets -- rather than the most formidable.  One does not need to be a human to understand those differences.  Every form of life makes those distinctions -- because it is immensely advantageous to do so, and their very life may depend on it.

That is the importance of looking around and making those discriminations -- rather than thinking that nothing makes a difference -- or should, and the results are all the same no matter what one does.  That's not a prescription for success in anything one does.  The successful make it their practice to observe the relationship of one thing to every other -- and determine the critical path of cause and effects -- from all the other co-incidences, that may or may not be related, or significant.

Chief among these is the thinking that expenditure of energy accounts for the results -- when clearly, the master practitioners of every activity, are those who are the most economical and efficient -- rather than those who are the most profligate in their expenditures -- as though they will always have unlimited time, energy and resources to burn.  Understandably, it matters more, the older they get -- rather than thinking as the novice does -- that those considerations will always be unlimited, and even multiplied, the more one wastes of it.

The world doesn't work that way.  It wants to achieve maximum efficiency and economy of resources -- and the whole design of living organisms is to achieve that effect.  There is a reason muscles contract from the insertion at the distal (furthest) end towards the proximal (closest to the center) or origin of that muscle, which then is inserted into the insertion of the supporting (proximal) muscle -- all the way back to the origin of all the muscles at the center next to the heart -- so in that way and manner, the blood and fluids can return to the central organs that purify and recycle those waste products for the next cycle of circulation.

If that movement doesn't occur, then the body is overcome with accumulated waste products (inflammation) and one see the typical bloating at the extremities of the hands, feet and head -- experienced as the neuropathies, arthritis, dementias in those tissues before the others.  That's why exercise can be so effective at (re)moving them -- because that is what the muscle contractions do.  The contractions at the extremities push the blood (fluids) forcefully back towards the heart -- which the heart cannot do no matter how hard or fast it is forced to work.  That is not its job: its job is just to pump the blood out to the extremities -- but if the extremities do not contract to force the residual blood and fluids out beforehand, it cannot go into those tissues -- because that is not how the system is designed to work.

Recently, some exercise researchers have proclaimed that the calf muscles are the second "heart" of the body because it does that.  But that is a misnomer because the heart is a very specialized and dedicated muscle that can do only one thing -- contract fully and relax fully -- which is the action of a pump.  While the skeletal muscles allow one to run, jump, throw, bat, look around, etc., if it contracts fully alternated with a full relaxation for a sustained period of time, it too acts as a pump.

Most people have been conditioned to think that it is resistance that produces the contraction and the relaxation -- instead of more properly, the range of muscle contraction and relaxation achieved in moving any muscle around its axis of rotation -- regardless if there is any resistance.  The resistance then, is provided by attempting to increase the range of movement in the contracted position -- and the relaxed position -- otherwise one could move infinitely in any direction they desired, which only a rare few seem to be able to do.

Such full range movements are particularly important at the axes of the joints at the furthest extremity, because it means that that entire area is being cleared and creating space for new nutrients that provide all the necessary requirements for health and growth -- but first getting rid of the accumulated toxins that arise from metabolic processes in addition to an accelerated load produced in exercise that requires the break down of cells to release energy and waste products.  Thus one experiences muscle fatigue and resulting soreness at an accelerated pace in recovery.

The peculiarity of modern exercise design is to eliminate the movements at the extremities in favor of movement at the more central joints (axes) of the shoulder and hip girdle -- and so the accumulation of these waste products are likely to continue throughout one's life -- despite all the exercise they are apparently doing -- that merely works their heart harder and faster, and moderately more at the shoulder and hip axes where there is considerably less than full range of articulation at those joints -- which is the reason they can persist in such movements virtually indefinitely.  

A full, and even extreme contraction, alternated by a full, and even extreme relaxation, will cause the muscle to fatigue and fail in about 50 repetitions -- in virtually everyone.  That is true muscular failure as opposed to a premature cardiovascular failure which causes the trainee to stop because they are not breathing but actually holding their breath, or breathing so shallowly as to effectively not be breathing -- which like the heart, requires the fullest contraction, alternated with a full relaxation -- because that is the requirement of the branch-like structures of the lungs -- as well as the circulatory system (blood vessels).  Because of that specific structure, the old has to be expelled first, for the new to come in -- because that is the environment that life on this planet evolved in.  Nature will not allow a vacuum to persist in this ecosystem.

In ancient times, it was thought that the important part in breathing was to draw the air in -- rather than as we realized, the compression (contraction) creates a vacuum which Nature in the atmospheric pressure will fill.  But in the old understanding of breathing, one was instructed to blow more air into a lung that was already mostly full -- but since the air must follow a fixed and systematic pathway, the old air never gets out.  And so one was better off just eliminating the mouth to mouth breathing disrupting the chest compressions in Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) because chest compressions is the movement of air in and out he of the body (breathing) -- rather than trapping the air within the lungs -- which is counterproductive to what one hopes to be achieving.

So once we have a clear understanding of what is healthful and productive to the body, it is a simple matter of designing exercise to achieve those desirable effects. It is the full range articulation at the joints furthermost from the heart -- rather than closest to it that is the most healthful and productive -- which includes the critically important organs of the head, hands and feet which people famously fail at as the notable signs of aging specifically.  I suspect, for most, it does not matter that they can still finish a marathon -- if it looks like they should be dead -- or are in pretty good shape for a person who looks so old.

The reason they look so old is because of inadequate (suboptimal) blood flow to their most telling organs of the head, hands and feet -- in not addressing those problems directly -- and easily.  But it doesn't matter if one still has washboard abs or peaked biceps -- if the circulation from and to the most telling organs of the body, are not accounted for as the priority of where the circulation matters the most.  As for the heart, it doesn't need to be consciously programmed; it has evolved to work perfectly -- automatically.  

As a scientist, one tests the variables -- and not the constant -- and in that manner, knows how to make the biggest difference directly and expressly -- and not just hoping doing any ol' thing, will get them the desired results.